Karen Hill, a local resident, told the Yolo County Animal Services JPA that “the issue of homeless feral cats has reached what many consider a crisis point.” Hill and other volunteers urged faster action to reduce cat reproduction through spay-neuter and TNR programs.

Shelter manager Stephanie Amato gave the board a snapshot of current operations: “Right now, we are, we have a 100 dogs in our in our care. We have 45 cats on-site right now that we are caring for, and that's a variety of cat adult cats and kittens. We have approximately 80 kittens still in foster.” Amato said the shelter recently took in a large multi-cat intake — 22 indoor cats from a single West Sacramento household — and is handling a large rabbit cruelty case.

Volunteers described two near-term remedies: (1) expanded regular TNR clinics using a mobile spay-neuter vendor Karen and others contracted with (identified in the meeting as Snip, a Bay Area mobile spay-neuter service), and (2) using existing county shelter clinic space on Sundays for free or sponsored TNR surgeries. Jill Bonner, a volunteer organizer, said the shelter has clinic space that “is not used on Sundays when the shelter vet is not working” and said shelter manager Stephanie Amato “has given her support to start using these shelter clinics on Sundays.” Bonner described two county-owned facilities that could be used and said volunteers were prepared to help staff and fund some elements.

Stephanie Amato said the county has been working with the mobile provider (referred to in the meeting as both “Snip” and “SNP”) and reported recent mobile-clinic activity: an initial visit in September that performed about 121 procedures and a later multi-day visit that performed about 143 procedures, of which 87 were for Yolo County residents. Amato said the mobile provider’s on-the-spot cost was being covered in part with the shelter’s spay/neuter grant money and that the county planned additional mobile clinic days. Amato said of the vendor: “They are coming next month for 3 more days,” and that two of those days were already blocked for scheduling.

Volunteers and Amato discussed costs and sponsorships: Amato said the vendor charges about $135 per cat for TNR appointments, and she said a sponsored full clinic costs roughly $5,000. Jill Bonner told the board the vendor had indicated a sponsored clinic would perform about 40 feral-cat surgeries for $5,000 and that sponsored clinics typically include basic vaccinations.

Staff also described plans to expand in-house surgical capacity. Amato said the county will replace the shelter’s aging BigFix mobile surgery rig with a prefabricated clinic module (a “clinic in a can”) that will offer more recovery cages and updated equipment; she characterized it as a replacement with “updated equipment, which is what we're lacking as well.” Adam Fieseler, director of community services, said the site work requires a building permit, a foundation system and a specialized crane to place the unit and that the county must go to formal bid for the work.

Volunteers and commenters urged the JPA to allow Sunday TNR clinic use of shelter facilities immediately so the work could start quickly. Eileen Sammis, a volunteer with local animal rescue efforts, said, “We have to get the spay and neuter services up and going… We have the facilities. They have vets… we desperately need those spay and neuter services now.”

Amato listed near-term public events and outreach tied to adoption and spay/neuter efforts, including a Clear the Shelter event, adoption days at PetSmart and a free vaccine-and-microchip clinic the shelter plans to hold with local partners. She told the board grant funds would cover parts of upcoming mobile-clinic costs and that the shelter is coordinating transportation and appointment scheduling for low-income residents.

Why it matters: volunteers and staff described high intake, ongoing kitten season, and limited shelter capacity. They said expanding access to both mobile and shelter-based spay-neuter services is the most immediate way to reduce kitten births and downstream shelter demand.

What’s next: staff said they are scheduling more mobile clinics, planning two TNR days, pursuing procurement and bids for site work to place the clinic module, and working to hire or restore a second veterinarian position to expand surgical throughput.

Ending: Volunteers asked the JPA to allow Sunday clinics and to accelerate procurement; staff said some steps (building permits and formal procurement) must follow county rules before full in-house clinic operations can begin.