Santa Barbara Humane offers free spay and neuter services for cats in Santa Maria

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The Santa Barbara Humane animal shelter in Santa Maria is offering free spay and neuter services for cats throughout the month of April in preparation for kitten season.

The goal is to prevent the overpopulation of cats in the city and in local animal shelters.

“It’s really great to spay and neuter cats because momma cats, they will just keep having litter after litter all summer long and every year after that. So if we’re able to prevent from having those unwanted litters, then we keep kittens out of the shelter," said Chief Veterinary Officer, Katie Marrie.

“We already have so many street cats and feral cats that our population without proper spaying and neutering can just get way out of control and then we can’t properly care all of the poor cats and kittens out there," said Animal Care Specialist, Sydney Garver.

Both the Santa Maria and Santa Barbara campuses are offering free spay and neuter services for cats this month.

The animal shelter is expecting cats to be in heat for the next six months.

“It’s a really big deal right now because cats are starting to go into heat and starting to mate and this is when kitten season starts to happen," said Katie Marrie.

It's this time of year that the animal shelter in Santa Maria sees the most kittens brought into their shelter.