Starting Friday, June 5, Albuquerque Animal Welfare is allowing cat owners to reclaim their cats for free, regardless of the sterilization status of their pet. The city will no longer charge for a lost cat’s room and board, spay/neuter surgery, or reclaim fee. The only charge will be for those cats needing a microchip ($9.00), and for the City license ($6.00).

Animal Welfare made the change to help stem the tide of cats and kittens coming into the system during one of the major breeding times of the year. As it is, the vast majority of stray cats in Albuquerque never get reunited with their owners. Statistics show that only about 4% of all cats that come into Animal Welfare’s shelters ever get back to their original homes. “The fact that only 1 in 25 stray domestic cats ever make it back home in Albuquerque is a hard statistic to swallow” says Mayor Martin J. Chávez. “I’m confident that once Albuquerque’s pet lovers find out how dire the situation is, they’ll respond in kind to rescue back their cats.”

Since June is also National Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month, Albuquerque Animal Welfare is also instituting special fees to make it easier to adopt kittens and older cats, especially for Senior Citizen adopters. Starting today, the adoption fee for kittens and cats under 3 years old is only $30. That’s a savings from the already-reduced fee of $39. It includes the cost of your kitten or cat’s spaying or neutering, microchipping (with lifetime registration), Rabies vaccination for one year, other vaccines (such as Rhiotracheitis/Calcivirus/Panleukopenia), a feline leukemia test, any postoperative care (if needed), City license for one year and a free initial veterinarian’s exam from a participating clinic. For Senior Citizens (which according to AARP, starts at age 50), the adoption fee is further reduced to $20. That includes all of the above-mentioned benefits. In addition, the fee for all cats over 3 years old has been further reduced…to only $10.

The new reclaim policy and special fees apply at Animal Welfare's Eastside and Westside shelters and its Lucky Paws store in Coronado Center.  But one of the best says to adopt these kittens and cats is to check for the daily location of your Mobile Lucky Paws van. It frequently sets up at shops and markets around Northwest Albuquerque, one of the most underserved areas of the city in terms of animal adoptions. “The Mobile Lucky Paws is an ideal way for people to interact personally with these loving kittens and cats” says Jeanine L. Patterson, MS, RN, COHN-S, Director of Animal Welfare. “We also know that once people see how easy it is to reclaim their cats, they’ll respond and make the effort to bring them back home again.”