A slightly surprised fluffy white kitty came out of the surgery room and went straight into the arms of her eight-year-old owner Jenna Hunt.
The eleven-week-old kitten “Lulu” had been spayed, one of the services offered in the weekly clinic run by Pet Friends – a Hollister-based nonprofit, no-kill shelter for cats and dogs.
“I only take my animals here to be spayed and neutered because they do the best job,” said Jenna’s mother, Charlie Hunt, 48, who complimented the quality of the staff and the reasonable prices. “It’s much more affordable.”
The kitten’s procedure at a typical veterinarian’s office would have cost about $285, but at the Pet Friends clinic located on Buena Vista Road it was $130 and included a flea treatment, the mother said.
Pint-sized Lulu barely had made the two-pound minimum weight needed in order to go in for surgery. While the Hunt family didn’t adopt their cat from Pet Friends, they took her to the clinic after they found the kitten through an ad on Craigslist.
“We saw the picture of her and just melted and thought, well, we’ll just help her out,” Hunt said.
Pet Friends Assistant Manager Kathy Puthoff sees this special bond between people and their pets every day when they bring their furry friends into the clinic or adopt.
The spay and neuter clinic – open once a week on Thursdays, with surgeries scheduled by appointment – is actually a supplemental program that started about four years ago. Since then, Pet Friends’ employees have spayed and neutered more than 2,200 animals. The nonprofit also runs a special feral cat spay and neuter program, which provides the surgeries at a discounted price for people caring for animals that aren’t tame.
As a way to raise money its services, Pet Friends is hosting the second annual Fur Ball fundraiser from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Hollister Elks Club at 351 Astro Drive in Hollister. The event will include a tri-tip buffet dinner, a no host bar, a D.J. and dancing. Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased at Postal Graphics, Country Groomers or from a Pet Friends board member. The ticket sales close Oct. 18.
With the use of its limited funding, the true heart of the nonprofit’s work still lies in placing cats and dogs in forever homes. From 2000 through August of this year, the nonprofit placed 985 dogs and cats in homes. Since the shelter can hold a maximum of about 50 cats and 10 dogs at a time, hundreds of animals have passed through the center’s doors.
The dogs and cats available for adoption are carefully selected from animal shelters because the nonprofit has a no euthanasia policy and pets that arrive stay until they find homes. The center does not take animals from the public.
Pet Friends is run entirely on donations and only one grant that Puthoff could name as she filed paperwork, answered phones and talked with clients visiting the front office Thursday. Puthoff is especially proud of the clinic’s doctor and technicians.
“They’re just so patient and good with the animals,” she said. “It just fills a need.”
Puthoff is generally not a person of many words, but when the office cat “Abigail” pranced into the room, her face lit up. Puthoff was a veterinary technician in San Jose for about 28 years and started volunteering with Pet Friends about two years ago. She took her current office job six months ago to fill an open position.
“I’m not as good with people as I am with animals,” she said with a smile.
For pet owners such as Charlie Hunt, having the clinic in town makes owning pets more affordable.
“I was thinking, ‘God, if I won the lottery, I’d give a ton of money to these people,’ ” Hunt said, as she picked up her cat.
MORE INFORMATION:
For more information call Pet Friends at (831) 634-1191 or go to petfriends.org.
