• Call Dr. Celeste Conn at 1 410-708-2608 to schedule an appointment

  • I am overjoyed to tell you that the Kent County Humane Society is holding its first low-cost spay/neuter clinic on Saturday, October 30th from 8-5 at the shelter. The Kent County Humane Society is located 4.5 miles north of Chestertown on Augustine Herman Highway, Route 213. This first clinic will be for cats only, though subsequent events will include dogs. Cats or kittens of virtually any age will be accepted, as long as their weight is greater than 2 pounds. Appointments are necessary for the surgery, and can be made by calling Stephenie or Candice at the shelter on 410-778-3648.

    The clinic will be run in conjunction with Grateful Paws, a mobile spay/neuter facility located in a Winnebago. The Winnie was retrofitted to include two operating theaters as well as anesthesia induction and recovery areas. Grateful Paws (GP) has been in existence since 1994 and has altered over 11,000 cats and dogs. Located in Grasonville, the clinic will travel to Kent County for the first time on October 30th.

    Grateful Paws has made major inroads in containing the ever-burgeoning cat population on the Shore. Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline Counties all use GP’s services to spay and neuter many of their shelter animals. The Winnie has also traveled to those locations to host low-cost clinics open to the general public. By doing so, the GP’s staff have helped many who could not afford surgery at their local veterinary hospitals and have altered many feral cats, making a dent in that potentially unruly population. The need for this program is obvious. Recently, much has been in the news regarding the feral cat population throughout Kent County. The numbers of cats will continue to grow unless we put a halt to their reproduction. It has been estimated that unless seventy percent of adult cats are altered, the population will continue to grow. Of course this is also true of barn cats. Year after year, farmers drop off whole litters of kittens at the humane society, and the staff is overwhelmed with feeding, caring and sheltering unwanted animals. This spring kitten crush can be significantly lessened with a simple surgery.

    We on the board of the humane society hope that this will be the first of many low-cost spay/neuter clinics here in Kent County. It’s about time. We are surrounded by counties who already have these programs in place. It’s time to bring the standard of veterinary care up to that of our neighbors. We need the cooperation of the public to help the animals in our backyard