How do you find a vet willing to examine a stray?

One of the strays I feed is only a stray because he was dumped and I decided to feed him and get him neutered. He is a sweet cat and great around people, but he appears to be a Maine coin DLH mix and people find his size intimidating.

I want to get him re-vaccinated and have him looked at he appears to have ear pain and discomfort near his lower back, just basic exam, vaccines, ears looked at, and dewormed.

I have called many vets, including the one I bring my 2 cats, everyone refuses to see him!

They either don't exam strays at all, or the ones who do charge you for a Full exam like when you adopt a cat, that includes all vaccines, flea treatment, blood test, de worming, fecal test, exam and walk in fee, along with any medications he may need. That comes out to almost $800 I cannot afford that any I don't want all that done to him!

The only place around that has low cost exams and vaccines only offers it twice a year at a place too far away and the hours don't work with my schedule, plus they make sedation and blood test mandatory which is ridiculous this cat is calmer than most pet cats!

Is there a site I can find a vet this is outrageous how can I help strays be healthy with all these crazy prices?

Why are you telling the vets that he is a stray? Just make an appt and take him in.

I find it odd that even your regular vet won't see him. I have never had a vet refuse to see a cat. I'm wondering if the vets think you are asking them to do everything for free since its a stray? They may feel like you won't pay since he's not 'your' cat.

I'd just call your regular vet back and make an appt.

RAFM said:

Why are you telling the vets that he is a stray? Just make an appt and take him in.
I find it odd that even your regular vet won't see him. I have never had a vet refuse to see a cat. I'm wondering if the vets think you are asking them to do everything for free since its a stray? They may feel like you won't pay since he's not 'your' cat.
I'd just call your regular vet back and make an appt.

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When you bring in a new pet and don't have old vet records or adoption papers to show ( they keep track of all pets by owner name, pet name, telephone number, and home number) there policy is you have to do a full exam or they won't examine and treat your cat. There excuse how do they know the cat doesn't have rabies if they get bit they have to know ahead of time. The policies are insane but I live in New York and everything is overpriced here vets want money.

jessicaromano said:

One of the strays I feed is only a stray because he was dumped and I decided to feed him and get him neutered. He is a sweet cat and great around people, but he appears to be a Maine coin DLH mix and people find his size intimidating.
I want to get him re-vaccinated and have him looked at he appears to have ear pain and discomfort near his lower back, just basic exam, vaccines, ears looked at, and dewormed.
I have called many vets, including the one I bring my 2 cats, everyone refuses to see him!
They either don't exam strays at all, or the ones who do charge you for a Full exam like when you adopt a cat, that includes all vaccines, flea treatment, blood test, de worming, fecal test, exam and walk in fee, along with any medications he may need. That comes out to almost $800 I cannot afford that any I don't want all that done to him!
The only place around that has low cost exams and vaccines only offers it twice a year at a place too far away and the hours don't work with my schedule, plus they make sedation and blood test mandatory which is ridiculous this cat is calmer than most pet cats!
Is there a site I can find a vet this is outrageous how can I help strays be healthy with all these crazy prices?

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I find that amazing.  I know a lady in New York that takes in all kinds of strays she traps for TNR and her vet never has a problem?  I will ask her vets name, OK. 

Or I will get her email for you and and see if she can help you.  Perhaps because she has a relationship with the vet she can get it done much cheaper?  I can't promise anything of course but I do know that with strays and no known history, they do have to do all that for their own paperwork and to be sure it's a cat that doesn't have any STI or anything else dire wrong with it... In other words, they want to make sure you aren't wasting your money on a lost cause. 

I will get ahold of my friend and see if she can help you!

If you can get the location of the vet and if it's near me I can try calling.

jessicaromano said:

If you can get the location of the vet and if it's near me I can try calling.

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"I need to know where she lives. can you find that out for me.. Pat"

I gave her your post and what you said and asked after the above reply if I can PM you her email and you two can converse yourselves and see if you can help the kitty.  Is this OK?

I live on Long Island, NY in Suffolk County is her vet near me?

Wow - that's crazy! I mean - it's all crazy! The prices, and refusing to see a cat without records, or charging more because of it! Hope you're able to find a solution!

I am sorry, I had to look up the vet's information myself. My friend is very picky and set in her ways and won't give any information unless she's directly involved. In other words, she'd want to do all this herself...

Here's the veterinary clinics name: North County Animal Health Center; phone # 785-9505; Address: 16760 NYS Route 3, Watertown, NY 13601 US

The Vet's name: Removed

Dr. Removed, originally from West Tennessee, attended Mississippi State University, where she earned her BS in Animal and Dairy Science, her DVM, then completed an internship in diagnostic imaging. She stayed on an additional six months as an instructor to students for a spay neuter program for local shelters. Her professional interests include feline medicine, radiology, and ultrasonography. She moved to Watertown with her husband when he was stationed at Ft. Drum. They have 2 tabby cats.

I hope this is helpful!!

Have you tried the chain places like Banfield or VCA? I wouldn't think they would require a full work up for a new patient, stray or not. That policy really makes no sense. What if you find a cat or get one from an individual? Not everyone has papers showing how they got their cat. Three of my cats were strays and the forth was a foster I pulled from a pound. I have no papers from getting any of them. Are you sure all vets in NYC has such a policy? It would seem to me that nobody would ever bring their cat to the vet if you had to come up with $800 the first time. Maybe you could contact some local rescues and ask them what vet they use. Maybe they could even help you. I'm sure the NY area has some TNR organizations too and they may also be able to help you.

I'm a bit curious about your stray. You say he's a large MLH? In my area large cats are actually highly adoptable, especially if they have long hair. People actually really like big cats. I fostered a 19-pounder once and I got a lot of inquiries about him. Any uniqueness in a cat makes them more adoptable - very small cats, very large cats, cat's with unique markings, cats with three legs, cats with different color eyes, etc.. They are all always easier to place than a cat that just looks average. I'm sure if black cats were a rarity people would be snatching them up right away.

I would highly recommend that you try to get the cat placed. If you get some good pics of him and a good description of his personality I don't think it would be all that hard to find him a home. If you have some pics of him why don't you post those here to see if someone here could help him. Sending some emails with pictures of him to rescues is not a bad idea either.

In the Pregnant forum, is there now a thread: Spaying and Neutering.

Member  TNR1  gives a list for low cost clinics in NY-area.

Another member has an older list for Orange County (I presume it is partly in NY area too).

I presume most of these places will also do a cheaper check up, under the standard pricelist.

Here is the list TNR1 gave:

NEW YORK...Low cost or free spay/neuter programs:


Pet Pal Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic
Schenectady County NY
518-374-3944
www.animalprotective.org
For pets of county residents with financial needs.

Statewide: New York State
Pet Population Control Program
Dept of Agriculture & Markets
Division of Animal Industry
1 Winners Circle
Albany, NY 12205
518-457-3502
Thanks to pet friendly car license plate sales, spay/neuter surgery costs about $30 and vaccinations cost up to $10 each -- from veterinarians participating in the state's program. Contact DOAM office for the most recent listing of participating vets.

New York...arranged by area code


Bide-A-Wee
410 E. 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
212-532-5884



ASPCA
Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital
424 East 92nd Street
New York, NY
212-876-7700 ext 4200
Low cost spay/neuter and low cost rabies vaccinations.

ASPCA Care-A-Van
212-876-7700 ext 4303
Mobile van goes to low income neighborhoods and provides free spay/neuter and vaccinations. Suggested donation $25. Call for the van schedule and to make an appointment.

Have-A-Heart Spay and Neuter Clinic
Fund for Animals
355 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
212-977-6877 for appointments
Low cost spay/neuter for all.

Feral Cat Friends
PO Box 236
Weedsport, NY 13166
315-252-2406 Call 6 pm to 8 pm only
Email [email protected]


Central New York SPCA
5878 East Molloy Road
Syracuse, NY 13211
315-454-4479

Pet Outreach Inc.
PO Box 312
Syracuse, NY 13211
315-469-6569 or
315-478-6900
[email protected] email

Wayne County Humane Society
Lyons NY
315-946-3389


Laura Gay Senk, DVM
Farmingdale NY
516-626-3090
www.myvetonline.com/drsenk
Low cost s/n and veterinary care for feral and stray cats.

Bide-A-Wee
3300 Beltagh Avenue
Wantagh, NY 11793
516-785-4687

Spay Today Inc.
300 Horseblock Road
Brookhaven, NY 11719
516-286-4965
Low cost spay/neuter for all pets, strays, and ferals.

SPCA of Nassau County
516-794-0831

New York State
Pet Population Control Program
Dept of Agriculture & Markets
Division of Animal Industry
1 Winners Circle
Albany, NY 12205
518-457-3502
Thanks to pet friendly car license plate sales, spay/neuter surgery costs about $30 and vaccinations cost up to $10 each -- from veterinarians participating in the state's program. Contact DOAM office for the most recent listing of participating vets.

Adirondack Humane Society
PO Box 1704
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
518-561-7876
Low cost spay/neuter for pets of low income people.

Animalkind Inc
PO Box 902
Hudson NY 12534
518-943-7654


Columbia-Greene Humane Society
Hudson, NY, Columbia County 518-828-6044
Athens, NY, Greene County 518-945-1286
Low cost spay/neuter and vaccinations.

Greene Animal Welfare Alliance
PO Box 209
Athens, NY 12015
518-945-3218
Spay/neuter discounts for all pets.

Humane Society of Rochester & Monroe County
Fairport, NY
585-223-1333 ext 36
Low cost spay/neuter for pets of qualified low income people.

SPCA of Tompkins County
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-257-1822
Discounted spay/neuter program for qualifed low income.

Project Paw
Binhamton NY
607-724-2241

Finger Lakes Humane Society
Bath NY
607-776-3039

Animal Care Council S/N Program
Endicott NY
607-786-7729


Bide-A-Wee
188 Old Country Road
Westhampton, NY 11977
631-325-0280

Little Shelter Animal Rescue
33 Warner Road
Huntington, NY 11743
631-368-8770
Low cost spay/neuter van visits twice a month.

Suffolk County SPCA
145 Pigeon Hill Road
Huntington Station, NY 11746
631-549-SPCA
Free spay/neuter for feral cats.


League for Animal Protection
631-757-4517

Island Rescue
Bay Shore NY
631-968-8700

Erie County Spay and Neuter Assistance Program Buffalo NY area
716-652-1359 or 716-821-1827

Animal Birth Control Society of Western NY
Buffalo NY
716-873-4500
Provides discount certificates for pets of low income residents. Call for information.

Muffin's Pet Connection
9728 3rd Avenue
Box 125
Brooklyn, NY 11209
718-833-7988
www.muffins.org
Gives certificates for low cost spay/neuter at over 60 participating veterinarians In New York City and Westchester and Long Island.


S.A.V.E.S., Inc.
PO Box 453
Greenport, NY 11944
Email: [email protected]
Serves the North Fork of Long Island only. For feral cats, low cost spay/neuter and vaccination certificates, plus twice yearly free spay/neuter clinics for ferals.

Animal Emergency Fund
Saugerties NY
845-247-6211
For residents of Ulster County, sponsors low cost s/n including feral cats.

Furever Animals Inc.
Montgomery NY
845-457-8147

The Animal Rights Alliance Inc PO Box 346
Westbrookville NY 12785
845-754-7100
Mobile van s-n clinic operates one day a week in Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan counties.

Animal Welfare League
White Plains, NY
914-948-2094

That list was helpful I can try a few places on the list.

The reason placing him has been hard is rescues require all that expensive vet work I can't afford at least the ones near me. They don't want to risk any of the other cats catching something so all cats they consider taking need full exam and vaccines. Plus this cats sister was adopted years ago from a rescue, and she developed diabetes and owner nearly abandoned her and adopters were supposed to be screened so it's hard for me to trust anyone I dont know. He also is black with white and cats that color aren't adopted usually shelters are filled with them.

There has to be rescues that don't require cats to have vaccines and have been examined. If my rescue required that before we accepted a cat we wouldn't have any. We don't want to risk the health of our cats either but that's easily fixed by quarantining them first. People who find strays are usually not able to get them to a vet and the Chicago pound only gives the cats a distemper shot when they come in. That's it. You pull the cats not knowing what issues they may have and lot of rescues do pull them. I would think you can find rescues in New York that does the same. An exam and shots doesn't have to be that expensive though. At low cost clinics here in Chicago you can get it all done for $45. $76 if you want to get them tested for FIV/FeLV too.

Unfortunately not all rescues screen their adopters well so if you want to place a cat with one, ask questions and look at their applications. I don't like organizations that adopt cats or dogs on the spot. You really don't know anything about someone who walks in and wants to adopt a cat. How do I know that they don't have a bunch of matted dogs and filthy litterboxes at home (something I did see at a home visit for a couple that had a pretty good application)? Adopting on the spot also puts you at risk of having people adopt on impulse which is rarely a good idea. If you check out a rescue first maybe you'd feel better about it. Or you could just try to place him yourself. Even though he's black and white I still think he'd be adoptable if he's a big, medium long haired cat. It's worth a shot.

Excellent list from Stefan !!!!!!!!!!!! I have never heard of this before either - that is very odd. I have never heard of a rescue with such strict requirements :frown2: I hope you can find a solution and a vet to help you out with this so this cat can find a new home.