Macy’s Fund

Providing free feline spay and neuters for community and barn cats.

The purpose of Macy’s Fund is to provide free spay and neuters for cats in neighborhoods to reduce the overpopulation of kittens in Garrett County. HART will provide free cat surgeries for families who have adopted outside cats but have become overwhelmed with kittens once the cats start reproducing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Macy Dawson

About Macy’s Fund

Macy’s Fund provides free spay and neuters for cats in neighborhoods to reduce the overpopulation of kittens in Garrett County. HART will provide free cat surgeries for families who are caring for outside cats to avoid becoming overwhelmed with kittens once the cats start reproducing.

Cats follow their instincts to reproduce. While female dogs go into heat twice a year; female cats are induced ovulators, meaning that the act of breeding stimulates the release of eggs from the ovaries. They have multiple heat cycles during the breeding season. If you were to look at this in actual numbers, one female cat and her female offspring can have up to 5,000 kittens in just 7 years. Because of this, outside kittens can become feral within a very short period of time and go from ‘cute kittens’ to reproducing cats, developing into a cat colony, almost impossible to provide adequate care for, and to control.

Many Garrett County residents are happy to acquire ‘barn’ or ‘community cats’, but realistically cannot take on the expensive burden of spaying or neutering them. As a result, hundreds of kittens are relinquished to HART or left at the Garrett County Animal Shelter during kitten season every spring and summer.
Macy’s Fund is a free program created to support spay/neuters of community and barn cats in Garrett County regardless of income.

Vouchers for the free spay/neuters may be picked up at the Garrett County Shelter, or county residents may call HART at 301.387.7729 for an appointment. The fund is for adult cat (6 months and older) surgeries. If the resident is keeping kittens, an appointment may be made for HARTHelp if they meet income requirements.

The program is named in memory of Macy Dawson, a HART Adoption Wing Animal Care Attendant, who died too young in a tragic accident on March 22, 2020. Macy cared deeply for all animals and loved working with the adoptable cats and dogs at the HART Center. Funds for the program were allocated by HART, donations from other donors, and fundraising events.