Cat’s Meow: Spay and Neuter Clinic in Chehalis May Open by End of Month

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The seeds of The Cat’s Meow were planted in Twila Collins’ head during a civil engineering course in college. She did a research paper on the feral cat problem and recalled being saddened to learn how many cats are euthanized each year simply because they had no homes.

“It just seems like an awful, awful thing to do to an animal that did nothing wrong,” Collins said. 

Collins is executive director of The Cat’s Meow Spay, Neuter and Adoption Project, which has been serving the Southwest Washington community for 11 years now. For supporters, the goals are simple: give cats the best quality of life possible and reserve euthanasia for circumstances of dying or suffering. Killing cats won’t solve feral cat overpopulation because it does not get at the root cause, which is over-breeding, Collins said. A female cat can get pregnant starting when they are three months old and can have as many as 30 kittens each year and thousands of offspring over a lifetime. And every female offspring of that cat has the potential to do the same.  

“I believe every cat deserves to live even if they are feral, hurt or sick. They deserve to be healthy and happy and safe,” Collins said.

One of the most well-known efforts of The Cat’s Meow has been offering free and low-cost spay and neutering services to cats from Lewis, Thurston, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, Grays Harbor and Clark counties and they have even served a few cats from Oregon. The Chehalis/Centralia Vet Clinic performed surgeries for the organization for the first two years until the demand got too great. From Aug. 2011 until Feb. 23, 2020, volunteers from The Cat’s Meow would shuttle cats from several stops in Southwest Washington to the Feral Cat Spay and Neuter Project in Lynnwood. During those nearly nine years, more than 9,000 local cats were spayed or neutered.

But the goal was always to have a local clinic and in 2012, The Cat’s Meow’s board began building a spay and neuter clinic on Tower Avenue in Centralia. The space was abandoned in 2015 when donations lagged and the non-profit could no longer afford to pay rent. Collins said the decision was difficult but she used the experience as an opportunity to learn and make the organization better.

“Things happen for a reason,” Collins said. “It gave me the time to learn the things I needed to learn to manage a large volume spay and neuter clinic. I like the analogy if you’re pushing on a door and it won’t open, you may need to step back and it might say ‘pull.’”

Collins said she felt like her patience paid off when the building at 611 NW State Ave. in Chehalis, directly next door to Kaija’s Garden and Pet, was recently donated to the Almost Home Coalition. Most of the donated State Avenue building was made available for The Cat’s Meow to renovate into a spay and neuter clinic.

The renovation of the Chehalis location will take place in phases. The first phase, what Collins calls the “MASH Unit” is expected to be open by the end of September. The space is only about 650 square feet and will give The Cat’s Meow the ability to begin offering spay and neuter services again. The organization has been unable to offer these services since February, first because of being a non-essential business during COVID-19 shut-downs, then because volunteers have been busy preparing for the new local clinic.  

The second phase of the new facility is a much larger 1,224 square feet and will be built as a more traditional-looking clinic space that could be completed in one to two years. Once it is completed, the first section is planned to become a boutique area offering both crafts for sale as well as a crafting space where cat owners can learn to build items such as scratching posts for their feline friends. It is planned to be called the “Kitty Glitter Boutique and Clowder Room.” A clowder is the name for a group of cats.



Board president Jim Forbes said he has known Collins for 22 years and admires her ability to work hard and keep going, even during setbacks. Though not being able to move forward with the clinic in Centralia was disappointing at the time, Forbes said he is proud of the entire organization’s work to get to this point.

“Now we’re in a much better space,” Forbes said. “We have the ability to grow we didn’t have back in 2012. And the people we have on the board right now, it’s a phenomenal group and we’re getting the support from the community.”

Volunteers usually come to the program first as clients and end up giving their time and talents to The Cat’s Meow because they have a heart for animals. Board members Colette and Carmen Read of Vader first brought some cats to The Cat’s Meow to have them spayed or neutered and ended up signing on to help. Colette explained Vader is one of the areas of Southwest Washington with a large feral cat problem. They have tried to catch as many as they can and have adopted some of the nicer ones but knew they needed help, so they called on Collins.

“It’s about preventing these little babies from suffering on the street,” said Colette Read of what drew her to the organization. “I can’t see that. I feel like they’re all my babies.”

“It’s not just good for the cats, it’s good for the community,” Carmen added.

Collins is doing most of the construction work herself, as required by permits, and has a part time job to support the organization. She said there is always a need for more volunteer help. For example, they are currently looking for: a certified plumber who would be willing to volunteer to help with a large plumbing project in the larger side of the building; someone interested in helping with fund-raising efforts; and veterinarians who would be willing to volunteer to perform surgeries. Collins hopes to eventually be able to pay a staff veterinarian but she anticipates needing veterinarians to volunteer their time the first year the clinic is open. They can offer volunteer veterinarians vouchers for spay and neuters that can be distributed to low income clients at a veterinary clinic of their choosing. 

And with so many needs, immediate and future, Collins said the best way to help is always by making a donation.

“If everyone we have helped over the years donated $1 a month, we’d have $10,000 a month coming in and our spay and neuter clinic would be up and running in a week,” Collins said.