Have you appealed to the clinic to give you a partial credit since the cat was already spayed/neutered ? Maybe if you explained your situation, they'd apply a credit toward your next kitty. I think it's a reasonable request since all they did was sedate and shave.There are a handful of stray cats that I feed on my porch for the past few weeks. I know for sure at least a few of them are homeless. I can see some sleeping in the bushes from my window. I heard them during the summer screeching and probably mating so I decided to do TNR. I bought traps.
I caught one last night and brought it to the spay/neuter clinic this morning. When I picked up the cat, it turns out she was already spayed before and had a microchip!! I feel like I wasted so much effort and money ($63!!) on a cat that was already fixed. The microchip wasn’t registered to anybody, they said. But they still gave the vaccines, deworm, and flea meds like I asked. And the cat did have anesthesia since they only discovered the prior spay after shaving her belly.
Is there something I can do to prevent this in the future? I know I could buy a chip scanner but they’re expensive and I think you have to get really close to scan the cat? I’ll be scared of getting scratched by opening the trap, etc.