Unveiling the Flatbush Veterinary Clinic: Tackling Cat Overpopulation in Brooklyn, New York

Story submitted by Kristen Petrie, Tech Tabby, The Community Cats Podcast.

I was delighted to visit the bustling heart of the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, to check out the exciting development of the Flatbush Veterinary Clinic. The brainchild of the Flatbush Cats organization, this new vet clinic will surely revolutionize feline care and welfare in this corner of the city. The grand opening of the clinic represents a collective commitment of the community towards its furry residents and the clinic has made Flatbush Cats’ unwavering focus on the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) approach and addressing cat overpopulation part of its non-profit business model.

A Comprehensive Solution for Community Cats

I arrived and waited for a couple, dressed to the nines to celebrate the occasion, took their picture in front of the flat Bush Veterinary Clinic’s front door, and then headed inside to join the enthusiastic crowd who dropped in to see the new space. The staff had organized a self-guided tour through the building, complete with a map that included stops such as “Meet a Vet” and a photo booth. It was a fun way to move through the building, but the clinic itself was the highlight.

Providing affordable access to veterinary care and serving both owned and unowned cat populations has been a part of the clinic’s mission from its inception and it’s been built with this in mind. The Flatbush Veterinary Clinic truly is an all-inclusive space for cats. With 50% of US households no longer able to afford vet care and an estimated 500,000 street cats in the city, their low-cost, inclusive services are desperately needed.

The clinic is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and a dedicated team, offering a wide array of veterinary services, from routine check-ups to surgical procedures. The staff’s commitment to implementing advanced veterinary protocol and to excellence in care is integral to the clinic’s ethos of delivering the highest standard of care to every feline patient. 

Surgical areas are spacious and designed to allow their team to perform routine surgeries, but also larger scale spay/neuter projects which add to the number of appointments available in the city (which have been *very* hard to come by in recent years) for trap-neuter-return groups to access.

The clinic’s dedicated team of veterinarians and volunteers is at the forefront of the TNR initiative and to make it even easier for the community to participate in TNR efforts, they have included in the clinic’s design, a holding area for cats who have been trapped and are awaiting their spay/neuter surgeries. This space can be accessed by individuals in the community as soon as the cats are trapped. Eliminating the need to find space or use an area of one’s home to hold kitties until a vet can see them is a major hurdle for many who would otherwise love to help these kitties.  

If you’ll recall, we found one of these areas in the Community Cat Clinic in Georgia as well and we hope they will become a more common part of veterinary practices as the need for free and low-cost access to spay/neuter increases. 

This collaboration streamlines the provision of medical attention to rescued cats, ensuring that each feline receives comprehensive care while also serving the owned pet population as well. This combination of services and philosophies shows the power of synergy and showcases the potential of collective efforts in animal welfare.

The history of the organization was on the posters but the future will be in the traps!

Many a spay or neuter surgery is going to happen in their surgical suite in the not-to-distant future.

Incorporating Care for a Community of Cat Caretakers

Beyond these awesome features, the Flatbush Veterinary Clinic had a few more surprises in store. 

If you follow Flatbush Cats’ Instagram account (if you don’t you should! It’s great!) you’ll see that many of the cats they are called to help are cats that are in rough shape but friendly, and so the organization has a long-standing commitment to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming stray and abandoned cats. In the clinic, there is a “Friendly Cat Room” that can be used for adoption events. The day we visited, they were hosting an adoption “pop-up” and many people and even reporters were spending time with the friendly kittens inside.

They have also built a community “backyard” for people to gather. During their open house, it was filled with people mingling, food and drinks, and a live DJ, but the space will help extend the clinic’s impact through community education. Workshops, seminars, and events will bring clients, TNR practitioners, rescuers, and others together in a comfortable space where the clinic can educate the public about responsible pet ownership, feline health, and the vital role of TNR in maintaining a balanced urban ecosystem.

Care for Future Cats

With the opening of The Flatbush Veterinary Clinic, Flatbush Cats transcends its role as a TNR and rescue support center.

Its opening is a sign that the animal welfare community, veterinary community, and pet lovers are poised for transformation—a transformation driven by an unyielding dedication to the welfare of felines. In the Flatbush neighborhood, the clinic’s emphasis on TNR and its strategic partnership with shelters and rescue organizations, exemplify a commitment to effective cat overpopulation management. 

This milestone reinforces the notion that our responsibility to our furry companions transcends our shelters—it encompasses the community at large and this clinic’s mission will reverberate far beyond, shaping a brighter future for cats in Brooklyn.

If you would like to learn more about the Flatbush Veterinary Clinic, check out their site at flatbushcats.org/build to see a fantastic video and all the details about this much-needed and innovative project.

Kristen Petrie is a graphic, web, and sound designer, and the Technical Tabby at The Community Cats Podcast. Since 2005, she’s filled a variety of roles while volunteering and working in animal welfare. She was part of the MRFRS board of directors for the better part of a decade, has joined the Community Cat Clinic board of directors, and enjoys using her skills to help promote animal welfare causes and feline-friendly culture. In her spare time, Kristen fosters cats who need time and patience to overcome behavioral issues or recover from trauma and is always up for an off-the-beaten-path adventure.