The Brooklyn rescue group Flatbush Cats, responding to overcrowded animal shelters and the number of street cats literally multiplying due to a lack of affordable spaying and neutering, has unveiled a plan to address the growing kitty crisis.

On Monday, the group will open a new multimillion-dollar nonprofit spay/neuter clinic to provide the surgeries themselves.

“We had to acknowledge, candidly, that as important as rescue and fostering and adoption and [trap, neuter release, or TNR] work is — we do all those things — we had to acknowledge that it’s not going to solve the problem, so we had to move upstream,” said Will Zweigart, founder and executive director of Flatbush Cats.

The Flatbush Veterinary Clinic will open for business next month, allowing pet owners and rescuers to bring both cats and dogs in for spaying and neutering for a fraction of the typical cost.

ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement

Zweigart says the surgeries will cost around $225 for cats and slightly more for dogs; private vets the Daily News spoke with charged up to $1,150 for the bloodwork and surgery.

Located in a brand-new building, the 3,700-square-foot multilevel space was purchased outright by the rescue. In addition to a reception area and exam rooms, it features recovery areas downstairs where TNR cats can heal after surgery before returning to their outdoor communities.

“The entire mission of the clinic itself is that we will be able to keep families and their pets together and create good qualities of life,” said Kai Small, the clinic’s wellness veterinarian.

The group aims to perform 7,500 surgeries per year and provide basic exams and vaccinations, which could mean the difference between animals ending up on the street or remaining in a home.

There are an estimated 500,000 to 1 million stray and feral cats in the city, the Daily News reported Sunday.

“In the past week we’ve had a box of kittens in a towel ... dumped on the stoop,” said Lindsay Branch, the rescue program manager for Flatbush Cats.

The clinic also received “a really ill cat that was dumped in an open carrier, and this is a cat that clearly has a lot of problems,” said Branch, adding that it had an upper respiratory infection and was unable to walk.

“Again, a totally solvable problem if you’re able to get it to a vet,” said Branch. “But someone left the kitten in a carrier next to a park out there for someone to find.”

Flatbush Cats will continue their rescue, foster and adoption work along with operating the clinic. One of the group’s pilot patients was an 8-week-old kitten named Creature, recently found on a Flatbush street.

The cat, his outsized meows mismatched to his tiny body, received his first vaccine and a deworming that same day.

“This is his first real step into getting into the rescue program,” said Branch, who added the kitten will be available for adoption at Monday’s opening.

Finicky, an 8-year-old cat found living in a basement of a residential building, delighted in the attention of staff, marching across an exam table and leaning into pets. After years of rough living, he needed to be medically assessed before possibly being placed into foster care.

Saving the city’s felines visit by visit comes at hefty cost, however. Zweigart estimated that the first year of the clinic would cost well over $1 million. So far the vast majority of donations have come in from more than 10,000 individual givers from around the world.

“It mostly comes from people who want to break this cycle. They want to see this happen here. Someone from this morning donated and said, ‘I don’t live in New York, I don’t even live in the U.S. and I want to see this happen,’” said Zweigart.

“We’re not there yet,” she added. “We still have to raise additional funds to get these doors open and deliver these affordable services to New Yorkers.”

“The idea is to start small and do as much preventative medicine and health care as we can for as many people as we can, and the more we’re able to being people into the doors and the more we’re able to get funding, the more we’re able to expand the things that we’re able to do,” said Small as he petted Finicky.

At Monday’s opening, Councilman Justin Brannan will present the clinic with a check for $150,000 from the 2024 New York City budget.

“This is a long time coming. The city is really falling short when it comes to helping feral cats,” said Brannan, who visited the clinic last Thursday. “It’s something that should matter to every politician. I think this is a huge first step and I think that we should open up Flatbush Vets all over the city.”

Zweigart said increased support from the city will allow the operation to expand services and lower costs.

“This is a solvable problem,” she said. “We built the solution to overcrowded shelters right here.”