Home » News » Los Angeles Cat Spay-Neuter Clinic Commemorates 25,000th Fix...

News

Los Angeles Cat Spay-Neuter Clinic Commemorates 25,000th Fix

March 23, 2009, 6:12PM MT

By Cheri Moon

FixNation-Catnippers clinic celebration on March 26

FixNation-Catnippers clinic celebration on March 26

by Best Friends Staff

FixNation-Catnippers, the nation’s only full-time spay-neuter clinic devoted primarily to homeless cats, will celebrate its 25,000th fix Thursday, March 26.

“This is an especially memorable milestone for our clinic, which was just a gleam in our eyes a few years back,” said Mark Dodge, who along with his wife, Karn Myers, have worked for years to improve lives of homeless cats. The celebration will also recognize the 25th anniversary of Best Friends Animal Society.

From Catnippes to FixNation
In the summer of 1999, Dodge and Myers, with support from Best Friends Animal Society, founded Best Friends Catnippers as an all-volunteer spay-neuter outreach program. Since 2000, Catnippers spayed or neutered more than 14,000 cats.

In 2007, with grants from PetSmart Charities, Best Friends Animal Society, the Found Animals Foundation, and several private donors, Dodge and Myers were able to launch FixNation clinic— the first full-time spay-neuter clinic dedicated to implementing the TNR method to all of Los Angeles County.

“Now in less than two years, our clinic is making great progress and we’re convinced that the spay-neuter voucher system is something that will be important to our continuing success. Our goal is to reach the point where the homeless cat overpopulation problem in Los Angeles is no more.”

At FixNation and Catnippers, medical services provided include sterilization surgery, post-operative treatment, vaccinations, and medications. Everything is free to caregivers of homeless cats and rates are reduced for tame cats.

Join City Councilmen and Celebrities At The Celebration
The day’s celebration will begin at 10:00 a.m and include a ribbon cutting ceremony, tour of the FixNation-Catnippers clinic and special activities scheduled throughout the day.

City Councilmen Richard Alarcon and Tony Cardenas, longtime supporters of progressive animal welfare laws, will attend the celebration.

Also on hand for the event will be actor Frances Conroy and Jody Slater, a caregiver of homeless cats, who represents the thousands of cat caregivers dedicated to solving the homeless cat population problem in Los Angeles.

Celebration Location:
FixNation Cat Spay-Neuter Clinic
7680 Clybourn Ave., Los Angeles
Adjacent to the Burbank Airport
(Click for Map)

When:
Thursday, March 26
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

For More Information

• More Information About Catnippers

• Visit the FixNation website

• Read an article about the launch of FixNation

How You Can Help

Budget cuts are having an impact on L.A.'s animal spay and neuter program. The city's Department of Animal Services has stopped handing out free and discount coupons for owners to get their pets fixed. This could affect the pet population.

FixNation, Inc. needs the public’s support to maintain their goals and help reduce the number of homeless cast. Become a caregiver or show your support by donating to their programs: click here.

Stock photo by Clay Myers, Best Friends Staff
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends Staff

Comments

Posted March 24, 2009, 8:30PM by GeorgeBailey47

Congrats!
Keep up the great work.

People ask, "does spay-neuter" work?

Well, when you consider that there would be 25 million more cats in the world if not for having spayed- neutered the ones we have, we can say definitively, yes, it works, as does TNR, no-kill and all of the other compassionate, common sense programs that are bringing us closer to No More Homeless Pets..

Posted March 24, 2009, 8:43AM by rickmcd

Way to go Karn and Mark and all of the volunteers from Catnippers.

Posted March 24, 2009, 3:56PM by Kelly4cats

Do they keep any kind of data on how this might be affecting shelter euthanasias? I know its hard especially when we are in times like this and an usually high number of cats are being given up at the shelter. I hope this continues to get the needed funding. It's a smarter use of these limited funds to fix the adults instead of deal with all their offspring.

Posted March 27, 2009, 11:24PM by jmuhj

How absolutely wonderful. And doubly so, because the 26th was my birthday -- what a present!

Posted April 01, 2009, 7:17PM by grl1

I'm glad that cats have been served. I'm sorry that the focus of Fix Nation has become flattering Karn's ego. It's frustrating for those of us out here who give every penny we have (and are still paying back graduate school,) doing front-line T-N-R work knowing it's easier to pay privately for spay-neuter than to deal with the egos and personality disorders at Fix Nation. Best Friends is what it is...good at raising a lot of money and putting out glossy magazines, not so great at long-term commitment to T-N-R and animal rescue if it doesn't involve a photo op. Oh, well those of us out on the front line continue to do what we do and take pride in doing what we can for feral cats (Even if we haven't exploited the homeless animals into a big money maker for ourselves).

Posted March 27, 2009, 12:51PM by Visaya

This is a great idea! I wish we had something like it on Long Island, NY. I've been feeding a group of backyard (feral) cats for several years, but as a senior citizen retiree, I cannot afford to pay for spay/neuter for them. This type of service would be invaluable!

Posted March 26, 2009, 9:48PM by caseycassidy

Congrads to you!!! A job well done!!!
One note: I'm not sure you're the only full time spay/neuter clinic for ferals, free roaming, pet cats. The Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project in Lynnwood, Wa., has been altering cats for over 10 years now. They are open either 4 or 5 days a week and usually alter 50 cats per clinic. I only wish we had more like both these clinics. They do make a HUGE difference. Thanks again for what you do.