FixNation, who partners with Best Friends Catnippers, reached a major milestone on the road to No More Homeless Cats in Los Angeles when they altered their 50,000th feline on August 2, 2010.
To obtain this goal, these two organizations worked hand in hand to provide medical services to community cats when they arrive at their clinic for sterilization surgery. FixNation operates the high-volume clinic that provides the surgery and also ensures that these cats are in good health by providing vaccinations, flea and worm treatments, any necessary medications and the overall health exam. In addition to sterilizing community and stray cats, FixNation also offers low-cost spay/neuter operations for pet cats.
Mark Dodge and Karn Myers are a husband and wife team dedicated to helping keep cats safe and outside of shelters by managing free bi-monthly spay/neuter surgeries at the FixNation clinic since 2007, and the Catnippers volunteer program since 1999. Their work, in addition to that of their many supporters, has helped Los Angeles communities reduce their homeless cat population.
Donors, volunteers, and community members make it possible for Dodge and Myers to offer free trap/neuter/return (TNR) services to benefit the community cats, environment, and the people of Los Angeles.
TNR addresses community cats in an extremely humane way: felines are humanely trapped, sterilized by organizations like FixNation, and then returned “home” where they can no longer multiply and live their lives, aided by compassionate locals who provide food. Such cats will be marked, often with an ear tip (see image to the right), to indicate he or she has been altered. FixNation loans out humane traps and provides trap training and education at no charge to enable anyone, regardless of income level, to participate in TNR programs.
Shelly Kotter, Focus on Felines campaign specialist at Best Friends Animal Society, says that FixNation reaching this goal demonstrates their determination and that "they're around for the long haul" in the TNR and rescue community.
"FixNation has been able to make huge strides with the public," says Kotter. "Best Friends is excited to be able to help with continued support for the work that they're doing." She mentions that FixNation is an incredibly important asset to the L.A. area cats, fixing on average 100 cats per day, and how great it would be for every city to have such a great resource.
How you can help:
- To learn more about FixNation and how you can help bring about a time when there are No More Homeless Cats in Los Angeles, visit their website.
First photo by Jen deHaan
Second photo by Molly Wald