Catnippers News

2007 Highlights

• On November 25, 2007, Mark Dodge and Karn Myers, Program Directors, sent a letter to Dr. Richard Mills, DVM, of Advanced Critical Care of Los Angeles, which we would like to share with you:

Richard Mills, DVM
Advanced Critical Care of Los Angeles
9599 Jefferson Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

Dear Dr. Mills,

During this past year, Best Friends Catnippers has been fortunate to have had access to the City of Angels Veterinary Specialty Center to hold 6 high-volume spay-neuter clinics for feral cats.  This came about due the intervention of our dear friend and loyal volunteer vet, Sue Downing, of the Veterinary Cancer Group, practicing alongside your ACC operation at City of Angels.

On the 6 Sundays our clinics were held, we brought in 60 plus volunteers and all their cars, used the roof lot for check in of over a hundred cats per clinic, occupied a large portion of the downstairs lot with our transport trucks, and generally took over the VCG and Eye Care space from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

We did our best to minimize any inconvenience to your operation as a result of this activity, but certainly realize none of this would have been possible without your gracious accommodation of the clinics we held, and all the associated activities mentioned.  I am writing to acknowledge with genuine gratitude your permitting us to do all of this.  You have a fabulous facility, and holding clinics there enabled our program to maintain its momentum, deliver a meaningful volunteer experience, and sterilize over 700 feral cats in the process.

Please accept this expression of thanks to you and your staff, from Best Friends Catnippers.  You're helping us Make a Difference.

Sincerely,
Mark and Karn

• And to Dr. Sue Downing a letter was also sent, which in part recited:

Karn and I are writing to express our genuine appreciation for all you have done for us this past year.  Your years of loyal service as the principal recovery-area vet at all of our clinics alone deserves Catnippers Hall of Fame recognition, but you really outdid yourself when it comes to delivering City of Angels as a clinic venue for all of 2007. Having continuity of clinic location is one of the most important components of our long-term success, and I cannot thank you enough for your help in this regard.  Without a clinic venue - a full-service veterinary hospital - there is no Catnippers.

Thank you, Sue!

• At two 2007 clinics, documentary film crews covered the day's events, and interviewed clinic volunteers.  One of these focused on our long-time volunteer vet, Yuko Nishiyama, who regularly travels to Japan to teach spay-neuter techniques and work in clinics there.  In this case, the photojournalist in question, Tomomi Shirai, wrote and had published an article on her visit in the October issue of Japan's Neko No Techo magazine.

Lower right - Recovery Area Volunteer and Kittie Kisser Nadia Sutton

Top left - Caregiver Irma Machuca
Top right - Volunteer tech from Western University working in prep area
Middle left - Long-time volunteer Sallie Green, recording data at clinic
Lower left - Volunteer vet Yuko Nishiyama, in spay surgery

Clinic Schedule for 2008

• Sunday, March 9
• Sunday, May 18
• Sunday, July 13
• Sunday, September 14
• Sunday, November 16

Each clinic is organized to accommodate 80-100 cats (or more).  In order to bring cats to a clinic, caregivers must first request, and be granted, a reservation.  This is done by following the Application Procedure If an application is approved, then, subject to capacity, our staff assigns reservations for the number of cats each caretaker plans to trap.  At this time, each caretaker is notified of the clinic location.

Recent Developments and 2008 Plans

• Based upon a desire to develop a program capable of conducting high-volume clinics daily, and implementing TNR on a full-time basis, the founders of Catnippers in 2007 launched an additional program, based upon funding from PetSmart Charities, Best Friends Animal Society, the Found Animals Foundation, and other donors. The additional program operates as separate 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, FixNation, Inc.
  


• Catnippers and FixNation plan to operate in the future on a closely integrated basis, with Catnippers continuing to operate as an all-volunteer organization, providing bi-monthly (possibly, monthly) high-volume Sunday clinics, and FixNation providing day-to-day spay-neuter services and full-service TNR support.  In this manner, Catnippers clinics will continue as in the past, but at the FixNation facility.
  


• Since July of 2007, FixNation has been operating under a permit from the City of Los Angeles to conduct operations at the spay-neuter clinic adjacent to the City's North Central Animal Shelter.
  


• In the fall of 2007, FixNation entered into a lease for space in a vacant building adjacent to the Burbank airport and plans have been developed to build a 3,000 s.f. spay-neuter clinic. The objective is to relocate to the new facility in time for the March, 2008 Catnipppers clinic.

 

Kimberly Pauli
June 27, 1962 - September 19, 2004

We ask all who love Best Friends Catnippers to remember  our dear departed friend and inspiration, Kimberly Pauli, who on September 19, 2004, left this world to find the peace which so long had eluded her.

Kimberly was instrumental in the creation of Best Friends Catnippers, a loyal and dedicated volunteer since our launch in 1999, a caring friend to all animals (of course with a soft spot for cats), and will always be remembered for her kind and loving spirit.

We have created a Web site to serve as place where her memory can be honored. www.rememberingkimberly.com, We invite all who knew Kimberly to submit photos, tributes, stories and remembrances, so that this goal is accomplished, and all of her friends can learn more about this wonderful person who, sadly, cannot be here to witness the love we feel for her. We placed a marker for her at Angel's Rest at the Sanctuary.