FixNation is a top-rated, Los Angeles-based nonprofit that provides free spay/neuter services to homeless cats, along with basic medical care and a generous dose of love and compassion. Their high-volume, high-quality, state-of-the-art clinic also offers low-cost spay/neutering and microchipping for pet cats, a loan program for humane traps, free hands-on education and training, free counseling on the care and management of feral colonies, and extensive community outreach.
FixNation was founded by Mark Dodge and Karn Myers, a husband-and-wife team who became animal welfare advocates after learning about the shocking number of homeless cats in Los Angeles. Currently, the city uses lethal methods in an attempt to manage the ever-increasing numbers of stray, abandoned and feral felines – the nation’s largest population of “community cats”. Yet such methods are not only ineffective and costly, they are also horribly cruel and completely unnecessary.
Compelled to take action, the couple started Catnippers in 1999, a monthly mobile spay/neuter clinic staffed entirely by volunteers. The venture was a great success – fixing more than 18,000 cats – but it soon became apparent that they needed to do much more to truly make a difference. Research showed that only viable solution for out-of-control populations of homeless cats wasn’t mass euthanasia; it was Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), whereby cats are trapped, sterilized and returned to their place of origin to live out the rest of their days, and allowing the number of unwanted births to naturally and gradually decline.
In 2007, Karn and Mark launched FixNation, the first full-time spay-neuter facility in Los Angeles to provide a comprehensive TNR program: free spay/neuter services for homeless cats, TNR outreach and education, free training and loans of humane traps. Over time, their mission expanded to include affordable services for pet cats and partnerships with rescue organizations to facilitate adoptions.
In addition to free spay/neuter surgery, every homeless cat brought into the FixNation clinic receives vaccinations, fluids, long-lasting antibiotics, pain medication, treatments for mange, fleas, ear mites and worms, high quality care for any abscesses and/or injuries, and advanced medical care via various partner programs, if needed. Over the past twelve years, FixNation has become a model for TNR and cat population management around the world and has provided free services to more than 150,000 cats. Mark and Karn’s dream has been a huge success, raising awareness of the issues involved, proving that TNR works and inspiring other communities to develop their own programs.
Regrettably, Mark passed away in 2017 after a long battle with ALS, leaving Karn to carry on his life’s work. His desire to create a better future for homeless cats inspired all who knew him, and today FixNation’s staff and scores of devoted volunteers aspire to fulfill his vision – to have an even broader reach, to save lives and prevent suffering, and to make the world a kinder and more compassionate place for all living things.
Get your free sample from Feline Fancies “Mad Mama” by Denna Holm
A feisty mother cat punches outside her weight class to protect her kittens.
Based on a true story, Sarah Benton is already fed up with her husband and his stray cats when another feral female shows up pregnant and in trouble. Of course Sam can’t leave her out in the cold, so Sarah makes up a bed in the bathroom and soon finds the new kittens softening her heart. The first trip outside will prove disastrous for the feisty mother cat. She’ll have her paws full trying to protect her new litter from an unexpected danger.
Denna Holm 