Since Cats first opened on the West End stage in 1981, it has become one of the world’s best known and best loved musicals. With a plot based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats and award-winning music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber; CATS, originally directed by Trevor Nunn, has since been presented in over 20 countries and in about 250 cities. The production ran for 18 years on Broadway, a record-setting 21 years in London, won seven Tony Awards and is the longest running tour in American theatre history.

CATS has come back to Los Angeles! The production is visiting the Pantages Theatre for two weeks in March. Graciously, the Pantages Theatre and the production of CATS offered to partner with FixNation for a special, one-time fundraising and “friendraising” event on Wednesday, March 10th. FixNation was granted a block of well-situated tickets to CATS to sell, with the proceeds going to help the non-profit clinic.

The evening started with a VIP cocktail reception held at the elegant Katsuya restaurant in Hollywood, with food, wine and drinks. The hit of the party was a visit from some of the costumed cast members from CATS, and guest attendees could get their photo taken with the Cats on the red carpet. An exclusive video on FixNation clinic was also premiered, giving guests a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of the clinic and how the mission got started.

The highlight of the evening was the award-winning Broadway production of CATS at the Pantages Theatre. Our celebrity guest, Corey Feldman, took the stage before the start of the performance to say a few words about the plight of homeless cats, how TNR can make such a huge difference in their lives, and about FixNation’s free spay/neuter services for homeless, stray and feral cats. Corey and his son Zen stayed to watch the performance, as well as take a few photos with the cast members from CATS. We appreciate his coming out to help our charitable event, and his passion and commitment to bettering the lives of animals.

We would like to thank our three very generous sponsors who made this magical evening possible: The Angela Collier Foundation, The Rascal & Chloe Fund, and Found Animals Foundation.

Thanks also goes out to a very special donor and friend, the Dax Foundation, who purchased some CATS tickets that we awarded to some “unsung heroes” who are out in the field night after night trapping, caring for colonies, and making an overall difference in the lives of homeless cats. This special gift allowed people who might not otherwise be attending a chance to take an evening off from their hard work and join us in some fun.

We extend our grateful and sincere thanks to everyone who came out to support this event, and in the words of the beautiful Grizabella, we cherish the special Memories that we made!

]]> http://fixnation.org/2010/03/fixnation-partners-with-the-broadway-musical-cats-for-a-special-night-2/feed/ 0 http://fixnation.org/2010/02/an-exclusive-video-about-fixnation-courtesy-of-found-animals-foundation/ http://fixnation.org/2010/02/an-exclusive-video-about-fixnation-courtesy-of-found-animals-foundation/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:06:37 +0000 admin http://fixnation.org/?p=1197 Introducing a premiere video about FixNation clinic, courtesy of our friends at Found Animals Foundation. See our state-of-the-art clinic, meet our kitty clients and learn about our mission to spay and neuter the homeless cats all across Los Angeles.

Click here to view the embedded video.

About Found Animals Foundation, Inc.:

Found Animals is a privately funded non-profit dedicated to minimizing shelter euthanasia. Found Animals creates programs designed to reduce shelter intake, increase adoption rates and focuses on developing sustainable animal welfare business models. For more information, visit their website or add them as a fan on Facebook today.

By Dr. Amanda Page

What is Feline Leukemia Virus?

Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) is a serious viral disease that affects ONLY CATS. Fortunately, there are many ways we can protect our cats from exposure to this disease. It is estimated that 2.3% of cats in the western United States are infected with FeLV.

How does FeLV cause disease?

The Feline Leukemia Virus can cause bone marrow suppression. One of the functions of bone marrow is to produce the cells of the immune system that fight off infection. Therefore, this disease can result in a suppressed immune system. The immune system normally protects the cat from common infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, etc) that do not generally cause disease in healthy cats. However, if a cat’s immune system is weakened, as with FeLV, these same organisms can cause disease – known as secondary or opportunistic infection. Although the disease only affects cats, it is recommended that immunocompromised people (i.e., chemo patients and AIDS patients) not reside with FeLV + cats because these cats are more likely to harbor opportunistic infections that could be transmitted to immunocompromised humans. This viral disease is also associated with the development of certain types of cancer (i.e. lymphoma, leukemia) in affected cats.

What is the outcome of disease?

Cats infected with FeLV have 4 different possible outcomes:

1. Succumb to the infection and develop FeLV associated diseases. The development of FeLV associated diseases such as bone marrow suppression or cancer poorly affects the cat’s prognosis.
2. Overcome the virus but the viral “DNA” is incorporated into the cat’s own DNA; these cats may or may not develop illness at some point in their lifetime. Those cats that are infected and have no clinical signs may remain asymptomatic for months to years or for life. These cats should still be considered contagious to other cats.
3. Completely eliminate the virus from their system
4. Or the virus could be confined / localized to a small region of the body, such as a mammary gland (rare).

FeLV positive cats must be kept indoors away from unaffected cats so they don’t spread the disease to other cats.  They should be spayed/neutered, provided with good nutrition, avoid raw diets, and need regularly visits to their veterinarian. With proper care many FeLV cats can live months to years in apparent good health.

How does a cat get FeLV?

The most common way cats get the disease is through saliva and casual contact with an infected cat (i.e. mutual grooming, sharing bowls, touching noses). Since this disease is rather contagious between cats, it is important to completely isolate new cats of unknown viral status and to wash hands between handling cats. Kittens are more susceptible to FeLV. Cats who at greater risk of exposure are those who are allowed outdoors and encounter infected cats. The virus can also be transmitted from mother to kittens.

How do we test for FeLV?

A simple in-house blood test, often called a “snap” test, can be performed to test for FeLV. If the test is positive, it could mean that the cat has FeLV or that the test could be wrong. A positive test should be confirmed by an IFA test, which can be done at a full-service vet clinic. If the IFA test is negative, it could mean that the cat is 1) not infected with FeLV at all or that 2) the cat was recently infected (up to 30 days ago) but won’t test positive yet, in which case a repeat IFA test should be done again approximately four weeks later to confirm.

How can we protect our cats from FeLV?

• Keep cats exclusively INDOORS
• VACCINATIONS are highly recommended for kittens and also for adult cats determined to be at risk (i.e. cats that go outdoors or encounter new cats that have not been viral tested).  Vaccinations will NOT interfere with testing for the disease.
• ISOLATE & TEST NEW KITTENS AND CATS for FeLV before allowing them to interact with your existing pets.

These clinics will be held on the first Saturday of every month (with July and September being exceptions due to holidays) with the hours being from 9am – 12 noon.

The clinics will be open to the public on a walk-in only basis only; no reservations are necessary.

The services we will be offering at these special clinics are:

CATS:

FVRCP (Feline Distemper) combo vaccine = $8

Rabies vaccine = $12

Microchip = $25

DOGS:

DHLPP (Distemper/Parvo) combo vaccine = $8

Rabies vaccine = $12

Microchip = $25

Cash only; no credit cards or checks will be accepted.

The vaccine/microchip clinic schedule for the year is as follows:

April 3

May 1

June 5

July 17 ** (3rd Saturday instead)

August 7

September 18 ** (3rd Saturday instead)

October 2

November 6

December 4

If you have a companion cat or dog who is due for his or her shots, or if your cat or dog has never been microhipped, this is the perfect clinic for you! Our rates are going to be some of the lowest in town.

Also, for rescue groups, these clinics can really benefit anyone who has recently adopted a cat or dog from you. For new adoptive “pet” parents, it’s a fantastic savings because very often any kittens/puppies being adopted out have only had one or two of the needed three vaccines in the series. These clinics will allow new parents a chance to get their final vaccines for their pet without paying a normal vet office visit.

We hope to see you and your pet(s) at one of our clinics! Please feel free to spread the word too!…

Tomahawk was kind enough to create a custom model just for FixNation. We encourage anyone interested in purchasing their own trap to check out this model. It will last you for years to come, and for trappers of all experience levels, it’s truly a great choice.

Prices start at $58 per trap if you order between one and five, or $55 per trap if you order six or more. Contact Tomahawk directly to order and ask for model #608FN.

Click here to download our flyer

Throughout the month of February, Found Animals will be donating $1 to FixNation for every new Facebook fan who signs up with them… up to $10,000 total. They will be granting these “celebration donations” to three lucky spay/neuter organizations:  FixNation, Clinico and AngelDogs Foundation.

All YOU have to do to help us earn this money is click here to invite your friends, family and neighbors to become a fan of Found Animals on Facebook. As their fan base grows, Found Animals donates more money to us for free spay/neuter and YOU help save more lives… it’s that simple!

TNR is a community-based, humane approach to controlling homeless cat overpopulation. It involves concerned citizens humanely trapping feral cats, getting them spayed and neutered (at clinics like FixNation), and then returning them to their natural environment so they can live out their lives. It is the humane alternative to trapping and killing cats at our city shelters, which is inhumane, consistently does not work, not to mention very costly to taxpayers like us.

While the city isn’t stopping private citizens from doing their own TNR, this ruling will suspend the city shelters from distributing our clinic flyers to educate people about TNR or allowing shelter employees to encourage TNR as an alternative to people as they are there dropping off cats at the shelter. It also ceases any city coupon funding that our clinic can use towards homeless cats, which is critical in helping us cover the cost of spay/neuter services to make them free for you.

Without TNR and spay/neuter, the homeless cat populations in this city will explode exponentially, which means many more cats will end up being killed at our city shelters. TNR has been the “unofficial” policy for years, until just last week when this judge forced the city to suspend it. Already our city shelter euthanasia rates are through the roof due to a bad economy and home foreclosures. This will seriously exacerbate the situation.

Want to take action? Here’s what you can do to help:

1) Please take a moment to sign the petition to show your support for TNR, and please share this with your friends and neighbors so they are aware.

Sign the Petition

2) We want to hear your great stories about how TNR has helped you and your neighborhood! If you have TNR’d homeless cats and have personally witnessed the positive difference this has made in your community, please take time to send us your story.

info@fixnation.org

3) Finally, if you do live in Los Angeles, contact your city council members and city representatives. Make sure they clearly know that you do not support this ruling, you do not support the killing of more homeless cats and that you DO support TNR. Even if you don’t live in California, please voice your opinion and support us. Post to Facebook, post to Twitter, please help us to get the word out.

Directory of City Council Members

If we all speak up, this ruling can be overturned and overcome. It’s not too late, and your voice counts!

With sincere thanks,

FixNation

————————–

From our Founder and President, Mark Dodge S. Dodge, Esq.

Wild bird groups sued the City of Los Angeles in 2008 to stop its support of Trap-Neuter-Return, the humane, community based method to control feral cat overpopulation. They claimed that under the California Environmental Quality Act, the City of LA could not provide discount spay neuter coupons to feral cat caregivers or promote TNR without an Environmental Study and Impact Report, based upon the utterly false premise that if TNR is promoted by the City, fewer cats will be killed in shelters, meaning more cats left in the environment to kill birds.

Last week, after a summary trial of this action, Judge Thomas McKnew, of the LA Superior Court, bought into this spurious argument and issued an injunction preventing any City support of TNR.

Whether or not this decision is appealed and the injunction stayed, it is time for humane-minded reasonable citizens of Los Angeles to speak out against this decision and do everything possible to show the Judge and the wild bird groups that we are opposed to anything but wholehearted, enthusiastic government support of TNR in Los Angeles.

The simple fact is that TNR does not produce more cats by “returning” them after surgery, as the wild bird advocates claim, it merely transforms cats already in the environment from being the prolific breeders they are, into sterile community cats, thereby reducing their numbers over time. The consequence is clearly not adverse to the “environment.”

Without TNR, we would see more and more cats killed in shelters, while at the same time the homeless population would simply continue to expand. Moreover, the impact of cats on bird populations is miniscule as compared to habitat loss, high rise windows, airplanes, weather and other predators, contrary to the claims made by many wild bird advocacy groups in their blind opposition to TNR.

This decision, if not overcome via legal or administrative means, will not mean an end to TNR in Los Angeles, but as long as it remains in effect, it will produce a loss of City support and discount spay-neuter coupons for feral cats, outcomes which are unacceptable.

TNR brings the community together in a positive way, promotes humanity to be humane, takes the pressure off of municipal budgets and allows society as a whole to work positively toward a long term solution to the problem of pet overpopulation. It deserves to be supported by City of Los Angeles. Until that support can resume, we ask the citizens of Los Angeles to show their support for TNR.

Visit FixNation at http://www.fixnation.org for more information on how you can make a difference for homeless cats in your own community.

]]> http://fixnation.org/2009/12/judges-ruling-impacts-tnr-in-los-angeles/feed/ 4 http://fixnation.org/2009/12/fixnations-services/ http://fixnation.org/2009/12/fixnations-services/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:46:40 +0000 admin http://blog.fixnation.org/?p=405 Do you have homeless cats in your neighborhood that you would like to get fixed? Do you have a friendly stray cat that you are concerned about? Have you noticed litters of kittens springing up left and right? Or are you a responsible pet owner and would like to get your cat spayed or neutered? (Or maybe you want to, but you can’t really afford to?)

FixNation is a non-profit organization providing free spay/neuter services for homeless, stray and feral cats, as well as reduced rate spay/neuter services for tame cats. Our goal is to humanely reduce the number of homeless cats throughout Los Angeles by sterilizing as many as possible. We focus on providing these free spay/neuter services for “managed colonies”, which means food, water and shelter is provided to these cats on a daily basis.

Homeless, Stray & Feral Cats

FixNation offers free spay/neuter services for homeless, stray and feral cats. Under our free feral program, all homeless cats who will be eartipped for identification purposes will receive the following free services at the time they are here for surgery:

• Spay/neuter surgery
• Physical exam
• Rabies vaccine
• FVRCP vaccine (feline distemper combo vaccine)
• Revolution (for fleas, earmites, mange, hookworms, roundworms and a heartworm protection all for 30 days)
• Pain medication
• Fluids
• Antibiotic
• Droncit injection (for tapeworms), as needed
• Limited medical treatment
• Ear-tip
• Lots of TLC!

The eartip is the universal symbol that an outdoor or free-roaming cat has been fixed. It is done while the cat is under anesthesia, is relatively painless for the cat and does not significantly alter their beauty. We also apply a bit of pain medication paste to the eartip to make it even more comfortable for the cat.

Eartip example

Since we have only one opportunity with the feral cats, we choose to provide all that we can while they’re here for surgery.

We can do small eartips for any stray cats or kittens who you may be trying to adopt out.

Tame Companion Cats

FixNation offers, on a limited basis, reduced rate spay/neuter services for tame, companion cats who are not being eartipped. The cost of a female/spay is $55 and a male/neuter is $40 (rates effective as of 1/1/10). Vaccines are $8 each and Revolution is $15.

We do accept L.A. city coupons towards the cost of the spay or neuter.

Additional Services

We also offer the following services for an additional charge while cats are here for spay/neuter surgery:

• Microchipping – $25
• Feline Leukemia/FIV combo testing – $20 for ferals, $25 for tames
• Nail trims (tame cats only) – $5

Please be aware that our vaccine, testing and microchipping services are only provided at the time the cat is here for spay/neuter service. Since our main mission is to humanely reduce the number of homeless, stray and feral cats in Los Angeles, this is where we concentrate our time and attention.

]]> http://fixnation.org/2009/12/fixnations-services/feed/ 0 http://fixnation.org/2009/11/trapping-strategies-for-those-tricky-hard-to-catch-cats/ http://fixnation.org/2009/11/trapping-strategies-for-those-tricky-hard-to-catch-cats/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:33:52 +0000 admin http://fixnation.org/?p=791 Some cats don’t seem to want to go into the trap, no matter how hard you try Here are a few tips and tricks we’ve collected over the years that may help you nab your wily kitty.

Don’t feed – You may need to withhold food for a night or two. Sometimes a cat needs to be really hungry to have incentive to go into the trap. Make sure your neighbors aren’t feeding the cat either; if they tell you it’s not “nice to withhold food, tell them it’s a lot worse to make them suffer more pregnancies and kittens. Just make sure the rest of the colony is still getting fed.

Water bottle trick — This is a good trick to use if you have many cats with some having already been trapped or if you have a priority cat like a pregnant female. Don’t set the trip plate the usual way. Instead, prop the trap door open with a full water bottle tied to a long string. Pull the string once the cat is inside. Make sure you wait until the cat is nearly all the way in, like in the middle to the back of the trap. If you pull too soon you could injure the cat or the cat could back out and never go back in. The water bottle trick is basically a homemade, remote control trap.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Original Recipe — Get a drumstick and tie it to the top of the back of the trap, inside, dangling off the ceiling. This is a great lure for even the hardest to catch ferals. If you use this trick, don’t worry about trying to take the food out of the trap before your appointment, as the cat very likely won’t eat it in the trap after he/she has been caught.

Valerian root extract oil — Buy it at a health food store, break open the capsule and pour over your bait food.

Use smellier food — Try sardines, mackerel, Friskies “Tuna and Cheese” canned cat food or even chick flavored baby food.

Try a drop trap – If you’ve tried everything under the sun and you still can’t catch your cat, you may need to use a drop trap. FixNation does have a limited number of drop traps available to loan out, or you can have someone build it for you. To see what a drop trap is and how it works, check out Drop Trap Design.

Try camouflage or cardboard — Disguise the trap with foliage, tree branches, etc., so it looks nothing like a trap. Or, completely cover the trap with cardboard on all sides (leave breathing room) so it looks like a mysterious box.

Create a makeshift laundry basket trap – Take a plastic laundry basket and plop it down over the cat if you can get close. Slowly “spider” the basket onto a sturdy piece of plywood or a plastic Sterilite container lid. Duct tape the whole thing together. Be sure to bring an empty trap with you to the clinic, so the cat can recover in the trap.

Annual enrollment expires every August 31st, so if you enrolled prior to August 31st, 2009, you will need to re-enroll to make sure FixNation is still receiving your Ralphs Reward Card charitable proceeds. Since you are already a member and have an account, re-enrollment can be done quickly in just a couple of minutes online. See below for details.

Click here to set up an account today!

Enrollment Instructions for Existing Users:

• Go to www.ralphs.com and sign in

• Go to “My Account” • Go to the “Community Rewards Information” section and click on the link “Edit Community Contribution Program Information”

• Search for FixNation in the search box

• When FixNation comes up, select the radio button and click “Save Changes”

You are done! Log out.

Enrollment Instructions for New Users:

• Go to www.ralphs.com

• Look for the grey/yellow Ralphs card in the upper right hand side of the page and click on it

• Under New Customer section, click on “Sign Up Today”

• Follow the sign-up process — you’ll need to select a store, enter an email, select a password, enter the 12 digit number off the back of your Ralphs Rewards card,and enter your personal contact info

• Next you’ll get an email sent to your inbox to verify your info, click on the link to verify and you’ll be taken to a screen to complete registration

• Next sign in (if you’re not already signed in)

• Go to “My Account” • Go to the “Community Rewards Information” section and click on the link “Edit Community Contribution Program Information”

• Search for FixNation in the search box • When FixNation comes up, select the radio button and then click “Save Changes”

You are done! Log out.