What Is Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV)?
By Dr. Amanda Page
What is Feline Immunodeficiency Virus?
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), also known as Feline AIDS, 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 3.5% of cats in the western United States are infected with FIV.
How does FIV cause disease?
FIV causes suppression of the immune system by attacking important cells of the cat’s immune system which protect the cat from common infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, …

FixNation is holding low-cost vaccine and microchip clinics for both cats and dogs once a month throughout 2010.
All proceeds from these clinics go to benefit FixNation, helping to offset the costs of free spay/neuter for homeless stray and feral cats. It’s a great way for us to bring low-cost, accessible services to you and your animals, while simultaneously raising money to help our non-profit.
Our vaccine clinics are held the first Saturday of every month (with July and September being the 3rd Saturday, due to holidays). Hours are from 9 am …

We are often asked about what kind of traps we recommend for purchase. We are huge fans of Tomahawk live traps. They are fantastic traps that are safe, reliable, easy to use and above all, they are humane so they do not harm cats.
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 …

FixNation loans out humane traps, carriers and equipment free of charge to the public.
The traps we loan out are humane traps that won’t harm the cats. While the traps may look intimidating, they are actually very safe. Using a humane trap is the safest solution to catch a feral cat – safer for both the cat and for you. It’s also the best way to temporarily house and transport them. Furthermore, it’s safer and easier for our vet techs to anesthetize the cat through a trap, as well as monitor …

The Station Fire is the largest fire southern California has seen in over 100 years. The fire raged across La Canada, Pasadena and surrounding areas north of Los Angeles in August and September of this year, and destroyed over 140,000 acres of land and hundreds of homes. Two firefighters lost their lives, and countless animals were displaced and killed during the horrific inferno. It took until mid October to fully contain the blaze.
During the period of mandatory evacuation in many of the areas, tiny little Ember was found. She was …

A feral cat is an outdoor, free-roaming cat who has never been socialized to humans and is living in a “wild” state. This could be a formerly domestic cat who has been abandoned and has reverted back to a “wild” state, or a cat who has been born on the streets and has never had any contact or interaction with humans. (Even though feral cats are wild, they should not be confused with “wildcats” like lynx or bobcats, who are not domestic animals.)

Feral cats are unhandleable. They look like regular …

The day-to-day needs of our program are many, as constant attention must be given to clinic management, fundraising, responding to caregiver applications, scheduling spay-neuter appointments, community outreach, and much, much more. With so much to do, it’s easy to get caught up in one’s own world and forget that there is more to our mission than simply our own agenda. In fact, we’re number 2 in the TNR cycle, whereas you, our clients, represent both the T and the R!
This being the case, we take this opportunity to recognize the …

What Is TNR?

Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR for short, is the humane approach to controlling feral cat overpopulation. It’s a community-based program that involves concerned citizens like you trapping cats in your neighborhood, bringing them to a clinic like FixNation to get them fixed, and then returning the cats to the exact spot where you trapped them so they can live out the rest of their natural lives.

There exists in the Los Angeles area a very large population of homeless, stray and feral cats. Given their strong survival capabilities and prolific breeding, …

Heaven on Earth Society for Animals, a leading animal rescue group in the Los Angeles area, has launched a transportation program to and from FixNation clinic, specifically for residents within the San Fernando Valley. All you need to do is the trapping, and then HOE will pick up your cats, transport them to FixNation for their spay/neuter appointments, and then return them to you at the end of the day. To schedule transportation with them, please call (818) 474-2700 ext. #6 or email them at spay@heavenlypets.org.

Satsuma
A short story by Elizabeth Cava
Aug 17, 2001

As a feral cat trapper, it’s always the one that I missed that haunts me.

The one that won’t go in the trap.

Incoming call to Best Friends Catnippers’ hotline:  “Please help!  Starving, stray cats are getting run over in the street.”

Satsuma Street Site:  North Hollywood, California.

Site History:  Elderly man feeding 18 cats dies.  Bank takes over.  Property sits vacant in limbo.  The 18 cats?  Left on their own.  To starve.

Neighborhood agrees to feed these now-feral (or wild) cats if we implement trap/neuter/return, a humane …