Pet Obesity | FixNation Event | Animal Communicator
Health and Lifestyle contributor Monica Leighton provides valuable health information about Pet Obesity Awareness Month. | Karn Meyers, Co-Founder of FixNation and Leslie Farrell, Founder of Architect for Animals share information about one of LA's most innovative design events: Architects for Animals "Giving Shelter" exhibit, a fundraiser for LA based nonprofit FixNation which provides free spay and neuter services for homeless cats | Find out how to tell what your pet might be thinking with Animal Communicator Lori Michel.
BIO:
FixNation was founded by Mark Dodge, an attorney, and Karn Myers, an entertainment executive, a husband and wife team who have long been cat lovers.
The idea to try to help homeless cats started in 1998 when Karn was working for a special effects company. Every morning and afternoon, she noticed two women feeding a colony of feral cats in the adjacent property. Karn quickly befriended the two caregivers, and began a year-long education on the world of homeless, stray and feral cats. Karn began investigating what could be done to help and soon developed momentum. With Mark’s research and networking help, they began working with others who also wanted to offer assistance.
Mark and Karn learned that monthly spay/neuter clinics were being held in San Diego by Feral Cat Coalition (FCC). To duplicate that program and bring it to Los Angeles, they videotaped FCC for reference purposes, put together an organizational plan and made a formal proposal to the outreach program directors of Best Friends Animal Society. Best Friends adopted the traveling clinic model and provided initial funding to begin Catnippers in October 1999. A bi-monthly, all-volunteer clinic still run by Mark and Karn, the Catnippers program continues today and has fixed 18,000 homeless cats since 2000.
After nearly ten years of successful Catnippers clinics, Karn and Mark knew a permanent facility was needed in order to address the still-growing homeless cat population in L.A. So in 2007, after much planning and fundraising, FixNation was launched – a full-time TNR clinic under a new 501(c)(3) organization.
FixNation became the first, full-time spay-neuter facility in Los Angeles in 2007, providing comprehensive TNR support including free spay/neuter services for homeless cats, TNR outreach and education, as well as affordable care for companion cats, and partnerships to facilitate adoptions. FixNation is a model for TNR and cat population management across the country. Since opening its doors in 2007, FixNation has sterilized 110,000 cats in addition to its Catnippers program.