THE HISTORY OF OPERATION CATNIP

Operation Catnip Roots

In 1994, cat lovers and volunteers for Second Chance Pet Adoptions in Raleigh, NC, joined a national effort to reduce feral and stray cat populations through sterilization. The group had a very simple mission; to reduce the feral cat population and relieve the suffering of homeless cats by neutering as many as possible, and returning them to their caretakers and their colonies.

A High-Volume TNR Clinic Run by Volunteers

By 1997, demand for the group’s services was so high that Operation Catnip, a free spay-neuter program for feral cats, was established.

The grass-roots nature of feral cat advocacy groups can make it difficult to consolidate resources and information. Operation Catnip surveyed a number of programs before selecting two established and successful resources to model their procedures after Alley Cat Allies and the Feral Cat Coalition one of the most successful large-scale feral cat spay-neuter programs in the country.

A trip to study the operations at the Feral Cat Coalition clinic in San Diego was instrumental in helping the group design a high-volume clinic run completely by volunteers in borrowed facilities at the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University.

Operation Catnip of Gainesville

In July 1998, Dr. Julie Levy founded Operation Catnip of Gainesville. Today, OC of Gainesville is one of three spay-neuter programs that owe their roots to the original group of committed cat lovers.

When Dr. Julie Levy arrived at the University of Florida in 1997, she was on a National Institutes of Health grant to study FIV, feline immunodeficiency virus.

But it wasn’t long before problem of managing community cat populations took over her research time. There had to be a better way, she thought, to control outdoor cat populations.

Prior to her move to Florida, Dr. Levy was an invaluable member of the team who created Operation Catnip in Raleigh, NC. She used her knowledge and experience to start Operation Catnip of Gainesville, a MASH-style clinic model nearly identical to Raleigh's.

Since its creation in July of 1998, Operation Catnip of Gainesville has sterilized over 85,000 cats in Alachua County and the surrounding areas. By offering surgical and clinical opportunities to qualified veterinary students, we have been training the next generation of our country's veterinarians for over 20 years. Operation Catnip of Gainesville has evolved to become a model for TNR clinics all over the world, thanks to Dr. Levy's leadership and guidance.

Today, we remain focused on hosting clinics for the sterilization and vaccination of community cats, training veterinary students interested in shelter medicine and community cat management, providing trap rental services for the public to participate in our spay-neuter clinics, and educating our community about compassionate care for these cats.