Happy Holidays from all of us at Operation Catnip in Gainesville.

With the amazing help of over 100 volunteers on December 14th, we sterilized 342 cats during our last clinic of the year! 342 cats in 7 hours is an OC record.  We know of no other program in the country that is able to match these results!  Imagine the exponential number of homeless kittens we've prevented from being born!  This clinic concluded our greatest year ever.  In 2008, over 3,500 cats were sterilized and returned.  In our ten-year history, over 26,000 cats have gone through our program, but as you know, there is still much work to be done.

In spite of the hundreds of volunteer hours given, materials donated and UF facilities offered, it still is very expensive to continue this effort. The December clinic alone cost OC over $7,500.00.

Help us start 2009 on our feet (and not on our knees begging) by donating what you can today. Your generous donations are tax-deductible -- and go directly towards reducing the number of hungry feral cats in Alachua County. It is easy to forget that such an amazing program is run on private donations and is not funded by the government or the university.

Our next clinic date is January 11.  Consider volunteering your time prior to or at our monthly clinic. There is something for everyone, from administrative tasks like data entry or phone calls, to medically technical tasks like preparing a cat for surgery during the clinic.

Finally, Operation Catnip is now one of several wonderful programs operated under the umbrella organization No More Homeless Pets, Inc. You will learn more about these programs over the coming weeks and months.  Operation Catnip's own Dr. Julie Levy is our President so you know we'll continue to do much for all our animal friends.  I hope you will contribute your time and dollars today.  Please mail your checks today to NMHP-Operation Catnip, PO Box 141023, Gainesville, FL 32614.  To volunteer, please contact me at Katherine.pennenga@nmhp.net or (352) 258-6757.