WUFT News News and Public Media for North Central Florida from the University of Florida in Gainesville
Operation Catnip, a non-profit organization that has been based in Gainesville for 18 years, hosted a fundraiser and celebration as part of #GivingTuesday at First Magnitude Brewery.
Operation Catnip helps stray and community cats by providing free spay-neuters and vaccinations for any cat that lives outside, said Amanda Burks, president of the Board of Directors for Operation Catnip.
Once a month they hold a huge clinic that treats about 200 cats in a single day.
“The fundraiser tonight allows [the clinic] to continue to be free,” said Burks. “We rely on grants and donations from the community to help us allow this program to stay free.”
Cats are usually not up for adoption from Operation Catnip, but sometimes there are exceptions for those cats that are able to live indoors.
“My boyfriend’s cats were all adopted through Operation Catnip,” said Aubrey Wise, a supporter of the organization. “They had feral cats on their property so they brought them there and kept them as cats.”
The event is not just for fundraising purposes, but also to celebrate a milestone for the organization.
“We were eager not only to capitalize on fundraising, but also to take time to kind of celebrate Operation Catnip and celebrate our 50,000th cat,” said Dory Rosati, Catnip’s program coordinator.
