In January, 2000, Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine, with the support of the Scott-Ritchey Research Center, implemented a feral cat trap-neuter-return (TNR) program to control the cat population on campus. This program (called Operation Cat Nap) is under the direction of Dr. Brenda Griffin and has been approved by the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, the University Provost and the Director of Safety and Environmental Health. This Program represents a collaborative effort among faculty, staff and students to take responsibility for the cats residing on the Auburn University campus and to perform outreach into the community.

The specific goals of Operation Cat Nap include the following:

1. To humanely control and care for the campus population of cats and to offer community outreach and support for the same,

2. To raise awareness regarding the importance of responsible cat ownership and spay/neuter,

3. To contribute scientific information to the existing knowledge of feral cats and humane population control,

4. To provide veterinary students and veterinarians with the knowledge required to implement a successful TNR program in practice.

Auburn University Campus Cats

To date, approximately 150 cats have been identified at various locations on the AU campus. Nearly all of these cats have been humanely trapped, surgically sterilized, vaccinated and tested for disease. The tip of the left ear is removed to mark and identify cats as graduates of the Program. Sick cats and kittens have been humanely euthanized. Healthy cats have been released at the sites where they are captured. The vaccinated, sterilized cats form small stable populations that do not breed, spray or fight and do not represent public health threats.

As a part of this Program, campus cats are fed by volunteer caretakers on a regular basis. After they become accustomed to a feeding routine, they can be easily captured with a baited trap. Continued feeding ensures proper welfare of the animals and serves to raise awareness regarding the needs of cats and the responsibilities of their human caretakers. Operation Cat Nap provides volunteer caretakers with donated cat food and box-style feeding stations for their cats.

Funding, Staffing, Research and Educational Efforts

Operation Cat Nap is supported by intramural and extramural funds and has supported veterinary student summer research fellows for the past four years. In Fall 2001, Kim Byrd Subacz, a graduate student from the Universityís Wildlife Department began working with Operation Cat Nap to more closely examine the effects of the Program on the campus cat population. Results of the campus project were published at a recent scientific meeting and a larger investigation is ongoing. This investigation is currently receiving national attention and may be used as a model for additional studies at other Universities.

Operation Cat Nap is voluntarily staffed by faculty, staff, and students. In particular, two student groups take leadership in these efforts (both of whom Dr. Griffin advises): the student chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Associations Animal Welfare Action Committee (AWAC) and the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association (pre-vet club). Educational campaigns are conducted by these student groups in efforts to raise awareness among students, faculty and staff regarding the importance of responsible cat ownership and spay/neuter.

Recently, a video was filmed entitled "Working with Feral Cats in Practice" by veterinary student Whitney Lemarr. The purpose of this video is to provide veterinary practitioners with the information and techniques required to assist clients with management of feral cats. This video is being distributed to veterinary colleges nation-wide and is being made available to veterinary practitioners through Auburn Universityís Office of Continuing Education, as well as through Alley Cat Allies, a well-known national feral cat resource. The video has been added to the curriculum for Auburn University veterinary students.

Other educational outreach efforts include maintenance of a dedicated Operation Cat Nap phone line and call back service to provide information about cat care and control and to answer questions. Operation Cat Nap also conducts humane education campaigns through campus postings and advertisements in the Plainsman newspaper.

Operation Cat Nap surgery clinics are filled with a sense of excitement and team spirit. The reward of collaborating to help cats and people is tremendous. As a way of recognizing volunteers and building team spirit, Operation Cat Nap gives free tee shirts to clinic volunteers. The shirts bear the Operation Cat Nap logo and slogan that reads ěRespect for Lifeî. These shirts serve to further spread the educational message and to identify members of Auburn Universityís Cat Nap volunteer family.

Community Outreach

In Fall 2002, Operation Cat Nap received permission from the Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine to collaborate with community feral cat organizations to conduct TNR of cats residing off campus. At that time, Allied Cats of Columbus (ACC), a non-profit organization established by Dr. Ralph McBean in Georgia, was invited to participate in surgery clinics. This organization is dedicated to the welfare of feral cats and kittens, and they offer TNR services, as well as taming and adoption of young kittens and socialized cats. They have brought cats to OCN clinics over the course of the last year as space has permitted. To date, more than 100 cats from Columbus are graduates of Operation Cat Nap!

Efforts to extend outreach into the local community surrounding Auburn are currently being organized and extramural support for these efforts is being sought. Substantial growth of community outreach in Lee County, Alabama is anticipated within the next 12 months. With this goal in mind, Cat Nappers, LLC is being established by Ms. Kim Klopfenstein in Lee County. The mission of Cat Nappers is to increase sterilization and vaccination of free-roaming and feral cats in Lee County through a trap-loan program designed to assist concerned citizens to take responsibility for cats in Lee County through Operation Cat Nap surgery clinics. In order to accomplish this mission, Cat Nappers is planning the following:

1. To solicit and answer calls from the public in order to provide information on responsible and humane cat care and spay/neuter

2. To arrange appointments for Operation Cat Nap surgery clinics (only unowned free-roaming/stray and feral cats will be included: pet cats with owners will be referred to a regular veterinarian for private care)

3. To organize loan of traps and to provide cat caretakers with written instructions for safe and humane capture of cats

4. To organize return of traps, trap storage and maintenance

Policy regarding cats and caretakers
Only unowned, free-roaming and feral cats will be trapped, neutered and returned to their colonies. A responsible caretaker must be identified for each colony as a prerequisite for performing TNR. Socialized (tame) cats should be placed in homes as pet cats. If socialized cats are presented to Operation Cat Nap, they may be adopted at the clinic to volunteers rather than be returned to the caretaker at the discretion of Operation Cat Nap. Caretakers will not be consulted prior to adoption.

Policy regarding education and prevention
To prevent the existence of additional feral cats, responsible cat ownership will be promoted, focusing on sterilization, the wearing of identification, preventative health care and keeping cats safe at home.

Policy regarding handling of cats
No feral cat will ever be handled or removed from a trap until fully anesthetized. All personnel handling cats will wear protective gloves at all times.

Policy regarding small kittens
Because the mortality rate of feral kittens is 50% on average, small kittens will be humanely euthanized. Individuals or other organizations may tame these kittens and place them as pets rather than presenting them to Operation Cat Nap.

Policy regarding sick or injured cats and FeLV or FIV positive cats
Unless treatment can be entirely performed at the time of surgery (ex: cleaning a wound), humane euthanasia will be performed to prevent suffering and spread of disease. Caretakers will not be consulted prior to euthanasia.

Policy regarding pregnant queens
All pregnant queens will be spayed. If kittens are near term, euthanasia solution will be injected into the uterus after it has been removed.

Policy regarding nursing (lactating) queens
If a lactating female is trapped, the caretaker should search the area for the kittens. If kittens can not be located, every effort should be made by the caretaker to have the cat spayed and to release her within 24 hours of trapping so that she can care for and nurse her kittens.

Policy regarding liability
All volunteers are required to sign release forms prior to participating in Operation Cat Nap. All Auburn University students, faculty and staff volunteers who are handling traps with un-anesthetized cats must be currently vaccinated against rabies, or demonstrate a protective titer, and have health insurance.

Scratch and Bite Policy
In the event that any person is scratched or bitten by a feral cat, the cat will be euthanized and the head will be submitted to the State Diagnostic Laboratory for rabies testing. Dr. Griffin should be notified immediately. Caretakers will not be consulted prior to euthanasia.

Policy on whom will perform surgeries
Spays will be performed by experienced veterinarians since these are 'wild' cats and will be released the next day. Neutering of male cats may be performed by experienced veterinary students at the discretion of Dr.Griffin.

Policy on Identification of 'Cat Nap graduates'
To ensure that surgery is not performed on the same cat twice, the distal tip of the left ear will be removed. Cats with tipped left ears, therefore will readily be identified as graduates of Operation Cat Nap and will be released immediately if re-trapped. A tipped or cropped ear is the universal symbol for a sterilized free-roaming cat.

Policy on medical care during surgery clinics
At the time of surgery, all cats will receive the following:
- physical examination
- FVRCP vaccination
- Rabies vaccination
- Ivomec 0.1 ml/cat SQ (this dosage treats ear mites, round and hook worms)
- Procaine Penicillin G (single injection SQ or IM)
- Frontline Top Spot (flea control)
- Cats that are pregnant or dehydrated will also receive 150 ml SQ fluids.

Policy on Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Testing
The incidence of FeLV in feral cats is <3-6%. Because of the low incidence of infection, the expense of testing and because neutering greatly reduces transmission of these viruses by decreasing fighting and preventing kitten births, testing will only be performed if they are donated by pharmaceutical companies. (Paying to test cats doubles the cost per cat and, therefore decreases the number of cats that can be sterilized. This policy has been established in keeping with the mission of Operation Cat Nap which is to humanely control the cat population: this can only be accomplished by spaying/neutering as many cats as possible.) However if tests are donated, they will be used. If infected cats are identified, they will be euthanized in order to prevent their suffering and to prevent possible transmission of the virus to other cats.