Applications Open: 2025 Community Cat Management Summer Fellowships

The Operation Catnip (OC) Community Cat Management Summer Fellowship is a 10-week intensive program intended to provide veterinary students with invaluable experience in all aspects of community cat management. The OC staff works very closely with caregivers, stakeholders in the community, veterinary schools, and national animal welfare organizations toward the betterment of treatment of community cats throughout the country (and world). Applications are due February 17, 2025. The program runs May 19-July 27, 2025 onsite in Gainesville, Florida with excursions to other Florida locations. 

What is Operation Catnip? 

Since its creation in July of 1998, Operation Catnip of Gainesville has sterilized over 95,000 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, and regularly consults with shelters, rescues, and veterinary clinics to offer guidance and expertise in the realm of community cat care. 

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.

The Opportunity

A total of three Fellows will be selected for the 2025 Fellowship. Fellows will enjoy 10 weeks of immersion in all things related to humane community cat management. Operation Catnip’s spay-neuter clinics see approximately 55 patients three to four times per week, with additional wellness-only days weekly for kittens. You will find all manner of temperaments, colors, and medical mysteries amongst our patients. While our primary goal is spay-neuter, you’ll find that we think outside the box and offer a variety of clinical and surgical treatments to go beyond sterilization to improve the lives of these special cats. We perform enucleations, amputations, hernia repairs, entropion repairs, wound care, and more through our Critical Care Program. Your treatment plans will be puzzled together based on the cat’s condition and temperament, as well as the resources available, giving you first-hand experience with the creative decision-making skills required in shelter medicine work. Fellows will work with our caregivers and trappers, intake animals for daily clinics, assist in medical exams, and either learn how to or hone their spay/neuter skills. 

In addition to our spay-neuter services and Critical Care Program for community cats, you’ll become familiar with our other sub-programs: the Working Cat Program and the Kitten Shelter Diversion Program. Our Working Cat Program partners with shelters and rescues to place under-socialized cats in non-traditional homes such as barns, farms, businesses, and more. Our Kitten Shelter Diversion Program provides sterilization and wellness care to friendly, highly adoptable kittens within our community. Instead of these kittens receiving intake into our already overburdened shelters and rescues, caregivers use their own social networks or community rehoming resources to find loving homes for these kittens. The KSD program keeps about 1,400 kittens out of shelters each year. That’s also 1,400 fewer cats outdoors! 

Fellows will have the opportunity to work with our executive director, operations director, medical director, and other staff to learn the ins and outs of all things Operation Catnip. The fellowship will culminate in a week at Miami Shelter Camp. final week of the fellowship, students will participate in Miami Shelter Camp! In addition to daily participation in our spay-neuter clinics, they will meet one-on-one with our senior staff to cover topics relating to the following:

  • Routine Medical Care
  • Common Diseases and Treatments
  • Pathway Planning
  • Partnership Networking
  • Kitten Shelter Diversion 
  • Working Cats
  • Social Media Programming
  • Clinic and Deployment Planning
  • Fundraising, Development, and Advancement
  • Administration
  • Public Policy
  • 5 credits in required online/blended courses

Required courses

Completed previously or during the Fellowship

Who should apply? 

The ideal candidate would be a veterinary student seeking a future career in HQHVSN, community cat management, and/or shelter medicine. Students should be passionate about cats and should enjoy working with people, including underserved populations. Students of all experience levels are welcome to apply. Opportunities to perform surgery will be dependent on each student’s experience and competency. This is a rigorous full-time position with substantial time spent outdoors in the Florida summer and accompanying online courses.

Eligibility Criteria & Desired Skills

  • Currently enrolled in an AVMA accredited veterinary school
  • Available to work full time during summer semester May 19-July 27
  • Average 40 hours per week with evenings and weekends
  • Hold a valid driver’s license and clean driving record
  • Be willing to drive own vehicle for activities
  • Eligible to work in the United States
  • Have a current titer on pre-exposure rabies vaccination
  • Enthusiasm and buy-in to Operation Catnip’s programs, TNR, and community cats
  • Ability to work with diverse groups
  • Strong organizational and time-management skills
  • Excellent communication skills in person, over phone, and in writing
  • Ability to think creatively to solve problems

Fellowship Support 

  • $3300 Stipend 
  • Tuition-free access to Shelter Medicine Courses at the University of Florida
  • Travel and lodging for Miami Shelter Camp

How to Apply

  • Complete the online application form
  • Upload your veterinary school transcript (unofficial OK) and resume (requires Gmail login)
  • Finalists will be contacted for an interview (in-person or virtual)
  • Applications are due by February 17, 2025
  • Selections will be announced by March 7, 2025
  • Program starts May 19, 2025 and ends July 27, 2025

Download this template to assist your preparation for the online application submission

More Information

Learn more about Operation Catnip

Learn more about UF Shelter Medicine Courses

Questions about the fellowship: Dr. Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Medical Director, Operation Catnip