Frankie’s Friends began as a “medical rescue” and sanctuary for abused cats from a massive hoarding facility. Over 400 living cats and 107 deceased cats were removed from the property and cared for by the founders of Frankie’s Friends. To support the survivors that were not yet adopted or were unable to be adopted out due to chronic medical issues, Frankie’s Friends started providing low-cost veterinary services to the community via a converted box trailer that was purchased on Craigslist.

In just a few years, Frankie’s Friends was able to add a clinic building to the “cat house”/sanctuary and mobile surgical unit. The organizations has since grown to provide low or no-cost veterinary services to thousands of animals each year. Frankie’s Friends also rehabilitates and rehomes around 500 cats each year as well as provides veterinary forensic expertise and responds to animal cruelty cases for all animal species. This is all accomplished with a team of only 12 people.

While the organization provides low-cost spay/neuter for hundreds of shelter dogs annually, the primary focus, based on the mission to stop animal suffering, is on community cats. This community cat population is responsible for over 80% of the kittens born each season and, therefore, a huge reason that shelters and rescues are overburdened, cats remain homeless or are euthanized in shelters. Through partnerships with other rescue organizations that trap cats, bring them to the stationary clinic, or organize mobile clinics, Frankie’s Friends spays/neuters over 8,000 cats each year.

Frankie’s Friends recently expanded their facilities to open a training center for veterinarians, students, technicians, and assistants in High Quality High Volume Spay and Neuter (HQHVSN). The HQHVSN training is for individuals as well as entire veterinary teams, empowering those who complete the program to immediately implement the techniques into their practices and increase the number of animals surgically sterilized, while at the same time enhancing patient comfort through smaller incisions and quicker recovery times. An important part of the experience is opening the eyes of the participants to more efficient ways of doing things while maintaining high standards and complication rates lower than reported in large studies with low-volume surgeries in private practices.