Our Founding Medical Director: Dr. Rene Gandolfi
Fix Our Ferals has been so very fortunate to have had as our Medical Director Rene Gandolfi, D.V.M. Dr. Gandolfi’s medical expertise, his ties to the Bay Area veterinary community, and his great compassion for feral cats have all combined to create the high quality of medical care maintained at Fix Our Ferals spay-neuter clinics. Dr. Gandolfi retired from this post in late 2009.
Dr. Gandolfi attributes the beginnings of his sensitivity to the issue of feral cats to his experience on a family vacation to Rome at the age of nine. He was deeply shocked by a mother cat’s plight and began wondering “Who will take care of the cats?”
In 1997, Dr. Gandolfi and his star technician, Mary Myers, were among five founding members who traveled to San Diego to check out a high-volume spay-neuter clinic run by the Feral Cat Coalition (FCC).
We decided to use the FCC protocols as a basis for our fledgling program and held our first Fix Our Ferals clinic with 32 cats at Abbey Pet Hospital in July of 1998. Dr. Gandolfi took responsibility for molding the FCC protocols to the needs and sensitivities of Bay Area caretakers and their feral colonies, and has never stopped researching ever better protocols to constantly improve the care of the cats at our clinics.
When a UC Davis student saw a FOF flyer and came to our first clinic, Dr. Gandolfi recognized the potential and worked with Dr. Bradford Smith , Director of UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, to design an externship program for veterinary students participating at Fix Our Ferals clinics. While earning academic credits, students who volunteer at clinics get hands-on supervised experience to enhance their classroom education.
Just as importantly, wherever these volunteers will practice as graduates, they are likely to appreciate the special needs of feral cats and their caretakers. Dr. Gandolfi believes that student participation “inculcates a form of reverence for life: that these are not throw away objects, and that the cats, and all animals, deserve respect and conscious care”.
Dr. Gandolfi’s compassion and deep commitment to curbing cat overpopulation have been the perfect fit and complement to the spirit of Fix Our Ferals. Although our high-volume clinics sometimes treat over 200 cats in one day, we provide high quality medical care under his careful scrutiny, and are able to treat each individual life as precious.
Read the March 18th interview with Dr. Gandolfi illustrating how some personal and professional events and convictions in his life led him to become involved with Fix Our Ferals.
Dr. Gandolfi ’s private practice:
Castro Valley Companion Animal Hospital
2509 Lessley Avenue
Castro Valley, CA 94546
510-582-6311