On November 19, the Shelter Medicine Club held a feral cat surgery clinic as part of their ongoing Barn Cat Project. The Barn Cat Project is a collaboration between CVM faculty, staff, and students to provide medical care and sterilization surgeries to feral cats on agricultural entities throughout Michigan. The project focuses on addressing the feline overpopulation problem in rural Michigan. This surgery was the largest yet, providing care to 17 cats.

The Barn Cat Project provides students with hands-on experience while serving Michigan communities. The project allows fourth-year students to perform spay and neuter surgeries under the supervision of Dr. Laura Nelson and other members of the Soft Tissue Surgery Service. Third-year students scrub in to assist during surgery or perform anesthetic monitoring of patients with help from Dr. Kirk Muñoz and members of the Anesthesia Department. First and second-year students perform physical exams, vaccinations, and clip and prepare the cats for surgery with Dr. Marie Hopfensperger.

The Barn Cat Project is co-sponsored by the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association, Merial, and the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences.