Early Beginnings

The Cal Poly Cat Program was developed in association with a 1992 senior project started by Garret Quindimil, an Animal Science major and pre-veterinary student at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. Prior to the initiation of his senior project, Quindimil was a student assistant at Public Safety Services on campus. His duties included trapping feral cats on campus and taking them to the local Department of Animal Regulations to be humanely euthanized. Although this temporarily decreased the cat population on campus, it did not entirely get rid of it. Those cats yet untrapped and left to fend for themselves out in the wild often succumbed to disease, starvation and / or eventual pregnancy. In addition, the absence of cats from an area would create an almost "environmental vacuum." The newly empty, now uninhabited area could easily be replaced by a new population of strays which have wandered into the same spot, bringing their own problems of disease and high fertility with them.

Quindimil knew there must be an easier, more humane and more efficient method to deal with the feral cat problem on campus.

This theory made sense once it was allowed to be applied. Cal Poly, a large, agricultural college, has been the perfect setting to apply this concept. Following a similar set up coined by Alley Cat Allies as the "Test, Trap, Vaccinate, Medicate, Alter and Release" or "TTVMAR," Quindimil set out to begin such an ongoing management program on campus. With the help of campus veterinarian Dale Smith and animal health technician Sue Simenz from the Cal Poly Veterinary Clinic and the growing support of hundreds on campus and in the community, the Cal Poly Cat Program began to see great success. In the Fall of 1992, a second senior project was developed by Katy Pasche and Julia Gillas which allowed for particularly pre-veterinary students to observe spay / neuter operations and assist with the handling and administering of vaccinations right on campus. Also as a result of this project was an adoption program which allowed for students to help domesticate kittens to be placed in caring homes and find ranch homes for feral adults which could be beneficial mousers.

Since then other senior projects have branched off from the program, including three construction management projects which have allowed for positive upgrades of the campus cat shelter and this web page which is the result of over five years of involvement with the program since its first beginnings. If you are a student interested in working on a project with the program, please contact: Edie at 756-5220.

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