Abstract: Improved zinc ferrite oxidative dehydrogenation catalyst can be prepared by co-precipitating the catalysts from a solution of zinc and iron ions in the presence of a high molecular weight polyhydric material such as dextran in a 2 to 4 normal alkali metal hydroxide solution. The result of having the polyhydric material present is that the precipitate has the form of a granular gelatinous precipitate of improved processability. The catalyst itself is more active in dehydrogenations and physically stronger than comparable catalyst prepared by conventional methods. More importantly, zinc ferrite catalysts prepared in this manner have extremely long useful lives whereas those prepared by conventional methods have very short useful lives.