Saturday, October 4 at 3pm: click here for details

The Feral Blog

Illinois TNR Legality, Feral Cat Updates, an Adoption Event and more!

Written by: Tammy McAuley

TNR Is Legal in the State Of Illinois

Just today, heard from a caretaker who we are helping who interacted with a Community Service Officer in Elmhurst who informed him that trapping is illegal. Perhaps the officer is a new hire? Seems time to post this information:


 
In Illinois, feral cat trapping is conducted using the legal and humane Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) method, which sterilizes cats and returns them to their territory to control populations and improve their welfare. To implement TNR, you need to locate a local TNR program or a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, obtain a humane trap, bait it with aromatic food, and check it frequently to prevent harm to the trapped animal or other wildlife. Once trapped and safely covered, cats are transported to the program or clinic for spay/neuter surgery and vaccination before being returned to their original location. 

1. Understand the Legal and Humane TNR Process

  • Legal in Illinois: The Animal Control Act (510 ILCS 5/) in Illinois legalizes TNR, allowing feral cat caretakers to participate in these programs without being considered owners of the cats.

2. And In Elmhurst:

First Case of Cat Bird Flu Since March

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on 8/31 that two lots of RAWR Raw Cat Food Chicken Eats tested positive for the virus. Analysis by San Francisco health department officials showed that the same strain of the H5N1 virus was present in the pet food and in the cat that died.

The affected lots of RAWR food include CCS 25 077, with a sell-by date of Sept. 18, 2026, and CCS 250 093, with a sell-by date of Oct. 3, 2026.

And a new paper published 9/24 studies pathogens found.

Cats Develop Dementia Like Humans 

Cats develop dementia naturally, just like people. As with people, amyloid-beta plaques build up in their brains. Something to think about as your cats age.

National Feral Cat Day – Do You Bake?

Sunday, October 12th 12 noon to 3pm, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard, IL, join us for our bake sale and Boutique sale (t-shirts+). Donations from our Wish List will be gratefully accepted! Socialize with other cat people! Hope to see you there! If you would like to contribute to our Bake Sale, please contact Sue Zorn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (630-661-8509). Cakes, cookies, an occasional pie, never know what will show up for sale!

September Done Already!

  • 9/4 – DCAS – 10 friendlies, 20 ferals, 16 female, 14 male – one male was euthanized due to severe ill health.
  • 9/11 – DCAS – 1 friendly, 4 ferals, 3 female, 2 male. Weren’t planning on a trip but sometimes they just keep showing up.
  • 9/18 – ADOPT & DCAS – 8 friendly, 21 feral, 15 female, 14 male. Yes, two different clinics in one day.
  • 9/25 – DCAS – 5 friendlies, 8 ferals, 7 female, 6 male. 

Total: September 77, year-to-date 593, since 2007 16,327!

8/14 Ferals

Ferals for 9/4 - yes more kittens in crates, too!

8/14 Friendlies

We pile the friendlies in the big room or side room where it is nice and quiet until the fosters pick them up.

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

Adoption Event

Saturday, 9/27 11am-3pm at PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center, 1550 Butterfield Rd, Downers Grove, IL. The atmosphere is always upbeat during the PetSmart adoption events. Our fosters are usually able to be there and share information about the cats, so you get a full picture of the one(s) you are interested in! 21 cats are scheduled to appear, fill out adoption applications in advance, meet and greet opportunities can be scheduled at our building for those not in attendance!

Last S/N Trip Is October 30th

We will most likely have adoptables on hand, a situation where we absolutely need to neuter an adult, but October 30th is our end date for ferals.

We did too much at the end of last year, beginning of this year and we completely wore ourselves out! We would so much like to s/n as much as possible by 10/30 in order to lighten the load come Spring – always our goal! We have limited ourselves to only doing cats in DuPage as much as we can – saying “No” is one of the hardest parts of TNR.

If you do not get to us by 10/30, plan on caring for the cats until the end of February, depending on the weather. Make shelters, buy straw, and keep the cat healthy. Do the best you can to care for them.

We Could Not Do What We Do Without YOU!

Apache Halloween

They’re doing it again! Always a fun display, donations benefitting Feral Fixers!

Stop at the Apache Halloween display on the following dates:

October 4, 11, 25, 31. (Dusk - 10pm) Weather Permitting.

Address: 2301 Apache Ln, Woodridge, IL 60517

Instagram page

Voice Mail Full

If you have called recently, you may have heard the voice mail box is full. Can’t keep up! Phone calls range from being way out of our “territory” in DuPage, to owner give-ups – we are a TNR organization, not a shelter per se, even though we do adoptions of the tame. Not sure how we can fix those search engines that list us first all the time!

Events, Advocacy, and Cat-tastic Ways to Help

Written by: Tammy McAuley

National Feral Cat Day

Sunday, October 12th 12 noon to 3pm, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard, join us for our bake sale and Boutique sale (t-shirts+). Donations from our Wish List will be gratefully accepted! Socialize with other cat people! Hope to see you there! If you would like to contribute to our Bake Sale, please contact Sue Zorn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 630-661-8509. Cakes, cookies, an occasional pie, never know what will show up for sale!

Could This Happen in Your Town?

Hawaii is criminalizing feral cat caretaking. Currently on the Mayor’s desk, it bans the feeding and care of feral cats.

August Almost Over!

  • 8/14 – DCAS – 15 friendlies, 19 ferals, 15 males, 19 females.
  • 8/21 – DCAS – 2 friendlies, 13 ferals, 9 males, 6 females. One male feral had a dental, removing 3 really bad teeth – it is really difficult to put cats back out that are in pain!

Total: August 49, year-to-date 516, since 2007 16,250!

Our next trip will include these older kittens and adults that were hanging out in an apartment complex stairwell.  Reported to be friendly, there's a total of 9 cats - this is why we have to s/n every feline!

 

8/14 Trip - 15 friendlies and 19 Ferals!

13 ferals, 2 friendlies, kittens in crates awaiting movement. All those cans of cat food? We recycle.

 As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

Adoption Events - September

  • Sunday, 9/7 1–4pm at Feral Fixers. We have so many wonderful cats and kittens. Fill out an adoption application in advance and check out those posted on our website. Adoptions happen all the time, in addition to adoption events, having an application on file can make a difference in finding that feline that is perfect for you!
  • Sunday, 9/14 1–4pm at Feral Fixers. Sunday adoption events have been a real hit at Feral Fixers!
  • Saturday, 9/27 11-3pm at PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center, 1550 Butterfield Rd, Downers Grove. The atmosphere is always upbeat during the PetSmart adoption events. Our fosters are usually able to be there and share information about the cats, so you get a full picture of the one(s) you are interested in!

Cat’s Pride Donations

Hundreds of kittens, dozens of adults pass thru Feral Fixers’ doors. That’s a LOT of litter! Many of our fosters have the time but not the money for supplies, which we provide. Think about 4 kittens, on hand for 3 months, how many bags of litter could that be? Yikes! Designating Feral Fixers for your points can make all the difference in the care of the cats in our hands. Become a Cat’s Pride Club member today!

Our thanks to everyone who designates Feral Fixers for their Cat's Pride points! A new location is donating space to store our skids of litter - huge thank you to Northshore Pool and Spa for the use of their space - they recently expanded their storage and it was just in time for our next donation from Cat's Pride. We had emptied our last bag of litter on hand into our litter bins two days before this shipment arrived! So many people and businesses keep Feral Fixers running!!!

How Can You Help Feral Fixers?

  • Talk about us – spread the word about TNR. Talk about the difference Feral Fixers has made in your lives – helping with the cats in your neighborhood or the cat you have adopted from us!
  • Volunteer – there are never enough trappers, fosters, transporters, people to clean and maintain, kitten snugglers! Take on a project, coordinate an event yourself.
  • Attend our events – we will have some coming up soon. There just has not been enough time!
  • Donate – check out our wish lists and of course money is always needed.

Joseph Stock presented an Eagle Scout project to create cardboard scratchers for Feral Fixers. He organized the effort and the Scouts to make two large boxes full!  Very useful in different sizes. Leftover project funds were also donated!  Some of the scratchers were put into immediate use in cages of kittens.

This is one of many recent Chewy shipments - kitten and adult canned food - thank you to everyone who have responded recently to our pleas for donations! FedEx guy hopes for kitten season to be over soon!

We Could Not Do What We Do Without YOU!

Kittyman Chant – Worth A Repeat!

July Feral Fixes: Stats, Stories, and Adoptions Ahead

Written by: Tammy McAuley

Wrapping Up July

  • 7/31 – DCAS – 18 friendlies, 8 ferals. 12 males, 12 females. Still think it’s neat when we have 50 – 50 on the sexes! So many kittens headed for adoption! Please consider adding a furry feline to your household!

Total: July 131, year-to-date 467, since 2007 16,201!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

 

Many times we end up using more than the TNR room before surgery. Heat, rain, family responsibilities, so many reasons contributing to only 8 ferals this week!

If You Can’t Say Something Positive…

Positive calls of the day so far:

  • Inquiry about a missing feral, worried about how she was, and did we trap her? Think so, got her and her kittens and mom should be coming back today. Had hideous worms so hopefully we fixed that for her! Trapped one block over from the caller and told her cat should show up the next day or so and advised on future worm treatment and how behavior may now change with the hormones gone! Kittens are thinking about not spitting and attacking, so that’s positive!
  • Another call, people are trying to do the work themselves, found a home for two kittens, took two kittens to DCAS and needed to borrow a trap to get the mom and plan to take to DCAS for s/n. Such a huge help to us! We don’t have surgeries scheduled for next week so are trying to keep TNR room empty as much as we can.

Positive (for most part) email today so far:

  • We helped some caretakers five years ago. A friend of theirs plans to make a bequest to Feral Fixers as he has heard nothing but good things about us. We hope this donation is not made any time soon but we so appreciate that people think what we do is so important that they tell their friends.

Things are very difficult right now but there are bright spots!

Adoption Event – 8/3/25

Our next adoption event is Sunday, August 3rd, 1pm - 4pm at Feral Fixers. Come check out our foster cats and kittens! So many available! More than can be at the building on same day! Fill out an application in advance, Adoptables page has most of our cats posted, but advisable to have your application on file if you see the best match! 

We Could Not Do What We Do Without YOU!

Where there is a will, there's a way! That gap is maybe an inch and a half!

From The President

It's 2025!

Written by: Tammy McAuley

2025 – Already Here!

2024 has been a very long year, hasn’t it? Yet it seems to have been over in the blink of an eye!

The volunteers, donors, caretakers, fosters, all playing a part in Feral Fixers accomplishing 854 spay/neuters of feral and stray cats and kittens. We have adopted approximately 342 cats and kittens to wonderful homes with the help of our adoption, foster and animal care volunteers and there are two days left in the year as I write this. We have assisted many sick and injured cats. We’ve done so much that is positive and will have long-lasting effects for both cats and humans.

We have to mention the challenges of the year – spay/neuter clinics shut down for reconstruction or permanently, veterinarians leaving the work force, all reducing the number of available surgery slots we could obtain. Pet owners faced housing and financial issues, resulting in more cats being outside and intact. Every shelter is full – we keep saying that and it does not improve.

Judging by the number of phone calls we have received and the locations we just could not get to, 2025 may be an even busier year. We resume trapping when the overnight temperatures are above 30 degrees consistently – that date is anyone’s guess in Chicagoland these days. We have to take the situations on a case- by-case basis. More people are bringing cats into their homes and arranging s/n themselves and we applaud them!

Through it all, our donors have helped so much. While fundraising takes time and there has not been near enough of that this year, we have been able to keep the lights on, the cats fed, the litter boxes scooped and spay/neuter to the capacity of the surgeries available to us.

We are hoping that increased capacity for surgery will increase our yearly s/n numbers in 2025 – the only way we are going to get ahead. We are hoping that more people will be able to volunteer, foster and adopt!

Even though this is hard work, we have to remember the impact we have had, how many cats would be roaming the streets, producing more and more, the suffering that has been alleviated, feline and human alike! We have much more work to do but what a difference has been made so far!

You - donors, volunteers, caretakers, are all responsible for the huge difference Feral Fixers has achieved in the last 17 years! Remember –

As Many As Possible

As Soon As Possible

It's 2024, finally...

Written by: Tammy McAuley

2023 – What A Year

Together, volunteers, donors, caretakers, everyone involved with Feral Fixers, we have accomplished 926 spay/neuters of feral and stray cats and kittens. With the help of our dedicated adoption and foster and animal care volunteers, we have found homes for 360 cats and kittens. In just this year, you can see the impact as we reduced the volume of cats outdoors, we reduced the overpopulation crisis from every direction, helping felines and humans alike.

The challenges have been immense. 

Kitten numbers have increased dramatically –societal changes may be the biggest impact: lack of vet access, money, movement of our population – combining households, isolation and hoarding, etc. People are actually paying more attention to the cats outside and are discovering the pregnant cat, the litter of kittens much more readily than in the past which results in overall increased volume that we are contacted about. Every shelter is full. Everyone is doing their best to save every cat they can. Adults and kittens are becoming friendly at an increased pace. Years ago, a feral was a feral was a feral. Not anymore. Kittens sometimes are friendly from the time they are trapped, adults will have a complete turnaround to being friendly. National organizations are seeing this and the only advice they can offer is that even if a cat is friendly, put it back outside – there just aren’t enough homes.

Volunteers. The data can be looked at in many different ways, but finding information that DuPage County ranked 2nd in 102 Illinois Counties of charities per square mile illustrates why it is so difficult finding and maintaining volunteers. No one seems to have as much time as we used to. There are so many choices of where to spend that valuable volunteer time. Our lives can change in an instant and our personal responsibilities must take priority. Feral Fixers has wonderful volunteers, and we treasure them every day. We need more, the volunteer staff is not a constant and can change quickly. From trapping to transport, fostering and shifts of cat care at the building, cleaning – oh my, the cleaning! We do need volunteers who can snuggle kittens just as much as we need those who can sweep floors and do laundry. Social people who can interact with adopters on adoption days, help with events, host events! Everyone has their own strengths and abilities, please share them with us!

Need everywhere. We can average five calls a day for help.

*Discovered kittens under the shed, come help. *My mother let a pregnant cat into her house, come trap and take the kittens. *My cat has lost its mind and is attacking me, help. *I have 15 cats in and around my house (usually results in 60+ cats). *I live outside your area, but I can bring the cats to you. *Been feeding a cat for 2 years, not neutered, now he’s injured from fighting, come help. On social media, you may often see “call Feral Fixers, they will help you” and we do help so many!

With all these challenges we must remember the impact we have had, can you imagine how many cats would be roaming the streets, producing more and more, the suffering we have alleviated, feline and human alike! We have much more work to do but what a difference has been accomplished! 

You - donors, volunteers, caretakers, are all responsible for the huge difference Feral Fixers has achieved in the last 16+ years!

With Your Help

Written by: Tammy McAuley

731 spay/neuters of cats and kittens. We brought in +/- 320 friendly cats & kittens. Some of these were previously neutered adults who decided to become friendly after being neutered. There have been approximately 300 adoptions, but still have 33 officially posted for adoption and many more in foster homes. We have helped many cats with injuries and conditions from simple upper respiratory to congenital defects the cats were born with. We have provided food for caretakers. Removed feral cats from inside homes when there was no other way to get them out. Seen the change in cats who were completely feral transitioning into loving lap cats. Relocated cats that could no longer stay where they were due to overpopulation or change of circumstances. You have helped us do so much! So much goes on behind the scenes beyond our reports of spay/neuter trips and you are all part of caring for the stray and feral cats of DuPage County!

What Can We Expect In 2023?

We continue to face the unknown. Who could have expected that across the nation, we are short 15,000 veterinarians? Who could have expected that our nation could be short millions of spay/neuter surgeries? So many different factors are affecting daily lives, it will be interesting to see the impact on cats outdoors, how many kittens will be born to these unneutered females still roaming that no one was able to get to. Prices have gone up for cat food, cat litter, gasoline to take them to appointments & adoptions, and on and on. What can we do? We can continue to get as many spay/neuter appointments as we possibly can and to FILL those appointments, making caretakers aware that they must contact us as soon as a cat is consistent in attendance. It is the ONLY way to lower costs in the future. Once those kittens arrive, we will care for them, using resources for current day expenses, not for preventing even greater expenditures in the future – that is unsustainable and returns us to the past when feral cats were euthanized regularly.

Trapping will resume around the end of March, beginning of April. Keep an eye out for ferals in your area, talk to your neighbors, help us help you to care for those cats.

What Can You Do?

The Amazon Smile donation in November, which covered purchases made between July 1, 2022, and September 30, 2022, came to $606.70. That means that our donors spent $121,340 in that time period and .5% was donated by Amazon Smile – Yay! Use AmazonSmile and designate Feral Fixers – could not be an easier way to raise funds!

Visit our wish lists at Amazon & Chewy – we always need food; canned food in particular goes fast when you are supporting so MANY kittens! Gift cards allow us to purchase what our greatest need at the time is – paper towels, bleach, laundry detergent, litter boxes – amazing the variety of things we purchase to keep going! 

Spread our information to coworkers, family, social media – we have donors across the country! Cats have a ripple effect, they don’t stay in one place and affect wider resources than those on their street, in their town, in their county – even in their state! New people are volunteering with us due to sharing information, but we need more volunteers, many more. Trappers, transporters, cleaners in the building, animal care in the building, fosters, event volunteers, the list goes on. You tell us what you want to do to help, and we try to make that fit for both of our benefits!

Frosty Claws in 2023 

We seem to be returning to some degree of normalcy. As a result, we will be holding our 2023 Frosty Claws on Sunday, January 15th from 12 noon to 4pm at the Villa Park VFW. We may have huge attendance that day because of skipping years, please be patient. This is an event for our caretakers, adopters, donors, to talk about cats and network with some fundraising and food. We are about to start assembling our Silent Auction and door prize items – we may not have as much “stuff” as in previous years – we will post items as they are created, as soon as we have a chance. We look forward to seeing everyone who can attend!