But I Don’t Want Them Back

Wow, things are bad these days. There are not enough spay/neuter appointments available. All TNR groups and rescues are doing their very best but are overwhelmed – there really needs to be another word that describes this situation! A new startup rescue recently posted that 153 kittens on hand has put a full stop to their intake. We are at over 150 adoptable cats/kittens. DCAS has over 130 in their system as of today. This is repeated everywhere, in all rescues. This is unsustainable. We need more veterinarians, sure. We need pet owners to neuter before behaviors prompt them to allow the cat outside. We need laws that require neutering of pets. We need municipalities to embrace TNR wholeheartedly and stop punishing feral cat caretakers and instead facilitate a permanent solution.

Feral Fixers has saved municipalities and counties so much in resources – 15,420 cats neutered in the last 16 years! The volume of euthanasias due to current laws on the books could be about to skyrocket as there are not enough spay/neuter appointments or relocation sites to accommodate the volume of cats being produced under current conditions. Instead of fines for feeding, fines for unneutered cats would be much more helpful. Diverting funds from the effort to fine, to using those funds to support spay/neuter would make a huge difference. How do you want your tax dollars spent? Punishment or correcting the problem?

You might not be able to trap, foster or adopt but could you attend your Village Board meetings? For instance, Streamwood’s Village Board meeting is Thursday, 9/5/2024 7pm at the Village Hall Chambers, 301 E Irving Park Road, Streamwood. Thursdays are one of our busiest days, spay/neuter day, the culmination of the week’s effort to trap and assemble the cats for spay/neuter, just cannot fit another thing in and I don’t live in Streamwood – but if you live in Streamwood and feed ferals and care about cats – can you attend this meeting? Figure out who your Village Trustee is, attempt to talk to them. There is usually an opportunity for comments from the attendees – find the animal ordinance, bring with and ask them to explain the village code. All I could find restricted the number of pets allowed, did not say anything about feral cats or not feeding them. Feral cats are NOT considered wild animals, state-wide. It worries politicians when people show up and have a voice. The reason I bring this up is the Community Service Officers are once again writing citations for feeding ferals. Hence, caretakers saying “I don’t want them back!”

Delancie and Porthos at their new location. Delancie is tuckered out from the travel!

Working Cats Study

Conducted in Florida from 1/1/19 to 12/1/23 this study evaluated Operation Catnip of Gainesville, Inc's (OC) Working Cat Program (WCP), a cat management program.

Watch Out!

Gray squirrels have a bite force of around 7,000 pounds per square inch (psi). For comparison, most humans have a bite force around 500 psi. Like other rodents, squirrels' incisors grow constantly throughout their lives. Wonder why I’m mentioning? An experienced TNR trapper encountered a “friendly” squirrel that hopped on her arm. Without warning she received not one but three chomps. She is fine but it could have been much worse. Do NOT trust wildlife, they can be completely unpredictable.

That’s All for August!

08/29/24 – DCAS – 8 friendlies, 17 ferals, 12 females, 13 males – one was already TNR’d in 2021 – he was supposed to come inside according to the caretaker and received a small eartip – clearly that did not work out as he is outside in a colony again. There were no unusual medical issues in this batch!

Total: 139 for August, 540 to date in 2024, 15,420 since our beginning.

Cats from the 8/29 trip...

As Many as Possible As Soon As Possible

Ice Cream Social for Feral Fixers – Thank You!

Jeni’s had sales of over $1200, resulting in a donation of almost $306! It was so terribly hot; we appreciate everyone who came out to support Feral Fixers!

Happy volunteers at Ice Cream Social!

Upcoming Adoption Event

Saturday, 8/31, 11am – 3pm – PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center at 1550 Butterfield Rd in Downers Grove, IL

We have just 50 cats posted on Petfinder with so many wonderful cats/kittens shown, but many more on hand. Fill out an adoption application and make a huge difference in the life of the right cat for you! You do not have to adopt at an adoption event, but it is a great opportunity to see our cats/kittens in person! We have dozens more kittens who are or will soon be of age for spay/neuter and then be adoptable, but we are still experiencing a shortage of surgery slot availability. There seem to be more kittens and friendly adults coming our way than we can possibly care for – please share our wonderful felines with everyone you know so that we can continue to make a difference in their lives!

Food & Fosters Needed!!!

See the video of the playing kittens. These kittens are new arrivals. They spent their entire lives in a window well before they were nabbed on Tuesday. Initially fearful, they have boundless energy! This is before their crate was cleaned up, kittens are MESSY. They also eat a lot of food! Please consider donating canned Fancy Feast kitten poultry flavors and Friskies pate canned food (we are going through so much as many kittens are reaching 5 months in foster) so we can keep them well-fed and happy! This is a group of five - their names are Mayo, Mango, Marty, Marika, Maya. Just one example of why we need fosters! It is the end of Summer; some families need to stop fostering but the incoming felines do not stop in observance of volunteer calendars. We are struggling to care for the cats that need homes, fosters initially but forever homes going forward. Please, if you can, foster, tell everyone that you know about how wonderful our cats/kittens are, and please donate food so we can continue to care for the hundreds of cats we impact!

More August S/N!

8/12/24 – DCAS – 1 friendly female they squeezed in surgery for us.

8/15/24 – DCAS – 18 ferals, 8 friendlies, 14 males, 12 females. One feral female had already been spayed, one feral female was euthanized due to a rectal fistula – abscess between base of tail and rectum that would have been impossible to heal.

8/22/24 – DCAS – 13 ferals, 12 friendlies, 13 males, 12 females. They were kind enough to treat a 5-week-old kitten, Marty, who had a wound on his cheek. One of the female ferals had an unusual condition – a urachal remnant - A urachal remnant occurs when the tube between a fetus's bladder and belly button doesn't seal as it should. In some cases, a urachal remnant can cause complications, such as urinary tract infections and a rare type of bladder cancer. Surgically removing the remnant prevents these potential complications – treated and she should not have any future issues!

Total: 115 so far in August, 516 to date in 2024 and 15,396 since our start.

Ferals for 8/15.		Friendlies for 8/15.

With all we do in one day, we can't always fit everyone in one room.

As Many as Possible as Soon As Possible

Ice Cream Social for Feral Fixers – Hope to See You There!

Join us on Tuesday, August 27 from 4pm to 7pm at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, 521 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook, IL 60523. 25% of all sales during that time frame will be donated to Feral Fixers! No flyer needed, no last-minute printing or searching on your phone for the flyer! Come on in and have a delicious ice cream creation for the cats! How to get there - escalator/elevator access to Jeni’s from the purple parking garage (near AMC Theater) is recommended. If you cannot make it and would like to donate, scan QR code on the flyer. Scheduled for after school or after work enjoyment! Hope to see you there!

Upcoming Adoption Event

Saturday, 8/31, 11am – 3pm – PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center at 1550 Butterfield Rd in Downers Grove, IL

We have just 33 cats posted on Petfinder with so many wonderful cats/kittens shown, but many more on hand. Fill out an adoption application and make a huge difference in the life of the right cat for you! We have dozens more kittens who are or will soon be of age for spay/neuter and then be adoptable, but we are still experiencing a shortage of surgery slot availability. There seem to be more kittens and friendly adults coming our way than we can possibly care for – please share our wonderful felines with everyone you know so that we can continue to make a difference in their lives!

Do You Have a Story?

Many of our adopters feel their new family members have changed their lives. If you have a story to share, please participate in the "Remember Me Thursday Contest" by October 4th, 2024, and benefit Feral Fixers! There are cash and product prizes for the designated organization mentioned in your story and you get to share with others the benefits of adoption!

We look forward to your stories!

July and August So Far

8/1/24 – DCAS – 8 feral, 17 friendly, 7 males, 18 females.

8/7/24 – ADOPT – 11 friendly, 8 males, 3 females.

8/8/24 – DCAS – 17 feral, 8 friendly, 13 males, 12 females plus one snap test of a female feral from last week that decided to turn friendly two days later. One male was already neutered and chipped by Cook County Animal Control based in Bridgeview in 2013 and they are impossible to get information out of! Microchips are a blessing and a curse :). Tom really needs a dental, we would like to find out more about him.

8/9/24 – DCAS – 4 friendly males. We are overwhelmed with adoptables awaiting surgery and DCAS was kind enough to fit 4 into their schedule.

Total: 81 in July, 64 so far in August, 465 to date in 2024, 15,345 since our beginning.

A tally of adoptables on hand as of 8/4/24 – 120 kittens, 18 adults. The numbers can change daily but there will always be more friendlies waiting. We make every effort to find the right homes for the adoptables.

As Many as Possible As Soon As Possible

See those carriers on top of crates? Prepared for those friendlies to go into for s/n trip!

Those 11 friendlies from 8/7, lined up for foster pickup after return from s/n.		Will we ever run out of cats?

Results from Lynfred Winery July Fundraiser

We greatly appreciate everyone who enjoyed a visit to Lynfred Winery in July! The donations totaled $891! That is a lot of tips that the employees generously forwarded on to Feral Fixers!!!

Birthday Donations!

Eve, daughter of one of our long time Feral Fixers fosters, got the idea to request donations for Feral Fixers for her 8th birthday in lieu of presents. She brought in a check for $425 for Feral Fixers!

Eve is a true cat lover and has been the motivation for her dad to foster for us since June 2022. Counting their current fosters, they have fostered 15 kittens for us. Eve is closely involved in all aspects of kitten care including feeding, scooping and lots of cuddling. We have photos of Eve in action with their current group of foster kittens. Thank you so much Eve!!!

Eve enjoys fostering for Feral Fixers with her dad, in addition to feeding and scooping, snuggling has high priority!

Thank you, Eve, for thinking of Feral Fixers on your 8th birthday!

Ice Cream Social for Feral Fixers

Join us on Tuesday, August 27 from 4pm to 7pm at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, 521 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook, IL 60523. 25% of all sales during that time frame will be donated to Feral Fixers! No flyer needed, no last-minute printing or searching on your phone for the flyer! Come on in and have a delicious ice cream creation for the cats! How to get there - escalator/elevator access to Jeni’s from the purple parking garage (near AMC Theater) is recommended (click here to see a map). If you cannot make it and would like to donate, scan QR code on the flyer. Scheduled for after school or after work enjoyment! Hope to see you there!

Upcoming Adoption Dates

• Saturday, 8/17, 11am – 3pm - Feral Fixers, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard. Also Black Cat Appreciation Day!
• Saturday, 8/31, 11am – 3pm – PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center at 1550 Butterfield Rd in Downers Grove, IL

We have just 24 cats posted on Petfinder with 11 black cats/kittens shown, but many more on hand. Fill out an adoption application and make a huge difference in the life of the right cat for you! We have dozens more kittens who are or will soon be of age for spay/neuter and then be adoptable but we are still experiencing a shortage of surgery slot availability.

2023 – What A Year

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 2^nd 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!

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 15^th 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!

We appreciate all the people who have continued to care about the cats. Many new caretakers had the time to resolve the cats around them. Extra time spent at home led to lots of new fosters and some foster failures as those families adopted their fosters, unable to part with them. People spending more time at home led to many more kittens being brought in and the longest "kitten season" we've ever experienced with the extended balmy weather. We formed tighter bonds with the area rescues as we all went thru the same challenges.

All those kittens took a toll on our fosters, our s/n transporters and Sue, our adoption counselor. There were individual kittens that actually received 40 – 50 inquiries EACH! But each of these kittens go to the best home possible for them as individuals and the alumni stories we receive validate the effort put into that goal. Please take the time to read the foster story included in this newsletter, we have some very impressive volunteers.

Thru it all we kept going as our physical interactions with people are limited and usually outdoors. A few fosters experienced COVID, most of us have been able to remain healthy.

Our ability to fundraise has been greatly impacted as cat people are much more social with other cat people than one might think and they greatly enjoy our in-person events!

A Few Notes About the Building

We try to wash and disinfect our traps before they go into Winter storage so they can be used immediately in the Spring. We were able to transport them all to the building, the railing spacing on the ramp made it very easy to get them into the building, the new washtub was able to hold 4 traps (3 large, 1 small) at once, so simple! And there was plenty of room for spraying with a blast of disinfectant, rinsing and shipping off to storage!

Fundraising

Just a few more days of our Black Cat Giving Tuesday Fundraiser. We hope the 2021 Feral Fixers Happy New Year! Raffle helps to replace our Frosty Claws event and provide something our donors will enjoy participating in.

For many reasons, I receive emails from a great many non-profits. That means that I see how they promote their organizations and ask for money. We do our very best to be different, low-volume and specific about our needs. I can't imagine how weary some of you must be, bombarded on a daily basis by every group for human, environmental, political and animal needs. I could say negative things about those other groups but would instead reaffirm that funds donated to Feral Fixers work to benefit the cats in this geographic area. Surgeries, medications, food, transportation, supplies, a building to house them in, it all goes towards the cats. The percentage of funds used for fundraising (administrative costs are often a high percentage of total costs) is minimal. We adapt ideas and make our asks as enjoyable as possible 😸. We will never be able to give up fundraising but promise to keep the annoyance to a minimum!

We have personal relationships with our donors and we appreciate them so much!

Happy Holidays!

We wish you a Wonderful Holiday and the Best Possible New Year!

Thank you all for your personal messages this year, they are greatly appreciated. Wish we could thank you all individually!