Last Day For Trapping In 2020

You may think this announcement is a bit too early but judging from the rush at the end of this year, it can’t be emphasized too much.  October 29th will be the last s/n trip for ferals in 2020 (we are already finished for 2019).  No one should be trapping after 10/28/20.  When cats are neutered, the female gets her abdomen shaved and both sexes get vaccinations which can result in a lowered immune system.  We do not want to create health issues for these cats.  When the weather will accommodate trapping in the Spring – when the overnight temperatures are above 30 degrees consistently – we will keep you posted as to when we are back at it!

Our Last Two Trips

October 31st we sent cats to ADOPT and to DCAS.  Since the mobile unit at DCAS is outside, this was the last day for  them - the weather plays an important part for them too!

ADOPT neutered 6 ferals and 9 friendlies, 8 females and 7 males.

DCAS neutered 20 ferals and 3 friendlies, 12 females and 11 males.  One ‘feral’ turned out to have eye issues and despite having severely limited vision and being fearful was incredibly sweet.  She was switched to ‘friendly’ classification before going in.  She came from a Laundromat parking lot and therefore is named “Fluff” – could not resist!

On November 7th, we sent 19 cats to ADOPT, 7 ferals (year end rush) and 12 friendlies.  Of these, 12 were females and 7 were males.  This whittled away at our stockpile of adoptable kittens but there are more on hand that are not old enough for neuter yet. 

This brings us to 131 cats in October, 19 for November, 697 for the year and 11,668 to date since our beginning.

Remember that straw is the best insulation for ferals, not fabric or hay!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 23, 2019 - Adoption Event at the Downers Grove PetSmart (located in the Finley Square Shopping Center at 1550 Butterfield Rd) from 12pm to 3pm.

December 3, 2019  Portillo's Fundraiser 1500 Butterfield Rd Downers Grove 5 – 8. Present this flyer (or show it on your smartphone) and 20% of dine-in, carry-out, drive-thru donated to Feral Fixers!

Sunday, 1/19, 2020 – Frosty Claws!  Fun, food and feline stuff & info.  Door prizes, silent auctions, raffles, huge crowd of friendly people!

(Click on any of the thumbnails to see a full-size version of the picture)

On October 24th, once again we made trips to both DCAS and ADOPT.

To ADOPT, we sent 13 cats, all friendlies, with 8 males and 5 females.  Two kittens came from a location we have done 26 cats from already, now 28, due to the large number of kittens.  Three kittens came in struggling with severe health issues, requiring syringe feeding even at 8 weeks, finally healthy enough for surgery!

To DCAS, we sent 20 cats in all, 17 ferals, 1 friendly and 2 kittens that had decided being tame was not an option and DCAS helped us out with eartips and vaccinations before we return them to their colony.  10 females and 8 males received surgery.  The friendly male is beautiful but gave a surprise as he had an unusual case of lice which Revolution treats.

On October 29th DCAS was kind enough to process two ferals that had shown up from caretakers that did not plan.  One male and one female did not have to wait an additional two days in a trap!

These 33 surgeries bring us to 93 for October, 640 for the year and 11,611 since our beginning. 

Be sure to check out our Winter Care tips (Cold Weather Care) on our website Home page!

My How Things Have Changed

Last week, the City of Rochelle, IL made a huge faux pas.  They announced a new program on their Facebook page – the program was approved 23 years ago – wherein residents could borrow traps from the City and take ferals to a local vet for euthanasia.  The outcry was immediate and intense.  Residents drove to the vet to protest, there were hundreds of posts and phone calls.  The vet had absolutely no idea that this had been posted and had not agreed to any part of this program.  The post has now been taken down but the interview with the city manager is still up.  They have no intention of following thru with that unfortunate program and are consulting with feral cat organizations nationwide and locally.  This will ultimately be a good thing for the residents of Rochelle and the cats but what a shock it was in today’s enlightened age to see this happen!  Many of our supporters weighed in on this issue, so glad to see!  Please be vigilant and educate!!!

Flood Of Black Kittens!

We really do not know what is going on.  A majority of the kittens we are trapping are black – solid black, black smoke, black with a little white, short hair, long hair, coming from North, South, East & West.  What is happening?  We’ve had short bursts where we get a concentration of one coat color or other but this has been three months with 75% black kittens.  Have we affected the gene pool with our trapping and only the parents with black genes are still producing?  Just got a new fluffy today, single kitten that sneaked into a garage, totally sweet from the get-go.  PLEASE do your research on black cats and how wonderful they can be and open your home to our fabulous cats!  Check out our Petfinder and come to our next adoption event on 11/9!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Saturday, 11/9 Adoption event PetSmart 63 Rice Lake Square Wheaton 11 - 3.

December 3, 2019  Portillo's Fundraiser 1500 Butterfield Rd Downers Grove 5 – 8.  Present this flyer (or show it on your smartphone) and 20% of dine-in, carry-out, drive-thru donated to Feral Fixers!

Sunday, 1/19, 2020 – Frosty Claws!  Fun, food and feline stuff & info.  Door prizes, silent auctions, raffles, huge crowd of friendly people!

We also had wonderful sweet treats (cupcakes and cookies), complements of Sara, to offer our guests.  Thanks, Sara!

We were visited by many folks interested in meeting our kittens and a few folks actually considering adoption.  Cards and applications were distributed.

4 pre-approved adopters came to the event as well, resulting in the following adoptions and pending adoption:

• Belle and Jingles were adopted together by a great gal from Evanston.  She had recently lost a male/female pair, and had always dreamed of adopting a tortie girl and orange tabby boy.  A perfect match for Belle & Jingles!
• Simon was the pick of a nice couple from Mount Prospect and their 1 yr old son.  Their son was fascinated with Simon, and Simon seemed to really enjoy interacting with him.  They can only have 1 cat in their apartment, and Simon will definitely be happy being the center of their attention.
• Carney stole the heart of a terrific family from Carol Stream.  They have 3 cats and a Golden Retriever dog, so Carney will have lots of company.  He will likely most enjoy being held and cuddled by his new family members.  Carney's adoption took place on Sunday evening.
• Cobalt or Roscoe are the top choices of a nice young gal from Wauconda.  She has a cat-friendly dog who is looking for a buddy.  A meeting is scheduled on Thursday with her dog so we can make a final decision on who is the best match.

In addition to these adoptions at or surrounding the event, 8 kittens were adopted from their foster homes in the two weeks since our last event (Tiffy, Opus, Little Foot, Kahuna, Katie, Schaun, Kirby, Miles).  We have started out this week strong as well with the adoption of Stella, Carnegie and an older adult named Bella.  There are also a few additional visits lined up for approved adopters later this week.  So hopefully the momentum will continue through October.

Many thanks to the volunteers and fosters who made this event a success - Bernie, Sara, Steve & Michelle, Candy, Erin, Diane, Laura B, Julie K, Maria, Marisa/Dean and Amanda.  A special welcome to Erin as a first time volunteer - we appreciate your help!  Bernie, Sara, Steve, Michelle, Erin and Candy made set-up and clean-up happen very efficiently.  Thanks much to Sara, Bernie and Candy for your help with adoption counseling and paperwork - couldn't have done it without you!  Foster moms Diane, Laura B and Julie K also did a great job of interacting with our guests and promoting their fosters.  Special thanks to Diane for transporting Amanda's fosters to the event.

Thanks also for all of the other valuable contributions to this event - to Candy for the photography & videography during the event; to Connie, Stephanie and Ted for promoting the event on our Facebook page and web site; to Steve for the professional looking cage cards; to Debbie and Mike for the on-going updates to the Adoptable Cats & Kittens board and binder; to Sara for doing all of the laundry since I was without a dryer; to Candy for washing the bowls; to Steve/Sara for coordinating our lunch run.

Our next adoption event is scheduled for:

• Saturday, 11/9, PetSmart at 63 Rice Lake Square in Wheaton, from 11am-3pm.  This is the last PetSmart National Adoption Weekend of the year.

This will be followed by events targeted for Saturday, 11/23, and either Saturday, 12/7 or 12/14.  Steve is currently pursuing the venues for these events.  Details to follow.

Thanks,

Sue

Still, we managed to take 11 feral cats and 2 friendly cats to DCAS on 5/9, composed of 6 female and 7 male.  On 5/16 we sent 10 ferals to DCAS, one male was already neutered and one female was discovered to have a mass located in such away that there was no way to save her and was euthanized, she would have suffered greatly if we had not intervened.  Of the remaining 8, 6 were female and 2 were male.

This brings us to an additional 21 in these two trips, 33 for the month, 128 for the year and 11,099 since our start in 2007.

While we are doing TNR, we are also collecting moms & babies which we keep crated together until the kittens are old enough to be separated from their moms, we need nice, cool, quiet garages for this purpose so that the moms can be stress free and raise happy kittens!  So far this year we have brought in a whopping 11 moms and 41 kittens.  There is another family in my garage, going to foster tomorrow that will bring the total to 12 moms and 43 kittens.  One of our volunteers is trying for another set tonight that are housed in a boat in a garage – owner would like to take his boat out for use J.  In addition, we have 12? kittens who came in without their moms – I think I’m missing a set, and a group of 5 is supposed to come into foster tomorrow.  Ye gods!  And we’re just getting started!  Every day brings more, but we actually are seeing fewer than previous years, SO FAR.

Please Come Out And Support Us!

Tomorrow is our Chipotle event – 33% of your purchase goes to Feral Fixers between 4pm and 8pm.  Come eat some great food and after, walk over to 5 Below and get some great stuff – t-shirts, toys, Father’s Day gifts, they have a huge variety! and 10% goes to Feral Fixers!

Help us neuter all these kittens!!!!

Update On Cat Trips

37 cats in Tammy's garage!

On 5/2 we took 12 cats to DCAS, 8 female ferals and 4 male ferals, plus a male that had been neutered in 2017, just a few blocks away.  There was also a female that had 4 wk old kittens at a grade school – a staff member scooped up 4 of the kittens and whisked them off to County before we could get there, the mom was trapped – you do not release an unneutered cat once you have them, leaving a 5th kitten still out there alone til the mom was returned on Saturday.  We’re pretty sure the kitten is still there but the mom keeps getting back in the trap – we do dish up good food.  This is 12 for the month of May, bring us to 107 for the year and 11,078 since our start in 2007.

Look for these kittens at WSHS for adoption in 4 months - 1 day old here!

Next Few Weeks

We have a lot planned over the next few weeks:

• 5/20 to 5/26, shop at Five Below in Finley Square, Downers Grove – intersection of Finley and Butterfield with one of our flyers and Feral Fixers will receive 10% of your purchase price!  A whole week in which you can benefit the cats and further our spay/neuter efforts!!!
• On 5/22, stop in at Chipotle, also in Finley Square, between 4pm & 8pm and a whopping 33% of your bill goes to Feral Fixers – everyone really enjoyed their meals there last year!  Then go next door and get those toys, crafts and beach items that will keep the kids busy this summer at Five Below!
• Beginning 5/26 you can drop off garage sale items in Warrenville for our 6/1 Fantastic Garage Sale!  No electronics but just about anything else will be welcomed!  And shoppers, we have so much coming our way – you never know what you will find at a Feral Fixers Garage Sale!  We have another fundraiser coming up – As If They Were Our Own -  funds from the garage sale will be directed towards the medical bills that we have for the ferals that no one “owns” yet still require care for wounds, dentals, so much to maintain their quality of life
• The Shred4Rescues event is on June 8th – get motivated, go thru your files, come shred your stuff at this yearly event at Citadel Information Management in Westmont.  Visit with Feral Fixers and the other organizations benefitting from this great fundraiser!

Plenty to do, plenty of ways to benefit Feral Fixers!