3 wonderful kittens (MayDay, Mayo, Grand), 3 teenagers (Brass, Fluff, Ocean), and 3 adults (Corazon, Frankie, Oreo) were the stars of our show.  Everyone handled the situation well and did a nice job of interacting with our guests.  Fluff even got so comfortable that she enjoyed belly rubs from Sara!

1 pre-approved adopter attended the event - a very nice family from Plainfield.  They have an 11 yr old male cat and recently lost his brother, so were looking for a new companion for him.  They visited MayDay & Mayo as well as Fluff, and decided that MayDay and Mayo were the match for them.  Their college age children will have a great time play with them.  They took MayDay and Mayo home with them on Saturday.

We were also visited by several other potential adopters and folks interested in TNR help in the spring.  It was a good day.  Thanks much to Pet Supplies Plus for hosting this event and for the donations collected in our bin!

Two more pairs of kittens were adopted from their foster homes the morning of the adoption event:

• Edgar & Raven were adopted by a great couple from Westmont, who had previously lost their two senior cats. 
• Kelly & Solome were adopted by a very nice gal and her two school age daughters in St. Charles, who had similarly lost their 2 senior cats.

Two more kittens and 1 adult cat were also adopted in the 2 weeks since our last event:

• Felecia was adopted by a great couple in Addison.  They had a small dog who passed recently, but also had prior cat experience.
• Knick Knack was adopted by a terrific couple in Bloomingdale who had recently lost their prior cat.
• Farrah was adopted by a nice gal in Aurora.  Farrah will be her first kitty, and she spent lots of time researching and collecting the proper supplies.  Farrah will be delighted to be the focus of her attention.

Thanks to the volunteers and fosters who made this event a success - Sara, Steve, Steve's daughter Michelle, Michelle K, Diane, Cheri, Laura and Amanda.  Set-up and clean-up went very smoothly and efficiently, and there was good camaraderie among our team and the guests who came to visit our kitties and talk with us.  Thanks also to Diane for transporting Amanda's fosters to/from the event.

Many thanks for all of the other valuable contributions to this event - to Sara for the photography & videography during the event; to Connie, Stephanie and Ted for promoting the event and our cats & kittens 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 printing out the Adoptable Cats & Kittens binder updates and helping with the laundry; to Candy for washing the bowls.  Special thanks to Steve for coordinating our lunch run and donating the funds to Feral Fixers.

We have 1 more adoption event scheduled in February and a tentative date for our next March event:

• Saturday, 2/29 - PetSmart at 63 Rice Lake Square in Wheaton, from 11am-3pm - this is PetSmart National Adoption Weekend
• Saturday, 3/21, 11am-3pm - venue TBD

Hope to see you there!

Thanks,

Sue

"Have you touched him?"  "Well, no, I'm afraid to, but I'm sure he's friendly."

"Has he rubbed up against you?"  "No, but he sits over there and watches me when I put food out and doesn't run away."

"Does he 'talk' to you?"  "No, what do you mean?"

If a cat is already friendly, he will meow to you, he will come close to you, he will invite being petted and allow that petting.  Doesn't have to be as extreme as being picked up at that time and unless you are really confident about him you should not try that, but being touched, even for a few seconds is indicative of willingness to be a friendly.

If you truly want a cat to become friendly, you must initiate "talking."  Tell the cat how much you appreciate his being around, how happy you are that he comes by you to eat and how glad you are to see him every day.  Meow at him.  Meowing is not innate behavior, many cats don't know what that is until they hear another cat do it or you do it, but learn quickly that it is a way to motivate you and so communication begins.  Up to this point of interaction, hissing is their main way to communicate with each other, it is not necessarily a negative reaction, just the only words they know.  Expand their vocabulary!

A first step to taming a cat that you are not already picking up is to trap it and neuter it.  Its okay to have a cat in a trap for a couple days, as long as you supply food and newspaper and keep the trap cleaned.  This can give time for the cat to relax and start to trust.  If the cat is interested in interacting, the next step may be to transfer to a wire dog crate on a table, large enough for a litter box, food and a bed, covered with a sheet on three sides (this provides safety and limits the amount of litter kicked out of the litter box onto your floor!).  While it is good to have this set up in a secluded area initially, increasing activity and sound around the crate exposes the cat to additional stimulation while it is safe in the crate. Have a radio playing a sports radio station – music, yelling, talk.  Use food as a reward – sounds mean but keeping the cat a little hungry makes it more reliant upon you, makes it more interested in seeing you.  It's a process.  If that cat continues to hunker down, ears flattened, tossing the litter completely out of the box, nope, put him back outside!  Keep in mind that a male cat will be odiferous for around a month and it can take that long for the hormones that keep him afraid to subside.  No two cats will be the same.  Not a case of neuter + 20 days in a crate = friendly cat.  Its an investment which can result in an answer of whether this cat wants to have a home inside or not.  NEVER let a cat out of a crate due to your own feelings of claustrophobia or 'feeling sorry' for the cat, you are doing it no favors.  It has learned it can get what it wants without changing its own behavior.  It has trained you and you may never get any progress you have made back.  Start by petting inside the crate, scruffing a bit and increase to actually picking up out of the crate for even a minute or two.  Until it comes to the front of the crate, asking for interaction and allows you to pick it up easily from the crate, do not let it out into the room.  Make every part of this a positive experience, praising the cat in the most ingratiating way for everything it does – "You are such a wonderful cat, in every way, thank you for letting me have you in my home!"  Hey, I even thank them for going potty so well!

Having done all that, and the cat does not turn friendly and you put it back outside, in a year or some unknown amount of time, it can change its mind and decide that it wants to have all those conveniences.  You did not do anything wrong by putting it back outside, it was the cat's decision at that time.  We have cats that are knocking on the door a year after their TNR, deciding to come inside.  Same process, crate until you can pick it up and hug it and squeeze it and call it George.

Have You Seen These Shelters?

Where do political campaign signs go after the election?  To divert them from landfills, think about collecting some and making shelters out of them!  Here are pictures and how-to directions.  How to feel good even if your candidate didn't win!

DIY Coroplast Shelters for Community Cats

Coroplast shelters you can build for community cats

One More Friendly

On 2/14/20 we sent 1 male friendly to ADOPT.  Jordy was trapped a couple weeks ago but had Upper Respiratory so we had to wait til he was recovered.  That makes 2 for February and 4 for the year and 11,689 since we started in 2007!  He was already friendly and showed his true nature when he got to ADOPT and they have decided to keep him for adoption!

Upcoming Events

• Saturday, 2/15 - Pet Supplies Plus at 720 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville, from 11am-3pm
• Saturday, 2/29 - PetSmart at 63 Rice Lake Square in Wheaton, from 11am-3pm - this is PetSmart National Adoption Weekend
• 4/15/20.  Photo Contest deadline.  MUST clearly show eartips and snow in the picture to be considered. Check out our online Event Calendar for all the details.
• April 19,2020 - Kitten Shower - FIFTH annual Kitten Shower at the Villa Park VFW.

All Shelters Get Returned Animals

Having had contact with thousands of cats, I can tell you that very few people understand just how sensitive and intelligent cats are.  All of a cat's senses are hundreds of times more intense than a human.

Ability to hear is off the charts.  They can hear what is going on outside the house, thru walls, being put in a bathroom that tends to echo is going to be torture.  They can hear every footstep, cough, cupboard closing, no matter where it is in that house.  They hear you walking up to the refrigerator, not just the opening of it.

Sense of smell is incredible.  They know what you had for breakfast and its already 10 o'clock at night.  You put hand lotion on yesterday.  Deodorizers, fabric softeners, cleaners, scented litter, it’s a constant bombardment!  If something smells like themselves, it is probably safe, no matter what that smell comes from – face rubbing or urine, much the same to them.

Movement.  Sensing and seeing movement is how they have survived thru the centuries.  A hand gesture can be threatening, so can a ceiling fan.

A cat's sense of touch is once again how they stay alive.  Texture under their feet, sinking their claws into surfaces, laying on something smooth and cool or fluffy and warm, those sensations go right to their brain.

Many adopters might be first-timers so it is understandable that there is a learning curve.  It is vitally important to ask questions and not make assumptions about cats in general and to follow any instructions or tidbits the agency might give about the individual cat you are adopting.  If you know someone who is adopting and you have knowledge – share.  People share tips and info all of the time to new parents of human babies but don't so much when new animals are coming into their friends' and families' lives.

The important thing to remember a cat's senses are very important and allow for that in your care of them.  Education and work before an adoption can make the difference in adoption success and for shelters being better able to control their numbers of cats on hand and ability to find homes for more cats.  So much more can be said, space is limited, please remember to ask as many questions as you can think of when adopting a cat!

2020 Federal Spending Bill

The President has signed the final 2020 federal spending bill, which includes new protections for animals.

It has increased oversight of animal businesses by the USDA. The bill directs the USDA to immediately restore its database of animal welfare records, allowing the public to once again see whether puppy mills, zoos and animal research labs are complying with the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act and whether the USDA is enforcing the law. It also requires the USDA to record all citations on inspection reports, ending its current approach of using weak enforcement alternatives like “teachable moments,” which conceal the licensee’s violation history and allow them to stay in business.

Direction for the Department of Justice to report to Congress on its animal fighting and other animal welfare crimes prosecution program.

$2 million for a lifesaving grant program to keep domestic violence survivors and their pets together.

One More Friendly

On 2/6/20 we sent 1 female friendly to ADOPT.  Solome was very underweight previously and is doing so well now! That makes 1 for February and 3 for the year and 11,688 since we started in 2007!  We've had lots of calls about injured cats, don't know if the weather is impacting that – normally animals lay low and don't fight when there is deep snow and below zero temperatures.

Don't forget our Photo Contest, deadline 4/15/20.  MUST clearly show eartips and snow in the picture to be considered. Send entries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Events upcoming:

• Saturday, 2/15 - Pet Supplies Plus at 720 E. Ogden Ave. in Naperville, from 11am-3pm
• Saturday, 2/29 - PetSmart at 63 Rice Lake Square in Wheaton, from 11am-3pm - this is PetSmart National Adoption Weekend
• April 19,2020 - Kitten Shower - FIFTH annual Kitten Shower at the Villa Park VFW.

Details for these and all upcoming Feral Fixers events can be found on our website.

Completely Unpredictable Weather

Our fosters that house moms and babies do not become active until about April and those are few and far between. Please think about becoming a mom & babies foster or talk to your friends and family.

So Many Adoptables

We still have a large number of kittens (who are rapidly becoming adolescents) available for adoption. 40 cats are posted on our Petfinder and 19 of those are black and black & white. It should be that a cat is a cat is a cat with each being judged on their personality and not their coat color. We hope that having so many of the same color is not holding back adoptions. We haven't wanted to count how many of what colors were adopted last year, but we did have an overwhelming number of black and b&w kittens.  As mentioned above, the 2020 kittens may be coming sooner than we would like and the fosters are already booked. Where will they go instead? Please share our adoptables with family and friends and as always, please consider fostering for us! There will be 16 black and b&w cats at our Saturday Adoption Event – come on by!!!

Below are some of the black and black & white cats and kittens that will be at our Adoption event on Saturday.

Imagine If There Really Were More Homes?

HB 1391 proposes that housing discrimination against people whose families include dogs, cats and other animal companions be banned in New Hampshire – the first state to consider such legislation. The precedent-setting bill by Representative Ellen Read addresses one of the most pervasive challenges faced by renters whose family includes an animal: lack of pet-friendly housing.

In addition to protecting families, the law also protects landlords, with reasonable restrictions and a pet deposit. A study of landlords who allow companion animals shows that concerns about damage are often exaggerated and easily addressed, as they are in the bill. Studies also show that such policies are likewise popular with tenants who do not have animals or don’t necessarily want one of their own. As a result, landlords will have happier tenants, longer-term tenants, and fewer vacancies.

More information about this ground-breaking legislation from the No Kill Advocacy Center can be found here.

2 Cats So Far

On 1/2/20 we sent 2 friendlies to ADOPT, one male, one female, they weren't big enough for a 2019 trip. That makes 2 for January and 2 for the year and 11,687 since we started in 2007!

Free Food

Rescue Pack Chicago (formerly Rescue Bank) distributed a value of over $4 million in food and supplies to local animal welfare organizations in 2019!  One of the ways to help them obtain those supplies is to visit The Animal Rescue Site and click to donate. "Click here to Give – It's Free" is as simple as that.  Corporate sponsors advertise on the website and in exchange donate food.  The Rescue Site also has an online store which donates a portion of the products sold.  It should be noted that The Animal Rescue Site is NOT a non-profit organization and does not claim to be one. However, it has helped feed animals in need by raising funds for millions of pounds of much-needed food. The donated funds are then distributed by GreaterGood.org and Rescue Pack Chicago is one of the recipients of donations.  The local groups pay for shipping costs at a rate of 12cents per pound.  That means that a skid of 1,000lbs of food may cost an organization $120 – many times that is less than a tenth of what it would cost off the shelf with much less handling and damaged product in obtaining.  Rescue Pack does a great job on Distribution Day – coordinating 60 to 100 groups with up to two vehicles each, benefitting so many so that funds normally spent on food can be allocated differently.  This helps us help so many ferals and adoptables while using those funds towards surgeries!  A legitimate program and while a daily email and a few keystrokes every day may seem a very strange way to donate, you can make a difference for the animals of Chicagoland! 

New Spay/Neuter Clinic in Joliet

SNIP Society Clinic opened in Joliet in September of this year.  Their goal is to provide low-cost spay/neuter for the dogs and cats of the Joliet area.  Currently they are open for services on Wednesdays and Thursdays, visit their website for more information.  We get many calls for help in the Joliet area, we hope that SNIP Society will assist in reducing the number of cats that end up outside as strays and ferals, further improving the lives of cats all over the Chicago suburbs!

New Tomahawk Trap

Our friends at Tomahawk are always experimenting with new ideas.

Recent Legislation And How It Affects Feral Fixers

There are three new bills signed by the Governor this year that affects Feral Fixers.

The first is Public Act 101-0210, requiring alarm systems, sprinkler systems and staffing of kennels while dogs or cats are on the premises, taking effect January 1, 2020.  Our first estimate on a sprinkler system for the building we are looking at is $40,000.

The second is Public Act 101-0295, which includes many definitions, including "shelter", the 'Return' in TNR and fine structures. Took affect 8/9/19.

The third is Public Act 101-0299, requires rabies vaccination for all cats four months of age or older that are companion animals.  Takes affect 1/1/20.  All feral cats must be vaccinated at sterilization.  This affects Feral Fixers as we often neuter at 2.5lbs, which is usually under 3 months, so will impact the feral kittens that we trap that are not yet 4 months, but not expected to become tame.  We will be trying to figure how to address this issue.

Many changes, most just common sense, which shows that our legislation is becoming more reflective of current needs.

Changes To Spay/Neuter Trip Schedule

Due to veterinary availability, we may be switching from almost every Thursday to Thursdays and Mondays and not every week.  PLEASE contact Feral Fixers to be sure when we are making a trip in, so that cats do not have to remain in traps longer than necessary AND you may be able to trap for a longer number of days = greater success in getting all of the cats in your colony!  This may result in larger numbers trapped along with increased down time in between trips so that we are all not as exhausted by the end of the year!  We're still working on this, stay posted!

Frosty Claws

Our 2020 Frosty Claws Fundraiser is on Sunday, January 19^th from 12 noon to 4pm.  Early registration at $10 cut-off is 1/14/20 and $15 on the day of the event.  We will have a Silent Auction, raffles, our boutique, food, all to support Feral Fixers for the coming year and more.  This event is very popular so be prepared for a crowd of cat-friendly people!  If you wish to donate items to our raffles and auctions, please contact us by 1/5/20 so that we can fit them in.  Items should be brand-new, collectable – something you would give to a close friend or family member!  Perfect opportunity for re-gifting and gift cards you won't use!  Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 630-881-3977.  We have a huge variety of items at this event due to the generosity of our donors!  Hope to see you there!!!

Holidays Are Here!

Thank you to all of our donors, caretakers, fellow Rescue partners!  Everyone who helps us every day in so many ways!  We could not do this without your impact and with your help 2020 is going to be a great year!