Rescue Is a Community

If you follow social media or have seen the TV News, Cat Guardians in Lombard burned last weekend. ALL cats were recovered! Huge movement Sunday night as half went to Lombard Veterinary Hospital and half to DuPage Animal Services. DCAS could not accommodate long term, 15 cats came to Feral Fixers to receive care until they can be moved to another location, hoping early this coming week. These are mostly cats that were in their free-roaming room but with us they need to be in crates. Cat Guardians volunteers come twice a day to care for these cats – it is very unusual for one organization to share space with another! Everyone is doing well! It took a very responsive Rescue Community to save these cats, we’re glad to be a part of it! The first responders were absolutely phenomenal that night, investigation is ongoing to find source of the fire. No one was injured, human or feline! Check out Cat Guardians GoFundMe page and keep an eye out for donations needed – their new location is already in the works but may not be fully renovated for 6 months – in the meantime, storage will be limited to volunteer homes – but don’t forget when finalizing their new location, they will need lots of items to make it the shelter they have dreamed of!

It’s All About the Smell?

So many cat caregivers talk about how their cats will eat a food once or twice and then be done. New study has shown that the cats may desire a new smell more often than we thought. Think about having the same food, every day, week in and week out with no expectation of something unique? Understandable then, right? May give you a different outlook on your food purchases going forward. The writers of this abstract definitely consulted the Thesaurus of Biggest Words Possible but it is worth the read!

Bits n’ Pieces

S/N Slots – Still limited on slots but now have a date for 11/20 when we hope to get as many ferals as possible to impact next year’s volume of kittens. Huge thank you to Dr. Von Waldau for assisting our efforts. We are so lucky to know her – Queen of Spay/Neuter in our book! She can do so many surgeries in one day!

No S/N in December at this time. Gotta have a break! Plan to return to trapping in February 2027. Shaved bellies are a problem in below zero weather

Black Cat Giving Tuesday Fundraiser, 12/1 to 12/31. Giving advance notice of our next matching funds fundraiser from 12/1 to 12/31/ 2026. This fundraiser gives us a chance to promote the black cats we have on hand for adoption while raising funds to carry us thru the next year – 2027 is so close! Keep an eye out for our Giving Grid post and plan your end of the year donations!

DonateStuff – New option to donate to Feral Fixers! Box, bag, your gently used items and they can be picked up from your location! Items go to a sorting facility and ultimate destinations are thrift shops, etc. Enter your zip code to start, see where your next pick up is scheduled on the pick up calendar, set it out on that day and Feral Fixers benefits! This is effort free for Feral Fixers and minimal effort for you! No driving around until you have time to drop off somewhere or wait for a collection day. In my area, Friday the 13th is the first option, dates listed were on Fridays in November. Clearing out for the holidays? What an easy way to make that happen! We try to do the unusual and benefitting our donors as well is a major benefit! Let us know how it works out for you.

Texas Roadhouse National Cat Herder Day Fundraiser

National Cat Herder Day is December 15th. In 2000, the Cat Herder commercial came out during the Super Bowl. If we could just herd cats instead of trapping, oh my! To celebrate our ongoing efforts, we will be having a Dine to Donate fundraiser at Texas Roadhouse, 161 Gary Ave., Bloomingdale on Tuesday, December 15th, 3 – 10pm. 10% of purchases will benefit Feral Fixers! In addition, egift cards will be available for purchase on December 8th, delivered electronically to you by December 14th. Gift cards will be usable at any of the 600 Texas Roadhouse locations around the country. We have supporters all over the US check out this list of locations. Download an event flyer here and the eGift flyer here. More info to come but put this on your calendar! See you there – got a cowboy hat?

November!

We wrapped up October and we have one more large s/n trip on 11/20. That may be it for the year. All depends on spay/neuter availability (all time low), the weather and where the cats are – access to barns and garages help them to stay warm after surgery.

• 10/22 – ADOPT – 10 friendlies, 6 female, 4 male.
• 10/22 – DCAS – 14 ferals, 11 female, 3 male.
• 10/30 – DCAS – 34 ferals, 1 friendly, 17 female, 18 male – one already neutered. We rescued 8 adults from an abandoned apartment, alone for over a week with some food scattered around. Many in pretty bad shape, several had to be euthanized, the rest we are working on stabilizing their severe diarrhea. A set of 8 1.5 wk old kittens were found, think we figured out at least one mom, DCAS was beyond generous in taking them in for us. The volume for that s/n day was very stressful. We are still sorting out placement for those already neutered but chip information has been too old and only inserted at s/n, not adoptions. Did a dental on one that required removal of ALL teeth, another just needs a basic heavy cleaning, we hope. Your donations make a huge difference in the lives of these cats!
• 11/5 – ADOPT – 6 friendlies, 2 female, 4 male. Just wait til the “Condiment” kittens become available for adoption!

Additional October 58, total 76 for October, 6 in November so far, 2026 628, since 2007, 17,173.

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

National Feral Cat Day!

Visit Apache Halloween

Visit Apache Halloween, 2301 Apache Ln, Woodridge on October 23, 24, 30, 31, from dusk to 10 pm (weather permitting). Only a week away! Walk thru a family friendly, haunted yard that includes cemeteries and more! Enjoy the animatronics! Visitors often make donations to a designated charity and Feral Fixers has been chosen. We helped TNR their feral in the past and are showing their appreciation for our help Hoping clear weather! Can’t wait to see what they create this year! Have a great time!

Bits n’ Pieces

S/N Slots – We’ve been trying to work around the lack of veterinarians and therefore a lack of spay/neuter slots. We have feral surgeries scheduled for 10/22 with only 15 slots. Phone rings constantly. Today’s farthest inquiry was from Marion Illinois – how do we get Google to emphasize that we work in DuPage County? That lady just called again to let us know that NO ONE else lists their phone number in their posts – we may have to work on that but we have always been able to be so responsive in the past (: Think about this - have you seen the volume of free-roaming cats in Greece and Italy? That is where we are headed. Please do not be frustrated with us but instead contact your local political candidate and ask them to direct funds toward spay/neuter! Bring it up when you have access – there are so many worries these days, increasing spay/neuter can improve people’s lives!

No S/N in November at this time. We’ll see if something will open up. Still planning to stop by December1st to return in February 2027.

Black Cat Giving Tuesday Fundraiser, 12/1 to 12/31. Giving advance notice of our next matching funds fundraiser from 12/1 to 12/31/ 2026. This fundraiser gives us a chance to promote the black cats we have on hand for adoption while raising funds to carry us thru the next year – 2027 is so close! Keep an eye out for our Giving Grid post and plan your end of the year donations!

October Already!

Still trying!

• 9/24 – VCA – 1 friendly male – Almost forgot! Barnie was neutered during his eye removal – we try not to ‘waste’ a sedation if possible.
• 10/8 – ADOPT – 4 friendlies, 2 male, 2 female
• 10/8 – DCAS – 14 ferals, 8 male, 6 female

Additional September 1, October total so far 18, 2026 564, 17109 since 2007.

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

Come See Us At Lombard Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware is having a Fall Fest on Saturday, October 10th, 11am - 2pm, 837 Westmore Meyers Rd, Lombard, IL. 

Feral Fixers will be there to share information on Trap/Neuter/Return and our Adoptable Cats. Come say 'hi' to Laura and Debbie and get info on caring for the cats in your neighborhood while preventing an increase in the population thru TNR! We'll also have a few items for sale and would love to hear about your ferals!

Bake For Cats! Come Join Us!

Sunday, October 18th, 12 noon to 3pm at Feral Fixers 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard, IL, join us for our National Feral Cat Day Celebration! We will have a bake sale and items from out Boutique. Donations from our Wish List will be gratefully accepted! Socialize with other cat people! If you would like to contribute to our Bake Sale to help raise funds for Feral Fixers, please contact Sue Zorn, (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 630-661-8509) to arrange – cookies, cakes, a pie? You never know what will be at our event and we welcome donations to make it a success! Hope to see you there!

Visit Apache Halloween

Come visit Apache Halloween, 2301 Apache Ln, Woodridge, IL, on October 23, 24, 30, 31, from dusk to 10 pm (weather permitting). Only 3 weeks away! Walk thru a family-friendly haunted yard that includes cemeteries and more! Enjoy the animatronics! Visitors often make donations to a designated charity and Feral Fixers has been chosen. We helped TNR their feral in the past and they are showing their appreciation for our help. Hoping clear weather! Have a great time!

Bits n’ Pieces

“As If They Were Our Own” Fundraiser was a success! Warren is doing very well and getting around just fine on three legs. Another recipient of our donors’ generosity is Barnie. Barnie came to us with an eye on the verge of rupturing. We tried to save the eye but to no avail. He is navigating life as a one-eyed cat, not easy at the age of 4.5 months! With your help we did not have to think twice about giving him this crucial surgery! Our next online fundraiser is “Black Cat Giving Tuesday” from 12/1/26 to 12/31/26 and we already have a $20,000 pledge for matching funds for it! This will carry us into the New Year with confidence – yes, already talking about 2027!

Food! Thought you would be interested to know that from 8/24 to 9/21 our outlay for canned and dry foods was almost $1800 for the cats and kittens in our care. Just food. Not paper towels, laundry detergent, disinfectants, garbage bags, all those things that go into caring for cats!

S/N Slots – There is a definite lack of veterinarians and therefore a lack of spay/neuter slots. At this time, we have feral surgeries scheduled for 10/8 and 10/22 with only 15 slots each. Since we have over 100 cats that we know of out there, this is going to be a problem. Please be kind to us and understand when our voice mail is completely full for days. Never thought we would have lack of surgeries as our biggest issue. We want to help but with what resources? We would be happy to create our own spay/neuter clinic – to do it responsibly we are talking millions of dollars. Think of ferals when you win the Lottery!

Heads Up – So tired and so much life care needs to be done. Intend to take the whole month of December off from trapping and do no trapping the whole month. Repeated for emphasis. There will be fundraising for next year, maintenance and projects at the building but need a BREAK! Or will break. Hope you can understand.

September!

Never thought a lack of veterinarians would impact TNR! But this is what we accomplished in September!

• 9/17 – ADOPT – 5 friendlies, 3 female, 2 male. ADOPT was so kind to keep the adult male for adoption!
• 9/17 – DCAS – 14 ferals, 1 friendly, 6 female, 9 males.
• 9/24 – DCAS – 4 ferals. 3 females, 1 male. These came from a recently discovered huge colony, all with bad worms.
• 9/25 – DCAS – 3 ferals, 2 females, 1 male. More from that colony. 40 more to trap there!
• 9/30 – ADOPT – 3 friendlies, 3 females. Adult female Fern was a great mom to 8 kittens til they were able to eat on their own – she was so tired!

September total 44, 2026 total 545, 17,090 since 2007.

An entire neighborhood knew this cat was pregnant for WEEKS but failed to tell us when she was trapped. This happened within hours of her coming to our building. We do not wish ill upon these kittens, far from it, but where were these people 9 weeks ago when they could have been prevented?  Mom cat in a crate, forced to care for these kittens til they are at least 6 weeks old and eating on their own. Then another 4 - 5 weeks before s/n and even longer before adoption can happen. Much more could be said, but....

Every cat has a story and we continue to make those stories positive ones!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible