This Would Normally Be Time Off

But hey, ain’t nothin’ normal these days. In the past we did not start trapping until the first week of April. These 60 degree days made that very difficult to do so we have been neutering cats. Of course, on days we were trapping, the cats weren’t always in the right frame of mind! Let’s hope that improves going forward the rest of the year!

• 2/26 DCAS - 8 friendly, 16 feral, 14 female, 10 male. One feral male came in the door after the vehicle left but DCAS was able to add him on. One male was already neutered – although had been TNR’d, somehow the eartip got missed!

• 3/5 DCAS – 20 ferals, 13 female, 7 male. What a difference that is going to make!

• 3/12 DCAS – 1 friendly, 13 ferals, 5 female, 9 males with one freshly neutered but not chipped, now he is and his caretalers are bringing him in – he is a long-hair and despite the weather TODAY, his hair needs to grow a bit if he ends up going back outside.

We may not be making another trip til 4/2, but we still need to know where the cats are for future trips. If you call, leave the address, it is soooo helpful!

That brings us to February total – 27, March total 34, 2026 – 68 total, 16,613 since 2007!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

Quest Pet Food Recall

Several forms of Quest Cat food are being recalled due to a possible lack of several essential nutrients. 

Quest Cat Food Chicken Recipe Freeze Dried – 10oz Bags

Lot #C25288 – Best Buy Date: 10/15/2027

Villa Park Using a Better Mouse Trap!

Villa Park is using new rodent traps to reduce rat population. Instead of poison, the trap uses a snap mechanism – made of metal to prevent squirrel damage and weighted to prevent theft. They also intend to use carbon monoxide in known rat burrows and improve rubbish cleanup along railroad tracks. All non-lethal to feral cats!

And an update from the Village Manager.

Could Next Cancer Treatment Come from Cat Research?

Researchers have been studying various cat cancers and have discovered a similarity between the cancers of humans and felines. This article specifically mentions breast cancer and the identification of a similar gene in both. An interesting read!

Time To Replace Your Car?

For years, the process to accept donated vehicles was extremely complicated. Recently we received an inquiry and checking out the different services, we found CarEasy. The donor had no complaints about the process, CarEasy handled the whole process, car was picked up, Feral Fixers received the donation of $800! Easy peasy! Maybe how they came up with the name 😊. No one likes to shop their used car to dealerships or answer phone calls about vehicles they want to sell – this may be the answer! More details on our Want to Help > Sell Something! web page.

No Adoptions Scheduled Right Now

 We have kittens and adults on hand and absolutely adopters should fill out adoption applications, but we won’t be scheduling Adoption Events til April. Submit an application and perhaps a connection can be made without an Event – a meeting at our building can always be arranged. Please check our Adoptables Page for updates.

Cats Don’t Care

Nope, they don’t care if we need time off.

On 2/12 we took a previously neutered feral into GEAH for limping. No outside wounds, x-rayed, looked all over and could find nothing. Could be Morgan is just so fat that movement is an issue! Or he likes visiting with us as he was treated for a foot injury in 2023! Morgan went back home and hopefully will cut back on the calories. We do our best to assist the cats in the area beyond spay/neuter. (No injuries — just 15.3 pounds of fabulous feral! Click here to view Morgan’s full medical report and elbow x-rays.)

2/18 a cat was brought in that actually was previously neutered and had a microchip. From Chicago, a former feral, he came out to the ‘burbs to be an inside cat. Landlord had the door open and he and his sister got out. Sister came back inside right away, Stitch decided to roam for more than a month. We trapped him, got his info from his chip and he is now back home – his people were taking him to the vet ASAP as he had upper respiratory and diarrhea from his time outside. We enjoy returning lost cats to their owners – those microchips make a difference!

2/16 1 friendly male to GEAH, received injured foot care and neuter – he was sedated anyway! Valentino is a wonderful boy and will be up for adoption when fully recovered and has learned how great houses are in foster care!

2/19 DCAS – 1 friendly, 1 feral, both females. Hoping this feral decides to become friendly but you never know.

That brings us to February total – 4, 2026 – 11 total, 16,556 since 2007!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

Cat Technology Leads to Car Safety

Cats have benefitted humans in many ways. What you may not know is that cats led to the development of car safety changes almost 100 years ago and have been studied to make current day camera technology improvements.

February 22nd Adoption Event

Right now, we have 13 cats scheduled for an appearance on 2/22 at our building. Some may be adopted before; it is always a good idea to fill out an adoption application in advance. Fosters are often on hand to share information about the cats who have lived with them. Check out our Adoptables on our website and make an appointment to visit with the others who can’t be at this event!

• Sunday, February 22, 1pm - 4pm, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard

We’ve been trying to take time off as best we can.

We do have a female in TNR who has turned out to be incredibly sweet and hopefully she will get spayed next week.

We have an enormous previously TNR’d feral in the TNR room who was supposed to have an injured leg, finally, yesterday he was favoring the right front leg – now we have a direction to go in. Vet full today, tomorrow, closed Sunday, he will be seen on Monday, and we’ll pop him into a crate for a couple of days even though he is sure to trash it big time!

Volunteers have family emergencies, vets have come down with that nasty new cold, Monday is a holiday, and despite the warmer weather we just can’t process significant numbers of cats 'til our trip the last week of February. There’s only so much we can do.

We have about 100 cats to trap on our list for the end of February and beginning of March, wish us luck!

Donations Greatly Appreciated!

Part of my duties is processing donations. Very grateful at how busy I’ve been the last couple of months. With all of the hardships everyone is experiencing it is always a surprise when I go to the post office or open an email advising us of a donation.

Yesterday a note was with a check: “Thank you for what you do to help the kitties. I’m starting to see more cats in my neighborhood. They look like they were abandoned and for sure males not fixed. I wish I could send more for a donation but its already a bad money year. Thank you again.”

Of course, as soon as possible we’ll be looking at that area. For years and years, this area was one that community service officers fined people feeding cats and therefore they hid what they were doing, the numbers grew and the neighbors complained, round and round it went. Municipalities simply do not have the funds to pay a CSO to do that work, the numbers continue to grow, but they will not endorse TNR officially, they just respond to complaints to this day with threats of fines – at least they don’t go looking for infractions so caretakers are more likely to contact us without that fear hanging over their heads. The officers do not WANT to pursue fines; it’s the ordinances on the books that they need to follow. But there I go on a tangent!

Trap/Neuter/Return is the main purpose of Feral Fixers. A side effect to this process is friendly cats and kittens, therefore we do adoptions. If we do not find homes for those cats on hand, what happens to the kittens and cats who would be very happy in homes but do not get the chance to come inside and change their lives. Please ask where the cat you are adopting came from, shop local to help with the local issues. Share our Adoption page, talk up how wonderful Feral Fixers truly is!

February 22nd Adoption Event

We still have almost 30 cats/kittens on hand for adoption. If you watch Facebook, there are so many cats still awaiting adoption at all of the area shelters. What can we say? You have to find the right feline for you! Check out our Want to Adopt? link at the top of our website. Fosters should be on hand to give you information on these cats who have lived with them. These are not cats that have continued to live in cages, they have experienced real life. If you cannot attend, individual meetups are possible. Fill out an adoption questionnaire in advance to speed up the process but you can stop in at an adoption event to learn more about our cats on hand that day and fill out a form for a future adoption. 

• Sunday, February 22, 1pm - 4pm, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard, IL

Events Are for YOU As Much as Feral Fixers!

Great to see the El Famous diners yesterday while I was there. Adopter brought in photos of her two boys adopted last year with updates about them – they came from the Echo Point location – so glad they are doing well! These events are not just fundraisers; they allow us to see familiar faces! Food was great, I could have had yet another order of tacos, but I did bring nachos home to have as leftovers! Our next dining out event will be in April, look for updates!

Thank you for reading this update. Back to trapping in two weeks!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible