Good news - please be sure to read the update at the end of this article!

This month Feral Fixers is asking for your help in several ways.

We have Jewel Shop & Shares scheduled for June 15th – 17th. This event requires no additional money out of your pockets, just remembering to hand the cashier the slip when you check out. Even if you forget, if you return to the store before the week is out, they can usually send your portion in with the rest. We’ve had great results with this fundraiser before, please pass this information on to co-workers, friends and family, as anyone who shops at Jewel can contribute in this way.

We have a TNR workshop scheduled for June 20th at Bow Wow Playground, 400 W St. Charles Road, Villa Park from 1PM – 3PM. Please pass the word, we will be showing how traps work, answering questions and it should be very informative!

We have a fundraising event coming this month – “Wet Your Whiskers” - on June 27th – please consider attending, donating if you cannot attend, and passing the information on to anyone who might be interested. It should be a lot of fun, a first time event for us and one that we hope we will be able to repeat.

We also need your help in a way that we have never asked for before. One of our favorite stories is about the nursing home colony. Well, nothing lasts forever and the nursing home is expanding and building on the property that the colony stands on. We have been given several weeks to relocate the cats – June 20th would be the date by which we need to move the cats out. Until today, May 26th, we had been assured that the cats and their housing were welcome and no problem. So this comes as a bit of a shock. We will try to go up the corporate ladder, but with the short time frame, we must start on alternative plans. And it still comes down to a building standing where their shelters are now.

We do not support relocation normally, there are too many hazards to the cats – coyotes, the way they tend to return where they came from, even if its 30 miles away, unfamiliar roads, etc. If we can find alternatives, we will certainly explore them. These cats have been fed exclusively by a Feral Fixers volunteer for the past year, they hang out on that property, they do not seem to venture into the surrounding neighborhood – they haven’t had to. This colony had been merely surviving at the nursing home for several years, until we stepped in there were many kittens born every year that did not survive and the adults were not really healthy. It was a sad state of affairs. The residents of the nursing home brought cafeteria food out to them, it was poor cat nutrition and it was sporadic, leaving the cats to dumpster dive – garbage from a health care facility could have some really horrible things in it.

If we do not relocate, what are the cat’s options? They might work their way out into the surrounding neighborhood – which has a high level of feral population already. Who knows how successful their attempts at relocating themselves might be. We are talking about 20+ cats in all. We know that they will absolutely still come to the nursing home, the residents may resume feeding them inappropriate food, they will resume dumpster diving, as ferals are creatures of habit and once they have received food somewhere, they will continue to expect food there. If the cats continue to show up and we are not allowed to feed them, what will the nursing home management do? Probably contract for their removal and euthanasia or contact animal control.

There is an argument that these cats do not belong to Feral Fixers, but to the nursing home. If we do take that stance, who will attempt to see that these cats have any chance at a good life? The property belongs to the nursing home, we have been guests on that property, we will no longer be welcome.

Even if the cats are relocated, it is highly likely that new, possibly intact cats will move in – but then it is up to the nursing home management to control the residents and ban feeding. This would keep the status quo in the surrounding neighborhood.

I just got off the phone with one of our volunteers who thinks she may be able to absorb several of the cats – that is just wonderful! There is a barn on her property, the property is fenced in, limiting predators. Even if it doesn’t work out, the offer was a high point as we are looking at a long project ahead.

So, good relocation opportunities are few and far between and would have to pass intense scrutiny, all of which must be accomplished in less than 3 weeks, so we would need help in evaluating these locations, and possibly transporting also.

Please help. If you know of someone/somewhere, close enough but not too close, who can absorb 2 or 3 or 4 cats, please call us, 630-881-3977. We do not want to do this, but feel that this may be the best solution to a bad situation. Feral Fixers has microchipped all of these cats and would still feel a responsibility to them, so would need to know where they went and be able to remain in contact with their new caretakers.

Feral cats are part of our community and we need your help to continue to practice TNR and provide support. Please pass on the word of our fundraising events and our need to relocate the nursing home colony. We will be immensely grateful!

Thank you for all of your help!

          Tammy

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Update - June 6th, 2009:

The June newsletter was also mailed out to individuals who do not receive it electronically. We have already had a very warm reception to the story about the Nursing Home Cats and wanted to update you as to their progress.

Today, one of our volunteers was able to speak to the neighbors who live next door.

They LOVE the cats!

The shelters were moved into a wooded area at the back of the neighbor’s lot this afternoon. We will continue to feed them there, the neighbors will supplement in the winter, and everything should be fine!

We will speak to the nursing home administrator on Monday, advise him the houses have been moved and the cats will no longer be fed by us on nursing home property and as long as his residents don’t feed them, the cats should spend less and less time there.

I have not met the neighbors personally yet, but hope that this is a long-term relationship we are building here. They have offered to keep an eye out for any new cats joining the bunch and to verify that all the current residents are ear-tipped. They have seen one new cat show up recently, we are planning on trapping it in the near future as soon as the dust settles and the cats are comfortable with the new arrangement.

As of right now, in this location, we will not need to relocate and I am sooooooooo glad! Please continue to think of locations for cats should it become necessary for other colonies, or should the nursing home still be unhappy with the cats, we may have to revisit relocation, but keep your fingers crossed for the cats!!!!

There is so much to talk about, this is going to seem more like a blog. Please bear with me!

1,000th Cat!

When you start doing TNR, the emergency is right before you. There is this one cat, there is this one colony, there is this whole town overrun with cats! You don’t really see down the road to where this will lead you. Prior to our forming Feral Fixers, I helped about 200 cats. I thought that was a huge accomplishment over the course of 4 years and it was, huge. Now, in 22 months we have helped over 1,000 cats. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe that accomplishment.

It takes so many people to produce these results. It takes a good organization with good officers that know what they are doing - thank you to Ted, Kurt, Regina, Chris. It takes fabulous volunteers who transport, trap, foster, obtain donations, participate in events, offer equipment and lend their own experience to this endeavor. It takes caretakers who care about these animals and are willing to care for the ones in their own yard as well as spreading the word to their neighborhood and community. It takes vets who are willing to have a feral in their practice and to treat it.

Most of our “business” is thru word of mouth. We don’t advertise because we currently could not support that many calls. Please consider volunteering your resources to help us control the feral cat population and reduce the number of cats euthanized! As we say on the website, tell us what YOU can do!

I recently looked at a map of Bensenville, where we have a good relationship. I saw all the streets where we had been and I saw huge areas that we had not been to at all. I am looking forward to residents in those areas calling us for assistance, because I know there are cats there, they are everywhere! Shelters are already saying that they have not received as many requests to take kittens this year.

Please help us to keep up the pressure, to go on to the next 1,000! We need YOU to help us to do what we do!

The gift of Gordy

I wanted to talk about Gordy – remember Gordy with the munched on paws? He is about 10 months old now, totally healed, loves to play and able to jump up and down. His front paws look like a bad case of bunions, he has been to a specialist who says he will have a fine life as a couch potato – indicating that his activity level should not be expected to be that of other cats. The big ligaments that connect paws to leg were severed, but smaller tendons are doing the job. Gordy is a wonderful cat, very happy. Very bored. He would love to be able to run about an entire house (not possible in mine), get into all kinds of trouble and lay in a window sill watching the birds. While we do not do adoptions, I want to find a new life for Gordy and am looking for the special people who can make him a part of their adults-only family (most children would not be able to appreciate the restrictions that Gordy will have). They would need to be really special people to be considered. If you are those people, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., tell me about yourselves and why you would care for Gordy and make him a part of your family.

Summer of the BOT

No, Bot is not an acronym for some underground, nefarious organization. It is the name given to the larva of a fly that lays eggs, animals inhale the eggs, the eggs hatch in the lungs and then burrow to the surface of the skin, taking up residence there to form a grub that constantly munches on its host, producing a nasty liquid that oozes out as the grub spins in its hole. Livestock, wildlife and most importantly for us, feral cats can be affected. When it becomes noticeable, it at first appears to be an abscess. Then you see the center move...

As of this writing, I have heard of or experienced a total of 4 occurrences of these creatures in the past 3 weeks. One was in Lombard, another on a poultry farm way out there, the third was a kitten I got from a caretaker in Downers Grove, and the most recent was in unincorporated Lombard. At least two of these locations were close to heavily wooded areas.

Since I discovered the grub at 9 PM, my first response was to attempt to kill the grub. These guys are filled with toxins so you do not want to grab it and risk breaking it open. All of that nastiness could enter the cat’s bloodstream and kill it. Best to kill it and then remove it, usually requiring surgery by a vet. Vaseline is your best weapon. Cram the stuff into the hole around the grub so that it becomes coated in it and then suffocates. This is not immediate, the website said it might take overnight. But, yes, indeed, in the morning, there was the 3/4” grub protruding half out of its hole, dead as can be. Yea!!! The little guy had a couple smaller ones, dead also. It is possible for them to come all the way out on their own, these did not.

Vets can get really excited about bots, they don’t see them very often, but they did see them at vet school so they like to be able to use that experience! Usually the wounds are very clean due to the grubs constant munching, but antibiotics are still recommended.

A truly feral cat would not be easy to treat for this, probably would require sedation, so plan ahead. If you practice TNR, think of what you would do in this situation. Do you have trap dividers? Could you position the cat so that you could apply Vaseline, just for a start? Do you have a vet that you can call on to sedate and remove one of these? Do you have a space that you can hold a feral in order to treat with follow up care - meds in food? It’s all about the planning!

I was lucky. Harry is willing to be a tame kitty and once I was able to hold and treat him and he felt so much better, his care has been a breeze. I will tell you that it was a very panicky half hour while I called people for advice and looked online to figure out the best course of action. These grubs bring about a reaction of complete horror that such an organism even exists! Harry is doing very well and once his upper respiratory is over, should make a wonderful addition to someone’s household!

Soooo Busy – July Zipped By!

Our Wet Your Whiskers event on June 27th was a great success! Approximately 50 people attended and Marc Gunn was fabulous! What a great performer and a wonderful, generous person, too! We didn’t get a chance to announce the Silent Auction winners, so if anyone is wondering who the winners were:

We did not receive a winning bid for the pearls. We will be offering those at a future date, perhaps an online auction – please look for information in a future newsletter or announcement.

Many thanks to PearlParadise.com, Lynfred Winery, Westin Chicago Northwest, Shula’s American Steak House, Robert Kaminski, Regina Dreyer, and Gail Monick – Miscellany by Monick, for their donations to our Silent Auction!

Not one but two 4th of July parades!

In Villa Park:

Mimi, Melissa and Joseph Black, and Kim Giazzon participated in the Villa Park parade, blasting the Stray Cat Strut in Kim’s decorated Subaru wagon! Kate Switalski skated and took photos, amusing the crowd while passing out palm cards donated by the Davis family, owners of PrintWise in Elmhurst advertising Feral Fixers. Residents gave them an extremely warm reception!

In Bensenville:

Mary Rosa decorated her Jeep with a feral cat and Stars and Stripes theme! I walked the route passing out suckers and Feral Fixers info – many people telling me how many cats they had. Parade day is like Halloween in Bensenville, the kids are lined up with their bags to receive treats!

Thank you to everyone who responds to us with such a warm welcome!