Here is one of the happier stories that Feral Fixers has been happy to play a role in.

Cha Cha came from a colony that, before we were involved, the caretaker had resorted to feeding them dog food because it was cheaper. This led to some coat issues!

Cha Cha was back with her colony for about 6 months and became very friendly to the caretaker, who contacted us. With us, in a cage, yes, she promptly lost her hair! But she went to foster and did great! And then West Suburban was kind enough to take her in and as you can see she is just a party waiting to happen!

Of the more than 2,500 cats that Feral Fixers has had neutered, over 600 have found homes, either because they were tameable kittens or adults that decided to be tame later on.

A bright future for TNR in NYC!

On July 27th, an agreement was announced in New York City stating that Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) has been officially an "accepted solution" to the problem of free-roaming cats.

The 'devil is in the details', always, of course, and that's now what needs to be worked out. From the Feral Cat Initiative announcement about this agreement:

The City Council bill will empower the Department of Health to make rules regarding TNR in NYC. These rules will be created in collaboration with the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals and the ASPCA within 180 days of the passage of the bill. During that six-month period, two events will be open for your participation. First, the NYC Feral Cat Initiative will host a meeting for certified TNR caretakes to discuss the rules' language and what that means for the people who are doing TNR in NYC. Second, there will be a hearing held by the Department of Health welcoming public comments ---- that's when we tell New York City how effective and humane TNR is! The language will then be finalized and passed.

We already know that the bill includes language requiring that owned free-roaming cats be fixed so this alleviates some of the pressure currently put on TNR advocates having to negotiate the spay/neuter of their neighbors' indoor/outdoor cats.

More details from the Feral Cat Initiative about this agreement can be found here.

So, this is hopefully great news for TNR, New York City and free-roaming cats everywhere and is just another sign of the ongoing momentum that continues to build for TNR.

Congratulations to all of those in New York City who are making this happen!

(Photo from the FCI Flyer - taken by Krista Menzel)