We’ve had an incredible year! Another 1,000+ cats neutered, many locations resolved, so many kittens and friendlies have come inside to live out their lives, we will probably do 300 adoptions this year alone! We have done this despite a reduction in surgery availability and a doubling to tripling of our costs. We have done this with wonderful donors and supporters but with very few volunteers and very few fosters – come join us in 2017 as we strive to TNR as many as we can, as early as we can in the year, continuing our lasting impact on the ferals and strays in the DuPage area! And please continue to donate to keep the cats of DuPage County healthy and cared for!
Frosty Claws on January 15th!
This will be our NINTH Frosty Claws! Come join us at the Villa Park VFW on Sunday, January 15th from 12 noon to 4 PM for food, fun & prizes! Keep in mind that it might be crowded but you will not find another event like this one!
If you would like to donate to our Silent Auction or door prizes, the cut-off for donations is 1/2/17 – it takes time to do justice to the wonderful items that we receive! Remember – new in the package or unique or vintage or hand-crafted should be your guidelines – if your brother or sister wouldn’t bid on it, who would? Items come together from different sources to make some really special gift baskets. Volunteers for transporting stuff, setting up, tearing down, baking, helping during the event are more than welcome, we can use the help! Please contact Tammy at 630-881-3977 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with donations or volunteer offers! YOU are what makes this event so special – we look forward to seeing you on January 15th!!!
Time Is Precious And So Are The Cats
We may not have time to respond to all phone calls, send all the thank-you notes that we should, details can get missed, but we always respond when there are cats in need. From the tiny kittens in the window well, the feral with upper respiratory so bad that it is life-threatening, the cat that was seen dragging its leg, we respond as soon as we can, as best we can. We actually ran out of time this year to have our usual “As If They Were Our Own” fundraiser, there’s only so much we can fit into a year! Despite that, we continued to care for those cats that had no one to provide funds to resolve their health issues. We also don’t take pictures of cats that are in ill-health and questionable survivability until we know they are on the other side of their emergency – and often are so caught up in caring for the cats that pictures are the furthest thing from our minds! So, we’re going to tell you about a few interventions from 2016, even if we don’t have a lot of pictures!
Quade
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“Q” kittens – these 5 kittens came to us at 5 weeks, doing well. Fall kittens often have more issues than other times of the year though. Soon, they all had varying degrees of intestinal parasite, upper respiratory and viral illnesses. Three were hospitalized on fluids and close monitoring. We have lost three, but so far Quade and Quincy are doing well. Illness can strike kittens at any time, from a few weeks to 6 months, there is no predicting when and what and often siblings have the same illness tendencies. These kittens alone incurred expenses of $1,000+ at the vet.
Chapman
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Last January, we took in Chapman, an older friendly, estimated to be between 10 and 14 years old. He was front paw declawed, emaciated, dehydrated, not well at all. He is in a foster home, recently had a dental and a diagnosis of thyroid disease and is doing extremely well with his daily medication which is rubbed on his ears. He has claimed his spot on the couch and is totally fine with the other cats as long as they don’t crowd his spot! It is not only the funds for his medical needs but the long-term care that we have provided for him to live in comfort and health.
Upton
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Upton joined us last month, showed up as an already neutered friendly at a colony. He was in reasonably good shape and only required updating on vaccines, flea treatment and a snap test in order to be considered completely adoptable – that is a $100 expense that we encounter as a minimum for most adult, neutered friendlies we take in.
In the course of a year we facilitate dozens and dozens of treatments for the ferals who live outside, from a shot of Convenia (long acting antibiotic) for wounds and upper respiratory, housing for recovery from injuries from cars or other animals, the list is really too long! We do not demand payment from the caretakers of these cats (if they are even known), we ask for donations, but would never refuse treatment if treatment is possible. And if not possible, we help with that, too.
The economy is tougher, more people have heard of us, our expenses for health care have gone up, we appreciate so much all of the donations we have received in order to continue to care for the cats of DuPage County! Please tell your friends and family about the great work that we do and continue to support us as you have done so wonderfully for the past NINE years!
We thank our donors for making 2016 a rewarding year for the cats!
We look forward to 2017!