It may not be the way all TNR organizations approach their mission, Feral Fixers may be wayyyy different, but we do get involved in much more than just neutering cats. In addition to caring for the area cats, we sometimes feel compelled to help people, too. To illustrate, I want to share a recent situation.

I received a call from an elderly woman who told me that a man from the Village had stopped and ordered her to stop feeding. To shorten the story, the couple is mid-90's, frail, have health issues, and are hoarders of stuff. It is huge luck that the cats are not indoors as trapping them there would be completely impossible. Their son lives with them so the likelihood of their situation improving is doubtful. The cats cannot go back. We trapped 14 adults and 16 kittens from the yard at this one house. We are already overwhelmed with the number of kittens on hand and DCAS has fosters waiting for kittens to care for so the kittens from this location are going there. The Village is okay with up to 3 going back but the couple is adamant that none can. Since the adults cannot go back, they are participating in our Working Cats Program. All of the cats are black and black/white and quiet compared to most ferals. They have pretty much only been fed dry food and when they hear a can pop open they sing for their supper! But that's the only interaction they have been interested in. The unfortunate part of this story is that in 2013 we neutered, adopted out, relocated 13 cats. In 7 years they built that back up to 30 and never contacted us during that time. Once we are certain to get that last tiny, elusive kitten, hopefully their location will be resolved for good.

This is just one of the many scenarios going on right now. You can help by making monetary donations – they are not helping with the cost of this situation, making food donations, and by sharing our Working Cats program information to potential relocation sites – barns, businesses, homes on large plots, cats can contribute in many locations. Also, keep an eye out for your neighbors – they may not actually SEE what is going on around themselves and realize the impact their actions can have. Call us if you would rather not contact "authorities." We have no problem talking to the right people and work to get situations resolved for the benefit of everyone, not just the cats.

Would MUCH rather just neuter cats and we're always working towards that goal!!!

Building Update

We've had some stops and starts at the building, hope to get some fresh inside pictures soon. There was a volunteer work day this past week and a truck load of mulch was spread from our friends at Dawson's Tree Service. Our permits were finalized and that pesky vault was removed! This weekend the worn out carpeting was removed – huge challenge! In a matter of days the new HVAC units will be put in place on the roof! Lots of progress but much, much more to do!

 

We've Been Very Busy!

We very rapidly had over 130 kittens on our hands this Spring and the numbers of feral calls have continued. It is just easier to put our trips in chart form! With 104 additional surgeries, our total for June was 121, our total for July to date is 84, bringing our total for the year to 299 and since our start we have neutered 11,984 cats! Our next trip will put us over the 12,000 mark!

Here's a summary of the trips we've made since our last post;

 

Two more pictures: The one on the left is a panorama of the garage - getting ready for the June 25th trip to DuPage County Animal Services, while the one on the right is from the June 11th pickup from DuPage County Animal Services (with 6 already loaded into the vehicle).

Some final notes...

On the left, some supplies shared with us on June 27th by the West Suburban Humane Society - thank you!

Friskies has discontinued the 13oz cans.  For one feeding in the garage of 16 cats, we "pops the tops" of 19 of the 5.5oz cans (shown on the right)!  We feed well when they come back from surgery, mixing the food with water to counteract the fasting they went thru prior to surgery!

And finally, on this Feral Fixers Facebook Post, you can hear a sweet "Kitten Serenade"

Go to top
JSN Boot template designed by JoomlaShine.com