Prepare For the Future

Grandma brought a kitten in 10 years ago, Grandma has passed, what do we do? No, Kitten is not very friendly, in good health because she eats and poops and plays. No, Kitten hasn't been to the vet as far as we know, yeah, maybe never. Well, if we sit down and are very quiet, Kitten will come sit by us. There was a dog in the house, they didn't fight but they weren't buddies. We've been going over and feeding and scooping for the last month since Grandma passed. No, we cannot stand if Kitten gets euthanized, that is too much for us to bear. Oh, yeah, maybe she bit Grandma once or twice, but it wasn't bad.

Response: This is a cat that has been in a quiet household for 10 years, has had no boundaries and expects that life to go on as it has for the last 10 years. If a duplicate household can be found, great! If the callers are unable to take this cat into their own household and give it a room of its own for at least a trial period, this is going to be an unhappy cat, wherever it goes. No responsible shelter could take it – there are too many highly adoptable cats waiting for homes now. It has absolutely no skills so cannot be relocated outside – a quiet office type business would be the only option in that direction, and they would have to have very few employees, no chaos. Miracles do happen and networking between Next Door, vet's offices, neighbors, might result in a solution. If the relatives cannot bear for the cat to be euthanized, they must take responsibility for that decision and provide support – their own home or finding it a suitable home replacement. The first step would be to take the cat to the vet to be evaluated – 10-year-old cats have a high probability of health issues so a blood test and a dental exam are a high priority – appearances are not always a good indicator of what a cat may be hiding.

If you are planning for your future and you have pets, you MUST consider what will happen to and for them when you are no longer in charge of their care. If you are helping a friend or relative plan their future, the pets MUST be included. People age and it is not always recognized that they might not be making the best decisions. That's when your Aunt or Grandma lets that stray cat in her door to get out of the cold and that stray promptly gives birth to 6 kittens. All the cats may stay feral and must be trapped in the house to be removed when Auntie goes to Assisted Living. It is a scenario we have heard over and over and there needs to be more information, more emphasis to social workers, estate planners, counselors that these decisions have to be made earlier, not later. So much more important than who gets the house, but what happens to the living creatures in that house once Auntie lives somewhere else.

This is not a warm, fuzzy story but instead an alert to the realities of what families and rescues are dealing with way too late and in an emergency. There are rescues that deal with older animals, they are overcrowded and I have heard that none can take in a cat over 10 yrs old, there are not enough adoptive homes for that segment of the population. It isn't that they don't care, don't want to help, resources are limited and a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Plan, reach out to your fellow pet lovers, check in on Aunt, take in an older cat yourselves if you can!

This is Marvel with the injured foot, he had punctures on side and bottom of foot, cleaned up and given antibiotics, happy to go back home after being held for a week

Rethinking the Animal Shelter's Role in Free-Roaming Cat Management

The title of this article alone can be intimidating but this is worth the read. An increasing number of studies have been done to find the best resolution in feral cat management. With emphasis on 'shelters', meaning 'animal control' to most of us, it details how removal and euthanasia simply does not work, yet targeting areas, trapping, neutering and RETURNING has many benefits. Limiting growth of the population, increasing the health of the population, reducing the stress on animal controls, allocating funds to lasting solutions, finally research is being done. Please take the time to look this over and share. This is an encouraging article!

Estimate of the number of cats in the United States with outdoor access and the number and outcome of cats taken in by animal shelters. Approximately 33% of an estimated 79 million owned pet cats are allowed outdoors at least some of the time. The number of unowned free-roaming cats has been estimated at 30-80 million, so a mid-point of 55 million was used. In this example, almost one-third of outdoor cats are owned pets, two-thirds are un-owned free-roaming cats, and <3% are managed by animal shelters.

"If I Win The Lotto…"

Besides people very generously saying that "If I win the lotto, I'm going to donate it to Feral Fixers", they also say that they would open a cat sanctuary. This is Cat House On The Kings in California. What you don't see in the video: Every morning the staff prepares food that is hand-delivered to every feeding station and room/cage. It takes six people two hours to prepare the food and deliver it throughout the 12 acres. Every cage, room and kennel receives a special diet. The majority of the animals receive a mix of L-Lysine, granulated garlic and brewer's yeast mixed with beef or chicken canned and dry food. They support 700+ cats at any given time.

Operator error can result in a trap not being secured - this guy spent the night out in TNR. Was not interested in going in trap again on his own. Never happens, but was able to get him into a transfer trap by squishing him into it against the wall - told him he was going home that afternoon but the only way was if he went in!

TNR Workshop – May 1st

We've had TNR workshops in the past but have had to rent a location, etc., and then, of course the pandemic!

We will be hosting a TNR Workshop on Sunday, May 1st at our building, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard, from 1pm to 3pm. We will do a short demonstration of different traps, equipment, methods and answer questions. Masks optional, may change to required if positivity rates change. We'd love to share our experience with you!

Ferals can be very efficient at producing shreds!		Why is there always something on the floor when we take a picture?

So Far This Year

So far this year we've finished the cats at the car paint shop, some cats that were clearly in need and a couple injured cats. All went inside or had really good shelters to go back to. All but two were neutered at ADOPT.

• On 2/10, one feral male
• On 2/18, 3 ferals, 2 male, 1 female
• On 3/3, 2 feral females
• On 3/10, 4 feral males
• On 3/17, 2 friendly, 4 feral, of which 2 male, 4 female
• Also on 3/17, 1 feral male with an injured front foot was neutered by DCAS
• On 3/21, 1 friendly female was spayed and had a tail amputation at DCAS.

Finishing up the month, 2 friendlies and 5 ferals went to ADOPT. One of the ferals had already been neutered, resulting in 5 males and 1 female.

This brings us to a total of 6 for February and 20 for March, a 2022 total of 40 and 13,254 since our start in 2007. So far, we've had two litters born to moms, if you are thinking about fostering, please get in touch!

These four were born to a feral mom on Sunday, 3 boys and a girl. Will be off to foster, soonest!		Seanna is definitely feral but taking great care of her babies on Day Two!