Furry Pal Before the New Year

• Saturday, 11/18, 11am-3pm, Feral Fixers building
• Saturday, 12/2, 11am-3pm, PetSmart in Finley Square (1550 Butterfield Rd, Downers Grove)
• Saturday, 12/16, 11am-3pm, Feral Fixers building

28 More

On 11/3 – ADOPT – 5 friendly, 6 feral, 3 male, 8 female. Moms of kittens we’ve nabbed previously, males that may turn friendly later, all of the cats have their own stories.

On 11/10 – ADOPT – 14 friendly, 2 feral, 7 male, 9 female.

On 11/10 – GEAH – 1 friendly female kitten who needed an eye enucleation and a hernia surgery in addition to her spay – what a day for Ruffles!

Numbers for October - 28, 2023 – 866, since our start 14,818!

5 friendlies, 6 ferals, ready to go!

Lots of meowing with all the friendlies.

Picky Eaters

We’ve had single kittens come in and they are lonely and their appetites just are not the same. We need to be sure everyone is healthy before we combine kittens so we end up using some of the more uncommon and fine ground pate foods to tempt them. Churus, baby food, for sure but also Authority, Wellness, etc., can do the trick. We have found that chicken broth can make a difference. Our supply of the more unusual and yes, more expensive foods has dwindled and we could use more donations along those lines. Cuddling goes a long way but unusual foods to tempt them are very helpful. Please consider sending some our way thru Chewy or Amazon or dropping donations at our front door.

Year End Financial Donations

For donations by mail, the IRS considers the postmark date to be the delivery date of the contribution. UPS and FedEx may have different delivery schedules. For donations by credit card, it is the date the card was actually charged. If you need to make a donation in person, please contact us to arrange meeting you at the building. Transfers from a bank or money market fund may take a few days to clear. Donations of stock and mutual funds must be intiated by December 1st as it may take several weeks to complete. Qualified Charitable Contributions are dated when the gift leaves the account, not when initiated.

Many donors have questions at this time of year, here are some dates that may be helpful when making year-end donations:

December 1 - Initiate electronic mutual fund transfers, Checkbook IRA/QCD (Qualified Charitable Contribution) contributions
December 27 - Initiate ACH and electronic stock transfers, IRA contributions to leave custodial account
December 29 - Personally deliver a contribution
December 30 - Last day to get a USPS postmark for mailed gifts
December 31 - Last day for credit card, online, ACH donations to be completed

Five Years!

Imagine my surprise when a caretaker called that we had helped before, her life had been out of control and she had more unneutered ferals. She also had five of our traps for the last five years! With all of the details to keep track of, volunteers often are not able to go back to previous locations to check for traps, caretakers do not realize how vital the traps are to our continued operation, but five years???? Please check your garage, shed, wherever and make sure you get traps back to us now! We need to get our traps back, clean and maintain them for next year, which will be here before we know it! We will resume trapping when the overnight temperatures go back to above freezing. Chicago weather – you never know!

Microchips Are Forever

Lots of calls this past week about cats that have been found. If we do not have your current information, we cannot reach you. So many caretakers care deeply about their ferals and when a cat they have been feeding for years disappears, they worry. Adopters never know when a cat will slip outside. If we do not have a current address or phone number for you, we cannot let you know when we are contacted. Even if we need to let you know the cat has passed, it gives you closure. We will be mailing out the yearly newsletter and Holiday card soon and if you have moved, letting us know in advance would save both money and time on our end. An email would be great!