Practicing and promoting Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in DuPage County, Illinois

 
  We're a 501c3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting and practicing Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in DuPage County, Illinois. We believe that TNR is the only effective, humane and long-term solution to the problem of cat overpopulation.  

The Feral Fixers e-Newsletter - Issue #3 - December, 2008

 

Come to our TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) Workshop!

Come and learn about TNR - what it is, why it's done and how it's done.  Learn about the pros and cons of different types of traps and have all your trapping and recovering questions answered.

Feral Fixers President (and master trapper) Tammy McAuley will be conducting this workshop on Sunday, December 7th, from 12 noon to 3:00pm at the Bensenville Park District, 1000 W Wood Street in Bensenville.
The workshop will be held in the "Maple" Room.

Admission is free!

 

Helping our feral friends make it through the winter...

   
 
 

And what are YOU looking at?

So often in TNR you hear about locations that “have lots of cats" and no dedicated caretaker.  It can be so difficult to work on those locations without interaction with a dedicated caretaker, very often when you finally get there, it can be quite an endeavor!

Such was the case with a local health care facility.  When we evaluated it, it seemed that the cats would never stop!  And we knew we had to work on this location as soon as possible because the cats were mostly TORTIES!  And you know, torties mean KITTENS!

The first trapping resulted in a trip to PAWS on June 15th with: Aldana, Alday, Alden, Alder, Aldi, Aldine, and Aldo = 7 cats. 4 females.

The second trapping netted us:  Blackie, Bubba, Jet, Kitty, Left Foot,  Neon, Orange, Peter, Pumpkin, Toast who were spayed and neutered on June 22nd for a total of 11 cats, 5 females.   

These were followed by Mudd (male), Swirl (female) and Mama on June 29th, only Mama wasn’t a mama when she was trapped, but did produce 4 kittens before we could get her to the clinic.

Have you been paying attention?  So far, 21 adults, 4 kittens...

For the rest of the story of how Feral Fixers helps our Feral friends make it through the winter, and to view more pictures from this location, check out our website.

 

  Want to help?

Interested in helping Feral Fixers?  We are looking for a 'few good volunteers'!  Specifically, we're looking for someone to help us transport cats to and from PAWS (the Spay/Neuter clinic we use) in Chicago.  We need transport both in the morning and the afternoon.  If you're interested in helping, call us at (630) 881-FXRS (3977).

 

 

You're invited!!

January 11th, 2009, is the date of our first annual
FROSTY CLAWS fundraiser.

This event will be held from noon to 4:00pm at the Lombard Lagoon
located at Grace St & Marcus Drive, in Lombard

Come and celebrate our first year anniversary with us!
We'll have hot drinks, pastries, a silent auction, a boutique, cat-themed music, and, of course, a cat-friendly crowd.

Admission: Donation of cat food or $5 at the door.

Bring a friend!!

 

5% Days!
 
  Want to help out Feral Fixers while shopping for your groceries?  Just click on the "Shop & Share" button to download coupons which can be used on December 8, 9 and 10 at your local Jewel food store.  Just sign and turn these in when you check out and 5% of your purchase will be donated to Feral Fixers.  And don't forget to print out extras to share with your family and friends - Thank you!  

  How many cats?

Feral Fixers was founded and incorporated in late September, 2007.  In our first fiscal year (through September, 2008) Feral Fixers had 476 cats spay/neutered.  So far in our second fiscal year, Feral Fixers has had 126 more cats spay/neutered for a total of 602 cats.  Prior to being a founding member of Feral Fixers, our president, Tammy McAuley, was directly responsible for another 238 cats being spay/neutered, bringing the total up to 840 cats.  In the future, however, we're only going to be reporting the number of cats that Feral Fixers has had spay/neutered since it was incorporated.  This means that, so far, we've done 602 cats in just a little over 15 months, or about 40 cats per month!

 

 

How to build a winter shelter for our feral friends!

There are many websites which give information on building winter shelters for outdoor cats.  Below we have mentioned just a few of them.

 
 
  This picture of a feral cat shelter is from the Neigborhood Cats website.  The shelter is made out of styrofoam and some other odds 'n ends and has an estimated cost of $15-$25.

Visit their website for information on building this and other types of cat shelters as well as a whole host of information about feral cats.

 
 
 

This picture of a feral cat shelter is from the Spay and Stay website.  It is made from two Rubbermaid (or similar) storage boxes and a few other bits and pieces.

Visit the Spay and Stay website for information on building this shelter as well as much more information about helping feral cats.

 
 
  And finally, this feral cat shelter has been designed by the folks at Alley Cat Allies.  It is a wooden structure and requires a little more skill with tools than the others mentioned.  However, this is one sturdy structure...

Visit the Alley Cat Allies website and learn what one of the national feral cat organizations is doing to help our feral friends.

 
 
 

There are many more websites that contain plans on how to build feral cat shelters than we have listed here.  Just do a search on "feral cat shelters" or something similar and you will see a whole host of websites containing information on how to build these shelters.  You can also buy them ready-made from sources such as Alley Cat Allies or the Urban Cat League.  Help our feral friends this winter!

 

Shop for Feral Fixers!
 

Christmas is just a few short weeks away!  Want to purchase something purr-fect for your cat-lover friends and help out Feral Fixers at the same time?  Just visit our CafePress store and Buy Something! In addition to the Trucker Hat shown to the right, we have T-shirts, Hoodies, Coffee Mugs, Pet food bowls, etc. A portion of each sale goes to help us in our TNR efforts. To visit the store, just click on the Trucker Hat or visit our website and click on the 'Buy Something' button at the top - Thank you!

 

  Visit us on the Web!

Visit our website at www.feralfixers.org.  There you can donate to us (via PayPal or Credit card), visit our store, read the latest news, and learn more about Feral cats.  If this newsletter has been forwarded to you, you can also sign up to be on our mailing list so you don't miss a thing!

 

  What is TNR (Trap / Neuter / Return)? TNR is a full management plan in which stray and feral cats already living outdoors in cities, towns, and rural areas are humanely trapped, evaluated, vaccinated, and sterilized by veterinarians. Adoptable cats and kittens are transferred to sheltering organizations to be adopted into good homes. Healthy adult cats unsocialized to humans are returned to their familiar habitat under the lifelong care of their original caretakers.  

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click here: Feral Fixers, NFP, is a certified 501c3 corporation - EIN Number 13-4364615
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