Today, Feral Fixers brought in 28 more cats to the PAWS-Chicago Spay/Neuter clinic to be fixed. 20 of these cats were 'friendly ferals' while the other 8 were true ferals.
Everything went well except it was discovered that one of the ferals had already been spayed. However, it had not been ear-tipped, so there was no way to know when the trapper picked it up. It now has, as part of the standard PAWS package, an ear-tip, was treated for fleas, ticks and ear-mites and dewormed. It was also given a micro-chip.
New super-volunteer Nancy helped me pick up the cats from Tammy's this morning and transport them to PAWS (thanks Nancy!) while super-volunteer Rita helped me pick up the cats from PAWS this afternoon and transport them back to Tammy's for recovery and distribution (thanks Rita!). And, as always, super-volunteer Judy was there in the morning helping the cats get ready to be transported to PAWS and then again in the evening, helping the cats be unloaded and re-distributed to their owners / caretakers (and doing all of the other stuff she does too). Thanks Judy!
Just as we were getting ready to leave the clinic this afternoon, the Executive Director of the PAWS clinic, Rochelle Michalek, came rushing into the clinic carrying a bundle. It was, most unfortunately, a dog that had been hit by a car. I'm not sure how it got to the clinic (maybe it was hit outside or the owner brought it in or whatever), but it was a marvel to see the PAWS staff spring into action. Work was done for the day, the clinic, staging area and operating area had already been cleaned and some of the staff had already left (and the rest were ready to go). But there was instant readiness to go to work to help this poor dog. When I left, one of the PAWS vets was working on the dog, there were a couple of Vet techs nearby helping out and a couple more just waiting for something to do to help. As I said, it was most unfortunate that the dog was struck by a car, but it could have been in better hands...
With these 27 cats, Feral Fixers has now processed 57 cats for the month, 577 for the year and 4.082 overall.