Three Years!

I cannot believe we have been doing this for three years, also I cannot believe it has only been three years!

As I am writing this, we are approaching our 2200th cat!  Think about it - that's at least -2200 cans of cat food for recovery, 2200 microchips, that's 2200 towels to cover 2200 traps & carriers, that's at least a 100 trips into PAWS, gotta be! 

Taking a quick glance at our database, over 500 cats/kittens have been deemed "friendly" and gone to shelters or have been adopted thru caretakers - 25% taken indoors either immediately or as they turned "friendly."  As the cats get older and tamer, more will probably decide that coming inside is much more desirable to their current lifestyle.  We receive calls on some of these late bloomers, from people worried that we will want "our" cat back, but usually these people have taken the cat to the vet and then found the chip - someone taking this much responsibility usually qualifies them as a good home.

We are making a huge impact and that's what keeps us going into our 4th year!

There's always more

This afternoon I received a call from a caretaker in Villa Park.  We had trapped and neutered all the outside cats except for the mama who had kittens just before we started.  Mama brought the kittens today.  They are 4 week old, bravely hissy, wide-eyed kittens.  The caretaker managed to grab 3, there's a 4th out there, I left a trap so that the caretaker could get both Mama & #4.  We do not consider ourselves done with a location until we get everyone.  These same people let the inside cats out, we spayed their two female inside cats.  There is no money in this household for spay/neuter, the economy has hit Villa Park very hard and there are the feral cats there to prove it!  Many people simply cannot afford to buy cat litter, what else can they do besides let the cats outside?

We have close to 16 cats/kittens that need fostering right now.  If you are the type of person who can be firm, set boundaries (all children need that!) and see the big picture, please give us a call.  We do not want to return cats to the outside if we don't have to.

Help us celebrate our 2,000th cat!

An anonymous donor has pledged $1,000 to Feral Fixers to use in a matching fund drive to raise a total of $2,000 or more!

The donor's wish is to reward the volunteers of Feral Fixers for accomplishing such an incredible milestone of neutering 2,000 cats in just under three years! We could not have achieved this without the hard work of our wonderful volunteers! These funds will help us on our way to reaching our goal of reducing cat overpopulation and euthanasia in DuPage County!

To donate, just click on the ChipIn! button, above (or on our website). There, you will be able to donate to our ChipIn via PayPal (you can use your PayPal account or a Credit Card to donate).

The Chicago Tribune has gone on record in support of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)! This is wonderful and something which was inconceivable just a few years ago.

Dr. Donna Alexander, the administrator for Cook County animal and rabies control, has on behalf of the county, sued the Village of Bridgeview, asking a judge to block the enforcement of a new law Bridgeview passed, prohibiting its citizens from maintaining a feral colony.

The article can be found here and is well worth the read.

Way to go Dr. Alexander!

Feral Fixers was founded in September of 2007. In that abbreviated first year, Feral Fixers had 86 cats spayed / neutered. In 2008, Feral Fixers had 525 cats spayed / neutered and in 2009, Feral Fixers had 868 cats spayed / neutered. So far in 2010, Feral Fixers has had 724 cats spayed / neutered.

This brings us to a total of 2,203 cats. Clicking on the calculator to the right will send you to the Feral Fixers 'Statistics' page where you can see our progress, month-by-month, since we've started work.

Over the past few weeks, Feral Fixers has hosted booths at no fewer than three events.

On September 11th, Feral Fixers hosted a booth at the annual Wood Dale Pet Lovers Showcase.  This is the second year we've been at this event.  The weather did not cooperate, raining throughout almost the entire event.  Just when we were packing up our booth, the sun came out!  It was still a lot of fun and we made a lot of new contacts and friends in Wood Dale.

On September 18th, Feral Fixers hosted a booth at the Friends of DuPage County Animal Care & Control's annual 'friends fur-Ever Festival'.  This one was subtitled "Take Two" as the first one was rained out.  This second attempt at this event had its weather problems, too.  All of us there with booths were told to take them down and put everything away for the first hour while a forecasted rain storm came and went.  The good news is that the rain WAS over after about an hour and then the event went off without a hitch.  This is our third year at this event (which is now a combination of their previous Dog Wash & Walk and Shelter Expo events).  We enjoyed ourselves very much at this event too - it was well attended and we greeted old friends and made new ones.

Finally, on September 26th, Feral Fixers hosted a booth at the annual West Suburban Humane Society's Barkapalooza.  This is our fourth year at this event and every year it gets bigger and bigger.  There were no rain issues at this event, but it was very chilly.  Everyone was in hoodies and sweatshirts and we saw several people wearing gloves.  Even though this is a dog-centered event, a lot of people stopped by our booth for questions or information - and we gave away lots and lots of dog-biscuits to the very appreciative canine attendees...

Thank you to everyone who visited us during these events.  We appreciate everyone's support and comments and the volunteers who help us staff the booths.  The photo thumbnail at the top of this article is of a couple of Shar-Pei puppies that came to Barkapalooza.  If you click on the thumbnail, you will be able to see a full-size version of the picture.  Or, you can visit the Feral Fixers Photo Album to see more pictures from this event and others we've have hosted or attended in the past.

Jewel-Osco stores are now giving away "Reward Stickers" to shoppers who use the Jewel-Osco 'Preferred Card' during their purchase.  Shoppers receive one sticker for each $10 spent on eligible purchase (more details about this program can be found here).  These "Reward Stickers" can be redeemed for Thomas Professional Cookware.  If shoppers would mail these coupons to Feral Fixers (PO Box 1416, Lombard, IL.  60148) instead, we would use them to purchase this Cookware and then make these items as part of the baskets we sell at Silent Auctions.  This is a great way for you to help us without costing you a dime!  These stickers must be redeemed by January 26, 2011.

You can also help us by simply shopping at Gordon Food Services (GFS) and mentioning our name during checkout.  If you shop at GFS, when they ask if your purchase is for a business or charity, all you have to do is say Feral Fixers - you don't need a card or anything and a percentage of your purchase goes to FF at the end of the year.  Feral Fixers is on file, they just type it in and that is all you have to do.  Pass the info on to anyone you know who shops there, anyone can help us raise funds in this way with no added expense!
 
GFS has some great and convenient products - check out what they have to offer!
 
It's like a warehouse club without the membership fee and they have similar large packaging and prices.  And if you don't see something in the store, look online and you can order it for pickup at the store, and Feral Fixers still benefits!

Thank you Gordon Food Services!

Want to purchase something purr-fect for your cat-lover friends and help out Feral Fixers at the same time?  Just visit our Café Press store and Buy Something! In addition to the Mouse Pad shown to the right (perfect for cat lovers!), we have T-shirts, sweatshirts, aprons, hoodies, gym bags, messenger bags, coffee mugs, tote-bags, pet food bowls, etc. A portion of each sale goes to help us in our TNR efforts.