Zippy Is On His Way!

On a Monday evening, the employees of the Downers Grove Post Office had a window open at street level as they worked in the basement of the building. They've done this before, with nothing of note occurring. This night, however, a bunny ran thru the window with a kitten in hot pursuit!

The employees were able to capture the bunny and return it to the outdoors. The kitten dashed further into the basement and when they finally could figure out where it was, it was under some employee lockers in a hallway. My fellow employees know what I do in my off hours (I'm a letter carrier) and they elected someone to call me. Luckily Tuesday was my day off and I was able to go over and set a trap, leaving notices not to put out additional food. Like magic, the next morning the cat was in the trap. A black kitten, hissing for all it was worth, terrified. Within two days I was able to touch him and on Tuesday of the next week, Zippy went to be neutered. When he came back from PAWS we were able to get him into one of our few fosters, where he is doing really well.

Our skills are called upon in so many different and unusual situations!

Cat Allergies Breakthrough

How many cats end up outside because their owners love them, can't survive their dander? There is a new cat allergy vaccine that is in the testing phase that requires as few as four doses and seem free of side affects. Current allergy treatment requires injections several times a week for months, with continuing treatment for years, with a possibility of severe reactions.

Read more from our President here:

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. In 2010, Feral Fixers had 1,002 cats spayed / neutered!  This year, Feral Fixers has had 437 cats spayed/neutered so far.

This brings us to a total of 2,918 cats. Clicking on the adding machine will send you to the Feral Fixers 'Statistics' page where you can see our progress, month-by-month, since we've started work.

We are in touch with almost all of the shelters in the DuPage area in one way or another.  Fostering is down, not as many people are doing it this year.  Most shelters are closing their doors to intake as they cannot support the animals they currently have.  For shelters that do store front adoptions, without a brick and mortar shelter, they need to have at least as many fosters as they have animals in those cages in case they get sick or need a break from being too long at the stores.  Brick and mortar shelters are limited because most animals need to go into foster and be "tested" in a home situation.  They need to know how a cat is going to behave in a home so that when they adopt it out, they can be reasonably certain that the cat will use the litter box, not attack other animals or children or climb the drapes.  Fostering is the proving ground prior to adoption.
 
What the lack of fosters means to us is that we CANNOT take in fully adoptable animals from the outside.  Every time we place kittens with a shelter, the same number show up, fresh from the outside.  There are long lines waiting to get in.
 
Adoptions are down.  The economy sucks.
 
If you have the ability, the room, the talent, please offer to foster.  If not for us, for any shelter close to your home.
 
We've asked for fosters before and ended up softening the wording, trying to be more positive, but it has not worked.  Every day, we have to make hard choices about who can have a home because we have nowhere to put these cats and kittens.
 
There are fewer cats than there would be if we had not begun almost four years ago.  Things are going to get harder before they get better.  And if you can play a part in things getting better, you will have our unlimited gratitude and the satisfaction of playing a part in making things better for cats all over DuPage.  It may just be one cat, one litter of kittens that you see in front of you, but look behind them at all the others that they symbolize.
 
Thank you so much, if you are reading this, you care.  Please pass on information about this enormous need to anyone you think can help.
 
Thank you.

 

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 Shot Glass shown to the right, we have T-shirts, sweatshirts, aprons, hoodies, mouse pads, 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.

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.