The year is nearly at an end, the holidays are upon us, and Feral Fixer activities continue to proceed at a frantic pace.  Last month we hosted a couple of fundraisers, participated in the Bensenville Tree Lighting ceremony and, oh yes, TNR'd 169 cats (a new monthly record for us).

This month we are closing in on TNR'ing our 1,000th cat for the year (for the second year in a row), have fundraisers at both Yogli-Mogli and Oberweis scheduled, and are hard at work planning our fourth annual Frosty Claws celebration.

This months Letter from the President relates how busy a day at Feral Fixers can be, talks about the sad story of Aladdin, and announces a new Feral cat photo contest.

We also have a story about a new student group formed at the Wheaton North High School, an update on the number of cats we have TNR'd and many more items.

Thank you again for all of your support.

Sincerely,

Boy, Have We Been Busy!

Today is a perfect example of how we spend our time helping cats.

Judy was in charge of coordinating the 10 cats that went to two different shelters. That involved arranging for the fosters to bring the cats to one location, or for Judy to pick them up. In addition to that, in the weeks before, Judy kept track of their vaccination status as shelters in general are requiring more vaccinations prior to the cats being brought in.

I took three cats to one shelter, but they were split between two locations as they are a store front shelter. Mike, Lauren and Gillian all brought in cats that they had been fostering to those same locations.

Ted took 6 cats to another shelter in the opposite direction.

While this was going on, Mary and Casey were headed West to pick up a food donation in a rented box truck.

When I got back, I took two kittens to the vet to be snap tested so that they could go into foster with a clean bill of health. The kittens had decided to be friendly after going to PAWS as ferals.

While these things don't always happen on the same day, this is the level of activity that CAN happen in just one day at Feral Fixers!

Aladdin

When Aladdin was 4 weeks old, his sister missed their mother and thought that nursing on her brother's penis was a fine substitute. This resulted in a very painful infection for Aladdin, even though they were separated as soon as the foster was aware of what was happening. Weeks of antibiotics later, infection gone, the inflammation was no better, and Aladdin was still dribbling around the house. Back to the vet yesterday. It was found that the opening had shrunken so much that he simply could not empty his bladder completely - in was building up faster than out could be possible. The vet hoped that surgery to enlarge the opening would make the difference, but today found that there were more adhesions than originally thought. So Monday, Aladdin will have surgery that will change his life-threatening condition. I believe it is called a perineal urethrostomy, creating another opening for Aladdin to urinate thru as the original one is so damaged. Many people refer to the surgery as making a boy cat into a girl cat, but that's a really simple comparison. Many male cats who get blockages due to crystal formation receive this surgery.

Please think positive thoughts for Aladdin as the recovery is still ahead of him, even after the surgery.

(Update: Sadly, Aladdin passed the evening after his surgery.  Read about this at the Feral Fixers Blog)

Still Offering Opportunities to Support Feral Fixers!

On December 17th, visit Yogli-Mogli in Danada Shopping Center and 15% of your purchase between 12 noon and 5 PM will be donated to Feral Fixers! You can also receive a coupon good at Natural Pet Market (same shopping Center) for dollars off your purchase there. It's a win-win! Feral Fixers volunteers will be on hand to answer questions - hope to see you there!

On December 18th, the Oberweis located at 760 N Rt. 59 in Naperville will be donating a portion of the purchases made between 2 & 7 PM on that day. Did you know that they have incredible hot chocolate to warm you up and their own milk chocolate candy bars that would make great gifts? There's more to Oberweis than milk and ice cream - take a break from shopping and check out this local icon of delicious treats!

We are planning our yearly big event, Frosty Claws! Reserve Sunday, January 15th to spend an afternoon with fellow cat lovers and enjoy some great food at the same time! Shop our Boutique and Recycled2New, enjoy our version of the candy bar raffle and gamble on our Silent Auction items!

Holiday Cards

We don't have a lot of time for mailings, etc., but we do try to make contact thru a card during the holidays. We hope you like the card we are creating this year and would like to have your participation in future cards.

Between January 1st and March 31st, 2012, please send us your PDF pictures of ferals in an outdoor winter setting. There will be no cash prize, but you will receive the gratification of seeing your ferals on our card and sharing them with the Feral Fixers "family."

We will have more details on our website, we'll probably ask for a short story about the ferals, some information to share. But, as the snow will be falling soon, think about the photo possibilities!

Have a Wonderful Holiday!

Not really - it's time to take a break.  This coming weekend, Feral Fixers is hosting Fundraisers at both Yogli-Mogi and Oberweis - yummy!

On Saturday, December 17th, from noon until 5pm, Yogli-Mogli will donate a portion of all purchases made at their Wheaton store (135 Danada Square East).  There are no forms to fill out and no coupons to bring.  Just buy some delicious Yogli-Mogli Frozen Yogurt and help us help the ferals.

And on Sunday, December 18th, from 2pm to 7pm, Oberweis will donate a portion of all purchases accompanied by a coupon at their Naperville store (corner of Rt 59 and North Aurora Road).  Enjoy an ice cream cone or ice cream cake, or any of the other delicious treats they offer and help support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in DuPage County.

You can download a flyer about the Yogli-Mogli event here and a Coupon for the Oberweis fundraiser here.

So, take a break from your last minute hectic schedule and choose between some delicious Yogli-Mogli frozen yogurt or delicious Oberweis Ice cream (along with all of the other goodies they have) - or, do both!

Feral Fixers has a very active Facebook page.  You can go there and get the very latest information about what we are doing - sometimes even before it shows up on the blog!

Don't forget to "Like" us and the good karma will surely flow your way...

To find our Facebook page, click on the facebook logo.

Thank you!

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.

Long-time readers of this eNewsletter know that we work with the PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) organization in Chicago to get our cats spayed/neutered.  They're an incredible group and we owe much of our success to them.

Another P.A.W.S. group, this the People Assisting Wildlife Society out of Wheaton North High School, has recently stepped forward and made a very generous contribution to Feral Fixers.  They have also invited our president to come and speak to them about Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and the benefits it brings.

This is a great group of high school kids and we thank them and salute them - Thank you P.A.W.S.!

(Picture thumbnail is of some of the 50+ members of P.A.W.S. and the check they recently sent Feral Fixers.  Click on the thumbnail to see a full-size version of the picture.)

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 984 cats spayed/neutered so far.

This brings us to a total of 3,465 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.

 

Last month, Feral Fixers volunteers again participated in the annual Bensenville Tree Lighting Ceremony.  This is the fourth year our organization has been invited to decorate a tree located at the Bensenville Towne Plaza.

Feral Fixers has had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the City of Bensenville - they were early adopters of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and have fully supported what we do.  We regularly participate in this event, the Fourth of July parades and their Music in the Park festivals.

Bensenville has seen the number of feral cat reports drop significantly in the last couple of years and this is due to our work and their enlightened attitude - Thank You Bensenville - you are a model for DuPage County!

(Picture thumbnail is of Feral Fixers volunteer Mary standing next to the Feral Fixers tree she helped decorate.  Click on the picture thumbnail to see a larger version of the picture.)

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 Christmas Stocking 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.