It's still cold, cold, cold, and snowy, snowy, snowy out there - jeez, what a winter!  But it's going to end soon, really it is, and then Feral Fixers will be again kicking into high-gear, spaying and neutering those cats!

We had hoped to begin large-scale operations in late February, but this winter weather has prevented it.  We are going to hold off trapping until the overnight temperature is 30+ and the daytime temperature is 40+.  We know that cats are getting pregnant out there, but we can't endanger their lives to spay/neuter them so we have to wait until it is safe.  We will resume just as soon as we can...

In her monthly Letter From the President, Tammy describes the two fundraisers we now have going; "With Faith, Anything is Possible" and "Grow Funds for Feral Fixers".  Donating to one or both of these would help us tremendously.  She also talks about the upcoming Feral Fixers Bazaar, Shop4Strays, recaps events at the recent Frosty Claws and gives us a status update on the Uhlik Repeater Trap fundraiser.

We also have a reminder for our 2014-2015 Holiday Card Photo contest, show the latest spay/neuter statistics for Feral Fixers, tell the story of "Skeezix" and and much, much more...

Thank you again for supporting Trap-Neuter-Return and Feral Fixers and stay warm!

Sincerely,

"With Faith, Anything is Possible" Challenge Fundraiser

 

We recently received a wonderful donation from the Patch Fund of the Chicago Community Trust Foundation. Donors pool their money and pick charitable organizations to receive their combined funds, those funds then having greater impact on the recipient organizations. We don't know who the members of the Patch Fund are except that they are animal lovers who lean more towards cat organizations. We are amazed each and every day with the faith that people have in Feral Fixers!

 

We would like to acknowledge and celebrate the faith that the Patch Fund donors have shown in Feral fixers and grow their donation with a Challenge Fundraiser to raise a matching dollar amount. We have aptly named this fundraiser the "With Faith, Anything is Possible" Challenge Fundraiser. Please help us raise a matching $3,000 to build their original donation to a total of $6,000! This would mean having the funds on hand for a total of 160 feral cat surgeries! Please place your faith in us, that once again, that we will give the cats of DuPage County the best care and the best future we possibly can!

 

With Faith, Anything is Possible!!!

 

"Grow Funds for Feral Fixers!" Flower Power

 

Flower Power has some new products this year - they are offering herb & veggie & sunflower seeds and the equipment and seeds for growing your own sprouts! And a cook book! The best part about shopping with Flower Power is that you place your order and it is shipped directly to your home! The plants are mailed at the right time for planting in your area - and they ship anywhere in the United States, so our new friends across the country can still participate and benefit Feral Fixers with beautiful plants that we Chicagoans could never grow! I'm looking forward to seeing my blue geraniums come up for the third year, as well as the daffodils and lily of the valley that I've planted in previous years. 50% of your purchase goes to Feral Fixers and your purchases can beautify your yards for years to come!

 

Bazaar

 

Our "Shop 4 Strays" Bazaar will be on April 6th at the Villa Park VFW from 12 noon to 3 PM. We have our starting line-up of vendors with a few more weeks for sign up. We ask for an entry fee donation of $3 at the door and will be offering beverages. Come in, shop, sit awhile and look at catalogs, participate in our Door Prize Raffle and take home some goodies from our Bake Sale! Join the rest of the cat-lovin' crowd and have a great time!

 

Frosty Claws Recap

 

The positive energy that flowed in before the event in the form of donations and offers of assistance was unbelievable. The atmosphere during the event was nothing short of amazing. We had a total attendance of about 250 people during the event and so many smiling and happy faces! We cannot express our gratitude for the kindness and thoughtfulness you all showed!

 

Uhlik Repeater Traps

 

The Uhlik Repeater Traps have arrived! "Some assembly required" has been a challenge, we're still working on them! Can't wait to use them! Thank you so much for the donations - we ordered a total of three - we are hoping this gives us more cats per attempt and quicker resolution of the locations we're working on. And, no matter that we've neutered 6,000+ cats, those un-neutered colonies are still out there!

 

We couldn't do this without YOU! 

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!

This is a reminder about our 2014-2015 Holiday Card contest, please consider sending in a submission for the upcoming competition.  There's lots of snow out there (and more on the way) and you should have plenty of opportunities.  There are no hard and fast rules for the submissions, but they should say "Feral Cat" and "Winter" to whoever views it.  And, please, send in the best quality image you have.  Images must be submitted by April 1st, 2014 to [email protected] to qualify.  Thank you!

(Shown above is the winning submission for the 2013-2014 Contest, sent in by Ms. Debbie Dolecki.  Click on it to see a full-size version.)

Going the Distance!  The Story of Skeezix

People are forever letting friendlies into their homes and THEN calling us.  So many cats are deciding to turn friendly and, yes, so many people haven't the funds to care for them adequately, that this has happened frequently.  Sometimes we then have to bring a trap and help the people get that cat into a trap because the cat suddenly realizes that actual touching by a human is involved in coming inside - oops!  Those guys then need to be neutered and kept in a dog crate for taming until their views of the world and reality are the same!

But here is a story of a cat that fell thru the cracks - the story of Skeezix.  Now, Skeezix was a character in the Gasoline Alley comics - a baby left on a doorstep - and it is also a cowboy slang term for motherless calf.  So, there is good reason to call a homeless cat by that name.  In the midst of all that snow we've had, a kind soul let Skeezix into her house because he was yelling on her doorstep.  She contacted us and this once we were able to take him in.  Skeezix was a very vocal boy, an abscess under his left ear, an abscessed toe - he had gotten into a fight of some sort.  His right ear was shredded like someone ran it thru their teeth and he was covered in flea bite scabs.  He was already neutered - we thought.  But his urine still smelled like male cat and he yowled. INCESSANTLY.  Off to the vet for convenia for the injuries, update on vaccinations, insertion of microchip.  Vet did not feel any testicles and there appeared to be two scabs where he had been neutered - probably within the last 30 days.  Okay, we'll wait a little longer for the hormones to subside.  INCESSANT yowling if someone was not right by him or holding him.  A little too much interest on his part about his privates if he was indeed neutered.  We hit the surgery roadblock of dental month so we put off, put off, but three weeks later,  today he finally had surgery.  One tiny testicle, right up against where it should have popped thru.  Vet saved it for us.  No wonder the boy was yowling!

This is a story that shows one of the many ways Feral Fixers helps cats.  This was most likely the reason he ended up outside, and it would be great if we could find out which vet did not go the distance and look for that other testicle but Skeezix was not microchipped.  Within the next two weeks he should smell better, stop the yowling (cross your fingers for us!) and be ready for short term foster and off to be adopted.  He is very lucky that we were contacted instead of his remaining outside or going to animal control - who would not have had the time and resources to give him a chance - there are too many cats!  So be looking for Skeezix amongst our adoptables - he has quite a story to share!  He is just one of the many cats that need someone to go the distance, that we need fosters for - otherwise where would they end up?

Please, help us, help them!  You can look on our Facebook page and see cats that need fostering, some are doing really well and we are able to say they can be "fostered to adopt."  The alternative to fostering is putting cats back outside (friendlies make bad decisions and are at greater risk than ferals) or keeping cats in dog crates even tho they are ready for fostering and running around a house, just because there is nowhere for them to go.

Our fosters may be overwhelmed at times but there is nothing like knowing you've made a difference!  And, of course, that first purr when a cat/kitten accepts that this is a pretty good life!

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, in 2011, Feral Fixers had 1,024 cats spayed/neutered, and in 2012, Feral Fixers has had 1,231 cats spayed/neutered.  Finally, we've spayed/neutered 1,243 cats in 2013, and so far this year, we've spayed/neutered 39 cats.

This brings us to a total of 6,015 cats. Clicking on the calculator will send you to the Feral Fixers 'Statistics' page where you can see our progress, month-by-month, since we've started work.

At Feral Fixers, we sometimes joke about having the money and the time for a vacation in Hawaii.  After reading this article, you know what WE would do while in Hawaii!  Still, its good to read about Paradise, even if they have wayyy too many cats, when we're expecting another 5 - 12 inches of snow!

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 Stackable Mugs shown to the right, we have T-shirts, sweatshirts, aprons, hoodies, mouse pads, gym bags, messenger bags, coffee mugs, tote-bags, pet food bowls, Pajamas 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.