OMG, the Holidays ARE HERE!

First of all, thank you to everyone who attended or supported our recent Celebrate 7,000 event!  Everyone who attended had a great time and, even though it was held in the middle of a bunch of other goings-on, it was a success.  Thank you again for your support.

There is still time left to donate to Feral Fixers as part of our #GivingTuesday - Black Cat Fundraiser - donations are accepted up until midnight on Tuesday, December 16th.

And then we have Frosty Claws - our SEVENTH annual new year celebration and fundraiser.  Every year this event gets bigger and better and we're looking forward to it again this year.  Early bird tickets are available until January 14th so don't delay.

This eNewsletter also contains this month's Letter from the President discussing much of what we have been doing lately, introduces a new book (just in time for the Holidays) by Linda Harper, shares a very feral-friendly story in a recent edition of the Chicago Tribune, discusses our ongoing need for Fosters, tells you how you can help Feral Fixers during your holiday shopping and much, much, more...

Oh, and this year we set yet another new yearly record, spay/neutering 1,253 cats for the year (and we're not quite done yet)!

So, enjoy this eNewsletter, and thank you again for all of your support - we couldn't do what we do without you!

Sincerely,

Our many thanks to all of you, as always, because without the volunteers, donors, facebook friends, everyone who helps and looks out for Feral Fixers and the cats all year long, we could not do what we do! 

 

No Rest for the Weary (or so I'm told)  

 

We have lots more going on -

 

There's Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then for Feral Fixers there is Giving Tuesday which will take place on December 2nd across the nation! It is a day to donate and help those who need your assistance to do the work they perform all year long! Look for our #Giving Tuesday Black Cat Fundraiser - we have a donation of $5,000 and our hope is that our donors will match that amount to raise another $5,000! That would equal $10,000 and supply the funds for almost 300 feral surgeries! Feral Fixers TNR's those cats that do not have financial support for spay/neuter. Our goal is to get every cat neutered and prevent kittens, whether someone can donate on the behalf of those cats or not and we count on our general donation funds to cover those expenses and you guys have come thru time and time again! We have neutered over 2,300 black cats since our beginning in 2007, almost a third of all cats TNR'd in DuPage County by Feral Fixers!

 

Our Tastefully Simple Fundraiser runs thru December 15th - be sure to order your dips and mixes and sauces early to have on hand for entertaining, gift-giving or something special for yourself!

Frosty Claws is coming!

 

Be sure to mark your new 2015 calendars with the date for Frosty Claws - January 18th. We expect to have a big crowd as usual and have therefore expanded the time to 4 hours long instead of 3, we want everyone to have the time to enjoy themselves! Please stay posted for more information on our website. Donors are already asking WHEN they can bring stuff to donate to our Silent Auction - please contact us on or after December 15th - and the deadline to donate items is January 10th. We always have such a wonderful variety of stuff! Keep in mind when you are donating - new in the package or unique and vintage or hand-crafted should be your guidelines - if your brother or sister wouldn't bid on it, who would? Its fascinating how items from several different people can come together to make a really special gift basket! I can't wait to see what will show up this year!

 

Winter care for ferals:

 

The people in Toronto have great suggestions for shelters - visit the Cold Weather Care link on the left-hand side of our home page for a tip on keeping drinking water from freezing.

 

Emergency/cheap solution: If you see a feral in need of a shelter, a cardboard box, lined with Styrofoam, stuffed with straw and wrapped in a garbage bag will suffice until and if something more deluxe is available. Cut a 6" round door at least 4" off the ground, elevate on bricks or boards and face the door out of the wind, lean a board against the front to create a foyer and you are done. This can be done for zero dollars if you have supplies lying around - the only hard-to-get item is straw and many people are trying to figure out how to get rid of the stuff without paying for a garbage sticker to have it taken away. This would be a very lightweight shelter, so try to place something heavy on top so that it does not blow away in a frigid gust of wind.

 

Be sure to provide water. A feeding station is a great way to keep the ferals out of the wind, too - Rubbermaid tote on its side, screwed to some boards to keep it elevated and out of melting snow - and the cats won't have to eat out in the wind. 

Feral Fixers has a very active Facebook page.  You can go there and get the very latest information about what we are doing - many times 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.

Recently, there was an article in the Chicago Tribune about feral cats located at the Hawthorne Race Track.  It seems a dispute has broken out as to is or should be caring for the cats.

Too often we see articles about whether or not feral cats should be removed from some location, but the tone of this article is that, of course, there should be feral cats located here - the only dispute is who is taking care of them.  That's a welcome step up - thank you Hawthorne Race Track (and thank you Chicago Tribune for reporting on this).

Want to help Feral Fixers by purchasing something that we really could use?  Then check out our Wish Lists on Walmart.com and Amazon.  Both of them have many items listed that we would greatly appreciate and they are shipped directly to us!

This is a wonderful way to help Feral Fixers.  Many people prefer to support a charitable organization by purchasing items for them rather than sending them a donation and this is a way you can do so.

To find the Feral Fixers Wish List on Amazon.com, just go to their website and click on the Wish List link near the top, right-hand corner of the page.  Then enter the words "Feral Fixers" (without the quotation marks) into the box that says "Find Someone's Wish List" and hit Enter.  You'll then be presented with all of the items currently on Amazon.com that Feral Fixers would like to have.  Add the item(s) you wish to donate to your Shopping Cart in the normal manner and, when you pay for them, they'll be ordered and shipped directly to Feral Fixers!

And, if you order from the AmazonSmile website (see instructions elsewhere in this eNewsletter for instructions on how to do so), you'll help us in an additional way - you'll have donated one or more items to us AND 1/2% of your purchase price will also be additionally donated to Feral Fixers (this only applies to items that are so eligible - shown in the description of them item).

To find the Feral Fixers Wish List on Walmart.com, just go to their website and point to the Registry link at the top.  From the drop-down menu shown at that time, click on the Wish List link.  Enter "Feral" in the First Name Field and "Fixers" in the Last Name field (without the quotation marks) and click on the "Find" button.  You'll then see a table with one line item in it.  Click on the FERAL FIXERS line and you'll see our Wish List displayed.  Add the item(s) you wish to donate to your Shopping Cart in the normal manner and, when you pay for them, they'll be ordered and shipped directly to Feral Fixers!

Thank you!

Linda Harper, the founder of Blessed Bonds, has a new book out, just in time for the Holidays!  It's entitled The Power of Joy in Giving to Animals and is about;

You can order the book, in either print or electronic version, from Amazon.

We seem to have more kittens for this time of year than ever and at this time of year, fosters are winding down, have other activities to pursue, etc., so there's a huge imbalance between supply and demand!

We do our best to work with fosters but they need to:  

• Be in easy driving distance of Lombard - emergencies happen and being 45 minutes away, one way, is just not a good idea.
• Have only one or few animals of their own - asking someone to take on 4 additional cats when they already have 4++ animals on hand could be a problem
• Spend a reasonable amount of time at home - someone who travels or has long work days cannot sufficiently support the behavior modification that is sometimes necessary with young kittens

Be clear about expectations of us and ask plenty of questions!

In return, fosters receive so much love and affection from these cats and the knowledge that they are part of the pipeline of Rescue - getting them ready for their forever homes!

Please, Help us help them!

The highly-collectible T-Shirts which were given out to attendees of the Celebrate 5500! event are now for sale for only $10 each (including shipping to anywhere in the US)!

Limited quantities are still available and can be ordered from the Feral Fixers website.  Don't delay - they're going fast!

Click on the T-Shirt to buy!

Did you know that some of your purchases on ebay can directly help Feral Fixers?  When a seller posts an item, they can designate a charity to donate a portion of the proceeds to.  Several people have done so for Feral Fixers.  When you purchase one or more of these items, a portion of the sale is donated directly to Feral Fixers!

You don't have to register anything, submit any coupons, fill out any forms, etc.  All you have to do is to purchase an item whose seller has designated Feral Fixers as their Charity of Choice.

If you follow this link, you can see all the items on ebay that have Feral Fixers as a designated charity.

Our thanks to those sellers who have so-designated Feral Fixers - your contributions are greatly appreciated!  And, if you are a seller and would like to start designating Feral Fixers as a Charity, instructions on how to do so are shown on the same page.

Thank you!

Year	# of cats fixed
2007	86
2008	529
2009	869
2010	1,003
2011	1,025
2012	1,232
2013	1,243
2014	1,253
Total	7,240

For the fifth year in a row, Feral Fixers has spayed/neutered more than 1,000 cats - and the year isn't over yet!

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.

Feral Fixers is now a designated charity on Amazon.com, the website which offers a gazillion items for sale.  A great many of these items have been designated eligible for "amazonsmile", a program that automatically donates 1/2% of the purchase price of the item to the charity of your choice.

Instead of signing on to http://amazon.com, sign on to http://smile.amazon.com instead.  You'll then be able to designate a "Favorite charity".  Enter "Feral Fixers" where asked to and then Feral Fixers will be eligible for these donations.

In order for you to then purchase amazonsmile items, you will always need to sign in to http://smile.amazon.com.  This is the same Amazon.com website you've always enjoyed - all of the products are still listed, but note that not every item on Amazon is "amazonsmile" eligible.  Items that are eligible are clearly designated as such in the description.

So, register Feral Fixers as your favorite charity and help us help the cats!

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 Holiday Ornament shown to the right (perfect for the season!), 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.