Time Flies

 

Yesterday I received a call from someone I had helped TEN years ago! This was before Feral Fixers existed and I was just receiving random word-of-mouth calls. I used Glen Ellyn Animal Hospital for the spay/neuters and helped offset the costs by making catnip knots and catnip stuffed squares for sale. I probably neutered 40? cats in a year? Most of this woman's TNR'd cats are still alive and living outside but a new cat has shown up - so we will be working on him as soon as the weather allows. I had also helped this woman's brother with cats, he lives close to a heavily wooded area - one of his cats is still coming around. Those are really long lives for feral cats, what great news!

 

Fast forward - and it really does seem fast - who knew that thousands of cats would be neutered with such humble beginnings?

 

Recent Stories

 

It's not easy to communicate to others what we do, so I try to share some stories to illustrate just what Feral Fixers does, in addition to trapping cats.

 

We received a call from someone who said that there was an injured cat coming by. We got a trap out there but it took two weeks to trap this cat. She was trapped on a Sunday, taken to Glen Ellyn Animal Hospital on Monday. When the vet called, she asked if I had even seen the cat, did I want to before we moved forward? I did. The cat was lightly sedated but still aware and from handling sooo many cats, you can get an impression of who wants to be friendly or not just by how they react to touch. We discussed her leg, rear, left, as I stroked her neck and shoulders - there's a certain kind of trembling they do as they get accustomed to the idea that, so, these people are going to touch me and its going to be okay. She had a fracture above the foot and infection to the bone on most of the leg with bruising around the leg socket. The only answer was amputation and due to the bruising it was not advisable to spay her at the same time - too much going on in that area already. She snap-tested negative, and we decided to move ahead with the amputation. She did very well with the surgery, which the vets stayed late to complete, she stayed there an additional 24 hours, did some hissing but allowed the technicians to put on and remove an Elizabethan collar several times, take her temperature (what could be more invasive than that!) and did not strike or growl. I had called West Suburban Humane Society before I ever left for GEAH and asked, if we took care of the surgery, would they consider taking her into their adoption program - she needed a foster that could give her individual attention - and they said if she was adoptable, sure! That Wednesday I picked up Sesame from GEAH, interacting with her a bit beforehand to make sure this was a good idea, took her to WSHS where they had a very comfy cage waiting. The next day she went to a foster and everything is going well. Look for Sesame among their adoptables in a few weeks! It takes a community to get these cats where they need to be!

 

DuPage County Animal Care and Control called this past Monday, they had one of "our" cats. From the microchip number I knew that we had neutered him in 2012, he was from an apartment complex, his caretaker would let him inside on occasion and she had moved in 2014. The new information is that someone in that same complex had brought him inside for the last year and now had surrendered him to County. The staff said he was nice. I picked him up and off we went to the vet. He was a mass of knots and very scared. So, sedate, snap test, vaccinate & shave was the plan. Rusty now is sporting a lion cut and slowly gaining interest in his surroundings. I can hold him and he's starting to feel safe enough to look around. At fifteen pounds he could do a lot of damage but has been terribly sweet and calm. Cats are sensitive creatures. Despite how kind the people at DPACC are, the cats know what happens there and often start shutting down so that they don't have to care. It can take awhile for them to return to normal. I'm hoping he will come along quickly and we'll have a foster that can take in this big guy so he can make the next steps in his journey.

 

Another call came from a woman who had taken in a kitten in the Fall, around the same time, her son brought home two kittens who happened to be female. The first kitten was male. "Eleven kittens in the closet" was the result. The male cat was neutered in January, the girls last week and this week seven of the kittens were taken to ADOPT in Naperville for fostering and adoption. The other four went to homes and we should be neutering them as soon as they are old enough.

 

These situations happen all year long, they stand out a little bit more because now is our "down" time. But cats get injured, cats decide to be friendly, kittens have kittens, cats get abandoned all the time. We do what we can to get them what they need in addition to making sure there are fewer and fewer every year. Due to the high volume of cats that we deal with, we have the experience to know who should be adopted, who should go back outside. Cats revert to "feral" after only a short time outside, we have the equipment to trap and house them until we know their true nature.

 

If You Don't Ask, You Don't Get

 

It's becoming clear that Feral Fixers needs a building. My experience has been that if you don't ask, you don't get. We have started discussion of what form a building would take. The big dream is to have a large building that would house an adoption area, holding area and a spay/neuter clinic. Think of all of the empty warehouses and car dealerships you pass. Plenty of parking and areas that cars could drive into and be protected as cats are moved in and out of vehicles. We could start in a house, many shelters have done so. We could start in a store front, that's been suggested to us many times. These changes won't happen tomorrow, it may take some time, but we cannot continue to operate with the limited resources of our volunteers homes and garages forever, in order to provide what the cats need, we need a building. We have started setting aside some donations in what we are temporarily calling a "Fund for the Future" - we may come up with a snappier name - when we get an unexpected large donation we will put it in that account. We would not be acting responsibly if we did not plan for change and this is one way that we are working towards that. Donations can be designated towards this Fund, simply give us those instructions when making a donation. Here is the start of our "ask", keep it in the back of your minds, if you know someone that has the resources to help with this, tell them about us. If you don't ask, you don't get.

 

Once again, my letter to you has gone long. Just a bit more:

 

• Our Shop for Strays Bazaar is coming up on April 19th - come shop and if you would like to bake for our Bake Sale, let us know! We always sell out!
• Watch for our Adoption events!
• Our Tastefully Simple Fundraiser is a fun way to donate and get something for yourself!
• Look over our Flower Power fundraiser - there's a thaw coming!

As always, thank you all for what YOU do for Feral Fixers! 

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.

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!

One of the friendlies brought to PAWS in a trip to PAWS is Dryan (pronounced "Duran"). Feral Fixers president Tammy has the story on him...

"A few weeks ago we got a call from a caretaker, a new cat was injured, could we help? It had a bad eye and was peeing blood - they saw it on the snow.

Dyran got a convenia shot for starters and was set up in a dog crate. And found to be an absolutely wonderful boy. Its amazing when an unneutered male purrs and kneads and is happy! He returned to the vet when his eye did not resolve - it was actually an abscess between his eyes, draining in the corner of one - yech! I know. It was aspirated to culture and we added another antibiotic. Except for the lightly shaved forehead, you would never know he ever had an issue. No sight of the bloody urine but its been a battle to get his digestion under control. Finally, today he was neutered, first step of many to getting a forever home! He is not available for adoption yet but we would love for him to have a foster home! He will have that male cat smell for awhile til it wears off :)!"

 

Clicking on the picture thumbnail will show you a larger version of the picture - he's a handsome guy, isn't he? 

We currently have lots of 8 - 9 month old kittens and adults on hand!  There are so many cats turning friendly out there, we need to get them into foster, make sure they have basic training in how to act in a home and get adopted before the kitten avalanche arrives!  Many of these adults are very calm and so very grateful for the opportunity to come inside - please help us, help them!

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!

Many people have purchased their own traps and purchased traps to donate to us. I feel the need to warn about this product - the humane traps available for purchase at Harbor Freight. They are currently on sale for $25! What a bargain! NOT! The trap doors are of insufficient size to keep the animal from escaping. The door is not long enough, not wide enough, cats have enough room to pry their way out. The metal itself will break more easily = fewer options for modification. Leo, our trap guru, has tried every idea to making them reliable, to no avail. Better to spend two or three times the money and have no escapees.

Our ultimate use will be to wire the door open permanently and use for pre-baiting only. Please do not waste your money, no matter how good a deal it appears - even with the 20% off coupon!

So everyone, beware of and avoid this trap - and pass the word. 

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	1,291
2015	196
Total	7,474

We're off to an early start in 2015 - will we break our 2014 record?

Clicking on the friendly Computer Terminal 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 Hoodie shown to the right (a must for this cold weather!), we have T-shirts, other sweatshirts, aprons, mouse pads, gym bags, messenger bags, coffee mugs, tote-bags, pet food bowls, Pajamas and much, much more! 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.