What If?

We receive +/- 5 phone calls a day about cats, cats with kittens, injured cats, owned cat surrender and on and on. When Googling, Feral Fixers comes up first on the list to contact. Calls come from Chicago, and up to 50 miles in any direction as people are so desperate for help and do not find out in advance that we take care of DuPage County. Just saying “no” can be overwhelming as many people do not do specific Googling for their own town/area. Every group is overwhelmed, County is under construction (limits their resources), no one can absorb the number of kittens being produced.

We juggle the surgeries for ferals (preventing further births) against the kittens on hand. If we do not get our fosters neutered, they cannot go on to adoption and there is no room to take more from the outside, resulting in putting off the outside kittens until they are old enough for s/n, resulting in them never being trapped and creating more kittens within 6 months.

The chain of events is: Trapping, taking in kittens if friendly enough, returning adults, kittens go to foster, kittens get s/n, kittens get adoptive homes, over and over and over. If we do not have enough volunteers for trapping, trapping does not happen. If trapping gets delayed, more kittens are produced in a short time. If caretakers do not want the cats back (or that location is no longer viable), we can work on relocation but that takes time away from trapping. Volunteers at the building are needed to make sure kittens are ready for foster. Fosters are needed (320+ adoptions last year), lack of fosters slows down the chain of events as well. Insufficient spay/neuter surgery slots slows down adoptions and preventing births in the ferals. Caretakers contacting us months too late to prevent growth of a colony.

This is not just venting. All of us volunteering for Feral Fixers are feeling an immense burden. We work very hard to limit the supply coming in (feral or friendly), the public cannot grasp the volume of what we do with very limited volunteers, and resources. Our donors are fabulous, unfortunately our needs go far beyond monetary concerns. Fundraising takes a huge amount of time, too. Additionally, bodies, space, time are needed or we will have to put a full stop to trapping as all we can do is limit incoming. If we put a full stop for even a few weeks, there will be continued, unlimited growth. No one else is doing what we do in DuPage County. We did not really stop over the winter in hopes that we would see a reduction in volume, that did not happen, we’re just even more tired.

Every organization is overwhelmed and desperate. I hear “you’re the only people that answered the phone.” There is a reason for that – there are too many phone calls! Some other TNR groups have basically aged out, 60 & 70 year olds cannot do what we did when we started at age 40 & 50. We need more volunteers for every facet of TNR & Rescue. Sometimes we cannot get back to people who want to volunteer – that takes time, too, unfortunately – we need people to come to events, be insistent, know what they can contribute in terms of hours and abilities.

Okay, I hope my rant is informative. Hope you will pass on to anyone who might be able to assist us in our efforts so that we do not have to suspend our work – even for a matter of weeks – before Winter comes with what has in the past been a natural suspension due to weather!

Thank you for reading!

Driscoll - while sedated with his tape collar - neutered and healthy now!

July Trips (so far)

7/2/24 – GEAH – 1 feral male. Feared broken leg but was severe abscess, now recovering with caretaker & will hopefully join his previously tamed brother inside.

7/11/24 – DCAS – 7 ferals, 22 friendlies, 16 females 13 mals. 21 kittens became available for adoption!

7/16/24 – ADOPT – 1 feral male. ADOPT had one open slot and we filled it!

7/17/24 – ADOPT – 10 ferals, 3 females, 7 males

7/18/24 – DCAS – 9 ferals, 15 friendlies, 14 females, 15 males.

7/19/24 – GEAH – 1 feral male. This cat had a chip, assumptions that he was also neutered were made, then we saw proof he had not been neutered so got him into GEAH right away instead of waiting a week for next trip. The vet who chipped him had tested him, apparently mis-read the SNAP, said he was FELV+ and that it was not advisable to neuter him as it would be “bad” for him. We all make mistakes. Cat is FIV+, in great health and will be returning to location as he prefers life outdoors.

7/21/24 – GEAH – 1 feral male. Driscoll had a 4” roll of packing tape around his neck. GEAH had some time so neutered him since he had to be sedated for removal of tape. Seemed in great health! WHAT A WEEK!

Total: 69 in July, 389 so far in this year, 15,269 since our start.

As Many as Possible As Soon As Possible

10 ferals headed to ADOPT on 7/17.

Upcoming Adoption Dates

• Saturday, 8/3, 11am-3pm – Feral Fixers, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard.
• Saturday, 8/17, 11am – 3pm - Feral Fixers, 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard. Also Black Cat Appreciation Day!
• Saturday, 8/31, 11am – 3pm – PetSmart, Finley Square Shopping Center at 1550 Butterfield Rd in Downers Grove, IL

We have just 23 cats posted but many more on hand. Filling out an adoption application earlier than later makes a huge difference in finding the right cat for you! We have dozens of kittens who are or will soon be of age for spay/neuter and then be adoptable, but we are still experiencing a shortage of surgery slot availability.

Tidy rows of 15 fosters on 7/18/24. It can get really loud when they come back, waiting for foster pickup and they are HUNGRY!

We do not have room in TNR for 22 fosters in carriers so we hold them in our big room before and after surgery.		Those crates in TNR - kittens.