The Feral Blog

As Many As Possible: Fall Events and the Latest from Feral Fixers

Written by: Tammy McAuley

Come See Us At Lombard Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware is having a Fall Fest on Saturday, October 10th, 11am - 2pm, 837 Westmore Meyers Rd, Lombard, IL. 

Feral Fixers will be there to share information on Trap/Neuter/Return and our Adoptable Cats. Come say 'hi' to Laura and Debbie and get info on caring for the cats in your neighborhood while preventing an increase in the population thru TNR! We'll also have a few items for sale and would love to hear about your ferals!

Bake For Cats! Come Join Us!

Sunday, October 18th, 12 noon to 3pm at Feral Fixers 330 Eisenhower Ln N, Lombard, IL, join us for our National Feral Cat Day Celebration! We will have a bake sale and items from out Boutique. Donations from our Wish List will be gratefully accepted! Socialize with other cat people! If you would like to contribute to our Bake Sale to help raise funds for Feral Fixers, please contact Sue Zorn, (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 630-661-8509) to arrange – cookies, cakes, a pie? You never know what will be at our event and we welcome donations to make it a success! Hope to see you there!

Visit Apache Halloween

Come visit Apache Halloween, 2301 Apache Ln, Woodridge, IL, on October 23, 24, 30, 31, from dusk to 10 pm (weather permitting). Only 3 weeks away! Walk thru a family-friendly haunted yard that includes cemeteries and more! Enjoy the animatronics! Visitors often make donations to a designated charity and Feral Fixers has been chosen. We helped TNR their feral in the past and they are showing their appreciation for our help. Hoping clear weather! Have a great time!

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Bits n’ Pieces

“As If They Were Our Own” Fundraiser was a success! Warren is doing very well and getting around just fine on three legs. Another recipient of our donors’ generosity is Barnie. Barnie came to us with an eye on the verge of rupturing. We tried to save the eye but to no avail. He is navigating life as a one-eyed cat, not easy at the age of 4.5 months! With your help we did not have to think twice about giving him this crucial surgery! Our next online fundraiser is “Black Cat Giving Tuesday” from 12/1/26 to 12/31/26 and we already have a $20,000 pledge for matching funds for it! This will carry us into the New Year with confidence – yes, already talking about 2027!

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Barnie saying "What are you looking at?"

Food! Thought you would be interested to know that from 8/24 to 9/21 our outlay for canned and dry foods was almost $1800 for the cats and kittens in our care. Just food. Not paper towels, laundry detergent, disinfectants, garbage bags, all those things that go into caring for cats!

S/N Slots – There is a definite lack of veterinarians and therefore a lack of spay/neuter slots. At this time, we have feral surgeries scheduled for 10/8 and 10/22 with only 15 slots each. Since we have over 100 cats that we know of out there, this is going to be a problem. Please be kind to us and understand when our voice mail is completely full for days. Never thought we would have lack of surgeries as our biggest issue. We want to help but with what resources? We would be happy to create our own spay/neuter clinic – to do it responsibly we are talking millions of dollars. Think of ferals when you win the Lottery!

Heads Up – So tired and so much life care needs to be done. Intend to take the whole month of December off from trapping and do no trapping the whole month. Repeated for emphasis. There will be fundraising for next year, maintenance and projects at the building but need a BREAK! Or will break. Hope you can understand.

September!

Never thought a lack of veterinarians would impact TNR! But this is what we accomplished in September!

  • 9/17 – ADOPT – 5 friendlies, 3 female, 2 male. ADOPT was so kind to keep the adult male for adoption!
  • 9/17 – DCAS – 14 ferals, 1 friendly, 6 female, 9 males.
  • 9/24 – DCAS – 4 ferals. 3 females, 1 male. These came from a recently discovered huge colony, all with bad worms.
  • 9/25 – DCAS – 3 ferals, 2 females, 1 male. More from that colony. 40 more to trap there!
  • 9/30 – ADOPT – 3 friendlies, 3 females. Adult female Fern was a great mom to 8 kittens til they were able to eat on their own – she was so tired!

September total 44, 2026 total 545, 17,090 since 2007.

 

An entire neighborhood knew this cat was pregnant for WEEKS but failed to tell us when she was trapped. This happened within hours of her coming to our building. We do not wish ill upon these kittens, far from it, but where were these people 9 weeks ago when they could have been prevented?  Mom cat in a crate, forced to care for these kittens til they are at least 6 weeks old and eating on their own. Then another 4 - 5 weeks before s/n and even longer before adoption can happen. Much more could be said, but....

Every cat has a story and we continue to make those stories positive ones!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

$23K in Sight, 32 Cats Homed, and Warren’s Recheck Next Week

Written by: Tammy McAuley

“As If They Were Our Own” Fundraiser Ends At Midnight

Right now, our Giving Grid is $21,522!  Making a deposit tomorrow that brings us over $23,000!  We have until midnight for online donations to show up!!!  Our thanks to everyone for their enormous generosity!

You all make a difference in the care of the cats in our area!

Warren is still doing well!  He would rather try to interact with the resident cat than eat, tho.  And Buck is happy to take advantage of that, taking a pawful of Warren’s food whenever he can.  Warren goes for a re-check on Tuesday, 9/8!  Fingers crossed!  

Too Early to Talk About Taxes?

Many changes are coming with your 2026 taxes – including being able to deduct up to $1000 in charitable donations.  Read about the changes here: 2026 Tax Law: 3 Big Ways Your Charitable Donation Tax Deduction Has Changed | Kiplinger

Our First Goal

Our first goal is to reduce cat overpopulation thru the use of low cost, high volume spay/neuter.  A side effect is the large number of kittens and friendlies we encounter and, despite recommendations from huge organizations, we find it very difficult to put those cats back outside and try our best to find homes for those cats.

In August Feral Fixers found homes for 32 cats and kittens!!!

As a result, fewer cats on the street!

Please continue visiting our website Want to Adopt? page that lists our Adoptables and share with friends, family and neighbors!

Have to give a little extra mention - Raggedy Ann is a spirited young feline, very sweet to humans.  Something happened and she does not like her fellow felines.  We don’t know the cause but if you can handle a single cat household, she is the cat for you!

9/3 Trip!

Dr. Turner has moved back to Texas and will be missed!  If you know a vet who loves high volume spay/neuter – ask them to contact DuPage County Animal Services!

  • 9/3 – DCAS – 1 friendly, 14 ferals, 6 male, 9 female – one already spayed.

September total 14, 2026 total 515, and 17,060 since 2007. We could be surrounded by thousands and thousands of offspring if we hadn’t done so many!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

$21K Raised! — Help Us Finish by September 4

Written by: Tammy McAuley

Update On “As If They Were Our Own” Fundraiser

Right now, our Giving Grid is over $19,000! Making a deposit tomorrow that brings us over $21,000! We have until September 4th!!! Our thanks to everyone for their enormous generosity!

We hope our generous donor is still able to go further than the original $15,000!

You all make a difference in the care of the cats in our area!

Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated and keep us in mind to donate by 9/4 to reach our ultimate goal!

We are still caring for Warren, our “As if…” spokescat. Unfortunately, when Warren had his last cast removed an infection had recurred. It is hard to fight infection when the tissue is so heavily covered. We needed to make the difficult decision to amputate his leg. Since then, his incision is looking really well! So many medications! Keep your fingers crossed for him! Loves laying in foster laps!

Warren in recovery - yay!

Last Week Was Busy!

Our next s/n is 9/3!

Recent:

  • 8/25 – ADOPT – 5 friendlies, 2 female, 3 male. ADOPT kept 4 for adoption!
  • 8/27 – DCAS – 2 friendly, 25 feral, 13 female, 14 male. One female had pyometra, so glad we got her! One male was already neutered with no chip – he needs to go for a dental soon!

August total 79, 2026 total 501, and 17,046 since 2007. We do so much more than these numbers imply!

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8/24 AM -TNR room had new ferals, cats awaiting relocation in crates and kittens waiting to go on to Cats In Transition.
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Just not enough room. Relocation ferals had to be moved back into traps as crates take up much more room, so many ferals arrived that we had to set up a small tray table in a corner to accommodate everyone! Big changes in just a few hours in one day!

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

From The President

2026 - Can You Believe it!

Written by: Tammy McAuley

We’re almost thru 2025 as this is written. The year zoomed by!

Volunteers, caretakers, fosters, donors contributed to the spay/neuter of 811 feral and stray cats and kittens. Once again, we have done over 300 adoptions this year with the help of our trappers, fosters, adoption and animal care volunteers with just 10 days to go til the end of the year as I write this. We’ve helped so many cats and humans with the care of cats. Long-lasting effects in the future of cats in the DuPage County area.

Another year where there were limited spay/neuter services, pet owners and feral caretakers impacted by financial and housing issues. This has resulted in increased volume of cats outside and intact, creating more kittens. All shelters in the area are full, constantly.

We started trapping in February at locations with barns and outbuildings and accomplished 117 by the end of March – very early start. The whole year had its ups and downs with surgery and volunteer availability. But this contributed to a total of 16,545 spay/neuters since our start in 2007. Amazing, isn’t it?

Weather is the great unknown, but we hope to hit the ground running once again by the end of February, there are many locations that we need to get back to. Cats move around and just when we think we have resolved an area – a call with 20 more cats from a “finished” location comes in. Feral Fixers is at the top of all the search engines and perhaps someday we can expand our coverage to more than firm DuPage County response. That would take more trappers and more animal care support across the board. Please consider learning to trap and working in your own neighborhood, making a lasting difference! So many cards this year have mentioned how they are not seeing kittens as a result of our efforts.

Each week of trapping can result in kittens or cats that can become adoptable, requiring additional care at the building and then fostering and then adoption. Injured cats needing additional care are held at the building for recovery. Cats that must be relocated are usually held at the building until that can be arranged. This all requires an increased number of volunteers so that we can meet the need.

Our donors have made a huge difference, supporting us with the funds that keep the cats healthy, fed, warm in the Winter, cool in the summer. Imagine the food bill this past year! Skids of cat litter!

We always hope for fewer cats to be trapped, unlimited spay/neuter capacity and the day the phone will stop ringing with more and more cats to be cared for. Please help us make 2026 that year!

Donors, volunteers, caretakers have been doing so much for the past 18 years, and we’ve done so much – 16,545 cats!  Just remember –

As Many As Possible As Soon As Possible

It's 2025!

Written by: Tammy McAuley

2025 – Already Here!

2024 has been a very long year, hasn’t it? Yet it seems to have been over in the blink of an eye!

The volunteers, donors, caretakers, fosters, all playing a part in Feral Fixers accomplishing 854 spay/neuters of feral and stray cats and kittens. We have adopted approximately 342 cats and kittens to wonderful homes with the help of our adoption, foster and animal care volunteers and there are two days left in the year as I write this. We have assisted many sick and injured cats. We’ve done so much that is positive and will have long-lasting effects for both cats and humans.

We have to mention the challenges of the year – spay/neuter clinics shut down for reconstruction or permanently, veterinarians leaving the work force, all reducing the number of available surgery slots we could obtain. Pet owners faced housing and financial issues, resulting in more cats being outside and intact. Every shelter is full – we keep saying that and it does not improve.

Judging by the number of phone calls we have received and the locations we just could not get to, 2025 may be an even busier year. We resume trapping when the overnight temperatures are above 30 degrees consistently – that date is anyone’s guess in Chicagoland these days. We have to take the situations on a case- by-case basis. More people are bringing cats into their homes and arranging s/n themselves and we applaud them!

Through it all, our donors have helped so much. While fundraising takes time and there has not been near enough of that this year, we have been able to keep the lights on, the cats fed, the litter boxes scooped and spay/neuter to the capacity of the surgeries available to us.

We are hoping that increased capacity for surgery will increase our yearly s/n numbers in 2025 – the only way we are going to get ahead. We are hoping that more people will be able to volunteer, foster and adopt!

Even though this is hard work, we have to remember the impact we have had, how many cats would be roaming the streets, producing more and more, the suffering that has been alleviated, feline and human alike! We have much more work to do but what a difference has been made so far!

You - donors, volunteers, caretakers, are all responsible for the huge difference Feral Fixers has achieved in the last 17 years! Remember –

As Many As Possible

As Soon As Possible

It's 2024, finally...

Written by: Tammy McAuley

2023 – What A Year

Together, volunteers, donors, caretakers, everyone involved with Feral Fixers, we have accomplished 926 spay/neuters of feral and stray cats and kittens. With the help of our dedicated adoption and foster and animal care volunteers, we have found homes for 360 cats and kittens. In just this year, you can see the impact as we reduced the volume of cats outdoors, we reduced the overpopulation crisis from every direction, helping felines and humans alike.

The challenges have been immense. 

Kitten numbers have increased dramatically –societal changes may be the biggest impact: lack of vet access, money, movement of our population – combining households, isolation and hoarding, etc. People are actually paying more attention to the cats outside and are discovering the pregnant cat, the litter of kittens much more readily than in the past which results in overall increased volume that we are contacted about. Every shelter is full. Everyone is doing their best to save every cat they can. Adults and kittens are becoming friendly at an increased pace. Years ago, a feral was a feral was a feral. Not anymore. Kittens sometimes are friendly from the time they are trapped, adults will have a complete turnaround to being friendly. National organizations are seeing this and the only advice they can offer is that even if a cat is friendly, put it back outside – there just aren’t enough homes.

Volunteers. The data can be looked at in many different ways, but finding information that DuPage County ranked 2nd in 102 Illinois Counties of charities per square mile illustrates why it is so difficult finding and maintaining volunteers. No one seems to have as much time as we used to. There are so many choices of where to spend that valuable volunteer time. Our lives can change in an instant and our personal responsibilities must take priority. Feral Fixers has wonderful volunteers, and we treasure them every day. We need more, the volunteer staff is not a constant and can change quickly. From trapping to transport, fostering and shifts of cat care at the building, cleaning – oh my, the cleaning! We do need volunteers who can snuggle kittens just as much as we need those who can sweep floors and do laundry. Social people who can interact with adopters on adoption days, help with events, host events! Everyone has their own strengths and abilities, please share them with us!

Need everywhere. We can average five calls a day for help.

*Discovered kittens under the shed, come help. *My mother let a pregnant cat into her house, come trap and take the kittens. *My cat has lost its mind and is attacking me, help. *I have 15 cats in and around my house (usually results in 60+ cats). *I live outside your area, but I can bring the cats to you. *Been feeding a cat for 2 years, not neutered, now he’s injured from fighting, come help. On social media, you may often see “call Feral Fixers, they will help you” and we do help so many!

With all these challenges we must remember the impact we have had, can you imagine how many cats would be roaming the streets, producing more and more, the suffering we have alleviated, feline and human alike! We have much more work to do but what a difference has been accomplished! 

You - donors, volunteers, caretakers, are all responsible for the huge difference Feral Fixers has achieved in the last 16+ years!

We Need You!

Written by: Tammy McAuley

Good news - please be sure to read the update at the end of this article!

This month Feral Fixers is asking for your help in several ways.

We have Jewel Shop & Shares scheduled for June 15th – 17th. This event requires no additional money out of your pockets, just remembering to hand the cashier the slip when you check out. Even if you forget, if you return to the store before the week is out, they can usually send your portion in with the rest. We’ve had great results with this fundraiser before, please pass this information on to co-workers, friends and family, as anyone who shops at Jewel can contribute in this way.

We have a TNR workshop scheduled for June 20th at Bow Wow Playground, 400 W St. Charles Road, Villa Park from 1PM – 3PM. Please pass the word, we will be showing how traps work, answering questions and it should be very informative!

We have a fundraising event coming this month – “Wet Your Whiskers” - on June 27th – please consider attending, donating if you cannot attend, and passing the information on to anyone who might be interested. It should be a lot of fun, a first time event for us and one that we hope we will be able to repeat.

We also need your help in a way that we have never asked for before. One of our favorite stories is about the nursing home colony. Well, nothing lasts forever and the nursing home is expanding and building on the property that the colony stands on. We have been given several weeks to relocate the cats – June 20th would be the date by which we need to move the cats out. Until today, May 26th, we had been assured that the cats and their housing were welcome and no problem. So this comes as a bit of a shock. We will try to go up the corporate ladder, but with the short time frame, we must start on alternative plans. And it still comes down to a building standing where their shelters are now.

We do not support relocation normally, there are too many hazards to the cats – coyotes, the way they tend to return where they came from, even if its 30 miles away, unfamiliar roads, etc. If we can find alternatives, we will certainly explore them. These cats have been fed exclusively by a Feral Fixers volunteer for the past year, they hang out on that property, they do not seem to venture into the surrounding neighborhood – they haven’t had to. This colony had been merely surviving at the nursing home for several years, until we stepped in there were many kittens born every year that did not survive and the adults were not really healthy. It was a sad state of affairs. The residents of the nursing home brought cafeteria food out to them, it was poor cat nutrition and it was sporadic, leaving the cats to dumpster dive – garbage from a health care facility could have some really horrible things in it.

If we do not relocate, what are the cat’s options? They might work their way out into the surrounding neighborhood – which has a high level of feral population already. Who knows how successful their attempts at relocating themselves might be. We are talking about 20+ cats in all. We know that they will absolutely still come to the nursing home, the residents may resume feeding them inappropriate food, they will resume dumpster diving, as ferals are creatures of habit and once they have received food somewhere, they will continue to expect food there. If the cats continue to show up and we are not allowed to feed them, what will the nursing home management do? Probably contract for their removal and euthanasia or contact animal control.

There is an argument that these cats do not belong to Feral Fixers, but to the nursing home. If we do take that stance, who will attempt to see that these cats have any chance at a good life? The property belongs to the nursing home, we have been guests on that property, we will no longer be welcome.

Even if the cats are relocated, it is highly likely that new, possibly intact cats will move in – but then it is up to the nursing home management to control the residents and ban feeding. This would keep the status quo in the surrounding neighborhood.

I just got off the phone with one of our volunteers who thinks she may be able to absorb several of the cats – that is just wonderful! There is a barn on her property, the property is fenced in, limiting predators. Even if it doesn’t work out, the offer was a high point as we are looking at a long project ahead.

So, good relocation opportunities are few and far between and would have to pass intense scrutiny, all of which must be accomplished in less than 3 weeks, so we would need help in evaluating these locations, and possibly transporting also.

Please help. If you know of someone/somewhere, close enough but not too close, who can absorb 2 or 3 or 4 cats, please call us, 630-881-3977. We do not want to do this, but feel that this may be the best solution to a bad situation. Feral Fixers has microchipped all of these cats and would still feel a responsibility to them, so would need to know where they went and be able to remain in contact with their new caretakers.

Feral cats are part of our community and we need your help to continue to practice TNR and provide support. Please pass on the word of our fundraising events and our need to relocate the nursing home colony. We will be immensely grateful!

Thank you for all of your help!

          Tammy

Update - June 6th, 2009:

The June newsletter was also mailed out to individuals who do not receive it electronically. We have already had a very warm reception to the story about the Nursing Home Cats and wanted to update you as to their progress.

Today, one of our volunteers was able to speak to the neighbors who live next door.

They LOVE the cats!

The shelters were moved into a wooded area at the back of the neighbor’s lot this afternoon. We will continue to feed them there, the neighbors will supplement in the winter, and everything should be fine!

We will speak to the nursing home administrator on Monday, advise him the houses have been moved and the cats will no longer be fed by us on nursing home property and as long as his residents don’t feed them, the cats should spend less and less time there.

I have not met the neighbors personally yet, but hope that this is a long-term relationship we are building here. They have offered to keep an eye out for any new cats joining the bunch and to verify that all the current residents are ear-tipped. They have seen one new cat show up recently, we are planning on trapping it in the near future as soon as the dust settles and the cats are comfortable with the new arrangement.

As of right now, in this location, we will not need to relocate and I am sooooooooo glad! Please continue to think of locations for cats should it become necessary for other colonies, or should the nursing home still be unhappy with the cats, we may have to revisit relocation, but keep your fingers crossed for the cats!!!!