Letter From the President - 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 357 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

Working Cats

Another amazing year for our working cat program! We place cats that aren't adoptable and can't go back to where they came from after they are TNR'd (They don't have safe spot or feeder or are otherwise in danger).

We place cats at farms, in barns, in offices, in warehouses, and in many back yards! They provide rodent and pest control in exchange for food and shelter.

All working cats are acclimated to their new homes for 3 weeks in large dog crates, so that they can safely learn about their new surroundings.

Some of the kitties like to work on their own and don't care to interact with their caretakers. But some want to be with their new caretakers! Quite a few working kitties are also now companions and enjoy being around their people.

One such working home is way out in Highland Park, and they now have 5 cats from us! (we place within 2 hours of DuPage usually, just not in Chicago)

This family was our first ever yard placement at least 5 years ago, and those 2 orange kitties have spent their time working on the mice population and providing entertainment.

This summer, the family was up for helping 3 more kitties in need! With proper introduction and acclimation, all 5 kitties are now fast friends and keep the yard (and their neighbors' yards) free from rats and mice.

If you don't have a building for them, you need proper shelters. And while this family has built their own incredible heated structures - the information is out there to create every level of feral shelter from DIY to ones you can purchase. It just needs to be heated OR filled with straw (No blankets!).

The father of this family has also talked his boss into getting his own working cats in the Spring. Word of mouth is incredible for us, as people who have cats and see how they help, tell their friends and neighbors. We are so happy to get so many referrals!

If you're interested in obtaining working cats, please email us. Our Working Cats coordinator, Laura, will be happy to answer any questions (workingcats@feralfixers.org). She even delivers 😆.

Thank you for caring, and Happy New Year!

Winter Cat Care

We don't know what the weather will be in the coming months! Be prepared, feral cats need extra care available to them. Some of our favorite websites to help ferals make it thru the winter:

• Alley Cat Allies

• Neighborhood Cats

• SpayAndStay

• And the ASPCA

Why Shelters? While cats are often great at finding shelter on their own, this can lead them to places that might be dangerous for them (warm car engines) or areas where the property owners don’t want them (basements, boiler rooms. Other times, there’s just no sufficient option for them. These are all reasons providing an insulated shelter (if you have the property ownership or permission) is a great idea for community cats in cold climates…Why Food and Water? Feeding a measured amount of food is a key to responsibly managing feral cat colonies and this doesn’t change in the winter! What does change is that everything freezes quickly!

Yes, everything can freeze quickly. In addition to the websites mentioned above, TorontoStreetCats has an excellent article about how you can make a Do-It-Yourself Water Bowl Warmer for your outdoor furry friends. If you are unable to run electricity out to your feeding station for an electric bowl warmer, this DIY project might be just the ticket.

Another way to keep water from freezing overnight in winter is to copy an old trick used by horse owners to keep buckets of water out in the pasture from freezing. Take an old black tire (that's off its rim) and fill it with rocks. Then tightly wedge a large bucket in the tire's hole and fill it with water. During the day, the tire absorbs sunlight and heats the rocks stuffed inside. The rocks in turn radiate heat and keep the water from freezing overnight. You can learn more about this and other ways to keep water from freezing at night from the Neighborhood Cats website.

Want to help?

Interested in helping Feral Fixers? We are looking for a 'few good volunteers'! Specifically, we need transporters, fosters, people to do laundry, scrub traps and cages, help with for s/n trips and recovery.

We need transport help both in the morning and the afternoon. If you're interested in helping, call us at (630) 881-7459 or email us at info@feralfixers.org.

Check us out on the Web!

Please visit our website at www.feralfixers.org. There you can donate to us (via PayPal or credit card or Zelle), find out about all the ways you can help Feral Fixers, visit our store, read the latest news, and learn more about feral cats. You can see our list of Adoptable cats, follow the ‘running total’ of how many cats we’ve had spayed/neutered, see the current list of Upcoming Events, check out past years Archived articles, read about our Friends and Partners, sign up for our mailing list and much, much more!

We also have very active Facebook, X.com (formerly Twitter), Instagram and TikTok pages. From these pages, you can get the latest information about what we are doing - often before it shows up on the blog! Links for all these pages are on our website home page. And don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook and the good karma will surely flow your way- Thank you!

How to Help Feral Fixers

There are several ways you can help Feral Fixers:

You can BUY SOMETHING!

• You can help Feral Fixers by purchasing apparel and accessories from Animal Hearted and with our logo at Cafe Press - a percentage of these purchases is sent to Feral Fixers.

• You can purchase items on our Wish List from Amazon or Walmart or Chewy.com and have them directly delivered to Feral Fixers.

• You can also purchase pet supplies at discounted prices from Kuranda and scratching pads and cat toys from Imperial Cat and have them sent directly to Feral Fixers. Or you can purchase Cat Litter from Cat’s Pride and nominate us to receive free litter.

• You can purchase and donate needed supplies to us from wherever it is convenient for you to shop (a current list of supplies needed can be found on our website).

The latest and most complete instructions on how to help Feral Fixers through your shopping can be found on our website – click on the WANT TO HELP tab at the top and then click on Buy Something!

You can DONATE to us directly via PayPal or via a Credit Card or via Zelle. To do any of those, click on the DONATE link at the top of our website. This will take you to our Donation Page where you can donate either via your PayPal account or via a Credit Card (no PayPal account needed) or via Zelle. And did you know that you can set up Monthly donations via PayPal? These are wonderful for us, giving us a steady, can-count-on-it stream of income, more important than ever now to help take care of our monthly building expenses. To do so, just check the Make this a monthly donation box in the PayPal page – you can cancel it at any time.

You can also click on the QR Code shown here to go directly to a special PayPal Donation page.

On our Donation page, we’ve also included documentation on how to donate to us via Stock Donations or Direct Wire Transfers and Workplace giving and matching donations. And finally, should you be so inclined, we’ve included documentation on how you can donate to us with Estate Planning / Legacy donations.

Switched jobs or your employer has had Human Resources changes? Check to see if there is a Matching Funds Program! Some companies have started doubling the original employee donation! A very large number of companies already have a matching funds option, and more are being added all the time. You can check a current list of such companies here.

More information about how you can help Feral Fixers by participating in any of these programs can be found on our website donation page. Thank you!

Have you seen our Adoptables?

While adoptions and the care of friendly cats & kittens were initially started as a sideline to Feral Fixers TNR activities, over the 11 years since we acquired our state of IL shelter license in 2013, this work has become a substantial part of our operations. Due to a steady increase in the friendly cats & kittens we encounter outside over the years. This year, in particular, we handled several locations with an abundance of friendly cats & kittens.

Our partner shelters (Cat Guardians, DuPage County Animal Services, West Suburban Humane Society and ADOPT Pet Shelter) helped us by taking in a number of friendly cats & kittens for adoption. Even with this help, we had another record year of adoptions – only slightly less than 2023.

We closed out 2024 with a total of 357 successful adoptions, which is ~15% higher than most prior years in which our total was around 300. Of these 357 adoptions, ~50 were adult cats (1 yr or older) and ~295 were kittens.

This brings us to a total of 3,470 adoptions since we acquired our state of IL shelter license in 2013! It is heartwarming to know that 3,470 cats & kittens now enjoy a warm home, good food and lots of love as a result of our efforts. :-) Made possible by the thousands of volunteer hours our many dedicated trappers, transporters, fosters, Cats in Transition volunteers at our building, and adoption event volunteers devote to the successful outcome of all of the cats & kittens we take into our care.

Some of the most touching 2024 adoption stories include:

• PooBah (aka Tommy) - adopted as a kitten in November 2017, slipped outside once in March 2019 but was recovered, was reported to be having litter box issues in November 2023, and was ultimately returned in April 2024 because of litter box issues, likely due to the number of other pets in his home. Ironically, he never once had an accident after he was in our care! Tommy was quickly transitioned into the care of one of our most experienced fosters. He was a tough case. She worked with him diligently. By August, she built his trust to the point that was happily accepting pets and loving, such that it was time to post him for adoption. In December he was visited by a wonderful single gal in Wheaton in a condo with no other pets. It was a match made in heaven! Just one week following adoption, she reported that Tommy was laying by her side and purring – so happy for him!

• SchaNaNa – came to us in July 2023. Her former owner had passed away. Her children did not know she had a cat and found Schanana when they were cleaning out her house! She is a gorgeous long fur Maine Coon mix girl who was very frightened, reclusive and seemingly disinterested in people. She also tested positive for FIV. She entered foster care in August 2023 – a nice quiet studio apartment with a single foster parent. While it took months of gentle brushing and petting to build her trust to the point that she was comfortable leaving the crate she started in, by February 2024 she had gained enough confidence to be posted for adoption. Although she was visited by some potential adopters, she was just too shy. By August 2024, her foster’s work schedule included more travel, so the search began for a new foster home. This led us to a retired couple in Dundee who had lost their last cat and were looking for some companionship. Schanana adapted quickly to their home and in a few weeks, she was jumping into bed with them. By October, they decided that their home was Shanana’s permanent home!

• John Henry & Wendi – This is our kitten love story of 2024. John Henry came into foster with a large group of siblings and was originally one of the shyest of his siblings. Wendi came to Feral Fixers by herself, without any siblings, a mysterious little lady. When she was ready to go into a foster home, she was paired with Beakman, another little kitten who had no siblings. They were friendly right away. But, Beakman wanted to wrestle and play, and Wendi wanted to take naps. Another buddy would be a perfect fit, and John Henry moved in! Everyone expected him to make new friends with Beakman, which he did … but he surprised all of us by falling in love with Wendi! And Wendi did not mind at all. She liked to follow him around and do what he was doing. Soon they became inseparable and were ultimately adopted together by a wonderful family in Naperville. From the updates we have received, their love is still going strong in their new home!

•  PattyCake & Doobert – 2024 was another year of unusual and complicated medical issues. In January, we rescued 6 week old PattyCake who was found to have trouble swallowing. She was diagnosed with congenital vascular ring anomaly which constricted her esophagus. By March, she was big enough to have surgery to correct the issue. With lots of TLC and special feeding protocols in her foster home, she fully recovered and was adopted in early May, by none other than the vet tech at VCA Arboretum View, who took care of her during her surgery. She had fallen in love with her!

In July, we rescued 4 yr old Doobert, a very friendly and handsome long fur gray tabby with white boy. Following his neuter, it was found that he was favoring his left rear leg. He was diagnosed with necrosis of the left femoral head/neck. His surgery was performed at VCA Arboretum View. Doobert required special physical therapy following surgery to fully recover. Fortunately, his vet at VCA offered to foster him and provide this therapy. Doobert won their hearts and in December they officially adopted him!

While there is much to celebrate, there are still many cats & kittens who are waiting for their forever homes. We currently have ~45 kittens (< 1 yr old) and 12 adult cats who are awaiting adoption. Let's shine the spotlight on those who have been waiting the longest:

Spotlight: Megan & Berry Pie (our Cerebellar Hypoplasia (CH) kittens)

Cerebellar Hypoplasia is a neurological condition that affects the part of the brain that controls balance and coordination. As such, both of these girls have a bit of a wobble in their walk, although it does not stop them from engaging in play and enjoying life. Their condition is stable. It is not expected to get worse and has actually continued to get better as they have learned to compensate for it. They will navigate best in a single level home, preferably with carpeting. The good news – they will not jump on your counters!

Megan is a delightful black kitten who was born in April 2024. Her sweet nature and love of life radiate from her as she romps around undeterred by her balance issues. She lets you know of her happiness with whatever activity, furry friend, or loving person is nearby by engaging her delightful purr motor, which is so loud that often you can hear her before you see her! Megan will bring you lots of love and laughs. She will be happiest with a kitty playmate.

Berry Pie is a sleek, tortoise shell girl with a luxurious coat, who was born in June 2024. She enjoys chasing her sister, Berry Juice, and pouncing on her. She is also good with school aged kids and loves pets while sitting in a lap, after she is done being “busy”.

Spotlight: Berry & Moon, Paco & Paxson (our delightful 1-year olds)

Raised in homes from a very early age, these four 1-year olds will give you all of the affection and playfulness of our kittens without the kitten chaos.

Berry and Moon are two charming 1 year old sisters who are looking for their forever home together. Berry (dilute calico short hair) is a gentle and affectionate cat who loves to be pet and will purr contentedly in your lap. Moon (grey and white short hair) is curious and playful, ready for either a play session or relaxing cuddles. Both cats are incredibly sweet and have a lot of love to give. When you leave the house, they will join each other in the window to watch you go and wait for your return.

Paco and Paxson are affectionate 1 year old brothers who would be happy being adopted together, but would also enjoy meeting a welcoming resident cat or even being a solo cat in a home with someone home most of the time. Paxson is affectionate and adventurous, exploring his foster home with frequent breaks for pets and belly rubs. Paco is a chill boy, who loves cuddling and curling up under the covers for a serious nap.

Spotlight: Buttercup & Korrie (our sweet momma kitties)

Buttercup and Korrie came to us as new mommas shortly after their kittens were born. They did an excellent job of raising their kittens, have blossomed into loving companions, and are now ready for families of their own.

Buttercup is a very sweet, gentle, well-mannered 1 year old girl, who will be an excellent companion in a quieter home. She is undemanding of attention, but happy to receive all of the love she can get. Once she gets to know you, she is quite the talker. She likes to rub up against your legs and get head, back and tummy scratches.

Korrie is also young, 1-2 years old, and still likes to play. She enjoys wand toys, kicker toys, and looking out of big windows. She is very affectionate with leg rubs and loves, loves, loves to be petted. She has the personality of a kitten - always exploring and curious of her surroundings and noises. She has precious meows.

Adoption events are held 2-4 times a month with most events happening at our building and one event a month at the Downers Grove PetSmart in Finley Square Mall. Adoptions occur between events by appointment at our foster homes or our building. The first step in adopting is completing our adoption application which can be obtained online or by emailing gotfriendlies@feralfixers.org.

Pictures of these cats and all our Adoptables can be found on our website.

Ring In the New Year Raffle!

A beautiful diamond ring was donated and instead of merely redeeming it at a jewelry store for cash, we've turned it into our "Ring In the New Year" online Raffle.

For the cost of a $10 raffle ticket, you could win this lovely piece composed of one .55ct stone set between 10 smaller stones in a white gold setting, appraised at $4,200. Sized at 5 1/2, the appraising jeweler agreed it might not fit everyone's fingers but re-setting the stones might be a great idea for the winner of the ring.

So many people would love to have a diamond, and this is a chance to achieve that dream while benefiting the cats of Feral Fixers. Ring in your shiny New Year!

Tickets will be available online at our website beginning January 19th, 2025 and will be available through February 19th, 2025.

Drawing will be held on February 23, 2025.

How many cats? 15,734 (and counting)!

Feral Fixers was founded in September of 2007. Our totals of spay/neutering cats, by year:

Fifteen thousand, seven hundred and thirty-four!

Visit our website and scroll down the page until you see the box on the left-hand side that says, “How Many Cats?” click on that box you will see our Statistics page, where you can see our month-by month progress.

Facts and Figures

You see that we track how many cats we’ve done from the beginning by checking our “How Many Cats” tab on our Home page. DCAS prepares a report of how many total surgeries they have done since 2018 – when they received the mobile unit and started doing surgeries for us. If all the projected births had happened, we would have over 87,000 more cats to deal with. These are only DCAS figures, because we also use ADOPT for additional surgeries in a year, these numbers are actually higher. Just imagine!

This chart shows the prevention of births based on ½ of all births being female and average of 4 kittens in each litter, 3 litters per year possible, cumulative effect.

DuPage County Statistics – the estimated population in DuPage County as of 7/1/23 was 921,213, with 349,497 households, a $57k average income and a 6.6% average overall poverty rate. If we were not practicing TNR, there is no way to find homes for an average of 11,000 additional adoptive homes each year for cats and kittens, nor can our current Rescue facilities house this many cats. Please think about it and do your utmost to get every cat neutered!

2024-2025 Holiday Card Photo Contest!

As many of you know, each year Feral Fixers sends out a Holiday Greeting card to everyone on our mailing list.

Beginning with the 2012 card, the picture on the card was chosen from entries made by you, our friends and supporters. While there is no monetary prize awarded for the winning entry, the winning photographer will be credited on the Holiday Card.

And so, we would like to recognize the winning picture of “GreyBoy” for this year's holiday card submitted by Holly & Joe.

We encourage you to submit your own photos of outdoor cats in winter. The picture should definitely say "winter" and "outdoor cat" and “snow”. We can accept pictures in nearly any format as long as the resolution is acceptable.

Thank you, Holly & Joy - this picture of “GreyBoy” truly says "winter" and "outdoor cat"!

Please send your submissions to photocontest@feralfixers.org.

The deadline for entering is April 15, 2025.

Upcoming Adoption Events

January 12, 2025 - Feral Fixers Adoption Events! - Feral Fixers will be hosting an adoption event at the 330 Eisenhower Lane N, Lombard, IL location from 1pm to 4pm. If you would like to get pre-approved for same-day adoption, please email us (by noon Friday, January 10^th) at gotfriendlies@feralfixers.org.

January 25, 2025 - Feral Fixers Adoption Events! - Feral Fixers will be hosting an adoption event at the 330 Eisenhower Lane N, Lombard, IL location from 11am to 3pm. If you would like to get pre-approved for same-day adoption, please email us (by noon Friday, January 24^th) at gotfriendlies@feralfixers.org.

All of our cats/kittens are in Foster homes, are spayed/neutered, current on their vaccinations, microchipped, dewormed and FeLV/FIV tested. You can see all our adoptable cats by clicking on the Want to Adopt? link at the top of our website.

Frosty Claws!

The 2025 Frosty Claws will take place on Sunday, January 19th from 12 noon to 4pm at the Villa Park VFW. $15 to register in advance, $20 at the door, registering in advance is helpful as it allows us to plan. This is an event for our caretakers, adopters, donors, to talk about cats and network with some fundraising and food. We are about to start assembling our Silent Auction and door prize items – please contact us if you wish to donate items, we already have some great stuff! The Stick Raffle is returning this year! Coins For Cats - please bring your jars of coins to donate (learn more about this at our website announcement)! We look forward to seeing everyone!

El Famous Burrito Fundraiser!

Saturday, February 1, 2025 • 10:30am-10pm - El Famous Burrito Fundraiser for Feral Fixers! - Mention Feral Fixers at the counter or show the informational flyer on your mobile phone when ordering and Feral Fixers will receive 20% of all proceeds on dine-in and to-go orders on Saturday, February 1. Valid only at the Lombard location (256 W Roosevelt Rd, Lombard, IL 60148).

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