A Cat’s Tale - Summer 2020
Donations Needed!
We appreciate donations of any size! All donations go directly to caring for community (stray, homeless, feral) cats. To send a check, please use the enclosed envelope. To donate by credit card, click on the Support link in the top right corner. Please consider making Friends of Feral Felines part of your legacy in your estate planning! All donations are tax-deductible.
FFF Volunteers Needed
Hotline Volunteer – respond to voice mails left by people needing help.
Facebook Volunteer – assist with posting stories and photos and responding to questions/ comments. Must be familiar with the intricacies of Facebook.
Email Volunteer – assist with answering questions, concerns, or comments. Trap, Transport or Recover - assist with TNR efforts.
FFF Wish List
Monetary donations Cat food – both wet and dry Wire crates Towels/flat sheets Barns/land for relocation Humane traps Wish List on Smile.Amazon Gift Cards to PetSmart, Walmart, or Target for food and supplies
Douglas - Airport Cat Rescue
by Jeannie L.
I had to leave shortly to pick up my brother who was flying into Charlotte Douglas Airport from Boston. I told him to give me a call once he landed – I would be in the cell phone lot awaiting his call.
It must have been a serendipitous moment because fortunately, I decided to check my e-mail a few moments before I walked out the door. Friends of Feral Felines had just sent out an e-mail reporting a cat hanging out by a bench in the cell phone lot at the airport. Since that was my destination, I hurriedly threw a trap in my car before heading out.
At first, I didn’t see a cat. I asked a man who had his car door open if he’d seen a cat and he had not. So, I called “here kitty, here kitty” and sure enough a small black cat came running down the hill. However, he wouldn’t allow me to pick him up and he wouldn’t go in the trap. In the meantime, my brother called and I told him he would have to wait because I had to trap a cat. When the cat ran back under the fence, I put more food in the trap and set it close to the fence. He circled the trap for a few minutes and after about 10 minutes went right in.
Douglas (or Sir Lancelot – play on words) is currently in a catio at my house enjoying a much better life. Although he tested positive for leukemia I plan to have him retested once he recovers from getting neutered and puts on a bit more weight.
Since he had a skin problem around his neck, maybe someone had put a collar on him when he was a kitten and he outgrew it? Perhaps he escaped from someone’s car at the airport? Perhaps he took an accidental ride in someone’s car engine? He didn’t have a microchip so who knows his story? He is such a sweet little guy
Presidents Column
Dear Friends, Volunteers, and Supporters,
As we go day to day during this most difficult time of Coronavirus (COVID-19), it helps me to reflect on all the good people we have in Friends of Feral Felines (FFF). You so willingly give your time, talents, and generous donations for these innocent animals.
And following your efforts, we continue each day to answer your calls for Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) and injury/illness on our FFF hotline, e-mails, and Facebook page for the care of our community cats (both feral and stray). We are so grateful for your kind assistance with these animals.
As I look at my two feral cats (now tame to me), my heart and mind know that we are following the right path on their behalf and that of our communities. When I am with “Ragamuffin and Tom-Tom”, I see their beauty, loving contentment, and freedom from want and anxiety. They love to lie in the sun! While it is true that we live in a dangerous world beyond our control, even on farms, ranches, and the outdoors, we are giving them a world with excellent veterinary care and freedom from hunger, thirst, endless kittens, disease, injury, and homelessness (outdoor shelters). We also give them our love and care which is without price.
Please know that during this COVID-19 time, FFF still has ongoing veterinary services available for TNR and injuries/illness. FFF has increased our subsidies during this time on a limited basis, so that all community cats may have continued care in Charlotte and surrounding areas. Please call our hotline (704-348-1578) or contact us thru our Facebook page for information on this.
Thank you from our hearts for your fine care, continued support, and most generous donations.
Our fiscal year begins on July 1. As of April 30, 2020, through your generosity, we were able to help our community cats as follows: $37,112 in subsidies for spay/neuter $10,629 in subsidies for illness and injury $ 6,452 in food subsidies for colony caregivers
Financial information about this organization and a copy of its license are available from the State Solicitation Licensing Branch at 919-807-2214. The license is not an endorsement by the State.
Friends of Feral Felines (FFF) exists in order to humanely manage feral and community cats through TNR - Trap, Neuter/spay, vaccinate and Return program and to educate the public about feral cats. FFF is a registered 501(c)(3) charity (in North Carolina and South Carolina), a Gold Participant in the GuideStar Exchange and an all volunteer organization. We appreciate your support!
A Farewell to Vivi
By Ann Gross
On Thursday, December 26th, a sweetness left my home and my life. I had little ViVi (actual name, Vivienne Rose) humanely euthanized. Over the last few months, she had lost weight, become frail and finally stopped eating and drinking. She became lethargic and barely responsive. Diagnosis: End-stage kidney disease. She was 21 years old. Vivi was quite possibly the best kitty ever. She was a dilute calico kitten found behind a large Petsmart in the Centrum Shopping Center in south Charlotte in the pouring rain by Kathy, a caretaker and feeder of community cats. Kathy brought her to me and we wrapped her in a warm fluffy towel. ViVi was about six weeks old, with goopy eyes and runny nose. She looked pathetic, lost and very frightened. The next day, I took ViVi to Dr. Thomas Buckley who examined her, gave her some fluids, antibiotics and kept her overnight for observation. When I picked her up the next day, ViVi looked brighter but still had upper respiratory symptoms. Dr. Buckley thought it could be a chronic condition called “Herpes virus”. I took her home anyway and gave her kitten formula, softened kitten chow and antibiotics. She improved wonderfully with warmth, good food, fresh water, vaccines and spaying. My daughter, Stephanie, adopted Vivi and she became an indoor cat. ViVi shared a condominium with a 3-year-old male striped tabby, “Eagean O’Malley”. They didn’t play together but kept a respectful distance leading parallel lives, each carefully watching the other. My daughter married and her husband became allergic to the cats. On the advice of his doctor, I assumed ownership of ViVi and Eagean. I watched them both grow from weak street kittens to healthy, affectionate adults. I could not think of them going to a strange home. These once feral kittens were now wonderful indoor cats – my indoor cats. ViVi was a bit more reclusive than her partner, Eagean, who was very friendly and funny. However, ViVi magically appeared at mealtime. Her quiet and sweet demeanor would shine when she appeared each day at her own discretion. At bedtime, she loved for me to brush and pet her. Her purr sounded like a motor in the bedroom. As she aged, ViVi stopped cleaning her fur and I had to brush her daily. Once she had a bad knot in her fur that I could not get out. I took her to Companion Animal Hospital where she allowed the staff to comb out the knot without a fight. My little feral kitten lived a good life in her 21 years. She never knew hunger, thirst, cold, rain or discomfort. Above all, ViVi was loved. Rest in peace, our dear Vivienne Rose. We miss you. On another day, we will meet you at the Rainbow Bridge and that will be a happy day….
Self Taught TNR
Last November we had an urgent call to the Friends of Feral Felines Hotline. The caller had been feeding a “bunch of cats” and all was fine until her next-door neighbor complained about the cats on his property (an all too familiar story). She told us she was 78 years old, didn’t see well at night, and had difficulty lifting heavy items so she needed assistance. She agreed to pay the costs incurred after the subsidy provided by Friends of Feral Felines. Since many of our volunteers work full-time, it can be difficult to find someone to provide assistance with TNR. We finally found a volunteer to help, but she was involved in a big TNR project and would not be free for 4-6 weeks. We relayed this information to the caller, Linda. Linda felt that time was of the essence due to her unhappy neighbor and her fear of tiny kittens suddenly showing up. Therefore, she took matters in her own hands. Though she had never trapped a cat before, she purchased three traps and learned on her own how-to-TNR. She just finished trapping the very last of the 12 cats and older kittens and having all spayed/neutered/vaccinated and released back into their environment – her back yard. Furthermore, she talked to her neighbor and explained what she was doing for the neighborhood and the neighbor was satisfied with her efforts. Not only did this amazing woman learn how to TNR on her own, she has agreed to loan her traps to others and teach them the TNR process.
Protocol for Finding Baby Kittens Outdoors
Please do NOT immediately kidnap newborn/very young kittens if you find them. For a tiny kitten to survive without a mother cat, it must have a human bottle feeder available or the kitten will die. Baby kittens are much better off with their mother than being bottle-fed by a human. If Momma is a feral cat, she is probably close by watching you, searching for food, or relocating her kittens. Momma cats will not return if a human is close to the kitten nest. Wait around in a discreet location to see if the mother returns (which may take 2-4 hours). The kittens can survive for several hours without food but need warmth. However, do remove the kittens if they are in immediate, grave danger. Leave food and water daily for Momma. This sets up a feeding pattern so that you can trap her for spaying and vaccinations after she has weaned her kittens - she also needs the nutrition. At around 5-6 weeks the kittens’ eyes should open and they will waddle around easily and try to eat the food you leave. Do NOT give them milk unless it is the KMR milk replacement designed for kittens. Give them a soft pate cat food and provide enough for Momma as well. Once weaned the kittens can be humanely trapped and brought indoors for socialization and eventual adoption. You may go to our website at www.friendsofferalfelines.org for a link to adoption/rescue groups within 100 miles of Charlotte. If you decide to adopt them out yourself, do not give them away to a stranger without first asking for a veterinarian reference if they have owned pets before. Call that veterinarian and ask if they have been good pet owners. The final step is getting the Momma Cat TNR’d to end the homeless kitten production for her.
TNR - The Best and Most Humane Solution
For years, our shelter and animal control system has relied on catching and killing outdoor cats to control their population. This approach continues to fail and has done little to decrease the outdoor cat population despite millions of healthy, community cats being killed yearly. Taxpayer monies fund this massive trapping and killing of cats. We hope that more and more people see euthanasia as a cruel waste of money when those monies could be better spent on programs that should be re-directed to programs that help animals. Friends of Feral Felines believes that TNR (Trap, Neuter/Spay, Vaccinate, Return) is the only humane way to help the overpopulation of cats. TNR tries to balance the needs and concerns of the human communities in which many feral cats live. Most people don’t want cats rounded up and killed. Rather, they want to see cat populations stabilized and appreciate when the mating behaviors of cats are brought into check through spaying and neutering. With TNR, adult cats—spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and eartipped—are returned to the colony to live out their lives in their outdoor home.
Whats going on Here?
In January, the Humane Society of Charlotte took care of a Rattler, Cobra, and Viper with no trouble and no injury to the personnel. In December, they had seen, believe it or not, Santa, Scrooge, Rudolph, an Elf, an Angel, Tinsel and Bells. It has been busy there with characters from the Batman Comics like: Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin, James Gordon, Alfred, as well as Batman himself (Bruce Wayne). With a little Faith, Hope, Grace and Prayer they managed well. Dr. Kimberly Ackerman, DVM, had suggested giving the feral cats brought in once a week by Ray Jordan, theme names which would make the job more interesting. So, Ray complied by giving the cats names of Snakes, Christmas and Religious terms, Batman comic characters, as well as those of Rivers, States, and Flowers, so far. The TNR work is more fun now, wondering what the category of next weeks’ feral cats might be?