Celebrating 25 Years!
Alone, frightened and neglected describe the days of a community cat (stray, abandoned or feral) in Charlotte back in 1998. If picked up or sent to our Animal Control, stray cats were often unclaimed and after three days, they were euthanized. In December of that year, four kind people with a passion to change this situation held a meeting. Armed with a grant from the Animal Adoption League (of York County), Friends of Feral Felines was born. And today, 25 years later, we continue to be an organization that exists solely on volunteers.
Wendy, Tracy, Linda (previous volunteers) and I (Ann - Founder and current President) met to seek out a more humane approach for these neighborhood cats. Alley Cat Allies in Washington, DC, set the stage for the “Trap, Neuter and Return” program for community cats several years before. This approach was to humanely reduce the number of homeless community cats through a brief exam, spay/neuter, Rabies vaccination and left ear tip for identification. TNR programs had proven successful in Washington, DC, and Atlantic City, NJ, and were rapidly spreading throughout the US and Europe. Today, it is the “State of the Art” approach for these neighborhood cats. We joined Alley Cat Allies network early in our development.
After our December ’98 meeting, Wendy became our President and set up a low-cost phone line, our FFF bank account and public meetings at our libraries. She also started our first newsletter called “Cat Tales.” Tracy was our Treasurer collecting funds, donations and doing our money outlays. I was the Secretary who recorded meetings and communications. Linda left our group after a couple of months but still supported our TNR efforts. Our first meeting was at Fuel Pizza on Central Ave in Charlotte. The second meeting was at Charlotte Mecklenburg – South Blvd Public Library. Our first newsletter was published in January 1999. It was to be a quarterly newsletter to inform our supporters and caretakers who were caring for these community cats. It also had the benefit of getting kind-hearted people to make donations to support our mission.
As our FFF team grew, we applied for and received our Non-Profit status.
Our FFF team sought out low-cost veterinarians who reduced their prices by 50% or more for brief exam, spay/neuter/Rabies vaccination and left ear tip for community cats. Today, we have also added a distemper vaccine to the TNR package.
Patty Lewis, founder of the Humane Society of Charlotte Low-cost Spay/Neuter Clinic, welcomed our community cats. Payment was approximately $45 upfront. Unfortunately, if the trapping was unsuccessful, we lost our money. Of note, as our veterinarians and caretakers know, community cats can be elusive, afraid and unpredictable. Anyone who has tried knows that stray cats are not always easy to trap. People often lost their appointment money.
Later, other private clinics generously joined our efforts: Freedom Animal Clinic, Miller Animal Hospital, Park Cedar Animal Hospital, Buckley Animal Hospital, Companion Animal Hospital, and others.
For several years, FFF sponsored several All-Volunteer Spay/Neuter Clinics which were professionally organized by our Vice President Lisa. She worked with a dental practice and was used to running the office, setting up procedures and getting office supplies. Our cost was $20 per cat for the TNR package. The Clinics that generously participated were Miller Animal Hospital, Long Animal Hospital, Paw Creek Animal Hospital and Freedom Animal Hospital. FFF paid for the anesthesia, vaccines and any antibiotics/medications given. Flea treatments and ear cleaning were provided. We hosted up to 40 cats per clinic. Their veterinary work was excellent and mutual cooperation and respect abounded. Unfortunately, when Lisa retired from FFF, the clinic also retired.
Our public meetings drew people from Charlotte and surrounding areas of Rock Hill, Ft. Mill, SC, Indian Land, SC, Cabarrus County and the metro areas of Charlotte. As a result, more cats and more appointments were done at our local clinics and all-volunteer clinics.
Donations followed our newsletters. In addition, we organized garage sales, T-Shirt sales, Raffles of beautiful quilts and wine & goodies baskets to cover our business and clinic expenses as well as to provide subsidies to low income people in need.
Today, Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Humane Society of Charlotte recommend us to the public for humane treatment of neighborhood cats. The Humane Society of Charlotte when possible, provides a spay/neuter/vaccination package at low cost.
At all our clinics, injuries and illnesses are treated, wounds cleansed, long-term antibiotics are administered, flea treatments are given in addition to the spay/neuter/vaccinations for Rabies & Distemper and cats are given a left ear tip.
The success, strength and endurance of our Friends of Feral Felines program for these 25 years comes from the dedication, hard work and deeply compassionate volunteers, caretakers and generosity of our donors. And very importantly, our excellent veterinarians and their staffs who make it all possible!
We can’t measure how important each seasoned volunteer, veterinarian and their staff are to us! Without their expertise, our mission would fail. As a result, thousands of neighborhood cats have been TNR’d, preventing thousands more unnecessary outdoor kitten births in our communities. In addition, our citizens are protected.
Our newest volunteers have brought more public awareness, education and appointments through emails and our social media accounts. Our “silver” volunteers continue to put in anxious minutes, hours and years; their reward is seeing each community cat have a chance at life and health.
As we all march on committed to helping stray and feral cats and the community, we hope we will one day see an end to euthanasia for healthy outdoor community cats.
Warmest Regards,
Ann Gross
(Founder and President)