Woodrow Whiskers and Berto Were Adopted!

Remember Woodrow Whiskers from the La Vida Lydia Colony? He showed up sick in December. After I fully vetted him he was admitted into Tree House. IMG_0191

He was adopted last week. When I called to tell Lydia, his feeder, the good news, she already knew because she tried to visit him! Right now she is also trying to bring her remaining TNR’d colony cat inside, but he is still not interested. He doesn’t even use the outdoor cat shelters I made for him.

 

Lydia lives on the opposite end of my block, so between the two of us, we’ve got our eye on every cat that should wander into our alley.

 

Remember Berto from the Marta Volta Colony? I also found him in December. IMG_9445

He was admitted right away into Tree House’s Petco program. Then he was transferred into their Bucktown shelter. A man from Naperville saw his Petfinder profile, came to meet him, and adopted him on the spot.

 

Best of luck to Woodrow and Berto in their new homes!

 

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Berto is Available for Adoption

Berto is a friendly cat that ran right up to me while I was out for a run. He wanted pets and was still looking for food in this empty cat food can.

IMG_9445 A girl came out with her grandma and we talked about Berto for awhile. Her name is Elvira and she said her brother was feeding him for the past week. They have other indoor pet cats and dogs, and also feed outside, including this black cat they named Oompa. We talked about spay/neuter services for any of her pets that were not fixed yet. IMG_5920

Oompa is actually ear tipped, but I’m not sure if I TNR’d him. If I did, it was at another location.

 

They put Berto in a carrier and left him in their yard for me to pick up as soon as I could. Oompa was really into this new situation – he kept running up to see what was up with Berto.  IMG_9450

I ran home to get my car and picked up Berto right away. I took him to Tree House’s clinic the next day. Because he was so friendly, I called Erica from the Tree House Community Cats team to see if they had any fosters for him. Erica actually had cage space available in their Petco adoption program so he was vetted and taken there as soon as he recovered. Check out his adoption profile! Please contact Tree House if you’re interested in adopting him.

 

I called Elvira today to follow up and see if she ever got her pet cat fixed. It sounds like she may need help with transport, so I offered to drive her. She also mentioned they took in another cat from outside recently because he was cold. I’m going to go over there tomorrow to check out the situation.

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TNR Works: 67% Reduction in Outdoor Cats Since 2007

Here are the numbers:

 

A total of 177 cats were TNR’d within one square mile since 2007.

 

59 of those cats remain outside here at 20 colony sites where they are fed and sheltered. Outdoor cat population decreased at 18 of those locations. Screen Shot 2015-01-28 at 9.31.48 AM

Compare that with last year’s numbers of 153 cats TNR’d, and 70 of those cats remaining outside.

 

TNR works.

 

Even though 24 more cats were TNR’d here last year, the outdoor cat population decreased overall even more from 2013 to 2014, from 55% to two thirds reduction: 67 percent!

 

That means only one in three cats remain outside here ever since I started TNR!

 

How does that work? The majority of the 24 “new” cats from last year were friendly, most likely people’s cats left outside, so they were pulled off the street for adoption. Even though we added one more colony site last year, the Stealer’s Wheel Colony, aka the hoarder/drug house, the majority of those cats were pulled off the site. Out of 16 cats only 3 were TNReturned. The other 13 were admitted into shelters, relocated, or died.

 

In the meantime, some of the other colony cats, like PatchesClover, Wally, Berto, and Woodrow Whiskers decided to become friendly and were adopted into indoor homes.

 

 

And some of the colony cats were euthanized/died. RIP Dice and Betty.

Or the cats disappeared, like Noche Nariz.

We would see even greater reductions in numbers if people stopped leaving their pets outside, or there was no such thing as animal hoarders. Those are things I cannot control, and do not dispute how TNR works, because they really have nothing to do with TNR. TNR is for feral cats, and there have been very, very few “true ferals” here in the past few years. If I have to TNReturn cats here outside, it’s because I cannot find indoor homes for them fast enough. I am also pretty busy caring for the medical needs of these fantastic “legacy” colony cats as they are aging gracefully out there. They are doing well, but older cats sometimes get sick.

 

The ONLY point of TNR is to reduce the cat population humanely. I can never say it enough. I dream of the day of not seeing cats in every alley. We are getting closer to that reality.

 

Here’s the case study to illustrate the point: Feral-Cat-Map-2014-Page-1

Feral-Cat-Map-2014-Page-2 If you want to download this case study here’s the pdf:

Feral Cat Map 2014

 

I also helped people TNR outside of this area. I call these “satellite colonies” and the colony numbers were reduced as well, by more than a third overall. Screen Shot 2015-01-28 at 9.46.17 AM

If you’d like to know more about how TNR works in reducing the outdoor cat populations, please visit Alley Cat Allies, a national organization dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of our nation’s cats. They have a number of case studies conducted nationally of people and organizations doing TNR successfully. I am happy to be included on that list.

 

 

 

 

 

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Sunny Came in from the Cold and is Available for Adoption

Today I visited Berto’s feeder because she mentioned that another cat has been coming in their house the past three weeks, “ever since it got cold out.”

 

When I got there Elvira, his feeder, came out holding Sunny in her arms. Even though he is ear tipped, he is friendly and seems to want to be indoors now.

 

We went back inside with him and this silly boy jumped on the ledge purring, wanting to be pet, and making “happy paws” right on the wood surface. IMG_0049

This home is filled with dogs and people and other cats, so there’s a lot going on, and Sunny takes everything in stride. He’s not a fan of the dogs, but he does well with other cats. And he warmed up to me right away. IMG_0042

IMG_0046

Elvira and I talked about adopting him out, and she is willing care for him in the meantime. I’ll also be helping her vet her indoor pet cat, and TNR’ing any intact cats that her family feeds outside. This family loves animals and just needs a little help with coordinating with a vet clinic.

 

Please contact me if you’re interested in adopting Sunny at [email protected]

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