A Cat’s Tale - Spring 2021

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

Dear Friends,

Welcome to Spring 2021! Our team at Friends of Feral Felines are so sorry that during this harrowing year of COVID-19 to have lost so many loved ones and good citizens. Our hearts go out to each and every family dealing with this loss of life and the sickness suffered as well. At long last, we are now so blessed to see a return to health and an end to this pandemic with the COVID-19 vaccines being administered.

Most fortunately, Friends of Feral Felines was able to continue its TNR (Trap, Neuter/spay, vaccinate and Return) during this troubled time. This was accomplished through the efforts of our excellent veterinary network and their staff, our FFF volunteers, and dedicated caretakers. We did not miss a day. The cost is as low as $20 per community cat for this service along with a left ear tip for identification. Illness and injuries have also been treated at that time.

A FREE Spay/Neuter/Vaccination clinic for community cats (stray and feral) is sponsored by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control for residents of Charlotte-Mecklenburg on the second Saturday of each month. Appointments must be made. Outside residents will need to pay $20.

A Special Note: Our heartiest congratulations and special thanks to Char- lotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control on their great achievement of being named a “No-Kill Shelter” with 90% of their animal intake being spayed, neutered, vaccinated, adopted, or rehomed. We are honored to work at their side.

Please continue to be a vocal voice and support for TNR of community cats. It has reduced the community cat populations tremendously and insured a healthier life for them. Importantly, our contributors have our deep heartfelt thanks for your generous donations that allow our work with these innocent animals possible.

For a Happy and Healthy Spring to you and your families,

Outside Kitty Finds New Home and Best Friend

Late last summer, Jennifer noticed that her dog’s outside kibble was disappearing when the dog had not been outside. She had heard a thump on the deck a few times in the middle of the night and knew it sounded too large to be
a rat but she wasn’t sure what it could be. Finally, in early fall, she noticed a very thin, black cat on the periphery of her yard. It had a scratch on its nose and was missing the end of its’ tail. The cat ran from her when she approached. As she started watching her dog’s food on the deck, she saw the skinny little cat appear for a quick meal.

Jennifer has indoor cats, so as soon as she saw the cat was eating the dog’s food, she left cat kibble in a bowl on the deck the following morning. She watched and waited as the cat came closer and closer but would not allow her to touch it. She posted for advice and help on one of the local Mint Hill Facebook groups and people told her to contact Friends of Feral Felines. Mary Lee with FFF drove to her house, delivered a trap and provided instructions.

Jennifer had been monitoring the coming and goings of the cat with a security camera, so the following morning she set the trap and waited. Within 30 seconds of baiting the trap with tuna, the cat was caught. She got him neutered and kept him in her heated garage temporarily since it was during the freezing cold the first week of December. When she released him in the afternoon, she worried that she would never see him again. However, that very night he came back for his dinner and continued to appear twice a day for his meals.

When it became obvious that he was now her cat, she made a makeshift shelter on the deck – a table covered with a tarp with straw and a heating pad underneath. She also made a cat shelter from a rubber storage container but he would not enter it. Jennifer continued to monitor the cat with a security camera on her deck and one evening while the cat was under the shelter, her hus- band let their dog, Gus, out to go potty. To Jennifer’s surprise, the dog stuck his head
under the shelter and licked the cat’s head. The very next day the cat was lying on his back and playing with the dog on the deck. And so, an “incredible friendship started to unfold”.

Initial shelter

After thinking the cat needed more of a decent, permanent shelter, Jen- nifer ordered a condo from Wayfair, added extra insulation, and painted it

with exterior paint. Her husband added a small hole fitted with a grommet so they could run electric- ity into the condo. By this time, the cat had been called “Outside Kitty” for so long that the name had stuck. Outside Kitty totally approved and started using his new condo and hanging out on the deck with Gus all the time, but he was still nervous around people.

Jennifer would go on the deck and be affectionate to Gus. Outside Kitty would observe, opening and closing his eyes slowly as Jennifer was petting the dog. Jennifer would mimic him, slowly open- ing and closing her eyes too. One day Outside Kitty decided he felt safe enough to rub up against her legs. She touched him when he had his eyes closed and he decided to start allowing pets.

Outside Kitty had one little run-in with a neighbor over his cat instinct - hunting birds. Luckily Jennifer’s neighbor (also an animal lover) volunteers with Carolina Waterfowl and had the good sense to suggest a collar with a bell.
Jennifer had concerns about the safety of a collar on an outside cat so she consulted Mary Lee at Friends of Feral Felines. Mary Lee suggested a reflective breakaway collar. So Outside Kitty now has a reflective collar with his very own name tag and bell on it to warn birds of his presence.

Outside Kitty has become very attached to Jennifer’s dog, Gus, and they are the best of friends. Gus is a 107 lb. Rott- weiler, but he never once tried to harm the cat. Now when Jennifer lets Gus off his leash to play ball, Outside Kitty sits and watches. Outside Kitty also sits at Jennifer’s back door and meows to enter. She allows him indoors when her other cats are confined, and he and Gus snuggle on the dog’s bed.

Jennifer can now pick him up and he is warming up to her husband. Once her foster cat leaves, Outside Kitty may like- ly become Inside Kitty. As Jennifer says, “Clearly the cat is now part of the family. We love him very much and we are so glad he is part of our lives!”

Our fiscal year begins on July 1. As of March 31, 2021, through your generosity, we were able to help our community cats as follows:
$ 30,070 in subsidies for spay/neuter
$ 20,191 in subsidies for illness and injuries

$ 4,301 in food subsidies for colony caregivers

Financial information about this organiza- tion 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.

Community Cat Crisis Fund

By Ann Gross

Introducing Friends of Feral Felines’ Community Cat Crisis Fund! Many of you followed the rescue and recovery of Braveheart, a community cat who was found in Monroe, NC in horrific condition. All four of his paws were injured, and his leg was rotting away from MRSA infection. He had an eye injury, significant hair loss,
a double ear infection, and he was dangerously underweight and dehydrated. Vets later shared that though we will never know what happened to him, the injuries possibly came from contact with fire or from being thrown from a moving vehicle. FFF’s veterinary subsidy made it possible for him to be seen by the vet, but he required extensive vet care that went beyond the cost of their typical veterinary subsidy. Thousands of dollars were raised thanks to compassionate donors like you, and Braveheart’s life was saved. He ended up loving the indoor life, so he is now living happily in his perfect forever home.

Braveheart is a perfect example of what we hope our Community Cat Crisis Fund can achieve for all community cats in critical condition. Whether friendly or feral, community cats deserve a life free of pain and suffering. This fund will al- low us to act quickly, ensuring that community cats in need of advanced medical care can start on the road to recovery right away. We are setting an ambitious goal to raise $5,000 for the Community Cat Crisis Fund, named in honor of sweet Braveheart, by the end of the year. Any and all donations, no matter how small, are truly appreciated from the bottom of our hearts. We know you have plenty of organizations asking for donations, and we thank you for your consideration. Together, we can show community cats that though they may be “unowned,” they are certainly not “unloved.”

In Memory of My Treasured Kitties

Please accept my donation in memory of my treasured kitties whom I lost this past year – Baby Kitty and Bebe Lou.

Baby Kitty was a feral kitty born to a set of parents dumped in my neighbor- hood. She was the only kitten to survive and her parents disappeared when she was a baby. She was always a tiny cat, but lived to be almost 20 years old.

She lived most of her life outdoors and later settled in on my upper deck screened porch. She stayed outside until the last year and a half when she finally decided she had had enough and finally walked through the threshold of the glass door that had always stood between us. It took her yet another 9 months after that before I could even pet her. She enjoyed all of her petting and loving on her terms for 9 months before I lost her to illness. In her final moments, I was able to hold her in my arms the way I had longed to do for all those years.

My Bebe Lou was an Alabama girl. She was absolutely beautiful with her multi-colors and long hair. My husband picked her up at a convenience store in Alabama and fell in love with her. Though it took Bebe a while to accept “the other woman”, she finally did after losing my husband in late 2006. She then snug- gled with me as much as she had with him (maybe even more). She was my love and my life – my little snuggle bunny girl. Bebe was 18 1⁄2 when she succumbed to kidney disease.

I have two kitties remaining – Dixie Bell was Baby Kitty’s kitten almost 19 now and also Penny Lane who is a Friends of Feral Felines cat who found her way to my house after my husband passed. These kitties bring me great pleasure even among my great losses this past year.

I am so thankful for Friends of Feral Felines. You have been a true blessing for these feral kitty cats that some of us get to love, even if it is through a pane of glass.