A Cat’s Tale - Spring 2022

  Finding Orphaned Kittens

                 Not all kittens need help. The best place for kittens is with their mother. She can care for them better than a human bottle-feeding them.

             Do NOT immediately scoop up kittens and kidnap them. First determine if they are truly orphans or if Mom has left the nest to hunt or due to fear of nearby humans.

Wait around in a discreet location to see if the mother returns - which may take several hours. The kittens can survive for several hours without food but need warmth. However, do use common sense and remove the kittens if they are in immediate, grave danger.

If Mom is nearby, let her care for them until they are 8-weeks-old. Mom is their best chance of survival. Leave food and water daily for Mom away from her kitten nest. This sets up a feeding pattern so that you (or someone) can trap her for spaying and vaccinations after she has weaned her kittens. At around 5-6 weeks the kittens’ eyes should open and they will waddle around easily and try to eat the wet food you leave. Do NOT give them milk unless it is the KMR milk replacement designed for kittens. Provide a soft pate cat food for them (Mom will appreciate the food as well) .

At around 8 weeks the kittens can be humanely trapped and brought indoors for socialization and eventual adoption. You may go to our website at

friendsofferalfelines.org for a link to adoption/rescue groups within 100 miles of Charlotte for the kittens. 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 Mom TNR’d to end the homeless kitten production for her.

From Feral to Friendly

Elizabeth started feeding three cats. She knew with three cats hanging around, the likelihood of kittens appearing s00n was great. She talked to a neighbor about her concern and the woman referred her to Friends of Feral Felines for help. She called FFF, picked up traps and started trapping to get them spayed/neutered immediately before the population increased exponentially.

The first cat she trapped was a gorgeous orange, long-hair cat. As it turned out, he was all fur and only skin and bones underneath. Due to multiple issues and illness, the vet recommended letting him go peacefully which Elizabeth did.

Next, she trapped Houdini who was very feral and very wild. She was so petite that she escaped a normal adult trap several times. So, Elizabeth had to resort to using a kitten trap (which happens often if cats have been malnourished and are considerably underweight). The vet estimated her to be 25 months old and she was lactating.

Salem, a solid black short-hair cat, was also quite small. The vet estimated her to be approximately three years old.

Soon, two kittens soon showed up. Neighbors said they had seen a third kitten, but it never appeared. She named the kittens Snow White and Scarface. Snow White became Sir White when Elizabeth found out she was a boy rather than a girl. Both have been fixed. They were likely Houdini’s babies.

All cats now live on the porch and have regular meals and heated beds. Salem prefers to live in the garage and has become quite a lap cat. Elizabeth calls Salem “her baby.” Salem loves to be held like a baby and brushed. She will set off the web cam alarm, so Elizabeth will let her in the house for indoor visits where she plays with Elizabeth’s senior dog, Katie, inside.

Elizabeth has worked diligently with all the cats trying to tame them. Scarface and Sir White now answer to calls. And she can pet all of them.

A newcomer, Shadow, has shown up in the last month. When Elizabeth trapped him, he was already neutered but not chipped nor did he have an ear-tip. Her efforts to find his home have not succeeded. Howev-er, he is wreaking havoc on her other four cats in the colony as he tries to establish dominance and figure out where he fits in. This happens often and eventually the cats determine the position of everyone in the colony.

Once again, this shows that some feral cats eventually decide that affection and pets aren’t so terrible after all.

President’s Column

Dear fellow Volunteers and Friends,

Welcome Spring 2022! Thank you for your fine efforts and generous support on behalf of our community cats. As you know, we are in the challenge of our Spring birthing season.

Great news! Charlotte Animal Care & Control has opened most Tuesdays for a FREE Spay/Neuter/Vaccination Clinic for community cats in Mecklenburg County. This is a great benefit to all of our community. Please contact our email [email protected] for appointments. You may also call our hotline, 704-348-1578 for information. Each community cat (stray friendly or feral) must be brought in a humane trap (one cat per trap). Humane traps can be loaned by Humane Society of Charlotte, Friends of Feral Felines, or the Black Lion store on Park Rd.

Several other counties provide free spay/neuter/vaccination clinics, ex: York County. Please consult your own county for TNR (trap, neuter, return) programs.

Keep in mind, also, that the Humane Society of Charlotte continues to provide low-cost spay/neuter/vaccinations to community cats. Please consult their website (www.humanecharlotte.org) for their community cat calendar. No appointments are needed but please consult the calendar for any clinic cancellations (even the night before the clinic).

And SnipWell in Fort Mill, SC continues their low-cost TNR program each day. Appointments need to be made. Tel: 803-2284208

In addition, other private veterinarians have generously offered low-cost spay/neuter/vaccinations for community cats in humane traps in many areas throughout North Carolina/South Carolina. Please consult our website for these clinics or call our hotline. We are grateful to all our veterinarians & staff.

On another note: We plan to have an FFF information/teaching station at Humane Society’s Pet Palooza Event on Saturday, May 14th, 11 am-3 pm, at the new HSC Animal Resource Center, 1348 Parker Drive, Charlotte, NC 28208. Please come and visit with us there!

For all our animals and our humane communities,

Friends of Feral Felines – “Crisis Fund” Establishment

Last Spring, we introduced 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, North Carolina, 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 our typical veterinary subsidy. We raised thousands of dollars thanks to compassionate donors like you, and Braveheart’s life was saved. He ended up loving the in-door life, so he is now living happily in his perfect forever home.

After Braveheart’s experience, we decided we needed a Community Cat Crisis Fund to help community cats in critical condition. Whether friendly or feral, community cats deserve a life free of pain and suffering. This fund allows us to act quickly, ensuring that community cats in dire need of advanced medical care can start on the road to recovery right away. We have an ambitious goal to raise $5,000 for the Community Cat Crisis Fund, named in honor of sweet Braveheart. Any and all donations, no matter how small, are truly appreciated from the bottom of our hearts. Together, we can show community cats that though they may be “unowned,” they are certainly not “unloved.”

Please send checks to: Friends of Feral Felines, PO Box 473385, Charlotte, NC 28247-3385. If you prefer to donate by credit card now, click on the following link 👉: DONATE HERE

FFF Crisis Fund Helps “Silver”

Meet “Silver”, a gray and white injured feral cat. Poor baby! He was part of a feral colony and had a se-verely injured eye. We don’t know what happened or when, but once trapped, we knew that he needed our immediate intervention.

Courtney humanely trapped Silver. He was then neutered, received his brief exam, given Rabies and Distem-per vaccines and left ear tip at SnipWell Spay, Neuter and Wellness Clinic. He was scheduled for a more intensive exam and surgery at Stand for Animals who determined that his eye would not recover from its injury. Silver was anesthetized, examined thoroughly, the eye was removed and skin carefully sutured. He also had three broken teeth in bad shape that were removed.

Silver spent the next four weeks recuperating with antibiotic medica-tion in a quiet guest bedroom in a large cage with a shelter, food, water and litter box. He was very quiet, as most ferals are when in a trap and covered but would not show his face to his caretaker. He would hide when food/water was replaced and the lit-ter cleaned daily. Not once did he become aggressive with the caretaker. But he did not show any warmth or affection either. Clearly, he was never owned or lived in a house before. For his life, Silver had been an outside cat.

Silver’s postop check-up went well and he has recuperated. He still lives in the guest bedroom where he is get-ting used to his caretaker. He is healthy in every aspect and is Felv/Fiv negative.

Thanks to FFF’s Crisis Fund, Silver got a chance for a better life! If you want to donate to our Crisis Fund, please let us know when you send a donation.

Rehome by Adopt-A-Pet

Finding homes for kittens and cats is a rewarding experience and allows you to know they have all found good homes. If friends, family, and co-workers are not able to bring a kitten or cat into their lives, there is a free alternative online. Rehome.AdoptaPet.com by Adopt-A-Pet, helps pet owners find new loving homes for pets. It is free to post animals for adoption.

One of the options to select why you want to rehome your cat is "Found or Abandoned". It also states that you should get the cat scanned for a chip and notify Animal Care and Control of the found cat.

Socialization is necessary for kittens to successfully find new permanent homes. If kittens don’t learn they are safe with people, they won’t be happy inside their new home. If socialization fails and the kittens remain wild, the kit-tens can be returned outside once they have gone through TNR (Trap, Neuter/Spay, Return) where they were found.

Adopt-A-Pet.com is a trusted organization and their website Rehome will support you through the entire pro-cess of rehoming a pet. The site also provides expert advice and safe meeting zones to make Rehome the safer alterna-tive to online classified ads. Adopt-A-Pet has been around for many years and they ensure your personal information is never shown or shared.

Tributes

In Memory of:

Rose Frantz by the Crowder Family

Carroll Ellington by Charlotte S. Waters

Mary Hurst O'Brien, beloved mother of Jason Hahn, by Cheshire Academy Betty White by Rhonda M. Lowe

Mr. Leo by Tania de la Santos

Chi the Cat by Richard Klamm

In Honor of:

Valerie Farlow by Mathis Ray

Jordan by Melanie

Gordon Foundation