We are Off and Running!

To say we are off and running is an understatement.  I got a call this morning from Hannah J.  A former Walnut resident who is home visiting family and who saw our facebook page.  She found this little sweetie all alone and wandering around a neighborhood.  After checking around and finding that it had no home, she called me! 

At this point we are in no way set up to take in kittens and strays, but I promised to do what I could to figure out what to do with this little one.  After posting on our facebook page, I got a note from Amber who has graciously offered to foster this baby until we can decide what to do.

This is Amber with the little sweetie.  Im sure it will be well taken care of. It seems to maybe have alittle upper respiratory thing going on and is very skinny, but we have it on medication and it will get lots of LC!  I will meet with Joni, from Homeward Bound in the Heartland on Monday to see if they can help with this area of our kitty care package!  Social networking is amazing!

Job Well Done!!!

Mariah and McKenna took on the responsibility of making posters for our downtown district to bring awareness to our project.  Imagine how happy we are that they have already made at least a half a dozen posters like the one you see here.  We will begin posting them around town today!

The young ladies made fundraising cans to place in businesses in town as well.  Here is what they look like!  They did an awesome job!   Thank you ladies!!!

Hello? Are you Ready???

While Lucy hung out at home, we held our first ever real WIFCaP (Walnut Iowa Feral Cat Program) meeting.   Cheryl, Pam and Kathy were so excited to have four people come to hear about our new program and give ideas and support to this new project.

This will be a great and fun way to give some of our younger residents the opportunity to gain some leadership skills and do something good for their community.  McKenna and Mariah are taking the responsibility of making posters and fundraiser cans for our downtown businesses!  We are eager to see their creativity.

We visited our cable company and have arranged to have some public access TV advertising to inform the public of what we are doing and how important it is for them to spay or neuter their own pets. Our cable station also makes videos of area activities and we dropped a major "hint" that we would like to be featured on one!

We have a volunteer to help drive cats to and from the vet!

We had a lady attend who volunteered the backyard of her house for a feeding station and she also donated a bucket of dry food!

We will be running a press release in next weeks newspaper.We will send copies to several area newspapers as well and hopefully get some additional "press".

We will contact Omaha Steaks to see if we can obtain more Styrofoam coolers for shelters. Hopefully, free.

We will begin looking for donations of food from places like Petco, Purina, etc. and begin researching grants.

We will be asking the city of Walnut to make a monetary donation for food and vet services.

We have four cats identified as needing to be the first four to take in.  There is "Big Daddy" (nuff said) who hangs out at Cheryl's shop and most likely has fathered many of our local ferals.  There is a gray mama cat who reportedly has five or so kittens living behind a vacant house just off main street.  There is a tabby/white male that loves to fight with my cats and then there is a black that shows up at my house around 6pm every night on his "rounds"..


Our fund right now has $53.00 in it...

Honestly, to be blunt, our need right now is money or food donations.  We must buy food and have enough on hand to continue feeding.  If we start, we must continue.  Cats love routine and once they know they will be fed, they will be watching each day for us to come.

So MUCH was accomplished today and we are happy.  "One step at a time" keeps echoing in our heads, and we are fighting the feeling of being overwhelmed.  There is much to do, but passion and our love for these furbabies will win over any fear we have.  

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We Are On Our Way!

Our first informational meeting for Walnut Iowa's Feral Cat Program is set!

When: Wednesday July 27, 2011

9:30 am

Where:  Walnut Iowa's Welcome Center

This meeting will be informal and will give you information on TNR programs, opportunity for questions and of course a chance to volunteer
.

We are hoping for many to attend.

Thanks to previous donations, we were able to purchase two live traps.

We are on our way! 

A New Stray has Found a Home!

A few months ago, this guy showed up on my porch.  As hard as I tried, I couldn't ignore him, or not feed him, or totally and completely fall in love with him.  I named him Leroy Jethro Gibbs.  Named after Mark Harmon's character in NCIS.  I figured hes a tall, gray haired, blue-eyed handsome man...the name fits perfectly!


So he has been neutered and vaccinated and is acclimating to a household with 3 other cats.  He so wants to fit in and become part of our family.  He was starving when he found us and eats like a hungry dog.  I'm hoping that calms down soon, as the others  are nervously protecting their food.  I have to supervise.

This kitty is not a feral.  I believe one of two things have happened.  He either got lost and ended up on my porch or he was dumped.  I don't want to think that someone dumped this wonderful feline.  He is loving and gentle and quiet.  His purr is loud and comforting.  All he wants is a family.  Now he has one.

And the feral cat problem prevails in our little town.  And still nothing has been truly organized to take care of the problem.  Although we have found homes for some, spayed and neutered a few and attempted to feed some, we are not "up and running" and the thought of all that needs to happen is daunting.

My first agenda item is to hold an organizational meeting.  My mind gets overwhelmed when I think of all the facets of this project and I cant help but think no one will want to help and I will be alone, with Pam and Cheryl to try to do this.  I feel like I dont want to start if we arent totally prepared.

What we do have is the following:

• A wonderful vet that will spay or neuter and give the rabies vacination for a very reasonable rate.
• A volunteer to drive kitties to the vet for SNV (spay, neuter, vac)
• A source for some donated food. 

What we need:

• Cages for trapping
• Volunteers to set traps
• Locations for Feeding sites
• Volunteers for Feeding Daily
• Education to the community on the importance of TNR
• Encouraging community to Spay, neuter and vac their pets.

When I put it all on paper, it doesnt seem so crazy or overwhelming.  I guess its just taking the first step, once Im sure what the first step is....