Help us find our new home!

Two little kittens that need a home!  Both are very friendly and both are female.  They are not litter mates but the get along great!  Please call Kathy at 712-784-2490 if interested..  Both will be fixed and vaccinated before they move on to their new furever home!

April Calendar....FULL!

True to the part of our mission statement that says:"To educate community members on the importance of spay or neutering ", WIFCaP has 6 scheduled meeting/ workshops/ events in April that will focus on the importance of responsible pet ownership, TNR, and ways to help WIFCaP...Just in case you think WIFCaP is asleep at the wheel....LOL!

April 13th: Kathy and Lois will attend a workshop to learn how to effectively fundraise for ‪#‎OmahaGives‬

**Please note:  Omaha Gives is a 24 hour giving day sponsored by the Omaha Community Foundation and American National Bank.  This one day event can raise thousands for WIFCaP.  As YOU donate, we can receive matching funds, and bonuses to go along with your gift!  Mark you calendar for this day!

Later that same day, Kathy will attend the Elliott, Iowa City Council meeting to give them information about TNR and offer assistance to help them get something started in their community.

April 17th: Kathy will attend a student volunteer fair with our Oakland helper, Gayle at Riverside High School in Oakland, Ia. Here, the kids will learn how they could help WIFCaP. Kathy will be helping the students download the ResQwalk App onto their smart phones, to show how easily a person can help our organization!

April 23rd: Kathy will head to Denison Iowa to give a trapping workshop. Denison is expressing interest in starting TNR in that area and they need help to get started on the right foot!

April 25th: Orschlens's Atlantic IA...adoption event and information about TNR, barn cats and responsible pet ownershiip. This is a SWIAC event (Southwest Iowa Animal Coalition). Organizations represented will be WIFCaP, Pott County Animal Shelter, Montgomery County Animal Rescue, People for Paws and Lusco Farms Rescue...

April 30th: Low cost spay and neuter Clinic, Harlan Veterinary Clinic in Harlan. One day only...Cats only...$60 includes vaccinations...call Kathy for details...712-784-2490

 Ongoing- and as ever, we continue to trap in our region.   To date this year, we have given spa treatments to 74 cats.   April is another busy trapping month!  Stay tuned to see what a small grass roots effort can do.   Donate by clicking the donate button at the top left side of this page, or click the Donate page on the right to see ALL the many ways we can use your help!

Spring has Sprung!

It's May and spring has definitely sprung.  We are getting calls from folks that have dramatic issues with outdoor cats and kittens.   We are working hard to help them however we can.  One trapping this week yielded 14 cats from one location!  The good news is, is that we have NOT had the kitten issues this spring so far and we attribute that to the work we have done the last two years in the area!

Helping means spending money.  Spa treatments are not cheap no matter where we take them.  We are so grateful to have Dr. Schultz and Dr. Victora working with us and giving us a discount on their prices, but we have to constantly fund raise to have enough money to continue our work with the furry friends...

May is going to be a busy month of fundraising and awareness of the plight of homeless cats.

We are proud to be part of The Best Friend's Animal Society's Network Partnership.  What that means is, is that we can use their media tools and marketing ideas to help find more homes for the homeless.  This is a great benefit for us and we are honored to be part of their organization in this way.

May is Black is Back Month for Network Partners.   The entire month we will be focusing on finding homes for black cats.  For some unknown reason, black cats and dogs are the last to be adopted!

May 10th we will be participating in an adoption event at Petco in Council Bluffs along with the other members of the Southwest Iowa Animal Coalition.    We will be hoping to find homes for our available cats, but also to focus on Disaster Preparedness.  Come and bring the kids!  There will be live donkeys, kitties and doggies!

May 23-24th we will again have a food booth at True Junk's May Daze outdoor junk fest in Walnut.  All proceeds will be used to help more kitties in Western Iowa.

Finally another May fundraiser is OMAHA GIVES  which will be held online on May 21st.  this is a 24 hour fund raiser where the Omaha Community Foundation will accept donations in our name.  Those donations will be eligible for matching funds depending on our ranking in the total percentage of donations overall.  We are really excited about this and hope many will participate in this way!  Its simple, go to OmahaGives24.org
select Western Iowas Feral and Homeless Cat Program for your charity and GIVE!!!

Two Years and Counting...

Happy Friday!   I'm sitting at the computer today with a calendar that has nothing staring back at me, no cats sitting in my garage or waiting at the clinic and a peaceful Saturday and Sunday on the horizon.   Given that I have some time to actually breathe, my mind realizes that WIFCaP celebrated its 2nd anniversary last month in a whirlwind of  trappings, spays, neuters with a couple rescues sprinkled in for good measure.

Rescued Kitten

I've been sitting here thinking about how and where we started, comparing it to where we are and what we are doing today.

Two years ago, Mrs. Gray, Zeva and the rest of that little family were newly fixed and their feeding station brand spanking new.  Mrs. Gray wouldn't even think about approaching me, let alone allowing me to stroke her, scratch her ears or allow me to spend some eating time with her and her daughter.  Who knew she would become the darling of WIFCaP, a superstar in her own right and a purrfect example of a feral cat living her outdoor dream life?

Mrs. Gray

Two years ago, I was whining on face book about why small grass roots efforts like ours couldn't get 501c3 status because what grass roots effort had the money to pay a lawyer or figure out the tax forms needed to gain such status.  Today, we are enjoying this status thanks to a wonderful foundation that helps the "little guys" that are trying to enter the world of animal advocacy!

Two years ago, I made a pact with myself that unless the donations came in, we could not and would not be able to continue.  Thanks to the wonderful people that I've still never met in person, who trusted us and risked their funds to help us get a start in TNR.  Today, all of those that started with us on the ground floor, are still there along side, encouraging and supporting in every way possible.   The money always comes when we need it and so far, Ive been able to keep my pact...and the work of WIFCaP goes on!

Two years ago when our hair-brained idea gelled and formed into what has become Western Iowa's Feral and Homeless Cat Program, I was hoping we could help cats in the Walnut - Avoca area.   Little did I know that in two years, we have been able to help over 20 communities in an approximate 50 mile radius of Walnut.

It's good to reflect.  It's good to remember, both the good parts and the sad.   While we celebrate the over 500 cats we have medically assisted and over 400 "spa treatments", we mourn the loss of even one small helpless creature.  Unfortunately, it's the losses that stick in our memory and leave a sore spot on our hearts. Its the hard times that force us to stay in the reality of our plight...we cant save them all, but we can give it a dang good try!

Amy, Linda and AVCheryl

I think today also about how thankful I am that God has allowed me good health and lots of energy.   Believe me, this WIFCaP journey is not for the faint of heart or weak of body and spirit.  However,  this is the best "job" I've ever had.   I get a "fat" pay check nearly everyday.  It comes in the form of those that help me...without Cheryl and Doc Schultz at the clinic WIFCaP could not operate at all.   They are my rocks!  Kris is my "level-er", keeping my fanciful mind and heart in check with reality and also being a great helper with marketing and social networking.  ALL of our volunteers...Becky who cares for 3 feeding stations, Cheryl, who feeds and cares for many at True Haven,  Linda who is ready to help at the drop of a hat, Sandy, Adrian and Amy who are the best foster mamas ever!  And all our new volunteers that are eager and waiting in the wings to help with future trappings and events.  It comes in the mailbox whenever there is a package that holds a donated item, coupons to help with food costs or a check that will help us do yet another spa treatment.  But mostly my pay check comes in the form of a frightened furry kitty in a trap, one that I know will now get the medical treatment it needs and deserves.  I never feel badly for them when they are in that cold, metal , scary thing.   They don't know it yet, but their life will now better...and its because of YOU...all of you, who are reading this.

And so we wrap up our first two years in "business".Whether you have donated time, money, items for auction, or even if you have only posted a comment of encouragement...we need you ALL and I, personally want to thank you for sticking with us on the WIFCaP page to see what a small grass roots effort can do! Happy Anniversary EveryOne!!

Snicker Gets His New Home...

Snicker looking gorgeous - pic courtesy of Kim Adams

I am so happy to announce that Snicker, the big yellow tomcat that was brought to us in April has found a home!

As any of you who work with animals know that  after helping hundreds of them, they kind of start to blend together and without a picture or some strong assistance, the names and faces are hard to distinguish in your memory.  Not so with Snicker.   He became my favorite at "hello" and I will never forget him.

A big, burly guy who needed some good meals, the hand of a good doctor lots of love.

Snicker had apparently been involved with some kind of confrontation that left him with a wound on his neck.  Untreated, it became a massive infection site that opened his neck nearly ear to ear.   Thankfully Nata G. found him and got him to us so that we could get him the help he needed.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone fell instantly for this gentle giant.


Our wonderful Dr. Schultz repaired his wound as best he could...stitching part of it together and allowing the remaining area to heal on its own.  This meant daily cleanings and treatment with medicine.  Snicker was a trooper and endured it all like the hero he is.

Snicker at the clinic - you can see his wound.

After many weeks, I (Kathy) brought him home so that he could have a rest from the kennel at the clinic and to see how he would do with other cats.   He was a purrfect gentleman as far as interacting with humans and using his litter box etc.   BUT with my two girl cats, he was aggressive.   After two fur-flying incidents, I decided he needed to be an only pet and back to the clinic he went.

One of of friends on our fb page came to see him at the clinic and decided to attempt to foster him herself.  She has other cats and at least one dog...Like a miracle, Snicker has settled in with  their family like a charm.  He sleeps with the humans and the other pets.

I have to admit that I secretly (OK, not so secret) wanted Snicker to meld into my family.   I love him so much and I am so very happy he has found a new home....one where he is taken care of and loved like he deserves!

Thank you Nata, for calling us about him.  Thank you AVCheryl, Doc S and Mallory for caring so for him while he was at the clinic and thank you Amy for giving him a try.  There was no doubt in my mind. the day you picked him up, that he was "home".

AVCheryl provided LOTS of love at the clinic!

Some think working with animals like we do, that we will either be an emotional wreck all the time, faced with decisions and the choices we have to make in the best interest of the animal, or we will be come calloused and hardened by these same issues and our hearts will become stone.  I think we are a balance...we make the hard choices with a tear in our eye and a pain shooting through our hearts,  and each pain that shoots through, keeps it soft and pliable so that when we see the GOOD that comes along, like the success of Snicker, we notice and we celebrate.

I will always Love my Snicker-Boy! Pic courtesy of Kim Adams

It is only because of the kind and generous donations of our wonderful supporters that we have the funds to care for sweet kitties like Snick.  Thank YOU to all who help us buy donating or participating in our sales and auctions!  We are a great team!

WIFCaP in the NEWS!

Our March 23, 2013 Adoption Event was a real success!  We made some new friends and as  result of the time at Orscheln's we were able to find homes for all four available kitties!

Walnut Iowa's Feral and Homeless Cat Program would like to thank the Walnut Bureau for putting us on the front page!

THEY NEED A HOME!!

Yes, yes, I know we are not a shelter and our primary purpose is NOT sheltering or finding homes for cats.  We are so fortunate though to have Avoca Veterinary Clinic on our side in so many way and helping us with our TNR program...As you all know we very often come up with friendly stray, those that have been lost or discarded and the clinic as well has people that walk in and surrender found animals or animals they can no longer keep.

Tomorrow, (Saturday January 5th)  WIFCaP will host an adoption event at Orscheln Famr and Home Store in Atlantic Iowa.  Hopefully the 3 little guys we currently have at AVC will find furrever homes...

As we start a new year, its my hope and prayer that we can help many more cats.  Thank you for following us, supporting us and encouraging us!

A Winter Wonderland of Wondering!

We are experiencing our first winter storm of 2012.  Looks like we will for sure have a White Christmas!  Its blustery cold out today.  As I watch my indoor kitties look out the window, I wonder what is going on in their head.  Are they happy to be inside?  Are they wishing they could go out and "play" and make kitty angels in the snow?  What goes on in my head is how many there are out there that don't have a warm cozy window to peer out of...I don't mean our community cats so much.  I know they can survive, it's all they have ever known.  They most likely have a warm hole somewhere and even other warm kitty bodies to snuggle with when the going gets tough.  I'm thinking of the ones who have been thrown away, or abandoned or have gotten themselves lost.  How do they handle it, not being "street wise" like Mrs. Gray, Franks and EJ?...

I am grateful that we have been able to rescue several from the throws of winter.  These are at AVC, waiting and hoping for a new home to call their very own.

This is Sylvester.  He was found in a field by a farmer.  Thinking this nice boy had been attacked, he took him to AVC.  We found him to be friendly and very lovable!  He is currently being treated for a severe case of ear mites and a skin infection and very soon he will be ready to find a new home.  We are happy he is out of the field.

This is sweet Roscoe!  I found him on my porch last week crying.  He is a beautiful boy who is just as friendly as anything.  He likes his space, but when given the choice, he will crawl right up into your lap and heart!

So at least these two aren't out in the blizzard, wondering where they are and when and what they will get to eat.  Being in a cage at AVC is much better than that!  BUT what would be the best??? A forever home with a family.....like yours!!

For Carolyn!

Very often when we have cats surrendered to AVC we don't get much of the story behind why they are being left to find a new family and a new home.  What we see is a frightened kitty that hasn't a clue why it's home is now in a kennel or cage.  Dogs barking around them and strange people poking and prodding and asking questions only adds to their confusion and fear.   AVCheryl does a fantastic job of acclimating our adoptable kitties to their new surroundings and making them feel loved until they find their new forever home.

Recently we had two kitties brought to the clinic by a the family of a lady who claimed she couldn't care for them any longer... we get that alot.   Both cats have found new homes and are doing very well. Today we received this sweet note.

" I am so happy the cats are happy and loved.  Sherman was a little bashful when it came to another cat.  She'd get on my lap and be so loving.  Ernie was really loving too, so they really should enjoy their new homes.  Carolyn " 

It is so evident from this note that the decision to surrender her two cats was not an easy one for Carolyn. She knew them well and is missing them.  What a difficult decision it must have been to let her beloved pets go.  I want Carolyn to know how much respect I have for her for doing what she knew was best for her animals.

We at WIFCaP are delighted that we could find homes for these two kitties and put Carolyn's heart at rest.

While we see people discard their pets to fend for themselves in the streets or drop them at the clinic like a goodwill donation, this opened our eyes to those that must surrender because of health or age issues.   Carolyn knew that bringing her cats to AVC would give them the best chance to have a new lease on life and it worked!!  Rest easy Carolyn, your babies are being well taken care of and if you can make it over to AVC, there is always a kitty handy that will be willing to sit in your lap awhile!

Fundraising Drive was a HUGE Success!

Our Trick or TREAT Matching Donation Drive is over and was a huge success!  Thank you all for "chipping in" or sending checks to make this event work.  We ended up with $1,173.50 in donations, so with the matching donation of $1000...we are set for the winter with $2,173.50.   We at WIFCaP are amazed and awed at your participation and want to thank you from the bottom of our kitty loving hearts.

This picture of Polly is just a representation of the many kitties that will be helped because you all care.  Polly  is a social girl who had to have had a home at one time.  She is friendly and gentle.  Somehow she got left by a hotel in Panora, IA and thankfully the lady there fed her.  She is #140 for getting a WIFCaP Spa treatment and we are hoping she finds a furever home soon!  Polly is Polydactyl!  She has seven toes on each of her front paws and five on each of her back paws...a total of 24 toes!!!  Very Rare!

Thank you all again for helping us help the helpless!

Sweet Babies need a HOME!

Just like Einstein, these two were found outside drifting alone.  Hannah J. 's brother and his girlfriend found them.  They were filthy dirty, full of fleas, little bellies tight with worms and skinny.  Thankfully Hannah called me right away and off to AVC we went. 

They were there for the weekend and I picked them up yesterday!

These sweethearts have been wormed, given a flea bath, gotten their vaccinations, and have both been neutered.  We are calling them Mutt and Jeff.  Mutt is on the right, the smaller one and Jeff, the larger on the left.  Mutt also had a damaged tail and about half of it had to be removed.  He is in a bit of pain from it, but the stitches come out next week and he should be fine.    They seem healthy and tame.  They just want to explore and sleep, like all babies do!

They are living in my cottage in a cage lent to me by Cheryl at AVC!  Our vets office is awesome.  This job of cat TNR and foster parenting is a big one.  Fulfilling and busy.  Without the help and cooperation of Avoca Veterinary Clinic, and from all of you out there that help me too, I would have already given up!  Some days I feel alone in this, but I know I'm not.  So thanks go out today to everyone involved with WIFCaP in any way!  I need you all out there to spur me on!

Please pass the word that these kitties are available!

You can have this kingdom, because I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was alone and away from home, and you invited me into your home. I was without clothes, and you gave me something to wear. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me.

This Cold is Killing me!

This picture is from tonight, when the temperature is 21 with a wind chill of 13.   I put a little box in the corner of the front porch. This is the area that is the most protected from wind and weather. I lined it with a fleece baby blanket and extra quilt batting and hoped that "someone" would find a warm bed there...Well here he is.  I've noticed that the blankets are flat and slept on, but hadnt seen who it was until just a few days ago.  Now it seems most nights he is there.  I think its Boo but Im not sure.  I put food out every night and its gone in the morning.  Its just too cold to mess with the trap, so Im just glad he is warm and fed.  This pic was taken in total darkness, with my flash.  He tries to stay very still so I dont notice him.  I was surprised the flash didnt scare him out of the box, but it didnt.  Maybe he is starting to trust me alittle.  I have to tell you, its hard to be inside in the warm house, knowing that just outside the wall is a cold kitty.  eeeekkk!

A Little Did Ya Know About Cats

Did you know that mixed-breed cats who need adoption offer many advantages as pets.  Because they come from a larger gene pool than the purebreds, they're generally less prone to abnormalities and are apt to have stronger immune systems.  They're also every bit as intelligent and full of fun.  So come to Walnut and take your pick! MOEW!