Low Cost Spay and Neuter Day October 6, 2016

We cannot allow the summer to end without another Low Cost Spay and Neuter Day!  If you have been wanting to do the right thing for your pet and have been short on cash, now is the time.  "Spa treatment" includes spay/neuter and vaccinations for rabies and distemper. 
This event is for spay/neuter only...no additional services can be rendered for your pet during this appointment.
 If you would like to have a flea/mite treatment, that medication is available at the vets office for an additional charge!

When:   October 6th 2016

Where:   Harlan Veterinary Clinic and Referral Center

  910 Chatburn Ave

Harlan, IA

FEMALE: $60 
MALE: $50

How:  Preregister and prepay  fee by calling Kathy @ 712-784-2660

There is a limited number of slots available, so call early!

Spring Low Cost Spay and Neuter Day is April 14th!

It's that time of year again and WIFCaP will be sponsoring a low cost spay and neuter day at Harlan Veterinary Associates and Referral Center in Harlan Iowa!
Your cat will receive spay/neuter surgery and vaccinations for rabies and distemper.  If the cat goes outdoors, we recommend a left ear notch for identification purposes, should he/she ever get trapped.

This event is limited to 30 cats - register early!

Cost is $50

Date: Thursday April 14, 2016

Time:  Drop off 8am   Pick-up same afternoon

Place:  910 Chatburn Ave - Harlan, IA

MUST Pre register and Prepay.   

Email cats@wifcap.org to register and to get payment informaion

Please pass the word....this is a one day only event.  

*Please note: the cost for this proceedure is $10-15 more per cat.  WIFCaP is covering the difference.  Your donation to help with this granted amount is appreciated.

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 is Heating Up!

As February comes to an end and Spring is on the horizon, WIFCap is "heating up" for a very busy spring.

Kathy's garage can get quite full during trapping season!

Kathy has been busy taking calls from people with cat overpopulation problems and she has been spotting local kitties that need help too.

Lost or abandoned cats need help!

She is keeping a log of incoming and upcoming problem locations and to date, she has a wait list of 81 cats in the local area that need help.

Some of these cats are running in towns creating issues with mating, howling, fighting and getting in the trash.  We work with communities to get them fixed, vaccinated and hopefully to a location where they can be fed daily.  Our goal is to keep the cats in the area in which they are found because this is HOME to them and if we remove, others will most likely take their place.

Rural cats have a job, but population control is a must!

Some cats are part of a rural colony that is being fed, perhaps by the property owner but are creating a never ending supply of babies that struggle to survive.  Did you know that a tom cat can wander ten miles a day...?  Think all the places he can "visit" during that roam!

We are happy that some communities and many more individuals are coming forward, asking for help and offering to also financially back this effort in part or in full.

You can help by clicking our DONATE button top left sidebar!

We would ask that our supporters and those interested in what we do, to remember that we are not a shelter, or a rescue.  Our focus is on TNR...Trap, Neuter and Return or Release...we have no physical building or place to house surrendered pets.

We want you to keep your kitty - how can we help?

We would, however love to work with people for find ways they can keep their pet and in some instances, we can offer assistance in finding a new home for a cat that cannot be kept.

We are so fortunate to be working with Harlan Veterinary Associates and Referral Center in Harlan Iowa to help as many cats as possible.  We thank them for partnering with us and giving us quality care and kindness!

Dr. Matthew Sternberg and his team are awesome!

Please call  or email us if you have questions !

WIFCaP's Fall/Winter Auction 2013

Kathy's Lucy or other kitties just might photo bomb our listings!

WIFCAP's Fall/Winter Auction

November 12, 2013 - November 19, 2013
Auction begins at 7pm Eastern time and ends at 6:59 pm EST on Tuesday November 19th

WIFCaP holds online auctions about 4 times a year. They are a major fundraising event for WIFCaP.  It's important for all of you to know that ALL proceeds are used to give outdoor feral and homeless cats their spa treatment, which includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, and any other medical treatment deemed necessary to give those kitties  a good chance at a happy, healthy outdoor life.  The funds also go to helping to keep them fed in a managed colony!

We hope you will participate in this Fall/Winter Auction that will begin on November 12th!  Its critical to our cause, so we also hope that you will not only join in yourselves, but that you will tell your friends and family about it so they, too can join the fun and help a kitty or two in the process. Use that SHARE button!

We have a great following on our facebook page, now over 1300!  That makes my heart happy, as we do not go out and solicit followers, we hope that they find us on their own and through friends.  We hope that you are on our page because you love cats and you support our work with TNR.  So please, if you are unable to make bids on our items, would you please share the auction info on your page during auction week?  We are hoping this Fall/Winter auction will be our best ever and bring in more money than ever before.

Thank you in advance for playing our game and saving the lives of many feral and homeless kitties as well!

HOW OUR AUCTION WORKS:

Its easy!

Because of fine print and Facebook rules, we have opted NOT to hold our auctions directly on our pages (Western Iowa's Feral Cat Program or WIFCaP Auctions), although you will see many of the items pictured there for your viewing pleasure.

Our auctions are held on Ebay, so you will need to be registered as an Ebay buyer.  Its easy and quick and you can even keep yourself signed in if you want.

Its easy to find our auction items, just put "wifcap" in the search box and all items we have listed will appear on a list.  Browse and shop and most of all bid!

High bidders will receive an email invoice with total amount due.  PLEASE WAIT for an invoice....should you win more than one item, you will see your total amount due (with shipping if appropriate)  and you can pay from there.

We try to put a wide variety of items on our auction.  Some with low starting bids and some higher.  Some Cat related and some not....some brand new and some gently used or vintage and all delightful !

Specially made blank note/greeting cards with a vintage look!

Remember!  This auction is to raise funds, so please be generous with your bids.  All of our items are donated to our cause with the hopes of bringing much needed funds to WIFCaP.

Regarding postage.  MOST items will be listed with postage to USA included in the winning bid.  Please remember that postage has gone up and a good part of your bid will just cover the funds to mail it...again, your generosity is appreciated!

We accept your payment through Paypal, so it's quick and easy.

Have fun !!!

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's 2013 Spring Spa Event!!

Thank you for chipping in! Every donation, large or small will help us to spay/ neuter and medically treat a cat in Western Iowa! Just click on this ChipIn widget to add your donation!

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!

National Feral Cat Day 2012

Today is National Feral Cat Day and I am celebrating! Five years ago as I began every day of every week of every month  feeding a lonely feral cat named Toby, I could not have imagined that today I would be part of feeding over 50 cats on a daily basis, having helped numerous communities set up managed feral colonies, having spoken to five city councils asking for the freedom to let this method have a chance to work; having medically served over 170 cats and kittens  and spayed and neutered over 130 outdoor feral or community cats.   Western Iowa Feral and Homeless Cat Program (WIFCaP) started because two women sat together and worried about an outdoor cat named Toby, and knowing that there must be more like him that needed help..  After much research and study we agreed,  the only solution would be to start a TNR program.  The next step, how???

Not wanting to go into all the finite details of how it all came together, it suffices to say, I decided to dive in head first. alone and pretty much by myself to say " I'm committed, I'm ready and I will do what has to be done to change things."  When I found out that I couldn't get grants unless we were a 501c3 I dug and whined and figured out how to get that done.  I did it!  And it didn't cost WIFCaP, taxpayers, donors, or me a cent!

So along with several of my best friends and my sister along for the ride,  we are incorporated in the state of Iowa and we have been granted our 501c3 tax status , which means our donors can use their donations as a tax deductible expense.  We have been inspected and have passed that inspection to receive our Iowa Animal Shelter License.

We have met all the requirements of the state and the IRS  to do what we need to do to help the helpless or homeless feral and homeless cats in Western Iowa.  We do that for the legalistic reasons only.

 If you could see our hearts, none of that matters.  What matters are the huge numbers of cats that have been left to their own devices.  What matters is there are abandoned and left behind cats and kittens that have no where to go. Our passion is to manage colonies and supply food and water so that they can survive the only way they know how.  And so that their numbers do not continue to increase.

For me, the only thing that really matters is that we keep trying and keep helping and keep educating about the importance of  TNR.

We are used to hearing negative comments about our work.  We regularly hear how dumb and stupid our  method is. Mostly we hear nothing, we get "looks" or the silence that indicates no interest at all in what we are doing. So... When we hear the positive, we celebrate.  Thank you!  To Shelby Iowa for "getting it".  for understanding the method, embracing it and counting it as valid.  Thank you! To all those sweet cat people that feed outdoor cats, those who take the friendly ones that need a home, for giving them the love they so deserve.  Knowing they have found a place in your heart helps us ignore the hole they left in ours.  Thank you most of all to AVCheryl, our wonderful vets, Kris, Cheryl, Pam and Becky that help so much and understand my passion, because they too are "infected" with the same passion.  And last of all, but not least, THANK YOU to our supporters, for without them, we could not function one day!

Today, on National Feral Cat Day we celebrate feral cats!  Not that they are there, but that there are others like us that are helping them!

Walnut Iowa's Feral Cat Program News

Walnut Iowa’s Feral Cat Program Update:

August was the first official month of Trap Neuter and Return of feral cats in Walnut. We’ve had much success. We were able to trap, neuter, vaccinate and return 5 feral cas; trap, neuter vaccinate and re-home two strays, and vaccinate and find a home for one kitten.

Einstein was the kitten found in town by Hannah Johnk. We found her a foster home and put her up for adoption at the Avoca Veterinary Clinic in Avoca. Doc Hoffman and Doc Schultz, along with Donna have been fantastic in helping us with our program. Einstein ultimately went home with her foster mom, my comrade in feral cat tending, Amber Heiny.

Einstein is doing well. It is a huge responsibility to own a cat. One must see that they are vaccinated and spayed or neutered to keep from continuing the overpopulation and risks that come with free roaming cats. Amber has taken on that responsibility by being sure that Einstein has her vaccinations and when the time is right, to have her spayed.

WIFCaP wants to urge all cat owners to be responsible as well. Please see that your pet is spayed/neutered and that they have the necessary vaccinations. It is irresponsible humans that have caused the feral cat problems and now the only way to prevent its increase is to properly vet our animals. If you would like information regarding what you can do to help, please see our website at www.takepittyonthekitties.blogspot.com or our face book page at www.facebook.com/wifcap You may also contact Kathy Humann at 712-784-2660.