Annual Garage Sale - June 3, 2017

June 3rd
710 Antique City Drive
Walnut, Ia  51577
8am -4pm
Cupcake sale! ( get them while they last!)

No items priced!  You pay what you feel the items are worth and what you want to donate to help more kitties in Western Iowa!

I know it seems like we go from one fundraiser to the next.  That is because we do!   Our monthly vet bill runs an average of $2-3,000.    While we seem to be able to get the cats trapped and transported and in for their "spa treatment", we don't have the staff to try to work on grants.  Have you ever tried writing a grant?  I have, and it's not fun.   What I've learned about most grant writing is that it is meticulous and detailed and once it's written and submitted, you are not guaranteed to receive any funds.  And if you are granted the funds, your work isn't done.  You must then substantiate every penny you've received. The other thing I've learned is that most grants want you to project a future project and write it for that.   We are in a very unpredictable business.  We must act immediately when we hear of a cat issue.  To wait is not an option, or we worsen the problem.  We must stay focused on our mission of TNR.   Honestly, the vast majority of the daily work we do is done by Lois and myself.  We are kept very busy with phone calls, emails, face book, trapping, transporting etc.  The accounting etc has fallen on Lois too, and Kathy does the face book and fundraising.  Both of us trap, but mostly Lois (stinks getting older) .  We are still small, very small.   

All this being said, we are so grateful to our other volunteers that step up for events like this Garage Sale!   We will be having a cupcake sale that is going to be totally funded and run by two of our wonderful volunteers, Judy and Susan.   Last year the cupcakes were so beautiful and yummy!    Becky and Molly should be on board to help during the sale too.    

We look to our supporters to keep us going and for almost six years now, you have not let us down.   We love you all !  

Please come out on June 3rd to help us stash away another couple weeks of funds for the kitties!  We would love to see you and give you personal headbutts and whisker kisses!

Our goal is $500!

Kathy

Western Iowa's Feral and Homeless Cat Program is holding a HUGE garage sale !

Friday and Saturday June 3-4th

8am-5pm

All sorts of items will be available....vintage, knick knacks, glassware, games, kitchen items, household items, wall art, misc other items.

NOTHING PRICED!

ALL items will be available for your generous free will donations.  All proceeds will help more homeless and feral cats in our area!

SATURDAY ONLY:  Our volunteers will be setting up a cupcake table and selling home made cupcakes for $1 each while supplies last! 

Mrs. Gray Loves Her Red Swing!

Mrs. Abigail Gray

To me there is no other picture that depicts how happy Mrs. Gray is.  Her list of options was short when I first heard that there was a mother cat with five babies, ravaging the garbage bins in town to find food for herself and her little ones.  If it was going to take anything to get me to jump into developing a TNR program with both feet, this was it!  I realized that if Animal Control got them, their future was bleak.   I think back at the days, weeks, months and years that I trudged thru rain, snow and heat to make sure there was food in their little feeding station and to stick around to visit and build trust.  I watched the numbers reduce really quite quickly (isn't that the point of TNR?).  We will never know what became of Jenny, Tony, McGee and Palmer, but having Mrs. Gray and Zeva stay has been a blessing.  I will never forget the first day Mrs. Gray followed me home.  Zeva followed not long after.  They are HOME here and that warms my heart.  I doubt I will ever really hold either one of them in any place other than my heart...but having them nuzzle me and wind their way around my legs, to see the happiness and the peace they have, makes physically holding them insignificant.   They show me love in so many ways.  I am their "person" and I now count them as family.

Kids Join US!!!

As you know part of the mission of Western Iowa's Feral and Homeless Cat Program is to educate those around us about the benefits of TNR.   Who better to start with than the kids?

Its taken two years, but I finally got permission to give a presentation to the 2nd Grade at our elementary school.   What a success!  The kids were interested and eager to learn and join in the discussion of how to care for cats with no owners and who are to afraid and shy to become pets.

We even made a craft of a feral cat with an ear tip!

The word must have gotten out, because the next week I was asked to return to make the presentation to the 3-5th graders.   They too, we very interested and ready to add to the conversation.  I enhanced the presentation a bit because of a longer attention span and instead of a craft, I gave them a poster to color and take home to remind them what it meant if they see a cat with an ear tip.

Having some kittens to cuddle made the class extra fun!

I guess sometimes its hard to know if you have any effect on the kids and if any of it sunk in.  But we got proof positive this last weekend.   We had lots of baked goods donated to our "Eat  a Dog - Save a Cat" food booth for True Junk's May Daze.  I put the offer out to five kids to come out and help us sell cookies at at a table downtown to raise enough money to help the kitties.  Their goal was to raise $80 which is enough to give a kitty the "spa treatment", which is spay/neuter, vaccinations, complete medical checkup with ear cleaning and food.   Four of the five came down and did an fabulous job! And yes, they raised $80!

Cookies - fruit and WIFCaP information!

Not only did they sell cookies and fruit, they told people about our program and distributed flyers and posted hand made posters asking for food donations!   I've already received one donation towards food.

I am so blessed today, after such a great weekend for WIFCaP.  We made $500 as a result of the food booth and the kids table.  Thanks to Linda Schumacher who made a great team leader for the food booth, we will be doing it again in October!

Zeva Comes "Home"?

To say the morning started out like every other morning wouldn't be the truth.   I was up a 5:45 to be ready to meet up with Deb B. to travel nearly 40 miles to trap a colony of 10 outdoor kitties for "spa treatment"...we went  - we trapped and we conquered...4!   We will be going back on Friday to try to get the remaining cats.   After depositing them at AVC, filling out the paperwork and loving up on the clinic kitties ( all 11 of them if you count Peanut and Simon), it was back home to finish out my day.

Little trapped kitten ready for Spa treatment!

  As usual, Mrs. Gray was waiting for me when I arrived and ushered me to the back door.  I went in and got her breakfast and fresh water and visited a while before I went in for my own lunch.

Mrs. Gray escorts me to the back door...

Next it was on to the post office to mail our precious grant application.  I was shocked that Mrs. Gray followed me for a full block...just like a puppy she trotted behind me until I got to the bank.  She's never done that before...always realizing I'm NOT going to Zeva's, she stays put in the yard and watches for me to return.  She waited, but this time more than a block away from her home.

I had brought Zeva's lunch with me and so the two of us continued on to Zeva's house.  We filled her dishes with food and water.  Zeva is always happy to see me. She is more interested in me than the food...I get lots of head butts and whisker kisses... She and Mrs. G however, don't seem to want to be together anymore.  Strange because they are mother and daughter and lived together since Zeva's birth over 2 years ago now.  Since Mrs. G has migrated to my front porch, she and Zeva avoid and physical contact. Who knows what kind of mother-daughter tiff they might have had....

After a few minutes of fellowship, Mrs. Gray and I hurried across the highway to our big white house on the corner....  As I was coming up the steps I hears "Meow...." behind me and yes....

Zeva followed me home!

Zeva had followed us home!   I was totally shocked and happy (I think)...  She checked out everything on the porch.  Found out where the food and water was.   Sniffed the igloo and the straw bale... and even head butted Mrs. Gray.   They actually seemed happy to be together..It could be that Mrs. Gray's jutting away from her before was actually trying to get her to follow her?

Mother and daughter reunion?

So there you are...Mrs. Gray and Zeva both on my porch.   My fear and concern is that Zeva will go back and forth for a time at least...or who knows, maybe this will be her only visit.  So, I will just pray they stay put and avoid the highway.  They are my beauties and I know you all love them too. Thank you for helping us take care of them!

So Much for Black Cats being Bad Luck!

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to look up some information about why black cats are connected so closely to witches and Halloween, bad luck and superstition.
Sprinkled in are pics of some black cats we at WIFCaP know and love!

Dating back to the ancient Egyptians , it was believed that black cats were sacred, so they worshipped them. An Egyptian goddess called Pasht was said to have had the body of a woman and the head of a cat. Since the Egyptians believed that Pasht had nine lives, they also believed that all cats did.
The Egyptians were so respectful of black cats that when one died, it was preserved as a mummy, just as Egyptians rulers were. Cemeteries have been found with mummified bodies of thousands of black cats, plus mummified mice to accompany them into the next world!

Our Beautiful Zeva - One of WIFCaP's first for "spa treatment"!

 Another tidbit found on the internet:

"If you believe that a black cat crossing your path is bad luck, you believe in witchcraft.
Legend has its that in the 1560s in England, a father and son threw stones at a cat that had startled them on a moonless night.
The wounded cat ran into the nearby home of a suspected witch.
The next day the old woman was seen in public limping and bruised, and a superstition was born which caused the burning alive of innocent women in the seventeenth century."

But there is actually more written in folk-lore about the GOOD LUCK black cats bring than bad...here are a few!

Black cat, cross my path
Good fortune bring to home and hearth
When I am away from home
Bring me luck wherever I roam

- Old English Charm 

* Freya, the Norse Goddess of Love & Fertility drives a chariot pulled by two black cats.

* To dream of a black cat is thought by many people to be a lucky omen.

* Many theater folk love cats, perhaps because they, too, were once ostracized and shunned. It is believed that a black cat in the audience on opening night portends a successful play.


* In the south of France, black cats are referred to as "matagots" or "magician cats." According to local superstition, they bring good luck to owners who feed them well and treat them with the respect they deserve.

* Fisherman's wives kept black cats while their husbands went away to sea believing that the black cats would prevent danger from occurring to their husbands. These black cats were treated like royalty and were considered so valuable that they were often stolen. At one point, they became so expense that few fisher folk could afford them.

Whenever the cat of the house is black,
The lasses of lovers will have no lack.

~ English Proverb

(the above from fullcirclenews.blogspot.com)

Also black cats and all cats are honored and held sacred in the county of Japan.  

AVCheryl with a black kitty we were able to find a home for!

It seems the bad luck superstition has overpowered the good luck and because of it, black cats are the last to be adopted and the first to euthanized in shelters.

Arya-found wandering and alone now belongs to Kathy's son!

What we know is that black cats  are lovely creatures and each that we have had a joy to know, has been more than purrfect!

Sherman found in a ditch outside a distribution center, has a new lease on life with Linda!

When a black kitty finds it way to AVC or WIFCaP we are thrilled.  We always know a piece of our heart will leave with them when they find their furever home!

Edwyn - found in Walnut and adopted  by our friend Autumn in Omaha!

We hope you will all have fun during this Halloween season, but please, if you own a black cat, keep it inside and safe.  And if you are looking to adopt a new cat/kitten...wont you please pick a black one??

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!!

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!!

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!

Our First Ever Auction is UP and RUNNING!!!

Taking a hint from a fellow local cat rescue, Feline Friends in NE, we decided to try an online auction for ourselves.  Kris, Pam and I put our donated items together and set up a new facebook page Wifcap Auctions!  Here we listed the items, set the dates and let er go!!  We are amazed and blessed to see what is coming of this fun event!  As I write this on Tuesday, we have nearly five full days left before the closing bids can be made.    The word SUCCESS comes to mind!  We have had offers from others to donate items, so we are currently collecting items so that we can do another one!  A fun and easy way to make funds for our kitties in Western Iowa!  You can visit our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WIFCaP2 . This Irish Linen tea towel is a very hot item for this auction!

Things Keep Rollin' Along!

In the last couple months, Kathy has been busy working with the attorneys hired by the Mullin Foundation to get the necessary paperwork done in order to become an official bonafide non-profit organization.  Finally on Tuesday, we received our official letter from the state of Iowa, declaring that we are a real non-profit corporation!  Sigh of relief is in order!  This is step one in becoming a non-profit that can accept donations and offer our donors a tax deduction.  Step 2 is an exemption letter from the IRS, which is in process at this moment.  We will let you know as soon as we hear anything.

I would like to thank Ashley E. at the attorneys office for doing all the hard legal work regarding this matter.  It was pretty grueling getting the information together, but she had to put it in order and get it mailed in and for that I applaud her.  The Mullin Foundation is amazing.  Without them, we would NOT have been able to do this.  I whined and cried on FB about the "poor little people like us" that don't have the money to apply for non-profit and someone offered the information about this wonderful foundation and it worked!  I hope when I pass on, I can leave an amount of money so others can live out their passion for animal welfare.

Western IA Feral Cat Program Going Strong !

Sharing our most recent Newspaper Article.  We thank The Walnut Bureau for allowing us to submit photos and occasional articles!

Western Iowa’s Feral Cat Program had a successful first five months.  Kathy Humann, who has volunteered her time to help feral and free roaming cats in and around Walnut has set up 8 active feeding stations where the animals receive food and water on a daily basis.  Donations have come in from local supporters as well as from face book contacts nationwide.  WIFCaP is currently working with the Mullin Foundation to receive their official tax status as a tax deductible 501c3.

But does Trap Neuter and Return work?  While its still too early to know for sure what  impact the program will have in Walnut, Kathy has gotten positive comments from  some of the residents close to the feeding stations. Some have thought the cats were gone, but because of the food they are receiving and the veterinary services they have gotten, the cats are no longer fighting and creating nuisances.

In five short months WIFCaP has vaccinated 24 cats, spayed 7 females and neutered 15 males!    The females could easily have had two litters next summer.  If each of the 7 spayed cats were to have a conservative litter of 2 surviving kittens in each litter,, our feral cat numbers could have easily risen by 84! WIFCAP has also been able to find homes for 7 stray cats.

Kathy is looking to build a volunteer base for fund raising efforts and for foster care of the occasional lost cat/kitten.  If you would like to help, please call her at 712-784-2660.  You can also follow the WIFCaP activity on face book at www.facebook.com/wifcap2

As Our Year Comes to a Close and a New One Begins!

The final 2011 edition of The Walnut Bureau came out last week!  On the front page, 2011 in Review included our very own Amber and Einstein!!!  

 Also chosen as a top story, was the creation of Western Iowa Feral Cat Program!

Here's a bit of a close-up of what the Bureau had to say about our program.

"Feral Cat Program Started"
Western Iowa Feral Cat Program was started in Walnut this year to provide a humane way of reducing the homeless cat population.  Best of all, it's all done with contributions.  The program receives no funding from the city, state or federal government."

  I'm so happy they included us as one of the highlights of the year.  Love how they emphasized that no funding comes from the city, state or federal government.  Like that's something to be proud of.  

This week I will be working on a year end review of our accomplishments!  I cant wait to report on all we've done!

A huge thank you to everyone that has been involved with WIFCaP in any way.  Whether it be an donation, adopting one of our lonely felines, time spent helping or even an encouraging comment on  face book.  We need you ALL.  We are hoping that you will stick with us through 2012 and beyond!  Just wait to see what we can do as we all pull together!

It's About to be...

It's about to be Christmas, and no matter your background or belief system, Christmas is a time of joy, reflection, and hopefully peace.   We gather together with friends and family, we eat way too much and buy and receive way too many "things"  and we wonder what the year ahead will bring.

We send and receive Christmas Cards, some with the annual Christmas letters. I don't do Christmas letters.  I never have and I don't like them. I mostly don't care where everyone vacationed or who got what promotion or how the house sale went.   I hope that doesn't sound like Scrooge, I want it to sound honest.  What I care about I will already know about my friends and family.  I will know how they felt about getting that promotion because I would have been there to help celebrate.  I will have seen the vacation pictures while we sipped coffee or tea.   I will have helped with the moving after the big sale of the house or sent a housewarming gift that would arrived their first day in their new home.  I wont need to read it in a letter.

But this year, I actually considered sending a Christmas letter.  It wouldn't have been about my new garage, or the fact that my son is finally home from a 5 year stint in the US Navy.  It would been about my furry friends in and around Walnut.

I would tell them about Gibbs, who came to my porch after being left alone by his owner.  I would tell of his beauty and his gentleness.  I would whine about how the four cats don't get along, but we are working things out and he will stay.

And then I would tell them about Western Iowas Feral Cat Program.  How we have worked to spay or neuter, vaccinate and give medical care to 25 cats since August.   How we have set up six feeding stations to keep them well fed.  How they now have shelter and are living happy, healthy lives outside.

I'd tell them about Spider Mansion, which has become famous because of a feral cat who sunned himself in the window last winter...The soon to be demolished house will now live on.


I would tell them that each kitty has a name and there is a reason for that name.  I would tell them that while most have forgotten about these little creatures, we have not. 

I would tell them that through WIFCaP, we have met people all over the country that care as much as we do.  That we have friends out there that understand and support us.

I would tell them to do something for someone less fortunate.  I would tell them if we all did that, our world would change.

And I would say " Merry Christmas".

Luke 2:14

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Oh Yes, They Are Thankful!

Possum

I took this shot of my Possum the other day.   I had the piece of lace draped over a lamp to use as a backdrop for my etsy listings.    Both she and Gibbs were happy to keep it warm for me and to "help" me with my work.

Gibbs

Yesterday we spent time with our families and ate ourselves sick.  This morning, I was watching Gibbs gather 3 toy mice into a little herd and then bat them all over the house.  He likes being scratched on his stomach and will lay there and purr for as long as I can scratch.  I was telling my husband how he was born to be a house cat and how he loves to play (all 15 pounds of him) and how happy I am that he will never have to live outside again, wondering why he was abandoned or when and if he will eat again.

He is grateful.  I can see it in his demeanor, I can hear it in his purr and I see it in his eyes.  I know all my cats are grateful. I rescued my other 3 when they were tiny and I am in hopes that they don't have memories of the darkness beneath the porch or the cold trailer house with nothing to eat or drink...Gibbs remembers....and he is grateful.

I am thankful that out of all the places in town he would stray to, it our house.  Even though the others don't seem to like him yet, he came here.  He was a starving, lost little cat soul and God drew him to the place he could call home. 

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and that you know how grateful your cats are that they have you to care for them and to love them.  They give us unconditional love.  They don't care about how we look, or what we do for a living. They just know that they are secure and they are loved, and they give back so much more! ~Kathy

Western Iowa/Walnut Iowa Feral Cat Program is all about saving the lives of feral and free roaming cats in Western Iowa...see our Donation Page to see how you can help!

Garage Sale was a big Success!

The day started off perfect!  A bright, crisp fall day was just the ticket for our garage sale.  This is part of the crew and customers that helped us get off the ground!  Pam, Linda, Cheryl, Becky and Amber!

We had such fun, educating (you can see our information table in the lower left) and meeting people that wanted to know or already knew about feral cats.  This is Cindy.  She lives in Avoca and has been a faithful caretaker of ferals in her area and needs help, so we can expand at some point and help in that direction too!

Living in Iowa's Antique City and living right on main street has advantages!  We were able to have many travelers stop by.  One couple from Wisconsin stopped by and told us of the 18th century mosaic quilt they had just taken to the University of NE Quilt Study to be authenticated.  They were nice enough to unwrap and show us!!!

Getting young people involved in community service is a huge thing to us.  Here is Amy and Marye from a youth group in town that came by to make our winter shelters!  Thank you girls!!!

And of course Kathy's cats had to get in the act!  Here is Lucy, checking to be sure we got everything unloaded from this box.  Such a helper!

Some of our customers, supporters from Omaha even came.  This is my nephew David.  He is a wonderful man who loves cats!!!  He has rescued two kitties that now live with him and is fostering a kitten at this time as well.  Here he tries to befriend Ricky, who is the shyest!

Our facebook friend Dawn came to help too!  She lives in a town about 25 miles from us.  So good to have her here and so glad to meet her.   Dawn and Kathy will go to the conference in DesMoines next Saturday together.  Right now....the name of the conference is slipping my ever-loving aging mind and I will add later...geez!

Anyway, all in all it was a great day.  The weather could not have been more perfect.  We had LOTS of people and they opened their pocketbooks for the kitties.  Many of them were very excited to hear about the cause and were eager to learn and to share what they know.  While I was totally exhausted at the end of the day, I, Kathy cannot wait til the next one!  We even had participation online.  Some of our facebook friends that were too far to join us, purchased items online and made donations to our chip in account. 

Much gratitude goes to everyone involved in helping to make this happen.  All of you who donated items to sell, that helped set up, that spent part of your weekend working,  that sent encouraging notes, who made things for us to sell, who came and purchased items here or online...we love you and appreciate all you do to help us. 

I signed up on my email to receive google alerts on feral cats.  Its amazing EVERY DAY how many articles and how much activity is going on in this area.  The word is getting out and people are beginning to notice!

National Feral Cat Day Garage Sale Fundraising Event!

October 16th is National Feral Cat Day!

To bring awareness to our new program and to fatten the "kitty' for your TNR Program, we are holding a huge garage sale on SATURDAY October 15th

100% of the funds will go to WIFCap!!

Lots of Garage Sale items!!!  Make us an offer we cant refuse!

BRING A DONATION OF CAT FOOD or a $2.00 donation to recieve a chance to win an awesome Kitty Basket!  A basket filled with kitty things, for you and for your kitty!  Even a "National Feral CAT Day" T-shirt!!

BOY SCOUTS will be on hand to sell their wonderful popcorn.  Come and stock up for the winter

WINTER SHELTERS are going to be constructed during the hours of 10-noon. Our Walnut Youth group is coming to help us get ready for cold weather!

EDUCATION TABLE:  Information about TNR and what we do will be available.

NEW ITEMS:  We plan to have available some handmade items, like crocheted dish cloths for you to purchase...AND some kitty catnip toys...come early, these will go fast!

HOT CHOCOLATE for a free will donation!

You might even catch a glimpse of my kitties.  This is Lucy at our last yard sale event!!

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.