The Community Cat Newsletter- Issue Four😺

SAFCC

Community Cat Newsletter

Our vision is to have a community where no kittens are born wild on the street, no cat capable of living in a home is lacking one, and no feral cats are wanting for food, water, and appropriate care and concern.

April 2021| Issue 4

Help us help more cats like Noodle

Noodle and Dumpling were taken in by SAFCC as a possible cruelty case. Their owner surrendered them to our Community Cat Adoption Program so that we could begin critical medical treatment right away. Unfortunately, Dumpling did not survive his injuries, but Noodle has healed and thrived in our foster care program. In fact, he is a sweetheart and is now available for adoption and looking for his forever home!

Fortunately, thanks to our Cat Crisis Fund, we were able to provide medical care for Noodle and Dumpling. Unfortunately, cases like Noodle and Dumpling are not rare. In fact, last month, SAFCC spent double the amount in March to treat twice as many sick or injured cats with CFF than we had the previous two months ($3,175 to help 24 cats compared to

$1,304 and $1,108). If you want to help other cats in need like Noodle, please consider a donation to our Cat Crisis Fund HERE. If you would like to find out about adopting Noodle, please email our adoption team HERE.

SAFCC speaks for community cats

SAFCC's President, Sherry Derdak, talked about community cat issues to OASIS attendees on April 22. OASIS is a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote healthy aging through lifelong learning, active lifestyles and volunteer engagement.

We appreciated their invitation to talk about how to control our outside cat population and the programs that SAFCC offers to the public.

TNR Tales- From not a "cat person" to cat supporter!

A condominium complex in NW San Antonio had quite a few stray cats and kittens when one resident asked for help. A SAFCC Trapper Team member spoke with her and other residents who were feeding outdoor cats about how TNR helps. All were interested. When they met with Pamela, the Condo Board President, about what SAFCC could do, she also got on board. Pamela

actually had a female cat who had kittens on her patio --- real beauties. After more meetings and planning, the association provided funding and the TNR project began. Pamela came to watch the trapping process--seeing is believing! Eventually, Pamela learned to bait and set a trap and the same day she had a cat in the trap! There was a good laugh with Pamela as she indicated she “really wasn't a cat person.“ Even though the mom cat moved her kittens (pictured here) to a second story balcony, SAFCC and Pamela worked together to get them fostered and adopted. Cooperation from interested residents resulted in the successful TNR of ten more cats. Great work everyone!

The TNR project went well, and the residents are pleased that the cat population will remain at a manageable level. If you have a cat overpopulation problem, the time to act is now! Please sign up for our TNR class HERE.

Kitten 101 class held for bottle baby fosters

We want to thank Mary Finch and Meagan from the Helotes Humane Society for giving two presentations to our bottle feeder fosters. Instruction also included tube feeding and SQ fluids on live kittens. The presentations received "rave" reviews and we are now better prepared to care for the many requests we are receiving daily to care for abandoned kittens.

Trapping leads to successful reunion

In October 2020, this sweet tabby started showing up at Crystal's apartment. The Monday of the snow storm, Crystal heard Shelby crying at her door to get into an apartment--she was freezing. Crystal has a number of cats inside but she just couldn’t leave her out in the terrible weather so she let her in and sheltered her from the storm. Shelby made herself at home in the spare bedroom. The more Crystal watched her, the

more she knew she had to belong to someone. Crystal wanted to make sure Shelby didn't have any kittens so she called SAFCC volunteer Sandy about taking her in to get fixed. Sandy has been working with Crystal to get all the cats at her apartment complex fixed for over a year. Sandy took the friendly cat to to be fixed and had her checked for a chip.

Lucky for us she was chipped and the information of the chip was still correct and Sandy was able to make contact with the owner. Abigail who lives in Harlingen Texas was floored when she realized Shelby Lynn was found and was in San Antonio. Shelby Lynn had been missing for over a year! She has no idea how she got all the way to San Antonio. During the storm her kids told her that they hoped that someone had Shelby Lynn safe and warm inside away from the storm. They still missed her. They had continued to worry about her and looked for her for a very long time after she went missing. The Cruz family was very anxious to get her back. Crystal and Sandy met Abigail and the entire family halfway in Alice, Texas to get Shelby Lynn back home. Her children had no idea why they had gone all the way to Alice,Texas for lunch and were thrilled that it was to surprise them with their missing kitty! What a happy reunion!

50 slots left for FREE spay/neuter with our Petco Foundation grant

There are only 50 slots left on the Petco Foundation Grant for FREE spay/neuter for outside cats in 78209 and 78212! If you live in this zip code and have community cats that need to be fixed, please trap now! The rabies vaccination is included. Any other vaccinations or testing will be done at the trapper’s expense. If you're not in this zip code, please visit our website for other grant specials HERE.

You shop and Amazon gives to SAFCC

The San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition received the latest quarterly donation check from Amazon Smile for $558! This donation is made possible by our generous supporters that selected our organization as their charity of choice on Amazon Smile. If our work is important to you, please visit Amazon Smile and choose SAFCC as your charity. Then, every time you shop, a portion of your purchases go to support us! That's it!

SAFCC is a Guidestar Platinum Partner