Providing Food and Shelter For An Abadoned Colony By Another...

About 4 years ago, I got a call from a friend informing me about an alley with a colony that had close to about 15 or so cats in it. The story goes that apparently a member from another shelter started on the project, abandoned it, and never finished it up. I was asked if I would be willing to help TNR it since it was close to my house. I said sure thing. Not many people trap or practice TNR in winter. I always do. The cats are looking for food and its great to get AHEAD of kitten season to prevent it rather than deal with it when it comes.

Thankfully, the area was an enclosed protected one, so we were able to prebait traps. I set up traps, all aligned next to one another, and in other sporadic places in the yard. We laid tarps down on the ground and placed newspaper and straw in the traps and then placed tarps over them to make them cozy and warm. The cats were fed out of the zip-tied open traps for a week and then we went back and cut the zip-ties on the night we planned to trap and placed food in all of them. Within seconds all of our traps were filled with cats.

This picture is back from 2010 when I first got the call about these cats. 

Back in 2010 when I trapped the remaining cats from this project that another shelter walked away from

I pre-baited the traps for a week and zip-tied them open. On my trapping night, I cut them and voila all the traps were filled with cats. I made my traps cozy with straw and surrounded it with tarps for warmth since it was winter.

Our Feeding Station 5years later

We provide the new old man caretaker with food every other week and leave it on his porch for him

We are so happy to see that there are still cats at this location that we had TNR 5-6 years ago. Some of the colony moved on, but now that we provide food etc the rest have stayed and as you can see are healthy. Manage, Manage, Manage.

There use to be an old man who lived in the apartment building next door who fed the cats. Through the years, I would consistently ride my bike down there to check on everyone and noticed there weren't many cats left and I never saw the old man. After inquiring with an another elderly man tenant, I found out the other old man moved and this man started to take over feeding the cats. Well he was feeding them Spanish beans and rice. As we all know, older people are on a fixed income and cannot afford the basic needs. From that day forward, we have been providing the man with cat food every other week and place it on the porch for him. We also provided him with a feeding station. The cats are his family and the cats are an integral part of the neighborhood. Again, I can't state enough, it's not just about TNR its about making sure the cats are taken care of after. Here are a few pictures from the trapping 4 years ago and from pictures of food that I just dropped off to him again yesterday along with a picture of one of the cats who is still there today who was trapped 4 years ago. We are so happy to see there has never been a non ear tip cat at this location since.

Bridgeport Short 28 Colony 5 More Cats Trapped

Last night we went back to the Bridgeport Short 28 colony to trap. We were able to trap 5 more cats from this location who are currently at The Anti-Cruelty Society​ getting their TNR services. This makes a total of 16 cats that we have trapped here in the past 2 weeks and we still have a bunch more to go. A special thank you to Sayre​ and Alexandra​ for coming out to help me trap last night, and for Alex helping to recover some of these cats and a special thank you to Jamie​ for helping transport these furballs. You gals rock and this seriously couldn't have happened without any of you. Thank you. Now I would like for everyone to meet our newest trapees; Norman, Monte, Tom, and Lace.

Respecting Life. When Art Is Not Art

I find this to be so disgusting that I am in tears while writing this. For a person, who spends her life celebrating the life of ferals and teaching the community to respect and embrace our feral/stray/community cats this just utterly breaks my heart.

To call this art, is absurd. I don't want to hear that art is in the eye of the beholder. This is not. This is just plain disrespectful and a selfish act of an individual who wants press. How someone can think this is okay is beyond me.

So many of us live our lives trying to make things better in this world for the animals. On a consistent basis, trying to teach and open people's minds and hearts to what compassion is. To truly believe that this world can change and we can live in a world that loves and causes no harm to. Are we naive? maybe. But we fight everyday to try to reach that end goal. No matter how badly we get knocked down.

When I see the daily abuse of people just walking away and not batting an eye and to see this just crushes my soul bit by bit. I truly have no words. There is just nothing to understand about this at all.
I'm sorry my dear sweet feral, you deserve better than this. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ON THIS LINK BELOW ARE DISTURBING  AND AGAINST OUR BELIEF AND MISSION THAT WE WILL NOT POST THEM HERE. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/20/taxidermy-cat-handbag-sparks-outrage/

Respecting Life, When Will People Learn This Is Not Art

I find this to be so disgusting that I am in tears while writing this. For a person, who spends her life celebrating the life of ferals and teaching the community to respect and embrace our feral/stray/community cats this just utterly breaks my heart.

To call this art, is absurd. I don't want to hear that art is in the eye of the beholder. This is not. This is just plain disrespectful and a selfish act of an individual who wants press. How someone can think this is okay is beyond me.

So many of us live our lives trying to make things better in this world for the animals. On a consistent basis, trying to teach and open people's minds and hearts to what compassion is. To truly believe that this world can change and we can live in a world that loves and causes no harm to. Are we naive? maybe. But we fight everyday to try to reach that end goal. No matter how badly we get knocked down.

When I see the daily abuse of people just walking away and not batting an eye and to see this just crushes my soul bit by bit. I truly have no words. There is just nothing to understand about this at all.
I'm sorry my dear sweet feral, you deserve better than this. WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ON THIS LINK BELOW ARE DISTURBING  AND AGAINST OUR BELIEF AND MISSION THAT WE WILL NOT POST THEM HERE. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/20/taxidermy-cat-handbag-sparks-outrage/

Coco vs. The Kitten

Coco vs. The Kitten....

A kitten has recently taken up residence at one of our colonies. We have been taking care of Coco for 6years now. She use to have a litter-mate who unfortunately had passed. Ever since, we have always been concerned that she is lonely. We will be trapping the kitten very soon for her TNR services and we are hoping that her and Coco can be the best of friends and become colony mates. As you can see from the pictures, Coco is wary of the kitten, honestly, I think its the other way around, but Coco seems to be accepting the kitten slowly. Coco would not initially eat her can food (which she loves) and couldn't keep her eyes off of the kitten, but then all of a sudden she seemed to redirect her focus which is great. We hope they can become the best of friends and become family. Stay tuned...

Coco is weary of the kitten and checking her out

Slowly Coco starts to relax and starts to eat when she realizes the new little girl is not a threat

Thank You For Your Help - Short 28 Colony

I want to sincerely thank everyone who donated to our Crowdrise & Pay pal and/or sponsored a cat/kitten from our Bridgeport 28 Colony. We are so touched by the out pour of love, truly. All of your kindness keeps us going and restores our faith in humanity. 

We currently have TNR'd 11 cats from this location. Unfortunately, we lost a week of trapping there. However, some of you know that not only do I run a rescue foundation, feed colonies, have a crew of my own, etc etc. I also have a day job. Crazy right?! Well, currently I have decided to switch companies and will have 4 days off this coming week in the meantime. Yes, this time would be awesome spent relaxing which I need, but alas, I have a different plan in mind. This week it is my goal to trap the remainder of the cats at this location, that's right we are shooting to get a total of 16-20. No, you really didn't read that wrong. I will be setting to trap the rest of this crew and get it done.

We have a lot of people needing help and that's what we are here to do and in order to do that, we need to get this crazy big colony done. If anyone is interested in helping, let us know. We could use help transporting, extra traps, recovery, etc. oh and we especially need some tuna. If you can't help, well then all your good energy and a big good luck will do! PLEASE also share our page and ask your friends to like our facebook page. The more people that know about us, the more we get to spread the word about TNR and the more people can help make a change in Chicago. 

Again, thank you everyone, you have no idea how much we appreciate all of you! We have the best supporters ever. 

Big Hugs and Meows, 

Heather >^..^<

Feral Cat Houses - Please Donate Bin Totes

With fall fast approaching, WTRF is gearing up for the Winter Season. We would like to start building feral cat winter shelters and get them out before winter strikes. We are supposed to get snow early this year, they are saying possibly by Halloween. Don't say it, I know! Any who, if you have any 30 gallon and/or 18 gallon totes that you would like to donate to us, please contact us! We need as many as we can get our little hands on! Every body deserves a warm shelter.

Celebrating Our Volunteers

Our volunteers at WTRF are so instrumental. We honestly couldn't exist without them. We appreciate them more than they will ever know. Today we celebrated them and let them know how much we care and appreciate them. If you are interested in volunteering for our Foundation, please fill out a volunteer form at www.whiskersandtailsfoundation.org

Happy Labor Day!

On behalf of WTRF, Dr. Watson would like to wish everyone a Happy and Safe Labor Day! ME-oow. #meow #drwatson #laborday #feral #meowmie #celebrate #besafe 

4 More Cats Trapped At Short 28 Colony

Four more cats were trapped at our Bridgeport Short 28 colony project last night. That makes a total of 11 cats done so far in a week. Currently, they are at Anti-Cruelty Society getting their TNR vetting services. We believe that one of them (Mona) is pregnant which makes us even happier to have trapped her just in time. If you would like to sponsor one of these cats and help pay for their vetting, please let us know. Please meet Pepper, Rorshach, Smudge, and Mona.

3 More Cats Trapped At The Short 28 Colony

We trapped three more cats at our Bridgeport Short 28 Colony project last night. They are currently at The Anti-Cruelty Society waiting for their TNR Services. You will see some blood in Franz's picture. He freaked out a little when he was trapped and banged himself in the trap. He is OKAY. Sometimes this will happen when they first get trapped. However, they calm down after you put the sheet over them. His little wound will be cleaned up today when he has the rest of his TNR services done. Please meet Franz, Gretchen, and Hans.

First Night Trapping Short 28 Colony 4 Cats Trapped

We started trapping at the Bridgeport (Short 28) Colony last night as some of you have seen and watched the live video. Well Paulie, Mancoff, Pugsley, and Fievel are all currently at ACS this morning waiting to receive their TNR services. If anyone is interested in sponsoring any of these cats, please let us know! https://www.crowdrise.com/whiskers-and-tails-rescue-foundation

Cheesburger, a 10yr Old Cat Thrown Out On The Street

This is Cheeseburger. This is the face of a cat that is 10years old and was apparently allowed to be an indoor/outdoor cat. The story has it that (and there are many different ones) that the other 2 cats in the home were bullying him so he didn't want to come in anymore. Well Cheeseburger tried to get into everyone elses home. Definitely wants to live indoors. Thanks to great neighbors and people who cared, they all rallied for him, and that's where we came in. We took him in with open arms. NO CAT should be left to live outdoors especially at the ripe age of 10. Looking at his coat, we believe he has been living outdoors for quite a while. His coat is stinky and very matted, it doesn't get like that overnight. We received this cat this morning and we brought him straight to the vet to be checked out and get updated on all of his shots, dewormed, snaptested, etc. In the next week, Cheeseburger will get a haircut and will be styling in no time. After we had him fully vetted and checked out, we admitted him to a no kill shelter where he will go up for adoption and get the new forever family that he deserves. Thanks to everyone who had this guy's back. He says Me-oooow.

Trapping of the Short 28 Colony Starts Tonight

Trapping of our new project the Short 28 Colony starts tonight. Stay tuned to see the progress we make along the way. We can't wait to start providing the cats the help that they need. It's like Cat Island. Cats and kittens are just every where. PLEASE consider making a donation to our Crowdrise. We saw about 18 cats and that wasn't even all of them. Some were still hiding since it is the afternoon and hot out.