Gertrude is 85 years old, has Parkinson’s Disease, and cares for the cats outside at her home in Portage Park.

Her neighbors help watch and care for her, and posted on Everyblock.com about two months ago looking for additional help with the cats. There were kittens born outside. I have found a lot of neighbors caring for cats in the past through EveryBlock. I highly recommend utilizing that site.

Since then, the adult feral cats were TNR’d. Joann answered the EveryBlock post and has been going to Gertrude’s home ever since to help socialize, care for and transport the kittens back and forth to PAWS Chicago for their vet appointments. Their initial admission date was delayed twice for a month now because the kittens were sick.

Today the kittens are going for what we are hoping will be their final admission date at PAWS and will be ready for adoption soon. Today is also the day that the five kittens from the KFC Colony will also hopefully be admitted.

Here is beautiful Gertrude with the kittens! Joann took these photos.

A young man named Atticus was worried about a TNR’d colony cat on his block. The cat was acting sick and lethargic, so Atticus posted this heartbreaking message on Everyblock, asking for help:

“so there’s a feral cat, a sweet old man, who lives on my block. i think a neighbor across the street usually feeds the colony, because i see them hanging on his porch a lot.

the old man cat seems like he’s really sick. his nose is all crusted and he’s on my back porch right now, seeming like he has a bit of trouble moving. he’s just hunched there, breathing heavily.
i know not to touch him, because he’s definitely an ear-tipped feral. i tried to make him comfy, brought him a little bit of food. he sat up when i got near him, but did not run, which is one of the ways i know he is not doing well, because he used to run when i got within 30 ft orso of him.

i guess my question is, am i caring too much for what is basically a wild animal? he surely won’t even live the month without medical attention, but he is ‘no ones’ cat, just there to keep the rat population down.. i’m not posting to say, “dang i don’t want this guy to die on *my* porch!” as much as i am saying, “is there a way we can do something for him?”

i don’t have the money to pay for medical attention for him, and i’m not sure if it’s even a cause worth fighting for because he might just be old as hell and withering with age.

thanks, neighbors. i’m sorry to post something so bummerific, i just love this old cat.”

Joann and Kim brought traps to Atticus. Atticus and his girlfriend, Katie, watched the traps day and night. This sick cat would come and go, and sat by the trap for a few days.

In the meantime, they trapped another black cat. They named her Ditto, and she received her TNR treatment at the Anti-Cruelty Society’s clinic.

Finally, after a week of setting traps, the sick cat went in.

We went to our friend, Dr. James Harris, at Elmhurst Animal Care Center.  We found out there that this sweet “old man cat” was actually a female. She was a senior cat, sick with upper respiratory infection – URI, underweight, had only a few teeth left, and had some pretty extensive mats on her back. They also found her microchip from her TNR, which was traced to PAWS’ clinic. The Elmhurst clinic sedated her, did her bloodwork and FIV/FeLV test, and gave her an antibiotic injection of Convenia for her URI. They carefully clipped off her mats, but left the fur intact underneath. Afterwards I set her up in my feral cat recovery lounge. Her total vet bill was $121. If you’d like to make a donation towards her care, you can do so through the Paypal donation link at the top of this page, or directly through paypal.com with [email protected]

In the meantime, PAWS let us know that she was TNR’d in 2010 on the same block we trapped her. Her name was Stacy. The person who TNR’d her has since moved from the block. She was the only cat she ever TNR’d because Stacy kept having litters of kittens. But Stacy had other feeders caring for her since then, including Atticus, and his neighbor across the street.

The next day Dr. Harris informed us that she tested negative for FIV/FeLV, but her bloodwork results were dismal. She would need ongoing daily medication and care for lymphoma, most likely. This was just not possible in her situation and Stacy was already very sick. She was acting very lethargic, barely moving in the dog crate, yet very scared and stressed at being confined. At the same time, if we put her back outside, she was not in a situation where she stayed in a single place and could take daily medicine and daily care. Winter was coming and the cold would eventually kill her. After much discussion between all of us, Jenny N. at PAWS offered to take her to their clinic and euthanize her.

RIP, Sweet Stacy. You were surrounded by love at the end of your life, and brought a lot of people together who tried to help you the best way we could. We are so grateful for the compassion of Atticus and Katie for caring for her, for reaching out to the local Everyblock community, and to the vet care from Elmhurst and PAWS. Every animal deserves a dignified and humane death when they are suffering, and this is why we provide that care as best as we can to the colony cats.

Relocation for feral cats is very difficult and should be used as a last resort. I’ve managed to avoid it in my area so far by networking with neighbors to find other people to feed the cats when a feeder is no longer able to do so. I’ve written about The Rockstar Colony before, a colony that lost their home, and a new feeder on the same block stepped up to care for them, providing food and shelter, and even adopted one of the cats.

The Eleanor Rigby Colony is another example, as they are on their THIRD home since 2009, also all on the same block. Their previous feeders died, but each time another neighbor stepped up to care for them. People care about the cats much more than you may think. You just have to talk to them and network.

Ingrid H contacted me two weeks ago from Everyblock for advice on finding another colony or another feeder for her TNR’d feral cat, named Veda. She’s been feeding this cat for almost a decade. I was very excited to hear from another person here who did TNR that long ago! I asked to share her story, and she kindly obliged, even providing me with photos.

Ingrid is moving at the end of this month to another state, and she knew she was the only person that fed Veda. She let Veda into her basement during the winter. Veda is pretty feral and not suited to be a full-time indoor cat, though, and Ingrid was worried about what would happen to her when she left. Ingrid initially thought that Veda would have to be relocated elsewhere.

This is Veda.

Veda initially came to Ingrid’s apartment building looking for food. Ingrid fed her, and before long Veda showed up with her kittens.

One of the kittens, Ratso, was adopted out by PAWS Chicago.

Ingrid ended up keeping two of the other kittens.

This is Malvina. And this is Andy. He’s still a scaredy cat that only allows Ingrid to pet him when she’s laying down next to him.

Obviously Ingrid is going to take these indoor cats with her to her new home, but she was worried about what was going to happen to Veda.

Once Ingrid started talking to her neighbors face to face, she found people willing to help. A neighbor across the street from her said that not only would she continue feeding Veda, she would do it in the same spot Veda was used to! No relocation necessary at all.

Ingrid also just bought a Feral Villa hoping that Veda will use that this winter. I suggested sprinkling some cat nip around it to entire her. Do you have any other suggestions? I love a happy ending.