This orange tabby cat, named Wolf Blitzer, aka Wolfie, has the kind of story that shows we are all doing the best we can with the information we have at the time. There is an outdoor cat overpopulation crisis and when you are doing TNR, you are preventing more cats from being born outside to suffer. In the meantime, some of the cats already outside like Wolfie are suffering. Every animal rescuer beats themselves up because we don’t always have the answers until the outcome, although we try. There is no blame here, although we blame ourselves constantly.

Wolfie’s story is also why I advocate that people trap their own cats for TNR – if they can. A cat colony caretaker knows their cats the best, and can observe any changes accordingly. This is not always possible, of course.

His story is also why I do TNR here only on the northwest side of Chicago, reasonably close to me. I will help the feeders and caretakers near me who cannot do the TNR on their own because they may be physically or financially unable to. ALL of Chicago has a lot of cats outside, not just certain areas. I believe in targeted trapping to reduce the numbers of cats in an area, and then take on the responsibility of continuing cat colony management as new cats show up to be TNR’d, and the existing cats require continued vet care as they get sick and injured. That has been more than enough to keep me more than busy with TNR here in my area since 2004. I am only able to do this because I am constantly talking to my neighbors about cats and working with them, whether they are feeders, caretakers, animal rescuers, or concerned citizens who also want to live in a community that doesn’t have animals dying and suffering outside in their yards. Sometimes these neighbors are also hoarders, or the kind of people that dump animals outside, or animal breeders, and I’ll still try to work with them. TNR is a community effort – you are not going to get better help elsewhere. Whenever I get requests from other areas, I urge people to knock on doors and get help directly from their own neighbors. They will most likely also find other cats and colonies, and then can do the TNReturn and rescue there as well.

OK, I’ll go on to Wolfie’s story, it just had me thinking, as it tied into so much of what happened these past few years with me and other people wanting me to help them with their animals. Wolfie showed up in one of Jennie’s colonies last spring. Jennie currently cares for 26-28 TNR’d cats outside in West Humboldt Park. Another 60-80+ cats from her area were moved into adoption, sanctuary or other locations since 2011 with the help of a no-kill shelter and their volunteers. I first met her then when I helped trap a few times in her area as a volunteer. She currently also has 10 rescued cats, one bird, one turtle and a dog in her home. She is overwhelmed, physically and financially unable to fully vet and feed all of the outdoor cats all of the time. With your help and donations this year, I’ve been delivering cat food to her, and I’ve vetted three of her colony cats so far: Mooksie, Gorgeous George, and Wolfie.

Wolfie showed up in her colony, fairly friendly last spring. A shelter staff person trapped him for her, TNR’d him at their clinic, and returned him outside. Wolfie was on their radar for admission, but could not be admitted right away. During his TNR, the clinic noted he was injured. Jennie never received that paperwork, so she did not know about his injuries. This was just something that happened because again, Wolfie was trapped by someone who was not directly observing the colony themselves, and who was trapping a lot of cats in a lot of colonies. Jennie blames herself bitterly for this. I understand why she does, I would be the same way, but again, this was no one’s fault. It just sucks overall.

After awhile, Jennie saw that Wolfie would show up at one of her feeding stations covered in diarrhea. By this time it was summer, June, and I agreed to take him to my vet. Since he was able to be handled, she put him into a carrier instead of a trap. That day I was also taking two other cats for vetting from two other colonies. Normally I treat all cats from outside initially as ferals, no matter their temperament, but he was so sweet and friendly in the carrier. He reached for me, meowed, and clearly wanted attention.

Delivering him in a carrier was a possible mistake, but I had no idea at the time. He was so cute and friendly! Had he been brought in a trap, he would’ve been sedated and examined as a feral. Maybe then they would have noticed more of his condition, rather than being treated as an outdoor friendly cat with diarrhea, which we all assumed was caused from parasites, a common problem. Remember, we didn’t know about his internal injuries yet.

I picked up Wolfie and the other two cats after their vetting that day and dropped them all off to their three different caretakers. Since the vet was in the suburbs, basically I was in the car all day. The cats were stressed from that and their vet visit. Wolfie had a blood exam, was cleaned, and had been diagnosed with possible inflammatory bowel disease. He was sent home with meds.

A few days later I learned from the vet that during his exam and clean-up, Wolfie bit a vet tech there which sent her to the hospital. As a result, they no longer treat feral cats to this day, even though Wolfie was not a feral cat. No exceptions. I don’t blame them for this either. I offered to talk to them about feral cats, and all that we face working with them, along with all that they face working with them, but this was not the avenue they wanted to take. It is one of those things that happens that again sucks. There’s no other word for it.

Meanwhile, Jennie decided to foster Wolfie and care for him. She asked the shelter again for admission. Their vet saw him once or twice, and we then learned about the internal injuries, caused by blunt trauma, that they had discovered during his initial TNR. Had we known about these injuries, I would have told my vet about them, and possibly have avoided the whole biting mess. He most likely bit that vet tech because of the extreme pain he must have been in. Again, we all do the best we can with the information that we have at the time. Hindsight is always 20/20. Blah blah blah. You know what I mean. Again, it SUCKS.

The shelter ultimately refused admission for Wolfie based on their exam. Jennie managed to get him into another shelter called C.A.R.E. last month. Coincidentally, he was admitted with another one of her cats, Gorgeous George, that I vetted from her colonies.

They took Wolfie to their vet, who determined he had nerve and spinal damage, most likely from being hit by a car, causing the slow failure of his bladder and colon ever since. His injuries and condition were only getting worse. They humanely euthanized Wolfie last week.

RIP Wolfie. We’re thankful that despite everything that happened, we were able to prevent you from slowly dying alone on the street. We’ll continue doing everything we can to help the outdoor cats.

I called Rita a few weeks ago letting her know that I was coming with another cat food donation for her colony cats and indoor cats. Rita told me she was concerned that one of her colony cats was injured and had blood on her hind legs. She said she has been calling other rescue organizations for help but no one could come.

I brought a trap during her colony feeding time and saw Princess right away. Yes, she clearly had blood all over her hind legs.

It was impossible to tell what happened or speculate. Princess was limping, but still mobile. I set the trap and waited for awhile to no avail because Rita still had fed them anyways. I left the trap with Rita and told her to call me as soon as she got Princess.

Rita called me several days later and said she had coaxed Princess into her house. For some reason Rita waited a few days to call me with this news. At this point I was out of town again for work. My friend Erica was trapping another injured colony cat that we were vetting and I asked her to also get Rita’s cat if possible. In the meantime I told Rita to set up her cat carrier with a blanket and treats in a separate room for Princess to become comfortable with the carrier and create a safe place for her.

Rita did not do those things. When Erica showed up she had a hard time finding Princess in Rita’s apartment. She and her friend moved the furniture in the entire place looking for Princess. Rita was hysterical the whole time. Erica had to calm Rita while trying to get Princess. They finally found Princess hiding in a Rubbermaid cat shelter in the apartment. They lined the trap up to the shelter and somehow Princess went in.

Erica rushed her to our amazing vets at Elmhurst Animal Care Center because she could see something was very, very wrong with Princess’s stomach. It almost looked like her insides were coming out.

Warning, the following photos are graphic. 

The vet quickly determined that Princess had mammary cancer. The tumors were so infected and far gone that they had burst. That is the blood and fluids we saw leaking down on Princess’ legs. She was limping because she also had extreme muscle deterioration. We cannot imagine how long and how much she must have suffered with this. After this quick exam the vet recommended immediately euthanizing her. It was the only humane option.

I want to thank our vets for their expertise and compassion. A huge thank you to Erica for being able to trap Princess sooner than I could get there, and for dealing with such a hard situation in Rita’s house. Most of the time during animal rescue there is also a very real, very human component that is part of the story, as much as we try to focus on the cats. At the same time, I’d like to thank Rita for getting Princess into her house. I think cats know when they are in trouble, and this was Princess’ way of accepting help. Many times feral cats come to us in different ways when they are sick or injured.

I do know Princes had a few good years after her TNR before getting sick like this. She and her other three colony cat friends were bonded and ate every morning at Rita’s front door, with shelters to hide in under her front porch. In fact, Rita said one of the cats kept looking in her window the whole time Princess was in her apartment. I wish we could have gotten to Princess sooner had we known, but I’m glad her end was humane and in a safe environment, rather than dying alone on the street.

We posted about Crystal, a sick TNR’d feral cat from the Luna Colony two weeks ago. After extensive vetting and a week’s hospital stay, Crystal was humanely euthanized because her biopsy showed she had a malignant cancer.

Thanks to all of you who donated towards her care. We couldn’t do this without you! Together we raised more than enough funds to cover Crystal’s care. Thank you: Annamarie F., Barb G., Ben M. and Carolyn T., Cori B., Carla F., Carlin R. and Kathy, Catherine M., Diane D., Elisa G., Heather Z., Joan F., Kristine L., Lindsey P., Lois R., Maryan S. and Oleksandra K., Melody S., Mette P., Mimi M., Paula G., Rita B., Sarah S., Terri V., and Victoria S.!

And we know how much all of you do for the cats in your care as well. Every person I’ve met within this group has done incredible amounts of animal rescue. It is extremely humbling. One of you asked about a cat that was coming to your yard with most of his tail missing. I gave some ideas on where to take the cat, and you were able to get him fully vetted and available for adoption. When I saw the photos, I asked to share the story as well. This amazing donor complied, but wished to remain anonymous. That is how wonderful all of you are.

I like to celebrate the proactive action of people who go out there, see an animal in need, and try to do something about it. I offered a few suggestions to her of resources closer to her that may be able to help. She ran with it, took action on her own, and rescued this cat.

This woman lives in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago and also wanted to remain anonymous because she does not want people to dump their pets on her, or expect the vet she used to always give free vetting. I completely understand the sentiment.

Meet Doc, a cat that started visiting her yard this winter. Most of Doc’s tail was missing and injured.

Despite that, he looked good and had a healthy appetite. He started to visit her yard for food more regularly.

She has a webcam and was able to track his visits to her yard at night.

This is another feral cat that was TNR’d three years ago that she feeds regularly.

A new pregnant female cats has been visiting recently as well that she is currently trying to trap before she has kittens.

And she also gets visits from other wildlife, such as opossums and raccoons.

Doc is friendly, so she tried to put food in a cat carrier but he wouldn’t go in. She also tried a humane trap but that didn’t work either. So she opened the back door to her enclosed porch and he went in to eat. She closed the door and Doc panicked a little, but he was more worried about eating. He settled down when she turned a small heater on and enjoyed the warmth. She got him into a dog crate.

She was able to get him into a vet who also does animal rescue. Doc weighs a healthy fifteen pounds, is pure muscle, and is about 3-4 years old. The vet gave him a full exam and cleaned up his wound. Doc was also then neutered and vaccinated, and then put up for adoption after his tail completely healed. He looks great! We are so happy to hear stories like these! Not only is it a happy ending for an animal in need, it showcases how people can network together and get things done. More animals will be saved with more people being proactive on their own.