Rescuers from Love Your Feral Felines (LYFF) in San Diego have been helping feral cats for over 20 years. Years ago, their dedication to helping cats even inspired Cat Man Chris to take his in rescue work to the next level.
In 2011, LYFF founder Christine Hubbard started volunteering at a local shelter. Ever since, she has learned how one person can make a difference. Without her efforts, countless feral cats taken to shelters would not have made it.
“I am constantly viewing the shelter intake of feral cats, and just seeing one photo of them is all I need. I know without me and my rescue they will die, they need me and knowing that gives me all the drive I need,” she told Cat Man Chris in 2018.
One LYFF Volunteer TNRs Cat Colony
Recently, LYFF shared how one volunteer helped her local feral cat population. In a couple of months, Karen in Vista, California, started doing TNR (trap, neuter, return) of the cat colony. During that time, she made a significant positive change in her community with support and advice from Love Your Feral Felines.
It’s so inspirational to see what one determined person can do to help feral cats.
“A couple of months ago, we received a plea for help. A lady in Vista desperately needed help with a feral colony of over 30 cats and many kittens around her house and in the auto shop across the street. The colony was out of control!” LYFF shared.
Images via Facebook/Love Your Feral Felines
Karen worked hard to trap the feral cats one cat at a time and it paid off. Gradually, she TNR’d 15 adult cats so far and she’s going to keep going for the whole colony.
“This is the story of how Karen, one of the LYFF TNR/ caregiver volunteers, has been working tirelessly to control feline overpopulation by fixing all the cats in the colony…one cat at a time. It’s not enough to remove the kittens from these colonies – we can only truly stop the cycle of breeding and suffering by fixing all the cats in the colony.”
Also, Karen shared that she found homes for the friendly cats and kittens. With help from LYFF, she got the veterinary care the cats needed to live healthy lives.
“I have trapped, neutered, and returned (TNR’d) 15 cats so far. I trapped 8 kittens and a young, friendly cat that have all found homes. LYFF has covered all the spay and neuter, deworming, a 30-day flea treatment, and a vaccine for rabies, and the right ear of all the TNR’d cats has been tipped. LYFF also checked for injuries, and infections, assessed the overall health of all the cats and checked for chips in cats I have trapped,” she wrote.
In just a couple of months, Karen learned how to use multiple types of safe traps to catch cats and kittens.
“I use two live traps, one drop trap, and a small kitten trap. With the financial help provided by Love Your Feral Felines, I am able to make a significant positive change in controlling the feral population. I still have many more ferals to TNR in this colony. With the help from Love Your Feral Felines, I am confident we can help this large feral colony live a much better quality of life and greatly reduce or eliminate litters of unwanted kittens being born.”
“I sincerely thank LYFF for all of the help and support they have given me. This allows me to make a real difference in the feral population in North County San Diego,” she said.
Congratulations and well-done, Karen. You are inspirational and your story could insqpire others to help cats in their communities too!
TNR Near You
In the comments, others shared that they, too, have been able to TNR local cat colonies. If you’re in the San Diego area and feel inspired to help a feral cat colony in your area, you can find out more on LYFF’s website or Facebook, or Instagram.
Elsewhere, you can find out more about TNR efforts from local rescue groups, veterinarians, shelters, or the Humane Society.
