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I wrote in a prior article about a 100 cat feral cat colony in Troy whose shelters were destroyed by a snowplow in the blizzard we had about a month ago. Getting shelter together for them has been slow and there are still 20 cats at that site with no shelter at all so if there is anyone else who would like to help out by funding or building shelters, please call Sue at 586-943-3162. There are shelter plans which only involve pinkboard (styrofoam) and silicon glue if you would like to help but are tool-challenged. As a result of this newsletter, 4 cat shelters were commissioned and 3 have been completed and placed on site. Many of these pitiful cats now have snug homes thanks to your help!

The number one killer of homeless cats is starvation due to overpopulation. As I mentioned in the prior article, only 25 of these 100 cats have been spay/neutered. I have been able to arrange a spay/neuter event at MSU March 5 where we can take trapped cats to be spay/neutered plus shots plus worming plus de-flea(!) for $20 a cat!!! We can bring up to 30 cats. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, we need people to help watch traps. Actually there are a lot of ways we could use help, but watching traps is the most crucial. To volunteer to watch traps for 2-4 hours, please call Sue at 586-943-3162. I ask that you be prepared to volunteer for a minimum of 2 hours not including driving time. You can bring a book if you like. You will just sit in your car with a good book or a cup of coffee and check traps every 20 or 30 minutes. If a cat is caught on your shift, you need to cover the trap with a towel so the cat will settle down as the cat will be very scared. You can watch traps alone or with a buddy, if you are quiet so as not to scare the cats. I am in the process of arranging where trapped cats can be taken until they are collected up at night - local businesses and garages have been used in the past. You do not need experience to do this. You do need to keep the location of the colony to yourself for the safety of the cats.

If you volunteer, you may be interested to take a look at some of the shelters your fellow vegetarians and friends who care about animals have built. Every one is a little different. Anyone who wants to help transport cats to MSU Saturday, March 5, is welcome to stay and help. If you do, you will learn how to give distemper shots (and then you can order them from Foster & Smith and administer your own for all your own pets and rescues at $3 apiece instead of what the vets charge). You'll also meet some great people!

Donations for spay/neuter should be made out to "M.S.U." Call Sue at 596-943-3162 for the snail mail address. It will take 5 trapping sessions to get the bulk of this colony spay/neutered and stop the birth, starvation, and death of 100's of kittens every season. Help make the first trapping event a success so that we can stay in this for the long haul. Help give 100 miserable cats, many of whose ears or tails have frozen off, a break and a future. Thank you in advance!