Loren's Feral Cat Soup Kitchen and Family Planning

My name is Loren Sterling and I am passionate about the kitties. The problem: my neighborhood has a LOT of feral cats.

I started feeding a few of them over a year ago with the intention of doing TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) on all of them. Ferals don't typically live as long as house cats; they are more likely to die young from disease or predators, and many kittens don’t make it to adulthood. I had hoped to stop the new litters of kittens and make sure the adults are fed.

At the time, I wrote letters to six feral rescue organizations in the East Valley and none even responded. I couldn’t even get a response from the Animal Defense League of Arizona, the organization that assisted when I did TNR on five feral cats on the Renaissance Festival site several years ago. The ADLA and rescues were all inundated with requests for assistance and I’m sure they responded to as many requests as they could, but were just overwhelmed.

My tiny colony has grown to eleven adults and four kittens. I decided to try getting TNR assistance again and this time the ADLA responded! They have set me up with an appointment so I can start trapping. Each cat requires a $45 donation to ADLA, and they pay the balance of the surgery cost. There are four cats that have gradually grown accustomed to being petted, and those will need rabies shots ($36). I’m also spending almost as much money feeding cats as I am feeding myself.

So, I’m finally asking for help. If any of you can kick in a little bit, you’d be helping me out and giving these kitties a better life. No amount is too small. The cat in the photo is named Rabies (there’s a story there) and she just surprised us by bringing her one kitten to our side yard to eat and play. There are thirteen more out there that need our assistance, too.

Please help if you can, and if you can’t afford to, your encouragement is good too!

Thank you in advance, dear friends. Love to all!