The Felix Fund: Help a Farmer • Help a Cat

Boots was a 6-month-old kitten when she was thrown out of a moving car on the highway by Cathy’s farm. Boots lived, and joined about 30 other dumped cats and kittens that have ended up Cathy’s problem to feed and care for.

Before COVID, Cathy had a handful of her own cats, and they were all spayed or neutered. With COVID, the number of dumped cats has gotten much bigger, and Cathy’s farm is a favorite target. Boots was not the only cat dumped at Cathy’s farm in 2021, and some of the dumped cats were already pregnant.

This is not a responsibility that Cathy asked for, but she can’t ignore a starving animal and let it die. Her nickname is "Helping Hands," because she can't turn her back on anyone in need. And food is critical, because, with 30 cats, finding mice to hunt is not so easy. So Cathy, a small Market farmer with limited resources, feeds the cats and does her best to provide shelter from predators and the cold.

Boots was just a kitten when she was dumped at Cathy’s farm last year, and, as a stranger, was chased by the other cats and had to live on what she could rush in and grab when Cathy put food out. Every day was a struggle to live. At 7 months, she came in heat, one of the toms from across the highway visited, and at 9 months old she had a litter of six kittens. With a young and undernourished mom, the kittens were a scraggly bunch, but she was a good mom, and five made it through the winter to adulthood. This summer, three of those kittens got pregnant, along with several others on the farm.

Cathy’s problem just got a whole lot bigger.

This is not a problem that one person should have to bear alone. This is where community steps in. This is where you can help.

Cathy is the farmer selected for a pilot program started this year by 9 Lives Rescue to raise funds for farmers like Cathy, the cats like Boots that have been dumped on them, and others. It’s called The Felix Fund, and it’s named after Lady Felix, one of Boots’s kittens, now on her way to a better future through 9 Lives Rescue. Cathy’s farm is featured in our “Help a Farmer • Help a Cat” drive, which we plan to expand to other farms if donations allow. With the funds we raise, we will:

• spay or neuter all the reproductively active cats on Cathy’s farm.

• help provide treatment for existing health conditions.

• pay for standard vaccines like rabies and feline leukemia.

• place kittens and adoptable cats in foster homes, provide vet care, and find permanent homes for them.

Please note that The Felix Fund is a pilot project involving one farm only. It will continue, and expand to other farms, only if people recognize the need and donate. We are in the fundraising phase, and won't be able to help other farms unless people donate. Please help by sharing this link and urging your friends to support the growth of The Felix Fund.

Dumped Cats have become a huge issue that has only grown since COVID. It’s a humane issue for the cats, and a financial burden for the farmers - and it needs to be addressed. As a start, 9 Lives Rescue is proud to give you this opportunity to make the lives of farmers and cats better, one farm at a time, with The Felix Fund. Please join us to Help a Farmer • Help a Cat.

9 Lives Rescue is a non-profit cat rescue serving South Central Wisconsin, especially the city of Madison and the small towns, rural areas and farms of Dane County.

Photo: four of Boots's grandkittens, who were fostered with 9 Lives Rescue and were all adopted to forever homes.

Update, December 2022: Woohoo! We are very pleased to announce that the pilot program of The Felix Fund has met its goal! Caring people donated enough funds to allow us to spay or neuter all reproductively active cats on Cathy’s farm. Eleven (including kittens) were fostered and found new homes, two are currently in foster care, and four were fixed, treated for injuries, and released back on Cathy’s farm. We had anticipated helping more, but, sadly, there were fewer kitties because some had already been killed by coyotes.

Thank you again to all who donated!

Donations are still being accepted, as we hope to continue the program in 2023, and perhaps expand to help more dumped cats and the farmers who carry the burden of caring for them.