Several years ago my husband and I were living in an apartment complex where an elderly lady found herself feeding and caring for 8 stray cats.  We would occasionally see a cat running around the complex so of course I was curious as to where they lived.  Once we tracked them down to the lady’s apartment we decided to make sure they were hers and that they had been fixed and were being well cared for.  The lady was very sweet but she indicated that the cats all just showed up one day and due to the cold winter conditions she continued to feed them and let them live under her deck but she was overwhelmed and worried about their safety.  The apartment complex had also heard about the stray cats and they were going to call our local animal control to get rid of them.  Of course we couldn’t let that happen! 

So my husband and I decided to work with a couple local no kill shelters and get them trapped and fixed.  After weeks of trapping, and trapping one opossum by mistake!, we finally had them all fixed.  All of the cats were actually very young and only a couple of them were truly feral. The problem was that we couldn’t return them to the complex.  Luckily a fellow rescuer stepped up to help and we were able to house the cats in her garage until we could find them a new home.  Through lots of networking and social media efforts, we found a foster home willing to socialize 4 of the cats and another farm up in Toledo that was looking for barn cats. 

So my husband and I made the 3 hour drive up to Toledo with the 4 cats heading to the barn.  Leaving them there was probably one of the hardest parts of the entire process.  We had them crated in the barn and talked their new family through the process of allowing them time to gain their trust before letting them roam free.  It was a very scary transition for the cats and I’ll never forget the fear in their eyes when we were leaving.  Unfortunately, one of the cats escaped the crate that evening and we weren’t able to find him, it was heartbreaking…but the other 3 cats had a chance at a life they may not otherwise have had.  The last update we received is that 2 of the 3 cats were still living a happy barn cat life.  And the 4 fostered and socialized cats are all doing well in their forever homes. 

TNR is one of the hardest jobs in animal rescue and I truly admire those that do it day after day. It is very difficult to return cats to the unknown life of the outdoors, especially the friendly ones, but their work saves countless lives and is truly helping the population control which is one of the most important components to going no-kill. 

Without the help of the community, Save The Animals Foundation, specifically Marianne, helping us trap, Ohio Alleycat Resource offering low cost spay/neuter, Johanna stepping up to temp foster, Kristie fostering and socializing 4 of the cats, and the family who took in 4 barn cats, we couldn’t have saved those 8 cats from certain death.  It truly takes a village to save them all.  Get involved in your local rescue community today to start making a difference!