July, 2015
The most exciting news of this month has been the long-awaited arrival of our new trap, kindly donated to us by Emma Martin of Furry Funds. I am looking forward to using it (Grahamstown ferals beware!) and am most grateful for this wonderful donation. Our traps are well-used and take a lot of beating, especially when there is an extremely large, angry feral inside (and we have, in the past, trapped otters, leguaans and birds too!) and some of our older traps are on their last legs. Emma's father kindly assists with repairing traps as well.
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Furry Funds is a Facebook page based in Grahamstown that all animal lovers need to like! Our sole purpose is to raise money for animal charities in and around Grahamstown, such as the Grahamstown Feral Cat Project and the Phoenix Dog Project. We sell products, most of which are handmade and animal themed, and all the money will be donated to charity. Over time we will start to do further fundraising, such as blanket drives, raffles and pet food drives.
So head on over to facebook.com/furryfunds and hit LIKE to keep up to date with our fundraising events! And don't forget to check out our photo albums to view some of the awesome goodies that we have for sale! If you have any items that you would like to donate please send Emma a message from the Facebook page, or email her at furry.funds.sa@gmail.com |
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Other exciting news is that, after months of advertising, the late Beth Dickerson's cats Siki and Tigger have been adopted by Simon and Cathy Pamphilon and their family.
Four spays were done this month (up to 29 July).
Rita and Sandra did not have any luck trapping during July, but I have exciting news to report on Rita's front. After not seeing Dr Grey for a long time, this picture was posted on the Grahamstown Missing Pets Facebook page by Judy Paul, with the caption "Is anyone missing him/her?" and Rita saw the post. It turns out that Judy lives very close to Rita and Dr Grey has been visiting her and more or less adopting the family, hence not needing to eat the food from the trap Rita was diligently setting. The Project will be TNRing him before he goes back to the Paul family and, we hope, a long and happy life.
Dr Grey
Earlier in the month Michaela Leach was urgently looking for homes for three feral kittens at her complex in Port Alfred. Magriet kindly offered to take all three, but we then decided that it would be extremely difficult for her to tame all of them as she does not have space to keep them separated. However, she was happy to foster one, so Michaela brought Henna through from Port Alfred. Because Henna was still quite scared, I didn't have any thought of making her available for adoption in this newsletter. However, on Monday I had an email from Greg and Hermien Wilmot of Grahamstown who had been put in touch with me by Greg's sister Tammy, an ardent animal lover. Greg and Hermien were looking to add to their family so I duly gave them Magriet's contact details and asked them to get in touch. Next thing, arrangements were being made to collect Henna sight unseen and Greg and Hermien were frantically learning all about bringing your new kitten home. Henna went to her forever home on Tuesday night and on Wednesday morning Greg emailed me the following:
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Morning Lynne,
All has gone pretty well so far since yesterday evening.
We don't have a name yet but are moving between Henna, Lafayette and Sookie (Sook 'ie mooilikheid) but will wait for her to tell us just who she is.
The dogs, two very friendly and affectionate Collies, have been extremely interested and gentle with the kitten. There have been some nose-to-nose greetings with a few barks and some hissing but a good measure of purring too. Nicholas, the big male Collie, has felt at ease to lie down next to the kitten while the ever-affectionate Koonap, our little girl, has buckets of maternal fretting and care pouring out. I'm sure things will continue to develop well as the kitten gets used to the house and the dogs. She hisses at us when we enter the room but goes into purring over-drive the moment she is scratched, tickled or rubbed.
We are taking her to the vet this morning as she has developed quite a nasty eye infection in her right eye but all should be fine with a few eye-drops.
We'll keep you posted with more stories and drop off the documents and cash soonest.
Many thanks for the effort your side!
Kind regards,
Greg |
Finally, Lara and I will be meeting next week to discuss the calendar. Work-wise things have been hectic for both of us but we realise that time is getting short so we must get cracking!
News of our Ferals
| Laney is one of the cats in a campus colony I have fed and cared for for more than five years, and he was the last kitten to be born in this colony. When I first saw him as a tiny, skinny, timid kitten, my heart went out to him because his mother had recently been killed by dogs passing through the area where they lived. She had been spayed just the previous week. As far as I know, she had just the one kitten. Over the years, thanks to good food and care he grew from that tiny, frightened kitten to a big, handsome, and exceptionally gentle adult cat. It took more than a year of patient coaxing before I could touch him and he is now very comfortable with touch and cuddles. It is useful to be able to handle the feral cats so that if they are ill or in trouble of any kind, they can be helped. It also means I can remove ticks they pick up from the nearby veld. |
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The lives of feral cats can be very hard, but sterilization and feeding improves the quality of their lives enormously.
And in breaking news...
The wonderful news is big, gentle Laney went home today! He will be living with Eileen and Graham Shepherd, and their little girl, Miss Piggy.
Thanks guys!
All the best, Laney - a long and happy life to you. |
MISSING CAT
Good Day,
Please advertise this missing cat, his name is Thistle. He is dark grey in colour, with white V-shaped 'bib' under his chin, and white fur on all his paws. He has also got a small nick on his left ear.
He has been missing since 25/06/2015 from Cromwell Street in Sunnyside area (next to the nursery). He may be in the vicinity of Shepperson, Hope, Rivers, Webber and Lawrance streets.
Please contact
Shameen Schmidtke on 083 444 5188
or Nadia Schmidtke on
073 295 4079.
Your assistance is much appreciated.
Thank you so much.
Shameen Schmidtke |
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What is FIV?
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/brochure_fiv.cfm
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/brochure_fiv.cfm
Donations
(1 to 30 July)
Thank you so much to everyone who donated. Your support means so much to us and helps us to continue with our work.
Mario and Sue Rionda
Juanita McLean
Whayne and Celine Gardener
Susan Foulkes
Clare Gill
Suzanne Redelinghuys
Vivienne Jones-Van der Merwe
Tammy Wilmot
Ellen Schwartz
Joy Allcock
Carli Argirova
David and Margaret Foulkes
Jeannie McKeown
...who all responded to my Facebook appeal for donations of cat food, thereby taking advantage of the huge birthday specials Pick 'n Pay was having. Catmor at R33.90 as opposed to R45.99 per bag was not to be sneezed at!
Also...
Viv Botha
Colleen Duffy
Jenny Gon
Michaela Peterson
Gwyneth Trafford
Anli van der Meulen
Jeannie McKeown
If making electronic payments please remember to include WILDCAT and your name as a reference so that we can thank you. Please email proof of payment to: l.grant@nelm.org.za
About Us
All donations go to sterilization and a small portion to food.
Occasionally there are costs for veterinary care of ferals who are ill or injured.
We appreciate your generosity greatly as it enables us to continue helping the feral cats.
Spays cost us R440 and neuters R287,
plus extra for any complications
such as pregnancy or undescended testes.
The adoption fee is R500, which includes first deworming and inoculation and obligatory sterilization.
If you would like to donate any amount, please deposit into our vet account at:
The Grahamstown Veterinary Clinic,
Standard Bank Account No 282625054
Branch Code 050917
Please add the reference "W/CAT" and your name,
and please notify us if possible
so that we can follow up donations in case of
accidental misallocation
Please do not take any feral/stray cat into the vet for attention and charge it to our Wildcat account
without prior approval from Lynne.
The Wildcat account with the vet is meant for sterilization of ferals and will only
under certain exceptional circumstances be used for other procedures.
Grahamstown Feral Cat Project uses the TNR (Trap, Neuter & Return) approach - globally recognised as the most humane, least costly and most sustainable way of stabilizing feral cat populations.
Volunteers humanely trap the feral cats; we take them to the vet to be spayed or neutered; the tip of the right ear is snipped off so we can easily identify that they have been sterilized; we return them to their original territory where they live out their lives (adult ferals cannot be tamed). Feral kittens, wherever possible, are fostered, tamed and homed.
Archived Newsletters
December 2014
January 2015
February 2015
March 2015
April 2015
May 2015
June 2015
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