I have been desexing feral , abandoned and stray cats for over 30 years, very quietly, only small numbers as I do all the work myself and I have paid all the costs out of my own salary.
When I first started doing this, I lived in the King Country and we had a feral cat problem around my place of work. I would catch what I could and get them desexed and release them again. My methods back then were painfully slow, but I kept at it.
Since I moved to Auckland, I have come across a lot of undesexed abandoned cats, both in the Community in which I live and in close by suburbs. Little bit by little bit I have gathered cages and humane traps so that I can continue this work. Working on my own and now being in my senior years as well as working full time, I do not deal with large numbers.
I can only take on what my salary will allow and what my residence will allow, so I don’t have the volume these big Organizations have. What I do have, costs me a fortune. I desex, vaccinate, microchip and register the chip on NZCAR. I decided to do a FB page late 2019 for the first time. I’m still not sure it’s a good thing.
I have received a few donations toward the end of 2019, but my costs are ongoing. It costs me to buy cleaning products, wet wipes, cat litter, wet and dry food, ongoing medicines, worming and defleaing products, kitten food, veterinary costs like vaccinations, dental, flu and anything else that might arise. Some cats might require a special diet to to a condition they have, eg. a sensitive stomach. I might have a cat one month or two years until they are adopted. My costs do not go away.
Feral cats are often now trapped, desexed, held for up to 10 days post surgery to ensure full recovery and then released to their area. Trapping can be easy and it can be very hard depending on the location of the cats and the availability of food. Sometimes it involves many hours sitting in your car day after day, night after night, watching your traps, to get a cat. If traps aren’t watched the caught cat can become very stressed. Second to that you may suffer theft.
If you wish to donate, it would be very helpful, and greatly appreciated. It would allow me to continue to rescue more cats and kittens.
My Bank Account details are:_ Homeless Feline Rescue, 38-9010-0152738-03.
