Greetings!

Yes, it's true! When I moved from Vienna, Virginia (a suburb of Washington, D.C.) to Danville, Virginia (near the North Carolina border) in late 2007 after taking care of my elderly mother for five years, I brought 57 feral cats and two house cats with me (who came from the colony as kittens)!

I had been taking care of The Feral Cats of Oakton since 1995. They lived outdoors in and around a twelve-acre industrial park where I was working. After I saw a tiny kitten dying in the sun, I had to find out about feral cats and how to help them. Over the next five to six years, I trapped 123 cats in this one location. They were assessed by a vet, spayed/neutered, given their initial shots, and released right where they initially had been trapped. I continued to feed everybody, maintained nine make-shift shelters and five cafeterias, and monitored them for health problems. Twenty-five kittens were rescued from the colony, socialized, and placed in good homes. It was such a good feeling when I finally located the mother cats and got them spayed!

"TNR" (Trap-Neuter-Return) is the humane approach for dealing with feral cat colonies. The goal is not to do away with the cats but to eliminate reproduction and allow the kitties to live the remainder of their lives outside wherever they have chosen to come together (as long as it's not a dangerous location and they have a caretaker who feeds them and watches over them).

When the property was sold in 2006 and development of the land was imminent, I knew that the cats would have to vacate their home of more than fifteen years. To get them out of harm's way, I trapped the remaining cats over a seventeen-month period and brought them inside where we set up a shelter for them in the basement of my mother's townhouse.

It was around this time that I started enlisting the assistance of volunteers. In addition to the demanding and huge amount of work that the indoor kitty project entails, this help was especially necessary because I got Lyme Disease and could hardly walk for two months. (This was in addition to having Fibromyagia which I'd been dealing with since 1993.) I had five people who came to the house on a specific day of the week to scoop litter boxes. Others brought us bags of food and containers of litter on a regular basis. A good neighbor came once a week to help carry out the heavy trash. Another good friend, in addition to coming to help with the cats (22-mile trip one way), also helped with meals for my mom and me.

When I had to move out of my mother's townhouse in 2007, these volunteers helped move the 57 feral cats over a four-day period (two separate trips, one with 29 cats in their humane traps and the other with 28 cats -- a 250-mile trip one way). It was quite an undertaking -- moving all of the kitties, their furniture, and paraphernalia! Oh, what a journey it was!

Through the years, of the original 123 cats, I found many deceased or some sick enough that I took them to be euthanized. That accounted for about 33 cats. I never knew what happened to the rest of them. If I had left the remaining cats in their outdoor home, they would have starved or possibly been killed by construction equipment. If I had taken them to the shelter, they all would have been euthanized. Normally, feral cats are left in the great outdoors which is their home and where they are most comfortable. But after taking care of them for such a long time, there was no other option but to bring them with me.

I found a wonderful house in Danville with a full, unfinished basement which we turned into a Kitty Playground where all of the cats run free. There are plenty of places for them to hang out and lounge around -- many different cat condos, an old sofa and recliner, and little fleece beds and mats spotted all around the room. Sometimes six or seven of them cuddle up on the sofa together. There are also large pens that I use to isolate kitties when they need medication (which is crushed up and put in their food). It has been interesting and rewarding to watch the cats transform themselves into more trusting creatures as they have gradually become more accustomed to being inside and around people. Even the most feral kitties no longer run away or hiss at me as I walk by! Through the months, many of them have started to come upstairs during the day to explore and hang out.

Of course, they all have names! Six or seven of them have become lap cats and many are real attention-seekers, always begging to be petted. They quickly learned that good things are to be found in the kitchen if they hang around long enough!

Most of these kitties are twelve to fifteen years old. I brought them with me and provided this indoor home for them so they could live out their lives here in Camp Feral and not have to worry about frigid winters, sweltering summers, coyote attacks, and human abuse. (Three of my cats were shot and killed in 1999.)

Six of the volunteers who helped me in Northern Virginia pledged a monthly contribution to keep this "Community Project" going and they have been faithful with their donations for almost four years (since early 2007). We would not be able to do this without their generous support. Several of them also come down to visit us as often as they can. Some give extra donations to Linda's Memorial Fund (to cover basic medical expenses such as antibiotics and fluids).

I was able to find these volunteers with the help of "Best Friends," an incredible animal sanctuary in Utah that has members across the country who also want to help animals locally in their own neighborhoods. Best Friends cares for over 1,500 animals on a given day -- cats, feral cats, dogs, horses, goats, rabbits, birds. People actually take their vacation time to make a journey to Best Friends to volunteer! Check them out on line. They are truly awesome and do wonderful things to help thousands of animals. (They were involved in rehabilitating many of the poor "Vick" dogs.)

The final piece of the puzzle: Where to bury these precious creatures? I was fortunate enough to find a lovely couple who own a horse farm and also are animal lovers. Not only are they letting me bury the kitties on their property, but the husband builds a little casket for each one (paying for the materials himself) and gets out his tractor to dig their graves. We were truly blessed to find these wonderful people!

So far, I've lost eighteen kitties (as of July 25, 2011). The loss of each one is very difficult and brings great sorrow. Even though I may not have been able to touch or hold some of them while they were alive or never heard them purr, they still occupied their own space in the house and a space in my heart, both of which are left empty when we have to say the final good-bye. The name of their cemetery is Rainbow Chapel.

Well, I could go on . . . So many stories!

Thanks for reading about my kitties!


Best wishes,
Susan

Wow Susan, what a story! You are a blessing to these cats, I can't even think of the words to adequately express how wonderful and awesome this is! You are truly an inspiration, more people should know about this! I will check out "Best Friends". Your story really touches me, for years I've talked about doing something similar to this, always wanting to have a sanctuary for homeless, unwanted animals, and learning a little about TNR over the years. I haven't given up on my dream, maybe someday soon You should start a blog or website about your feral cats and adventures, we could learn from your experiences. You really are an angel to do this, thank you for sharing! Debbie

Thanks for your kind words, Debbie! It really means a lot -- especially at this time when I just lost two of my little angels this week (Patches on 1/5/11 and Amigo on 1/6/11). Both of them -- as a matter of fact, all of them -- have their own special story. You mention a website . . . I'm going to start a "thread" to see if anyone in our community could help me set up a website. I have SO many pictures and precious videos. But I'm so busy now taking care of the kitties that I haven't had a chance to begin organizing everything from my dozens of memory cards! If we get something set up, I'll certainly post the information here. Thanks again! Susan

Susan ~

I've tried to email you back a few times and my email keeps coming back to me saying "Delivery Notice Failure" so I'm not sure what's going on with your email? I'd love to do what you suggested.
Kim

I just re-read the Delivery Notice Failure and it says something about "over quota" but it doesn't say what for.

Sorry about this, Kim! I keep deleting blocks of e-mails but they continue to tell me I'm approaching my quota. I'll delete some more. Keep trying. A bunch of e-mails DO come through, somehow!

Finally read your amazing story Susan. You are special! Wm

God Bless you Susan!...I just have one cat, Molly Girl. She is the love of my life and I credit her for saving my life after the unexpected death of my husband, George. She has become a total lap cat and when I sob, she comes to me immediately and comforts me. She "tells" me when it's time for us to go to bed and wakes me up every morning. Where ever I am in the house, so is Molly. She is helping me through my grieving more then I could have ever imagined.

Dee, thank you for your comment. I am SO glad that you have Molly Girl to comfort you and be your companion during this difficult time of grieving for you. Animals are very special and some are so in tune with their humans and what they are going through. Molly Girl seems to be just that! How did she act previously? Is this a dramatic change for her? It reminds me of a wonderful movie put out by Hallmark (I think - it was a long time ago) called "To Dance with the White Dog" with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. Did you ever see it? I don't know if you could still find it on-line somewhere. It involves a dog instead of a kitty but it's a very dear story. If you ever need to communicate further, feel free to contact me by e-mail. (My address is given on my profile.) Tale good care of yourself. You're in my prayers. ((((((((((Dee))))))))))

OI had been asking my husband for a cat for years and 3 years ago, he said yes. We went together and when I saw Molly it was love at first sight. She was about a year old when we brought her home. She was found in winter in the inner city, and someone took her to the shelter. She had just recovered from a lung and eye infection. Thank God they saved her for me. I always wanted an orange and white cat but Molly was the one for me. She has always been a very sweet girl. When her Daddy was with us, they would get up every morning around 6:00 am, just for her to sit in his lap for an hour, before he would get ready for work. He worked part-time and around 2:00pm, she would get in the front window and start looking for his car. When she saw it coming down the street, she would hop down and run to meet him at the door. When he died she was very confused as all these people were coming into the house, but not her Daddy. She misses him as much as I do. We used to have to pick her up to put in our laps and she would decide whose lap she would lay on in the evening, mostly me. Now she follows me from room to room, wherever I am, so is Molly. She is on my lap every time I sit down in the lounge chair, always. If I am sobbing, she comes to me and "talks" to me, and gets on my lap to console me. She has become very affectionate and I think she wants to make sure that I don't leave her. Molly is the sweetest little girl, and I am so very blessed to have her. If it were not for Molly, I would not be here, I credit her with saving my life.

Dee, that's such a sweet story! Molly is a special creature and seems to be fulfilling her purpose extremely well. Cats (and dogs, of course) are very smart and more perceptive about things going on around them than most people give them credit for! It's not surprising but it makes me sad that she missed your husband after he passed away. So the two of you are good for one another!

Hello Susan,
You have been through a lot, and in spite of the sad things, have found the way to move forward, continuing to help those you love.

It's amazing how you were able to house 57 feral cats in the basement of your mother's townhouse. It can be difficult. I'm in Utah, where animals are regarded as being here on Earth for the use of humans, whether to eat or play with or shoot for enjoyment or . . . fill in the blank. A township--South Jordan, which used to be rather rural and still has a lot of small ranches, recently voted to limit the number of cats per household to two. And now the state house of representatives voted to allow all feral animals, including cats, to be killed--shot with rifles/guns in areas where shooting is legal. I'm hoping the senate doesn't vote to turn it into a law.

Keep on keeping on, as the expression goes.

Regards,
Gloria

Hi, Gloria! Thanks for your kind and encouraging words. I've been sick so I just now saw your post. I'm so sorry to hear about the laws out there in Utah. The one about shooting feral animals is really sick and inhumane. If you have time, you should contact Alley Cat Allies, headquartered in the D.C. area. They help feral cats on all levels -- teaching people how to trap and care for the kitties outside; spreading the word about TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), the humane way to deal with ferals; and going to bat in towns and cities around the country to fight just the kind of law you mentioned. Let me know what happens with this terribly misguided and cruel law.

My mother always wanted to do something like that..have a big place where she could take in strays or feral cats. It is a wonderful calling!!! xox

Dee - my poodle. Feebee Dee, was my husband's constant companion throughout his illness. He is gone nearly 7 years and most days when she is in the back yard she wanders over to the fence to see if he is working in the driveway on his car, something he loved to do. Susan -
I feed the cats in my area and wish I could do more for them but they survived this terrible winter and I hope I was in some small part, a help to them. My animals are my soul and my comfort.

Gloria, I hope you come back to see this information. If not, maybe someone else can make use of it. The website for Alley Cat Allies is www.alleycat.org. Their telephone number in Bethesda, Maryland is 240-482-1980. Please call them and let them know about this terrible law that's being considered in Utah! Check out the website. It's interesting and loaded with all kinds of information.!

Hello,

I posted this before, but for some reason it did not go through. anyway, thank you for info. Isigned a petition on this website:
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces;jsessionid=6A192208FD2A0FFFFDC21C8F8E1B03E8.ctg-a?siteId=3&campaign=FeralCats&pageNum=7

Hi Susan,
I have sent two emails to you at stl500@verizon, and both have come back undelivered.
i did a copy and paste of ur email address from ur profile page.

The boys loved ur/this story i read to them last night. they were a bit bothered to hear that the cats need help and need food. They want to send some money to your rescue effort for the Feral Cats.
the email was asking where and how do we send these funds.
thanks
RQR

What an amazing story Susan. The world is a better place with people like you in it...