PANT

12/29/2025

Hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday. Now back to the daily grind 🤣🤣

12/24/2025

From all of us at PANT, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays for however you celebrate! Enjoy time with family, friends and fur babies!

12/24/2025

Beware of “free”

I'm looking for a free kitten because shelter prices are a scam!

Annie posted this on Nextdoor because she wanted to adopt a kitten for her 8-year-old daughter for Christmas. She had just returned home from a local shelter and was horrified to see the adoption fee of $100. "Shelters shouldn't be making money by selling pets. Those adoption fees are ridiculous!"

You can guess how this turned out. Annie found a free kitten in November but didn't have any place to hold the kitten until Christmas morning. You can't wrap them and hide them in a closet. So, her daughter received a very early Christmas present. Her daughter fell in love with the cute little striped tabby. She slept with her at night and rushed home after school so she could play with her new baby. It was perfect.

A week after adoption, the kitten stopped eating, was vomiting and wasn't playing any more. She rushed her to the emergency vet and had x-rays and other tests. It appeared to be panleukopenia, so the vet kept the kitten so they could monitor her, give her fluids and provide other supportive care. Three days later, she was still p***y but on the mend. She was lucky to survive! Annie, however, wasn't so lucky. The vet bill was over $3,600!

When the kitten was older, she put a note out to find a "cheap vet" to get the kitten vaccinated and spayed. She'd called a few clinics and it was going to be over $600. Isn't there a cheaper place?

When she contacted us, we gave her links to our local low-cost clinics. The cheapest one was going to be $120 for the spay, rabies, FVRCP, parasite treatments and a microchip. That is a great deal, but $20 more than the shelter's "scam" price. And she would still need another vet visit in a month for booster shots. By the time the tabby was fully vetted, she was a $3,750 kitten. Worth every penny of course, but it will months before Annie can pay off the credit card bill for the emergency room visit.

There is no such thing as a free kitten. If you adopt from a shelter or rescue, you are getting a kitten who is vaccinated, altered, microchipped and treated for parasites. A free kitten has not even been checked for common diseases or birth defects. It is a bargain compared to the prices you will pay to do this all yourself.

12/22/2025

Holiday safety for your kitties

With winter holidays underway and around the corner, take a moment to review and share our Holiday Safety Tips for Cats at alleycat.org/HolidayTips! 🐈🎁

One of the most important: Make sure cats have their own menu and can't access your holiday favorite foods:

🔴 Chocolates, candies, and all alcohol should be kept out of reach of cats
🔴 Any food with garlic and onion, or the sweetener xylitol, is dangerous for cats.
🔴 Cooked bones can splinter and choke cats and cause lethal harm when ingested.
🔴 In general, too much rich, fatty food can damage cats’ health.

Resist the urge to slip your cat treats from the table and ask your guests to do the same. And, make sure cats can't jump on a table or counter while food is laid out or candles are burning!

12/22/2025

Agreed!!

“But I hate seeing them in the trap.”

Every trapper has heard this.
Every trapper has felt this.

Yes when the door shuts, there’s a quick “what just happened?!” moment. Then the trap gets covered… and suddenly?

They calm down. They loaf. They wait.

Because cats are prey animals.
In an unfamiliar situation, 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 + 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 + 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 = 𝙎𝘼𝙁𝙀.

That’s why experienced trappers always:
✔️ Fully cover the trap
✔️ Move it somewhere quiet
✔️ Elevate it off the ground
✔️ Leave the cat alone (other than feeding/cleaning)

That’s not cruelty.
That’s compassion.

Here’s the part people don’t want to hear:

If you avoid trapping because it makes you sad, you’re actually leaving cats stuck in:
❌ constant breeding
❌ fighting
❌ infections/illness
❌ survival mode
So… get over the trap.

Because 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿
𝗶𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲.

Do the right thing.
Trap the damn cat. 🐾 🪤 🐈

12/21/2025

Sometimes outdoor cats become indoor cats. 🐈 For example, if wintry weather becomes too harsh for an aging feral, a caretaker may decide to bring Kitty in from the cold. With patience and a gradual introduction to the new environment, unsocialized cats can successfully transition and thrive in indoor homes.

The Feral Cat Setup is an effective way to acclimate cats to living inside. The Setup allows shy cats to feel safe while keeping them securely contained as they settle in. The Feral Cat Setup has other uses, too; it can serve as housing for a sick or injured cat during an extended recovery period, or hold a nursing mom and kittens until the little ones are weaned.

For a list of materials needed and a step-by-step guide, please visit our Fostering Feral Cats Safely page: https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/fostering-feral-cats-safely

12/21/2025

TNR myths addressed…TNR works

12/19/2025

Pumpkin Latte and Pecan Crunch asked Santa if they could have a forever home for Christmas.  It would be a wonderful holiday for family and felines if that wish came true.  Are you that family?

12/18/2025

Wellness Wednesday!

With the start of winter coming this weekend, Friends of Felines would like to remind our community that most outdoor cats do not need rescued unless they are severely injured or ill. We receive intake requests almost daily from kind-hearted Good Samaritans who are understandably concerned about kitties they see outside as temperatures begin to drop. We truly appreciate this compassion and want to share how these cats CAN be helped.

What many people don’t realize is that a large number of these cats are well adapted to outdoor life and would experience significant stress if brought indoors or placed in a shelter environment. For these cats, removal is not always the kindest or safest option.

The good news is there are meaningful ways you can help outdoor cats stay safe and comfortable during colder months—without disrupting their lives. Here’s how you can make a difference.

12/18/2025

Winter tips

12/17/2025

Don’t forget the water!

If you are caring for community cats, daily fresh water is important all year long but especially so in winter when alternative water sources are frozen.

If you have access to an outlet outside, electric heated water bowls are outstanding! If not, aim for tall, deep plastic dishes. If you can embed the bowl into a block of sturdy styrofoam, even better. A touch of sugar may help delay freezing, or a ping pong ball floating on top and agitating the water on a windy day could help, too.

Thank you for all you do to care for the kitties! 😸

12/17/2025

Great tip

Simple hint to monitor traps from a distance

It can be frustrating to be sitting in your car, out of sight, waiting for those cats to go in the traps. You don't want to leave them unobserved too long, but when you sneak around to see if there's anyone in the trap, how many times is there a cat just ready to go in -and then he sees you…

If you've been reading our page you've probably gotten used to us promoting the use of cameras for everything – and it really is ideal if you have the ability to use Wi-Fi cameras while trapping. You can be sitting in your car out of sight and watching the whole time in real time. But another trick that is extremely useful-whether or not you are using a camera -is to have something visible on the trap door so that when the cat is caught, you can tell by a glance that the door is no longer open.

In this case we use just a small piece of white duct tape towards the end of the trap door. It's visible and makes it very easy to tell without having to walk up too close to the trap. We've also used colorful vegetation, really anything that will stand out visibly to you.

You may have already used this trick – but if even one person finds this is a new trick, it's a win. Share your little trapping tips in the comments – none of us know it all and it's fun to learn something new!