Report of Activities
(August 2004)

HOME BASE
We continue to operate from our Pearl City residence with its two part outdoor facility attached to our house. This area is totally contained with a "Cat Fence" added to our chain link fence, where necessary. Also, some of the cats live in the house with us. All cats who entered our house or yard have been tested negatively for FELV and have been treated for fleas and worms (if necessary). Although many of the cats are adoptable, several that live with us are now older or have habits that make them undesirable to new owners.

THREE COLONIES CARED FOR (fed, given medical help and neutered)
We continued this year to support two major colonies of feral cats and we have added a third colony this past summer. These colonies are located in Hawaii Kai, Kapahulu and the Airport area. We have continued to spay and neuter in the first two colonies if a new cat "took up residence" (only two this year) and we have neutered most of the new colony.

A) Hawaii Kai Colony
Due to the stabilizing effects of neutering on the number of cats and the difficulties of living outdoors, the size of the Hawaii Kai Colony has gone from 63 (at its largest over the past 11 years) to 30 neutered members (one newly fixed) and one new arrival still to be trapped. This colony is fed by a loyal volunteer who supplies her own food. Our former "small colony" in Hawaii Kai with only four neutered cats has been taken over by another Feral Cat Caretaker who lives nearby.

B) Kapahulu Colony
This colony is in a constant state of change due to its location and negative human attitudes. We are unsure of the fate of several cats who have disappeared recently. In the past, we have neutered 70 ferals at this location. Seven were adopted from this colony in the past and we usually see about 25 of the remaining ones at the daily feeding.

C) Airport Area Colony
We began work with the Airport Area colony this past summer and have taken in a total of 28 felines from that area to be fixed, using the feral cat spay/neuter program at the Hawaiian Humane Society (@only $5 per microchip). We have also adopted out two cats from the Airport Area colony. This brings our total "fixes" for the year to 42.  As each female can be responsible for eight to twelve kittens per year and the males even more, we estimate that over a reasonable Hawaii feral cat lifetime of ten years the fixes for this year have kept 2500 - 4000 kittens from being born.

ADOPTIONS / EDUCATION
We have adopted out six cats this year to indoor homes. All cats and kittens have been neutered or are scheduled for neutering on their six month birthdate (when we will phone to remind the new owners). We continue to assist in the education of our community through private conversations and assisting private homeowners with neutering the ferals they feed. (These do not appear in our fixing totals above as the feral microchips would be registered under the feeder's name.)

OPERATIONS / DONATIONS
We (The Armstrongs) donate about $400+ per month to the working of the charity and we have gotten donations of approximately $2,000 from regular and occasional donors to Love A Cat Charity. Without the support of our regular donors, we would be unable to run Love A Cat Charity at its present level. Our incredible blessings include the Love A Cat Charity Board of Directors for specialized help, the feeders mentioned above, the Hawaiian Humane Society for their Feral Fix Program, Hawaii Mega Cor. for the many bags of food they have donated and an extra big mahalo to Sue and Nick Palumbo of The Cat Clinic for their help with advice and all medical needs for our special babies.

Our mission remains "to help end euthanasia of unwanted cats by caring for feral and abandoned felines, spaying or neutering them, and when appropriate, adopting them out."