Report of Activities
(December 2005)

HOME BASE
We continue to operate from our Pearl City residence with its two part outdoor facility attached to our house. Also, some of the cats live in the house with us. All cats who enter 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.

TWO COLONIES CARED FOR (Fed, given medical help and neutered) & ONE COLONY NEUTERED
We continued this year to support two major colonies of feral cats. These colonies are located in Kapahulu (near the Ala Wai) and the Airport area. Our Hawaii Kai Colony has been totally taken over by an experienced cat caretaker who lives in that area. The other colony we've worked with is at the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill. The Landfill colony has a regular feeder, so we have only been involved in fixing that colony and adopting out kittens from there.

A) Kapahulu Colony
Over the years we have neutered 70 ferals at this location (mostly using the Hawaii Humane Society Feral Cat Spay / Neuter program at $5 per microchip with a free "fix"). Seven were adopted from this colony in the past and we usually see about 12 of the remaining ones at the daily afternoon feeding. If we are able to stay for a night time feeding more cats are in evidence. An older cat who is new to this colony and unfixed will be fixed over the Christmas Vacation. A volunteer feeds here on the weekends and during the holidays.

B) Airport Area Colony
A total of 43 felines from this colony have been fixed, mostly using the Feral Cat Spay / Neuter program at the Hawaii Humanen Society. Five were fixed at a veterinarian, as they were considered adoptable. Two families have helped with the feeding of this colony. We have noticed two new older kittens (under 6 mo.) who have been added to this fixed colony. It will be a priority to fix them within the next few days/weeks.

C) Waimanalo Gulch Colony
This is a colony which is fed and watched over by a third party. With a board member's rescue services, we brought home a friendly female from this colony and her five small kittens (who were dug out from a hole underneath a large truck scale). Two kittens were adopted out and three have been added to our household (with their mom). After many late Friday night trappings, we are pleased that this colony is now totally spayed / neutered. We have fixed a total of 16 cats from this colony (with one young female, who lives in our house, still to be spayed).

ADOPTIONS / EDUCATION
We have adopted out only three cats this year to indoor homes (Duncan, Mitchell and Lester). All cats and kittens have been neutered. 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.) We are also asked by the Humane Society to pass out cards for free fixes to feline owners who cannot afford to have their cat(s) fixed. We have been happy to facilitate several fixes in this manner.

OPERATIONS / DONATIONS
(For detailed cost/receipt information, please email us)
Special Projects requiring funding this year have included The Pet Expo and building of a roof for rain / wind / sun protection of cats who prefer the farthest reaches of the back yard.

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 their love and help, the feeders mentioned above, the Hawaii Humane Society for their Feral Fix Program and Hawaii Mega Cor. for the many bags of food they have donated. We are also pleased to have found a new Pet Shop ("The Pet Stop") in Pearl City that occasionally donates small supplies and is willing to refer potential adopters.

We are very grateful for Melanie Roller's continual support with our Love A Cat website and for her idea to create "Virtual Adoptions" at the Pet Expo. This has brought new donors to our organization as well as new attention for feral and formerly feral cats. A huge thank you to the entire board for their support of Virtual Adoptions and the entire Pet Expo project this past year. Your funds, jewelry, quilt, cards and other items for sale (as well as your time spent "manning" the booth) were so encouraging.

As our population in the colonies and here at Home Base ages, we expect costs of care to rise. It should be noted here that it can no longer be assumed that Vet care is low cost or free from our previous sources, although, two of the vets from Kevin's current clinic have been very generous with their time and talents. There has been an incearse in the cost of vet care and vet spay / neuters for our adoptable / home base cats and ferals with special needs.

FUTURE HOPES
We hope to add more "frills" to our new roofed area out back (siding to protect from the wind and sleeping perches). We realize that our present location limits the visits we will get from people looking to adopt; however, this location is a perfect, comfortable "hide away" for our older cats. We feel we have reached our limit of cats for Home Base and many of the ones here are older or unadoptable (in many people's eyes). We also realize that although the feeding and care are very important to the cats who receive it, the most important thing Love A Cat Charity does is spay / neuter. With that in mind, we continue to fix those "drop offs" in our neutered colonies and we have been pleased to completely finish neutering the Landfill colony.

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."