Report of Activities
(December 2007)

HOME BASE
We continued 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 daily, given medical help and neutered)
We continued this year to support two major colonies of feral cats. 

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"). Some were adopted from this colony in the past and we usually see about 11 of the remaining ones at the daily afternoon feeding.   Another 5 are fed by a volunteer.   We supply the food for another volunteer who feeds them all on the weekends and during holidays.

B) Airport Area Colony
A total of 53 felines from this colony have been fixed, mostly using the Feral Cat Spay / Neuter program at the Hawaii Humane Society.  The Faran family and the Kusakabe family help the Armstrongs with the feeding of this colony.  We see about 20 cats on a regular basis. 

ORPHANED AND ABANDONED CATS & KITTENS TAKEN IN
We opened our doors to 17 orphaned or abandoned kittens this year.  Six of this number were turned into Kevin's clinic.  Three were found starving to death on a school campus, where they trap moms to destroy them and the kittens die from starvation.  Three were found on another school campus.  Five were found by various friends and brought to us.

ADOPTIONS / EDUCATION
We have adopted out 5 kittens and 2 adults to date this year to indoor homes.  (Unfortunately one was returned.) 

OPERATIONS / DONATIONS
(For detailed cost/receipt information, please email us)
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 (their Feral Fix Program), Hawaii Mega Cor. for the many bags of "damaged" food they have donated and "The Pet Stop" in Pearl City that discounts litter for us 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 continuing work with the "Virtual Adoptions" program. This brings new donors yearly to our organization as well as a few visitors who actually adopted kittens. 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, crafts, cards and other items for sale (as well as your time spent "manning" the booth) were so encouraging.   Thirty-three cats were readopted in the Virtual Adoption program this year, and 16 new cats were virtually adopted at the Pet Expo.  This year a good amount was raised with the sale of raffle tickets and various items at the Pet Expo. A special thank you to Phil & Eric of the San Francisco Salad Co. for their willingness to display pictures of cats available for adoption on their countertop for their customers to see.

As our population in the colonies and here at Home Base ages, medical costs rise.  Our medical expenses in 2007 have doubled since last year.  Additionally, a substantial amount for medically prescribed food for the elderly & ill cats should also be considered. It has helped that the vets at Waipahu Animal Clinic have been very generous with their time and talents. A large portion of the medical care has gone to support the typical problems of older cats in a population.  (eight of our elderly cats passed on this year.)

FUTURE HOPES & DREAMS
1)  We are so happy with the Virtual Adoption program which continues to be an important source of income to help the kitties.  We want to continue supporting Mel's ongoing work with these virtual adopters.

2)  We hope to have the funds to operate a double booth at the Pet Expo this year as we notice double booths attract even more attention.

3)  Thanks to Nancy's efforts, we received enough funds from the Visitor Industry Charity Walk to begin planning improvements in the back fenced-in area that will allow for more comfort for our older kitties.

4)  We always appreciate help in finding homes for our kittens and older cats.

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.