TNR News

3/26/13 - Cook County Commissioners Hearing on Managed Cat Colonies

The Cook County Commissioners held a hearing about the state of Managed Feral Cat Colonies in Cook County on March 19th. Tree House worked with PAWS Chicago and the other sponsor organizations on a presentation for the Commissioners about the tremendous progress we've made since November, 2007 when the ordinance passed. Together all of the sponsors have spayed/neutered and vaccinated 17,538 cats in Cook County through 2012. Tree House is proud to have done 6,520 of them! In total, there are 1,055 managed cat colonies comprised of 7,040 cats in Cook County and Tree House manages 333 of these colonies containing 2,160 cats! Overall, the Commissioners seemed impressed with our work, and it looks like the ordinance will remain as is, with no proposal for any changes to be introduced, as some have feared. Several bird advocates were in attendance and expressed their concerns about how managed cat colonies affect cats. We have opted to hold further discussions with these advocates and the groups they represent, with hopes that our joint efforts can help protect cats, birds, and other wildlife. See the presentation here!

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09/21/12 - Announcing Community Cats Winter Caretaking Fest on October 20th

Uptown Headquarters
Saturday, October 20th, 12:00 noon - 3:00 p.m.

We will again be hosting a fun-filled day of creating shelters, gathering winterization supplies including straw, insulation, heated water bowls, etc., exchanging ideas, talking cats, and more at our fifth annual Caretaker Fest for Community Cat Colony Caretakers and friends! RSVP or sign up to volunteer here >>

For the cats -- for the community

09/21/12 - Announcing Community Cats Winter Caretaking Fest on October 20th

The Tree House Cats at Work Project is a “green” humane program that removes sterilized and vaccinated feral cats from life-threatening situations and relocates them to new territories where their presence will help control the rodent population. The cats are humanely managed by volunteer caretakers for the entirety of their lives with ongoing support from Tree House as mandated by Cook County’s “Managed Care of Feral Cats Ordinance”. Rodents are repelled by the cats’ presence and leave the cats’ new “territory”. Many cats will also hunt and catch rodents on occasion, but if they are fed regularly, they usually won’t eat them. Compared to the methods that are most commonly used to control rats, which are short-term solutions and therefore ineffective, and also dangerous to kids, pets and the environment, this method proves to be effective, humane, and environmentally friendly. It is a win-win situation for the cats and their human neighbors!
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We are excited to announce that our free TNR packages are now available for all cats (feral/free-roaming and pets) in the 60647 zip code as well as the 60651 zip code. In addition, a small area -- about a mile across the borders – is also eligible for the free package. Please see the Targeted TNR Project Map to see which areas qualify for free services under this grant. Thanks to PetsMart Charities for funding this important project which allows us to help so many more cats and brings Chicago closer to becoming a No Kill City!

To recap, last year Tree House received a $75,135 grant from PetSmart Charities® to sterilize 1,500 free-roaming cats. These sterilizations will be in addition to the 4,000 cats and dogs we spay and neuter annually at the Tree House BDVM Mac Lean Spay/Neuter Clinic. The PetSmart Charities project will focus on free-roaming cats in the 60651 ZIP code. This area of Chicago is home to a large number of feral and abandoned stray cats and a very small number of active trappers or registered colony caretakers. This means that every year the feral cat population in 60651 dramatically increases as well as the number of cats that are euthanized at Chicago Animal Care and Control. The PetSmart Charities project will allow Tree House to proactively reduce he number of cats being euthanized from this area and greatly improve the lives of feral cats by establishing well-managed colonies of sterilized cats. We are thrilled to be teaming with PetSmart Charities on this much-needed, life-saving project.

Tree House volunteer and Feral Cat Colony Manager, Kari Johnson has joined the Tree House TNR Team as the Targeted Trapping Coordinator for this project. If you are available to help or have questions, please email kari@treehouseanimals.org or call 773-784-5488 ext. 234.

We are proud to announce that our TNR Program was instrumental in adopting out more than 260 cats in 2011. These cats and kittens were all “pulled” from our trapping projects. 130 of these cats came to one of the Tree House adoption centers while the rest were adopted from our independent pet store partners Follow Your Nose and Doggy Style , from one of our foster homes or were vetted and then transferred to the Anti-Cruelty Society under a new kitten adoption pilot program partnership we arranged with them. We have been finding an unusually high number of “friendlies” (socialized cats and kittens) in our trapping projects (especially from the colonies in our Targeted Area). We can’t put friendly, socialized cats and kittens back outside in good conscience, so we worked extra hard to find a solution to meet this desperate need. Thanks to all the volunteers who made the adoption of this many more deserving cats and kittens a reality!