Thankful for Helping Paws - Part One~Brian's Home

This year, as part of our No Tricks, Just Treats for Shelters event,  we want to recognize a few blogs we follow who help take care of  animals who may not be able to care for themselves.
Today, we are thankful to Brian's Home for their work advocating for cat adoption and, just as important,  for their selfless work with Feral Cats. We asked Brian's Dad to give us an idea their journey with Feral Cats, here is their story:

We moved to South Carolina from West Virginia in 1995 and, where we lived in West Virginia, we rarely saw a feral cat. Sure, we saw outside kitties frequently but we knew where they lived and who their owners were. We hardly saw any feral cats at our home in South Carolina for quite a few years. Why is that? Well, when we moved to South Carolina we had 1 cat and 2 medium sized dogs. Obviously cats wouldn't care to visit our yard. In early 2009 our sweet dogs had both gone to the Rainbow Bridge and we now had two cats, Brian and Ivan. Then in 2009 we saw a male tom cat in our backyard. It was obvious he was fending for himself and he had several battle scars from fights. He appeared to be an older guy so we started calling him "Old Man." 

We starting putting food out for the Old Man. He really did seem ever so grateful and became a regular, showing up to get food on a pretty routine schedule. At the time, we didn't know about TNR(Trap, Neuter and Return/Release) so, as you can imagine, it wasn't long before other kitties started showing up for food. Then there were kittens, they were cute, they grew up, there were more kittens. We started having cats and kittens everywhere. So, we did the only thing we knew to do, we contacted the rescue where we adopted Brian, Zoe and Gracie and asked for help. Boy did we learn the importance of TNR in a hurry. We learned it worked and we learned it makes for a happier, healthier feral cat population.

At one point in our TNR journey, we trapped 8 cats in one day, including Simon and Seal who have successfully transitioned to life inside.

We also had several quick lessons on bottle feeding little ones who were left behind, like Rocky here.

Today, since ferals have a rough life, some disappear, some don't make it, we've been rather stable at 7-8 furry feral family members.  We provide for them daily, year round.

In order to keep their food dry during inclement weather, I made a feeding station out of a deck storage box which  turned on its side, removed the lid and drilled holes in the floor so water will drain out when it rains.

These past couple of photos are of a recent early O'Dark Thirty breakfast club.

 
and here is the crew at a dinner time feeding.

 We also provide shelter for the ferals so they can keep dry when it rains and they can keep warm when the weather turns cold. We have 3 insulated and heated houses, a doggy type igloo and a covered tent for shade, and yes,  they use all of them.


It's not unusual to have kittens turn up since we know we can't, and haven't, been able to get everyone fixed. It's important to maintain an active relationship with your local shelters so they may be there to help when you need them.

There are lots of ways for you to support your local shelters, here are just a few of the things we do:

Make monetary donations
Donate wet and dry cat food on a regular basis
Donate towels and blankets you are no longer using
Save and donate your newspaper
Donate laundry detergent
Donate cat litter
Donate your time!

Running a shelter is hard, and often thankless, work. Make sure to support your shelters on a regular basis!





 
  We want to thank Brian's Dad and Mom for all they are doing to help their local feral colony and for taking the time sharing their experiences with us. 

If the story of how Brian's family touched you,  please consider donating to a Cat Rescue in your area. 

Stay tuned next Monday for Part Two of our Helping Paws 

 We are joining Brian for the 
Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!