Alley Cat Allies’ Feral Friends Network is the largest network for cat support in the world. It is a group of amazing people all around the nation and the world who actively work to protect and improve the lives of cats.
Alley Cat Allies stays connected with all Feral Friends Network members and helps keep them informed, so we know they are knowledgeable and trustworthy resources for their communities. They are the boots on the groundthe local experts people can seek out for essential assistance and advice about cats.
No advocate can be everywhere at once, and every community has cats they want to protect. Alley Cat Allies’ Feral Friends Network allows community members to find cat experts close to them and get the help they need. Whether you need assistance with Trap-Neuter-Return, need feral-friendly veterinary care for your colony, or are working to change policies, there are Feral Friends Network members with the knowledge to help you.
You can learn more about our Feral Friends Network and sign up to join, or connect with members near you to get advice and support for cats.
Here are some Feral Friends who are doing amazing work in their communities, and benefitting from the connections and communication unique to Alley Cat Allies’ Feral Friends Network:
Bluff City Feral FriendsMemphis, Tennessee
Summer and Tubby are just two of the cats helped by Bluff City Feral Friends.
Bluff City Feral Friends is an advocacy organization dedicated to educating the public about community cats and Trap-Neuter-Return. And, as its name suggests, it came to be through the connections forged by Alley Cat Allies’ Feral Friends Network. As Feral Friends Network members, co-founders June LaPorta and Janice Tankersley were able to join efforts and form Bluff City Feral Friends in 2013.
Alongside educating, the organization assists cat caregivers with trapping and veterinary care. Their success prompted a local SPCA chapter to award them a grant to use at a low-cost spay and neuter clinic. Since its founding, Bluff City Feral Friends have spayed/neutered over 200 cats and taken over the permanent care of four colonies.
Bluff City Feral Friends is entrenched in the community; their partnerships with the local SPCA and rescue groups bolster their TNR efforts and help them save more cats. All of their work is funded by donations from local rescues and members of the community, as well as their own successful fundraisers. This past November, they began hosting TNR 101 workshops to educate the community.
“We certainly could not have accomplished any of this without the resources that have been made available through Alley Cat Allies,” said Blair Caviness, an active Bluff City Feral Friends member. “We are so happy to be part of the Feral Friends Network!”
Oliver and Doreen BauerCedar Key, Florida
Doreen and her husband Oliver spearheaded a wide-scale TNR effort in their island community of 800, from Cedar Key up to Rosewood, Florida. They have successfully TNR’d 1016 cats since they began their work!
With the help of Cats Angels, they started volunteering with community cats in 2006. Nine years later, they continue to maintain the island colonies and conduct TNR year-round.
As Feral Friends Network members, they are a valuable source of knowledge to their community with their extensive TNR experience. Before the Bauers’ TNR efforts, the island struggled with managing their cat population. Now their fishing village can enjoy the essential presence of cats, and both cats and people coexist happily and healthily.
Magicats, Inc.Buhl, Idaho
Magicats, Inc. is comprised of nine women who have been working together to save cats since 2010. They fund much of their own work and operate as a loose consortium of foster homes. Magicats covers nine counties in the Magic Valley of Idaho, and all members have experience and passion for working with community cats.
When the women noticed the lack of TNR in their area, they took the initiative. In their first year, they conducted TNR for several of their local cat colonies. Thanks to their efforts, out of the 26 cats in their first colony, only seven remain today.
Now Magicats focuses mainly on adoption, finding homes for up to 300 cats every year. But they are always on the lookout for neighborhoods that would benefit from TNR, and aim to use them as models to help TNR spread further. Their goal is to reach out and support neighboring communities that are fighting the same battle to protect cats.
Lisa WintersBrooklyn, New York
Lisa is hard at work in Brooklyn, caring for eight already TNR’d community cat colonies and acting as a constant source of advice and support for cats in her area. Earlier in 2015, she received a grant from the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals to continue her great work. With help from the grant, she TNR’d a total of 241 cats between May and Octoberall by herself!
Since she is a Feral Friends Network member, Lisa’s community is able to call upon her for support, and she has plenty of stories to tell. Through the Feral Friends Network, she recently helped a pastor who had a mother cat and kittens in his back yard and had no idea what to do. She taught him about TNR and worked with him to trap the cats, and the pastor adopted the kittens.
Lisa is very positive about her work and said that though it can be overwhelming, she’s happy to serve the people who have asked for help.
Alley Cat Allies’ Feral Friends Network is saving cats around the nation.
Feral Friends Network members are doing amazing and lifesaving work every day–for both cats and the people who care for them. Alley Cat Allies is proud to bring them together to share their experience with you!