Description

Forgotten Felines of Forsyth seeks to reduce the number of homeless and unwanted cats in our community by practicing trap, neuter and return (TNR). Volunteers are needed to help with trapping, providing transportation to and from the vet, sheltering/recovering cats after surgery, and assisting with paperwork and photographing cats. Currently we trap primarily on Wednesday night, transport to the vet on Thursday (7:30 - 8:00 a.m.), pick-up from vet Thursday at 5:00 p.m., recover cats on Thursday night and release them back to their colony on Friday, if we are using local vets. This schedule may vary somewhat depending on the vet used. When we are using a TNR clinic, we trap and shelter on Saturday, transport to the clinic on Sunday morning (typical loading time is 6:30 am), pick up from the clinic between 1 and 5 pm (depending on the clinic), recover the cats Sunday night and Monday, and return the cats to their colony on Monday evening. Clinics are usually once a month. You may volunteer for any or all of these activities.

Required Skills

Trapping skills and knowledge of feral cat behavior is helpful, but we can train. A van or SUV is helpful for transportation. A basement or garage may be helpful as a holding area. Trappers must be willing to be out late at night on trapping night. Email is our primary means of communicating trapping plans on a weekly basis so it is helpful if you have email. A cell phone is needed for staying in touch on trap night if you are trapping solo.

Description

Colony caretaking is a little different from simply feeding feral/stray cats. Colony caretakers provide food, water and shelter for colony DAILY, monitor the colonies to assure all cats are spayed or neutered and make arrangements for trapping at colony as need arises, also monitor colony individuals for health and/or injuries, maintain records on colony members, and advocate for the colony as necessary. Primary colony caretakers must be willing to commit to their colony long term. Substitute caretakers are also needed if you can't commit to being a primary caretaker.

Required Skills

Trapping skills and knowledge of feral cat behavior helpful, but we can train. Although we sometimes receive contributions of food, the caretaker must commit to providing food for the colony members on a daily basis. This usually means you have to buy food for your colony yourself. The cats have to be fed daily, so be prepared to go out regardless of the weather. Since feral cats are not always welcome members of a community, it is generally best to feed and monitor at times when you are not obvious to the public and in a location that is not easily seen. This often means going out very early or under the cover of darkness to somewhat secluded areas. This is not a job for the timid or fearful as sometimes you will be spotted and confronted by people who do not understand what you are doing. At these times you will need to be prepared to discuss TNR in a calm, informative manner.

It is helpful if you have access to a computer in order to update colony information in our online database. A digital camera is also helpful for taking photos of colony members for our records.

Description

Forgotten Felines of Forsyth holds a monthly spay/neuter clinic. The veterinarians do all the surgery and administer the vaccines. We need volunteers for all other positions including: cleaning of the facility prior to and after a clinic, weighing the cats, determining gender, administration of anesthesia, prepping the cats for surgery, drawing up vaccinations, ear cleaning and notching, monitoring of anesthetized cats, transporting cats prepped for surgery to the operating room, post operative recovery of cats, completing paperwork on veterinary procedures performed on each cat, laundering towels and surgical drapes, cleaning and packaging surgical instrument for sterilization. Clinics are held on Sunday morning, once a month, typically lasting from about 7:30 am to 2:00 pm. 

Required Skills

Vet tech experience is helpful but not required. We will train you to do whatever job in the clinic you are interested in. None of our current volunteers had experience in spay neuter clinics before we started, so if you have an interest, don’t be afraid to volunteer. You do not have to be present in the OR and there are plenty of jobs for all interest levels.

Description

After spay/neuter surgery, cats are held inside to monitor their recovery from anesthesia and to assure that they are ready to be released. Volunteers are needed to prepare the recovery area by sanitizing and lining the shelves with absorbent pads prior to arrival of the cats. There are some tame cats that reside in the recovery area and they may need to be put in cages prior to the arrival of the feral cats and let out of the cages after all ferals are in. When the cats arrive from the clinic, you will help carry the traps into the recovery area, arrange the traps in the recovery area by caretaker, and match paperwork to the appropriate trap. Recovery volunteers feed cats as they awaken from surgery and change any soiled bedding material in traps. Before leaving the cats for the night, all cats are checked to assure that they are awake and no problems are noticed. This will usually be on a

Sunday afternoon. Recovery volunteers are also needed on the Monday morning following the clinic to check the cats again, clean their bedding and feed them. Finally, volunteers are needed to clean and sanitize the recovery area after all the ferals have been picked up for return to their colony. This is usually Monday evening after a Sunday spay clinic. It could also be done on Tuesday after a spay clinic.

Required Skills

No experience is necessary, although knowledge of feral cats is helpful. We will train you how to work with feral cats in traps. You should be able to lift about 15 to 20 pounds. Some bending and climbing on a step stool may be required.

Description

FFF publishes our free newsletter, The Colony Chronicles, on a quarterly basis. We need people to contribute ideas, articles and photos for our newsletter. Our newsletter is a combination of human/feline interest stories such the "Tails of the Colonies" feature, local and state news related to or affecting feral cats, upcoming events, photos and stories about past events, etc. In all of our reporting we focus on feral and stray cats issues such as TNR, practical tips for caretakers, etc. We always try to communicate that feral cats living in a maintained colony is the best and most humane solution for feral cats. Our newsletter is professional and informative and we try to steer-clear of the "crazy cat lady" image or "cute-stuff".

Currently, we publish our newsletter by email first then print a limited quantity of hard copy issues. After the hard copy issues are printed, we need volunteers to pick them up from the printer and assemble and fold the newsletters. We also need volunteers to distribute these to vet offices or other locations.

Required Skills

No special skills are required. Writing skills are helpful, but we appreciate any contributions and our editors will work with you to refine your contributions as required. Most of our newsletter prep work is done via the internet so, computer and email access are needed.

Transportation and knowledge of the community are needed for distribution of newsletters.

Description

FFF operates entirely on donations and fundraisers. Our fundraising events vary: yard sales, bake sales, giftwrapping, raffle ticket sales, coupon book sales, rabies clinics, postal-based or email-based fund solicitation letter campaigns, even sidewalk or storefront donation solicitation, etc. We are always in need of volunteers to plan, organize and assist with these fundraisers. Activites may include contacting businesses for donations or locations, publicizing the event, determing supplies needed for the fundraiser and ensuring that those supplies are available, ensuring sufficient volunteers are availabe to run the event, set-up and clean-up surrounding events, etc. Fundraisers are held throughout the year.

Required Skills