Feral Folk Foundation

06/18/2024

Meet Cadence, a spirited and loving 5-year-old black German Shepherd - and she needs your help! Cadence isn't just a pet; she is a cherished member of our family. Her bright eyes and loyal heart bring joy and comfort every day, especially to her owner, a partially disabled military veteran who relies on Cadence for companionship and emotional support.

Meet Cadence, a spirited and loving 5-year-old black German Shepherd. Cadence isn'… Jamie Luciano needs your support for Support Cadence's Journey to Recovery

12/03/2023

Happy Paw-lidays! Our rescue kitties have put together their Christmas Wishlist! If you'd like to lend a helping paw, we're always in need of the basics like food and litter, but we're also currently low on cleaning supplies and some misc medical items like syringes! You can view our Amazon Wishlist here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/11L2XO7TOGQVB?ref_=wl_share

Or on Chewy here: https://www.chewy.com/g/feral-folk-foundation_b90488578

Our organization is committed to providing TNR to our comminity while finding homes for adoptable cats and kittens.

12/28/2021

Once a Feral Folk kitty... Always a Feral Folk kitty! We make a promise to every cat and kitten than comes through our door that we will always be there for them. If an adoption placement fails for any reason, we make sure they have a safe place to land.

Oliver was one of our Feral Folk "Originals" - back when we first started TNR back in 2014! These feral felines were unable to return to their dangerous colony location, and after a couple years in foster and a whole lot of effort, we eventually found barn placement for them. We hoped this would be the end of their travels, but after 4 years, we got the call that these guys needed a new place to go.

Now much older than when we first met, Oliver seems to be enjoying the "retired barn cat" life indoors.

12/27/2021

Adoption updates are our FAVORITE! 🎉

Lulu was one of our longest term fosters, and we were so thrilled to see her finally find her forever home back in October. We knew this senior girl had struck gold with her new family, but we were still so thrilled to get this letter (and some updated photos!) of her enjoying her new life!

Now named Luna, she spends her days being doted on by her mom, and relaxing in one of her many cat trees... 😻🌴 Talk about kitty paradise!

🐾

12/26/2021

It's been a while since we've updated on Buttacup, but just look at this adorable little gremlin! 😻 We're completely smitten with this kitten!

Buttacup has had some ups and downs over the past weeks, but she seems to have hit her stride and is thriving! She had started showing some neurological signs a few weeks back - of course, right in the middle of our big move! 😱 Thankfully our vets took an emergency call and had a neurologist look at her case. Our suspicions were confirmed... and Buttacup was diagnosed with hydrocephalus (water on the brain.)

Buttacup was immediately started on medication to help with the fluid build up, and has been responding incredibly well!

After her first few days on her medication, we stopped seeing some of the worrying symptoms, and she was acting just like any other healthy kitten - running, playing, purring, and wanting lots of cuddles! We are hopeful that she will be able to live a fairly normal life with properly managed care.

Some pets with hydrocephalus do end up needing surgery to place a shunt. Buttacup's vets don't think that surgery will be necessary at this time, but she is still very young and growing, so we don't know yet what the future may hold. Rest assured that she is receiving the very best care, and we will take whatever steps are necessary for her to have a happy and healthy life!

To contribute towards Buttacup's care, you can make a donation at:
http://paypal.me/feralfolk

12/25/2021

What a very merry Christmas for our little Lenny Katvitz! Lenny has been in foster care since May, eagerly awaiting his fur-ever home. It took 7 months and a move half way across the country for this little dude to find the purr-fect family for him! He is now living the very spoiled life of an only kitty. His new family has a little girl who just adores him, and is ready to shower him with all the love, attention, and play time he could ever want! 😻

Here's to a your happily ever after, little guy! Meowy Christmas! 🎄🎅

12/22/2021

This is not the update we had been hoping to share with you all, and our hearts are heavy. 😔 Bex was admitted to the hospital again in the early hours of the 19th, and despite all the amazing care she received, her little body was not able to continue on. After consulting with a team of incredible veterinarians who worked around the clock to figure out what was happening to her, we made the difficult decision last night to release her from her struggle.

Bex had seemed to bounce back after her first trip to the ER last week, but we did not have a real diagnosis for what had caused her crash in the first place. Her f***l came up negative for parasites, and her blood work did not seem to indicate she was fighting off an infection - we were left with a mystery regarding her anemia, and hoped this was some fluke. After a few days of seeming improvement, she began to decline again and we rushed her back in for additional radiographs and blood work.

When kittens are born with visible congenital issues like Bex, there is always the possibility that there are other issues internally that can't be seen with our eyes. Bex had a congenital defect of her heart, which was the root of the issues we were seeing, and was likely a contributing factor to why her swimmers syndrome was so painstaking for us to try and correct - her heart could not support proper blood flow to all of her limbs. The more muscle she built up, and the more exercise her legs were able to tolerate, the more stress it was putting on her heart.

We are devastated to have lost her after fighting so hard and seeing such hope that she would be able to run around like a normal kitten someday.

While we would much rather be fundraising towards a recovery, unfortunately that is not how things turned out this time. Despite this sad resolution, we are still left with a medical bill of just over $1800. If you are able to help us offset some of Bex's medical expenses, it would go a long way towards helping us with the other kitties in our care, and so we can say "yes" to the next little one that needs our help.

As a 501c3 non-profit, we rely solely on donations from our compassionate followers to help us provide the care these little ones desperately need.

You can help via PayPal at:
[email protected] or
http://PayPal.me/feralfolk

12/14/2021

Bex is home and feeling a little bit better already. She gave us quite a scare, so she is being monitored like a hawk!

She has had some diarrhea off and on over the weekend, and her blood work showed that she is anemic. A healthy red blood cell count is around 30%, and Bex was at only 19%! 😱

Although we did have a recent change in food (supply chain issues!) her vet suspects there are other underlying GI issues that are contributing to the loose stool and anemia. They noted that she was bloated and had some mucous discharge while in their office.

Combined with her other symptoms, they are suspecting either a GI tract infection, or possibly a case of coccidia. We are patiently waiting with a stool sample kit to send away, but in the mean time she has been started on a probiotic, an anti-diarrheal, and an anti-parasitic to try and cover the bases and get her feeling better ASAP!

Once she got some fluids and they were able to warm her up, Bex perked up enough that they felt comfortable sending her home. If her condition worsens, or we don't see improvement over the next 24 hours, she will be going right back to the hospital for further monitoring. Please keep your paws crossed that this was a one-time scare, and that she will be on the road to recovery from here on out! 🙏❤️

12/14/2021

We are currently at the emergency vet with Bex. She has lost some weight over the weekend, and this morning around 2am presented with extremely pale gums.

She is currently on fluids and in an incubation chamber to help stabilize her temperature. We are waiting on her blood results to see if we can't get some answers as to what is going on with her.

Please send us lots of good healing vibes for this little warrior. This sudden crash has us shaken 💔

12/10/2021

Wow! We received such an incredible and sweet (literally!) gift today. Tina Riehl - Real Estate Agent - Century 21 Affiliated had these custom cookies made for us by The Babblin' Baker, showing off some of our current fosters and permanent residents! We are stunned at how gorgeous and totally cute these came out! Can you spot Bex and Kida??

Tina was instrumental in helping us find the perfect property where we can continue and expand our rescue efforts, and we are so grateful for her help during this journey! We are really feeling the sense of community in our new home, and are so lucky to have people rooting for us and the kitties.

They are so cute, we may have a hard time eating them... But I think we will manage somehow! ;)

😻 Thank you so very much! 😻

12/09/2021

🎊 INCREDIBLE NEWS! 🎊

Bex has been working SO hard with her physical therapy, and it is finally starting to pay off! Here she is standing on her own, without being supported underneath, for the very first time!

Her foster mom has been working with her multiple times a day to help build muscle strength where before there was none at all... Bex didn't have any movement in her rear legs when she first came out of the shelter, and her vets warned us this would be a big obstacle to overcome. Most kittens with swimmers syndrome still attempt to use their legs to some degree, but Bex relied solely on her front legs to move around. This resulted in her rear muscles wasting away and being extremely under developed, which presented a unique challenge to her treatment.

Bex's physical therapy includes lots gentle massage, as well as a number of different exercises to encourage even muscle development. Because her case was so severe, we have to take things slow and in small bursts multiple times a day so that she doesn't injure herself. Even after weeks of building her strength up, you can still see that her rear muscles are very small and have a way to go yet.

Please consider making a donation to help support our efforts with special kittens like Bex! As a 501c3 non-profit, we rely solely on our volunteers and donations to keep doing this important work!

http://paypal.me/feralfolk

12/06/2021

It's official! Our Chewy Wishlist is live!

Want to help us continue to save cats and kittens like Bex and Buttacup? We are always in need of food, litter, and other supplies that make our mission possible. Chewy makes it super easy for you to support the rescue - and the kitties - directly! Simply shop our Wishlist at the link below. Thanks!

https://www.chewy.com/g/feral-folk-foundation_b90488578

Our organization is committed to providing TNR to our comminity while finding homes for adoptable cats and kittens.

11/26/2021

While most kitties don't need to be bathed, Bex needs a little extra help because of her swimmers syndrome. Her tummy and leg bindings often get messy, so to keep her clean and healthy she gets a bath every couple of days, with lots of wet-wipe clean up in between.

Caring for a special needs foster takes a lot of extra effort, but it is so worth it! In Bex's case, she needs her leg bindings changed regularly, physical therapy sessions multiple times a day, in addition to her extra grooming needs and bath time. She is also still being treated for ringworm with lime sulphur once a week. Whew!

If you want to support our efforts caring for kittens like Bex, please consider making a donation to: http://paypal.me/feralfolk

11/25/2021

On this day, we have so much to be thankful for! We made it safely with all our precious cargo to our new location in Wisconsin. The cats all traveled well, and are adjusting to their new surroundings just fine.

We have a lot of work ahead to build out the vision for our future, but we are looking forward to all of it!

🍂🍁 Happy Thanksgiving 🍁🍂

11/21/2021

We are MOVING! And that means all our resident and foster kitties are coming with us! We have been excitedly working on purchasing a larger property so that we can expand our rescue efforts. After a lot of ups and downs, we found the perfect place... In Wisconsin!

We will have 5 acres of land, and over the coming years will be developing an on-site adoption center as well as a permanent sanctuary for some of our feral and unadoptable cats.

Wish us luck - the kitty choir has already begun their serenade. 🤣

As a 501c3 non-profit, we rely on donations to fund our life-saving work. Please consider making a contribution at: http://paypal.me/feralfolk

11/17/2021

🌼 What's up, Buttacup? 🌼

I think we're still a bit in shock that we were able to save this little girl! Little Buttacup has been through a lot in her short life, but she is one tough cookie.

Buttacup was found and taken in by a family who noticed she was a little different than most kitties. They had originally reached out to rescues for support, but decided to try and keep her. An ownership dispute broke out with one of their neighbors, who ultimately took Buttacup back. Within a few days, she was returned to the family after having been badly injured. They were told that she "might have fallen off the balcony," but we may never know exactly what happened.

She was in critical condition and was rushed to the vet. Unfortunately, the family who took her in could not afford emergency care, and that was when we got the call to step in. In the dire state she was in, we feared the worst for this tiny kit 😢

Buttacup wasn't done fighting, however, and while at the vet's office, she started to come out of shock! The doctors were able to get her stabilized and did some xrays. They do suspect she may have suffered some minor head trauma, but thankfully found no fractures in her sweet little dome! 🙌

She was disoriented and dehydrated, so had to stay on fluids for her first few nights in foster. Her fall left her with a bad limp that our vets are hopeful will heal up with time and gentle care. To top it all off, she is still fighting off a nasty respiratory infection, but she is doing SO much better. Buttacup really is a little miracle kitten!

In order to save kitties like Buttacup who need us, we rely on donations and support to fund this important work. Please consider making a donation so we can keep doing what we do!

http://paypal.me/feralfolk

11/17/2021

Stay tuned for news about our latest special needs foster... Including her dramatic rescue tale! For now, just take a look at this adorable face 😻 me-wow!

11/16/2021

Here she is - the amazing Bex! We wanted to be sure to update everyone after her consultation with the orthopedic specialist today. We got xrays done, and thankfully her bone structure is all looking really good! Bex was officially diagnosed with Swimmers Syndrome (we had our suspicions, but wanted to be sure to have her properly diagnosed!)

The good news is that Swimmers can be very treatable with physical therapy and bracing her legs. The bad news is that Bex is one of the most severe cases our specialist had ever seen... and she is going to have to work twice as hard as other kittens with this syndrome to get good results.

Her foster has an intense regimen of exercises set out, in addition to instructions on leg bindings to maximize her potential. We have a long road ahead, but Bex is a fighter to have made it this far... and we're going to fight right along with her!

If you want to help this little warrior, you can pitch in at:
paypal.me/feralfolk