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alleycatallies · 10 days ago

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24 Ways We Worked to Protect Cats in 2024

Happy almost New Year! We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to you for helping us protect and save cats’ lives every single day. Your compassion, dedication, and action make an incredible impact, and we’re truly grateful to have you with us in our mission to build a world where ALL cats are valued and protected.

Even as we prepare for all the work ahead, we’re also reflecting on the incredible change we accomplished together this year.

Here are 24 ways (there are many, many more!) we worked on behalf of cats in 2024:

1. We Took Historic Legal Action to Protect Community Cats in Puerto Rico

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If not for Alley Cat Allies and our supporters like you, a deadly removal of community cats in Puerto Rico would be underway right now.

The United States National Park Service (NPS), which announced intention to eradicate cats from the San Juan National Historic Site late in 2023, planned to start ripping cats from their outdoor homes as early as October 1, 2024.

Alley Cat Allies’ legal efforts—including launching a historic lawsuit against the NPS in March 2024—and refusal to back down forced the NPS to agree to halt all movement on its cruel plan until a federal court decision in 2025. Cats like Bella, Mufasina, and Llorin are still eating, sleeping, and playing amid the surf-swept rocks of their outdoor home because of our action—and our supporters like you who make it possible.

We will continue our fight until the NPS abandons its inhumane and illegal plan permanently, and community cats in Puerto Rico are protected and supported as the community members they are.

2. We Launched Our Community Resource Tool™

The Alley Cat Allies Community Resource Tool is here to help advocates like you protect the cats who are your community. With a few clicks, you can find lifesaving resources for cats in your area including low-cost spay and neuter clinics, cat food banks, and more.

Cats Are Community�� and deserve a community that supports them. With our Community Resource Tool, you can discover local cat advocates and access assistance that benefits cats whether they live outdoors or indoors.

3. We Helped Win a Major Victory for Ohio Cats

Alley Cat Allies’ amicus brief helped inform a critical Ohio Supreme Court decision for cats and kittens. The court ruled that Ohio’s companion animal cruelty law protects all cats, including community cats who are unowned and live outdoors, as “companion animals.”

This is a major victory for cats throughout Ohio and ensures community cats are protected equally under animal cruelty laws.

4. Our Rapid Response Team Saved Cats During Historic Texas Fires

With smoke still choking the air and charred landscape on either side of them, an Alley Cat Allies Rapid Response Team drove directly into the Texas communities most impacted by the historic Smokehouse Creek Fire to deliver lifesaving support for cats and kittens. We connected with local advocates to aid recovery efforts and provided critical care for smoke inhalation and burn wounds to cats like Rubble, Mona, and Phoenix.

5. We Kicked off Our Veterinarian Training Program™

Growing a powerful movement means ensuring the next generation is ready to take up the lifesaving mantle. That’s why we launched the Alley Cat Allies Veterinarian Training Program, starting in the Caribbean islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis!

The goal of our Veterinarian Training Program is to help both experienced and novice veterinarians bring the most effective TNR techniques to their communities to save more lives.

6. We Provided TNR and Food to Thousands of Atlantic County Cats

In 2024, Alley Cat Allies funded spay and neuter, including through Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), and other lifesaving care for more than 3000 community cats and indoor cats in Atlantic County, New Jersey. We also provided food to an incredible 600 community cats per day through a first-of-its-kind community cat food bank in the county.

In 2025, our work with the Humane Society of Atlantic County is moving forward to bring critical care to thousands more cats and kittens.

7. We Helped Hundreds of Tennessee Cats with Feline Frenzy®

The Alley Cat Allies Feline Frenzy in Lebanon, Tennessee, this year reached hundreds of indoor and community cats with spay and neuter and vaccinations! On top of that milestone, hundreds more cats received ongoing cat food support—all covered by Alley Cat Allies.

8. We Filed a Lawsuit to Stop the Illegal Killing of Cats in Summit County, Ohio

Alley Cat Allies filed a lawsuit in the Court of Common Pleas against Summit County, Ohio, and its county-operated animal shelter to stop the needless, cruel, and illegal killing of cats.

The Summit County Animal Control Department is an entity meant to uphold the laws. Instead, it is improperly and inhumanely ‘euthanizing’ animals and killing cats for simply being deemed ‘feral’.

Stopping the senseless and inhumane killing of cats is our top priority.

9. We Are Providing Legal Support to Achieve Justice for Juliet

Alley Cat Allies is providing prosecution support to achieve justice for Juliet, who was tortured and killed in Hamilton, Ohio. Surveillance video revealed that Juliet was shoved into a garbage bag and then slammed violently on the ground by the perpetrator.

We’ll keep you updated as the case moves forward.

10. We Offered a Reward to Find Who Shot George the Cat

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In a horrific act of senseless cruelty, George the cat was shot in the back leg with a shotgun in Henrietta Township, Ohio. He survived his injury but was so badly maimed that his leg had to be surgically amputated. Alley Cat Allies covered the costs of his procedure and he has since recovered.

We offered a sizable reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for shooting George.

11. We Helped Granite Shoals Adopt a TNR Ordinance

The ordinance, which had heavy input from Alley Cat Allies, officially protects TNR and community cats in the Texas city. This step forward came just months after disturbing comments about shooting, poisoning, and killing cats were made by the former Granite Shoals City Manager and a wildlife advisory committee.

Today, we continue to support TNR in Granite Shoals!

12. We Responded After Back-to-Back Hurricanes

In fall 2024, Alley Cat Allies provided lifesaving care to cats and kittens impacted by both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. Cats like Jack, Flash, and Toffee were been swept from disaster zones in Florida and into safe spaces to recover thanks to our disaster response in collaboration with advocates, organizations, and veterinarians on the ground in impacted communities.

13. We Celebrated Our Biggest Global Cat Day and National Feral Cat Day Yet

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On October 13, we inspired advocates the world over to share the global truth that Cats Are Community, and highlighted communities that are leading with lifesaving, evidence-based Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs from Tennessee to France.

Global Cat Day and National Feral Cat Day continue to grow, as does our movement!

14. We Gave Advocates the Tools to Share the Truth

The truth is one of our movement’s most powerful tools to save cats and kittens. Misinformation costs millions of cats their lives every year, and Alley Cat Allies works to set the record straight.

Our new Share the Truth resource, including a pocket guide, is spreading the facts about cats across the nation and around the world.

15. We Defended Community Cat Caregivers

Alley Cat Allies took swift legal action when a community cat caregiver in Parma, Ohio, was threatened with nearly one year of jail time and over $2,000 in fines for doing TNR in her community. An attorney working with Alley Cat Allies represented the caregiver in court and, in October, all charges against her were dismissed.

16. Mr. Meow Got Justice

In September 2024, Colton Fontes was sentenced to 14 years in prison for felony animal cruelty related to killing tabby cat Mr. Meow in 2022 and several other highly disturbing charges including rape and sexual battery.

Alley Cat Allies was involved in the case from the beginning, attended court hearings, communicated with the Mr. Meow’s family, and brought the case to further public attention. According to the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation into the shooting and killing of Mr. Meow helped make Fontes’ arrest for the other charges possible.

17. We Exposed Misrepresentation of TNR and Community Cats

Alley Cat Allies was compelled to address the shockingly biased, dangerously misinformed, and often downright insulting portrayal of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), community cats, and the people who care for and protect them in a pieces published in The New Yorker and Forbes.

18. We Exposed How Opposition to TNR is Leading to Lethal Action

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In our video, we showed our supporters around the world how Alley Cat Allies is fighting opposition to TNR, correcting dangerous disinformation about cats, and saving cats’ lives. We won’t back down until every cat is valued and protected as the community member they are.

19. We Saved Maximus With Unique Surgery

Maximus (AKA Maximus Decimus Merkitteus) is a young cat is full of life and love for anyone and everyone, and has never met a stranger. He’s even best friends with his dog brother. But at not even a year old, Maximus experienced a medical emergency that had his family rushing him to the veterinarian for treatment. The diagnosis: A portosystemic liver shunt.

Alley Cat Allies provides support to veterinary professionals across the nation, which made the unique surgery Maximus needed to survive possible. Now, he’s happy, healthy, and living his life to the fullest—among many other cats and kittens who received access to care through our work together.

20. Our Cat Help Desk Answered the Call to Save Cats’ Lives

Alley Cat Allies is dedicated to ensuring caregivers have the resources and support to provide their cats with the best care possible. That is why the Alley Cat Allies Cat Help Desk is a lifeline, offering expert guidance and resources (including our low-cost veterinary care directory and our animal food bank directory) to help people across the nation and around the world protect cats in their communities.

This year, the work of our Cat Help Desk touched all 50 states and beyond!

21. We Rallied Against Ripping Cats from Their Homes in Alabama

After discovering that owned and community cats faced deadly policies in Birmingham, Alley Cat Allies called on the city and its mayor to cease persecuting cats and their caregivers immediately.

In a shocking situation caught on video, tabby cat Nemo was lured from her own front porch by animal control officers and impounded.

We sent a letter asking the city to stop its aggressive action and rallied advocates to join us. We continue to stand in defense of Birmingham’s cats.

22. We Saved Cats From Suffering in a Shelter

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If you met Opal and siblings Aster and Orchid today, you’d never guess they were once languishing in inhumane conditions in a municipal shelter. The kittens were dehydrated and suffering from upper respiratory infections, while Opal was anemic and contending with a coccidia infection.

Alley Cat Allies took a stand to save them, and all have beautifully blossomed under our care. With the right veterinary care (plus a lot of TLC!), Opal, Aster, and Orchid healed fully and took the next steps in their journeys toward a much happier tomorrow!

23. We Defended South Carolina County’s TNR Program

This year, the council of Richland County, South Carolina, considered passing a dangerous amendment to remove the county’s Community Cat Diversion Program—a successful TNR initiative that has saved thousands of cats’ lives. Alley Cat Allies rallied advocates to speak out, and the amendment did not move forward.

This is just one of many communities in which Alley Cat Allies rallied advocates for lifesaving change in 2024.

24. We Continue to Stand Up for Cat Victims of Cruelty

We are seeking justice, including through rewards, in multiple cruelty cases across the country. Apollo, an Ohio community cat, was discovered with a horrific wound to his foot that meant his leg had to be amputated. Alley Cat Allies covered the costs of his surgery and care, and sent out a call for any information.

We also offered rewards for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the killing of several cats in the town of Lake Clarke Shores, Florida, and in relation to a series of disturbing Facebook videos in Washington, Missouri.

Help Us Start 2025 Strong for Cats

Right now, your gift will be 4X-MATCHED to have 4x the impact for cats and kittens in the new year. We have big plans to make big changes for cats, and we need you with us more than ever! Please consider giving today.

Content source: https://www.alleycat.org/24-ways-we-worked-to-protect-cats-in-2024/

#Cat Protection 2024 #Alley Cat Allies Initiatives #Protecting Cats #Cat Advocacy #Feline Welfare #Helping Community Cats #TNR Programs 2024 #Youtube

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taxidermycanine · 1 year ago

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5 WAYS TO HELP WITH SPECIES DYSPHORIA AS A THERIAN (with and without gear)

- please note that most of these are focused mainly on being a wolf therian, but i'll try my best to make it more inclusive to others.

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my personal favorite, wolf quest! this one does cost money, so this isn't for those who don't have the money/don't already have the game. it really helps me feel more connected to who i am. you find a mate, raise pups, hunt prey, defend your den and pack from predators, and there's even a multiplayer option for you to play with your friends. :o)

(and yes, you can customize what your wolf looks like. all NPC wolves in the game have different personalities for immersion, including you, your pups, and your mate)

please note that the game is still in development! they plan to add a saga where you can live constantly with your pack and continue with new generations each year (and no, you don't HAVE to pass away). you can toggle whether your mate dies or not, if you play on easy you can avoid your pups getting sick by reloading saves if you're sensitive to that, there are constantly new updates being brought out that make the game feel more realistic each time and the development team are incredibly sweet. if you have the money i highly recommend this game, wolf therian or otherwise.

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documentaries. a wonderful way to not only feel more connected to your theriotype(s), but to also learn more information about them! my favorite thing to do when i'm stressed is to wrap myself in warm blankets, turn off my lights and put on a documentary to calm myself down. bonus points if you DO have gear to wear during this, if not that's okay too.

i also like to have my plush friends join me so i can act like they're my pack :o) it's a nice way to feel less lonely as i watch. this also works if you're a domestic cat therian, have your plushies be your clouder! no matter what animal you are though, never feel less valid for wanting your stuffies with you during this. it doesn't matter if your theriotype isn't a social animal in the wild.

if you're an aquatic therian of some kind, i think a good idea would be taking your phone in the bathroom with you and setting it up outside of the tub to watch whilst you're in the water! (or shower if you don't have one, you can also use a kiddie pool outside in the warmer months). PLEASE remember to be safe during this though, if you worry about getting your phone wet then instead find some blue blankets and pretend it's the ocean!

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going outside to where your theriotype resides in naturally. of course this won't be for everyone, since a lot of the time trips can end up being quite costly. something that i like to do is go to my local forest whenever i have the time to do so! i find it refreshing to sit by the stream and play in the water with my mate.

if you're a domestic dog therian, ask to go on a walk around the neighborhood with your friend! (or hell, go by yourself if it's safe enough, you're a free dog, you can do what you want). even as a wild animal i still enjoy this, so don't feel ashamed if you're ALSO a wild animal who wants to do things that domestic dogs do. it doesn't make you any less undomesticated.

if you're an animal that's used to deserts, i recommend going to where you can access sand (e.g. a sandbox at a playground, asking for a small sand tray to play in as a gift, a day out to the beach if you live near one). i also find that dried dirt that's very damaged can feel sort of similar to sand!

if you can't go outside for whatever reason, then there's always ways to make your bedroom feel similar to where you would be more comfortable. if your theriotype lives in dens like caves and underneath trees, make a blanket fort and pretend it's your home! if your theriotype rests in a burrow, make a tunnel with some blankets from the top of your bed all the way down to under it (if that doesn't work, pretend that anything below your bed is underground, and anything above your bed is the surface).

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dressing in clothes that are the same color as your theriotype. i have this fluffy hat with ears that feels very affirming for my species dysphoria, paired with my favorite dark sweaters, warm pants and my tail. if you don't have any gear, don't worry! you don't need to have any to complete an outfit. sometimes clothing textures can also be affirming. for example if you have smooth skin like a whale, a bathing suit can feel similar to blubber. (if you have gender dysphoria, i recommend either full body bathing suits, or wearing pants on top of it and a jacket to help yourself feel more affirmed). i wear fluffy clothes because my fur is fluffy :o) it helps me, personally, but this might not be the same for everyone!

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studying the behavior of your theriotype and trying your best to imitate it to the best of your abilities with the body you have. this can be as simple as copying how they act around each other as a family (for example wolves who are mates will rest their chins on each other to display affection), and as difficult as trying to vocalize what sounds your theriotype makes.

if you wanted to try the latter, i recommend looking at vocal exercises online before as a lot of creature sounds can and will strain your voice, i promise you that warming up your chords will not only help you sound clearer, it'll ensure that it won't take as much effort to do!

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