Help Brenda: Care for 200 plus Local Feral Cats

My name is Janet Draper and my partner in this fundraising effort is Barnace Smith. This is an appeal on behalf of an amazing cat rescue woman, Brenda Fitz—in Windsor Ontario.

Brenda feeds over 200 community cats every day! And has done this for over 27yrs. “Unbelievable” was my first reaction before I began to dive into her story.

I stumbled across Brenda’s page by accident one day. She feeds, traps, TNRs, vaccinates, boards, socializes and seeks medical attention at the vet as necessary. She never misses a day regardless of the weather and starts her feeding rounds at 4am…rain, snow, hail, floods—Brenda is there with food for these cats. She scoops up every injured cat she sees at the feeding station and takes the cat for veterinary care. Her outstanding vet bill is partially the reason for this Go Fund Me. Just one of her bills stands at well over $6000 and we hope to pay it off and secure funds for ongoing vet services.

For over 27 years, Brenda has dedicated her life to feeding, caring for, and rescuing over 200 feral cats in Windsor, every single day. Now, Brenda needs our help. She has lost her full time job and is facing a $6000 in vet bills, plus daily food expense, but her commitment to these cats remains unshaken. We’ve set up a Go Fund Me to raise funds to cover her vet bills and ensure she can continue her vital work. Your support can make a huge difference in the lives of these cats.

Brenda goes to great extremes to save all cats; she feels every life is worth saving. We began with setting up a Facebook page to bring awareness and generate donations

, but that effort falls short of being able to cover food and vet bills. The cost of feeding 200 feral cats daily is daunting.

We decided, in desperation, to appeal to the world for help. Brenda has needs beyond what our local Humane Society can provide, so she uses the services of her vet, and feels secure with the procedures they perform—but that comes with a financial burden. Brenda will go hungry before any of her cats do. It seems to be embedded in her heart, she can’t and won’t say no to anyone if they need help with a cat despite her financial strain.

All gift donations collected will be used to pay the veterinarian outstanding bills, to provide funds for ongoing veterinarian services, and to provide for cat food needs.

At Bit About Brenda: I’m in awe of her commitment and her tenacity to take care of these feral cats. I have discovered that it comes straight from her heart. She drives 6 hours to bring kittens to a rescue for adoption several times during kitten season because she feels it is a first-rate rescue, and that the kittens will be well taken care of at this location, so six hour drive it is! When people ask for help, despite her own circumstances, she helps. I’ve often wished she would say no, but she never does. Brenda’s background is in the nursing field, and that knowledge along with her 27 plus years exposure to veterinary doctors has given her the ability to very accurately identify the medical needs of these community cats. What a blessing this is for these poor, neglected animals as this means she can provide some care herself.

All her feral cat colonies have winterized shelters for protection, sometimes they are tossed or destroyed and she builds more. Some people actually make her pay to allow her to feed feral cats on their property, I found that shocking.

She coordinates with friends to board sick cats and monitor them until they are well. She socializes feral kittens herself so she can take them to rescue hours away for adoption. There is no element of feral cat life on our mean streets that Brenda is not dealing with.

Please consider donating to this worthy cause. Feeding 200 plus cats every day is amazing. No one does that, right? Find her “A Helping Hand Windsor” and you will find a wealth of stories and pictures from Brenda and from others whom she has helped. Below is the story of the kitten “Chance” one of the kittens Brenda would not let die.

Chance. . .One of Brenda’s many stories

Today a colony care giver reached out to me who had secured a kitten a couple of hours ago! The kitten’s ears and body are filthy, temperature is low. She is dehydrated and will need fluids. She's just a baby under two months old. I bundled her up and took her off to see the vet where she stayed the night. I have named this baby Chance.

Day 2—Chance has been declining since yesterday. She has had fluids, antibiotics, deworm and flea meds, and today x-rays and blood work were done. Her white blood cell count was way off the chart. She was anemic and had fluid in her abdomen. Vet diagnosed her with FIP for which we have no treatment here. So, over the course of the day, the vet and I went back and forth, and finally I agreed to let her go. But, I just had to give her one more Chance—a miracle was needed and it appeared. A wonderful volunteer from another rescue drove six hours to pick up our little Chance and get her the FIP treatment she needed. This is what Brenda is all about.

This kitten would have died a slow horrible death if she had been left out on the streets. But thanks to some caring volunteers, she is holding on with her new caregiver.

Wonderful story, but this all comes at a cost – we are raising funds to cover her $6,000.vet bill. Check out the full story and consider donating to keep these cats safe.

In addition to feeding our community cats and getting medical care when needed, we are doing all we can to spay and neuter them. And one person has been bearing the brunt of this financial burden. The money raised on this Go Fund Me will go directly for the vet bills and feeding and caring for these animals.

How You Can Help:

1. Donate: every contribution, no matter the size, will go directly toward medical care and food.

2. Share: Spread he word about Brenda’s Journey on social media to help us reach more compassionate people.

3. Support: Your encouragement and support mean the world to us and to these unloved cats.

Together, we can turn a rough start into a less stressful life for many of these cats and break the cycle of litter after litter on the streets through TNR.