Meet Chris Grimmer, this month's (July, 2006) Town Cats Volunteer of the Month!

This July there's no question that Chris has earned the title of Volunteer of the Month! Chris started volunteering for Town Cats in early 2006 and has been a great help! A carpenter by trade, he has not only helped us with shelter repairs and maintenance like climbing way up high to change our lights, repair our storage area so the cats can't get in and get stuck way up high, and mount our cabinets on the walls; he's also become an expert trapper. We get so many requests from people from all over Santa Clara county - from Gilroy to Palo Alto - to help with trapping strays and ferals, then transport to the vets for spaying/neutering and that we simply cannot keep up and have to schedule trapping projects. When we asked Chris if he'd be interested in helping with trapping projects, he jumped right in!

To date, he alone has trapped more than 50 cats who have all been spayed/neutered and have either been adopted as housecats or returned and are taken care of now. This is perhaps the most important way to solve the cat overpopulation problem. We trap and neuter the cats then return the wild adults to where they were found and we make sure a caretaker is in place to care for them for the rest of their lives. We even provide food for low income folks caring for ferals and strays, but we make sure all the cats are spayed and neutered! We keep out any young kittens or friendly adults and find them homes as house cats.

Here's Chris in front of Town Cats picking up the 6 cats he trapped the evening prior who just came back from the vets after being altered. The traps are empty since the cats arrive in the traps at the vet's office, then are anesthesized and spayed/neutered, then placed into cat carriers with clean towels to sleep off the anesthesia and are returned to their home territory where they were trapped the next day or in a couple days to make sure they're okay and alert.

Thank you Chris for your great contribution to the cats! Big Paws up for Chris!!!

Send us an email if you'd like to volunteer to help the cats!