For 15 years, Healdsburg woman has helped trap, foster, fix feral cats
By JEREMY HAY THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Diane Fairclough, right, prepares a cat for being neutered at Forgotten Felines. Fairclough has been volunteering at the center for 15 years. (Crista Jeremiason / PD)
Diane Fairclough made her way through a high-ceilinged industrial space filled with dozens of caged cats still groggy from spay and neuter surgery.
“Here’s a little guy,” she said, lifting a blanket to reveal a black and white kitten with big green eyes. “He’s a cutie patootie.”
Fairclough, 56, has seen a lot of cutie patooties over the 15 years she has volunteered with Forgotten Felines, a Santa Rosa nonprofit that works to save feral cats from being euthanized and to reduce their numbers in the wild.
“I get just the satisfaction of making a difference,” she said. “I’m helping animals, but I’m also helping people. It’s good for the community.”
A country girl, Fairclough came by her love of animals growing up on a ranch near Petaluma. But her interest in feral cats was fired by the discovery in the mid-1990s that her mother, ailing from Alzheimer’s disease, was tending a colony of about 17.
She turned for help to Forgotten Felines, with whose guidance she trapped the cats and had them spayed and neutered.
“I was able to take them back to my mom, and she was able to have them with her until she died,” Fairclough said. “It was special for Mom, and I wanted to support Forgotten Felines anyway I could.”
Today, the Healdsburg resident is one of the nonprofit’s longest-serving volunteers. She helps trap cats (the best bait is Trader Joe’s cat tuna, which she described as “very fragrant”). She prepares them for surgery. She takes them home until they are adopted or can be placed back in the wild.
A few years back, she adopted one herself: Cubby, a black-and-white minx she was caring for at home, one of more than 100 cats she has fostered.
“The call came, ‘It’s time to bring Cubby down,’ and I’ve never done this before. I started crying,” Fairclough said. “I said, ‘I can’t do this.’ “
“She brings her heart and passion to everything we do,” said Jennifer Kirchner, who became the group’s executive director the year Fairclough started working for its Pick of the Litter thrift store.
The organization’s main goal is to get feral cats altered so they can’t reproduce. Most cats come to their attention from people who have started noticing and feeding strays.
“That’s when they call us. What do we do next?” said Fairclough.
“We tell them, ‘Rather than take them to the shelter, where they’ll be euthanized, why don’t you just bring them in so we can fix them and they can live out their lives?’” she said. “It’s saving lives and it’s reducing nuisance issues.”
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.
Volunteer’s aid cats, people
For 15 years, Healdsburg woman has helped trap, foster, fix feral cats
By JEREMY HAY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Diane Fairclough, right, prepares a cat for being neutered at Forgotten Felines. Fairclough has been volunteering at the center for 15 years. (Crista Jeremiason / PD)
“Here’s a little guy,” she said, lifting a blanket to reveal a black and white kitten with big green eyes. “He’s a cutie patootie.”
Fairclough, 56, has seen a lot of cutie patooties over the 15 years she has volunteered with Forgotten Felines, a Santa Rosa nonprofit that works to save feral cats from being euthanized and to reduce their numbers in the wild.
“I get just the satisfaction of making a difference,” she said. “I’m helping animals, but I’m also helping people. It’s good for the community.”
A country girl, Fairclough came by her love of animals growing up on a ranch near Petaluma. But her interest in feral cats was fired by the discovery in the mid-1990s that her mother, ailing from Alzheimer’s disease, was tending a colony of about 17.
She turned for help to Forgotten Felines, with whose guidance she trapped the cats and had them spayed and neutered.
“I was able to take them back to my mom, and she was able to have them with her until she died,” Fairclough said. “It was special for Mom, and I wanted to support Forgotten Felines anyway I could.”
Today, the Healdsburg resident is one of the nonprofit’s longest-serving volunteers. She helps trap cats (the best bait is Trader Joe’s cat tuna, which she described as “very fragrant”). She prepares them for surgery. She takes them home until they are adopted or can be placed back in the wild.
A few years back, she adopted one herself: Cubby, a black-and-white minx she was caring for at home, one of more than 100 cats she has fostered.
“The call came, ‘It’s time to bring Cubby down,’ and I’ve never done this before. I started crying,” Fairclough said. “I said, ‘I can’t do this.’ “
“She brings her heart and passion to everything we do,” said Jennifer Kirchner, who became the group’s executive director the year Fairclough started working for its Pick of the Litter thrift store.
The organization’s main goal is to get feral cats altered so they can’t reproduce. Most cats come to their attention from people who have started noticing and feeding strays.
“That’s when they call us. What do we do next?” said Fairclough.
“We tell them, ‘Rather than take them to the shelter, where they’ll be euthanized, why don’t you just bring them in so we can fix them and they can live out their lives?’” she said. “It’s saving lives and it’s reducing nuisance issues.”
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.