FFRC Blog Week Ending May 9, 2026

FFRC Blog Week Ending May 9, 2026

We salute all Moms on Sunday, May 10th.  This includes birth Moms, Stepmoms, adopted Moms and of course, Cat Moms!  Make the day special for the all the MOMS in your life; they won't be with you forever.  

  

Adoptions:

CRACKERS was adopted on 5/6.  Her new Momma had thought that she was going to adopt a different baby, but as soon as she met Crackers, it was love at first sight.   Crackers was brought in on 11/15/25 as a tiny 3-month-old.  He had a bad eye that had to be removed.  After his surgery, one of his sutures became infected and had to be re-opened and drained, before re-suturing.  All is good now!  Crackers will be keeping his name but will have the nickname of Big Boss Man!  He currently will have some doggy and kitty friends, but his new momma will be moving soon, and he will be the one and only.  Momma says that she will come back and get Crackers a friend at a later time.  His ride home was only about 15 minutes and was made comfier from a blankie that was purchased for him by Valerie C.

Intakes:

These 6 kitties were listed last week in the intake area; however, since we just named them, I am leaving them in this area.

On Saturday 5/2/26, a mommy cat and her five babies were dropped off at FFRC. SURPRISE!!! The young momma cat is mostly grey, but has white feet, chin and chest. Her eyes are a beautiful gold. She is about 8 months old and weighed 6.5 lbs. She now is at 7 lbs. She has been named PHILOMENA. The name was submitted by Sara B. in the Name a Cat Program. Here is the result of the vote:

166 votes

Philomena          36%

Stevie Nicks       34%

Aliki                    30 %

The mostly grey baby with white face, chest and feet is a boy (looks like Momma) and has been named RENLY. He came in at 6.7 oz and is now 10.3. The name was submitted by Ju-In-JI in the Name a Cat Program. Here is the result of the vote:

199 votes

Renly                 46%

November          32%

Hiccup               22 %

The 50/50 grey and white baby is a boy and has been named SMUDGES. He came in at 6.5 oz and is now 9.3. The name was submitted by Cheryl H. in the Name a Cat Program. Here is the result of the vote:

192 votes

Smudges            57%

Chewie               27%

Jarod                  16 %

The inky baby is a boy and has been named PASCAL. He came in at 7.2 oz and is now 10.0. The name was submitted by SonJa in the Name a Cat Program. Here is the result of the vote:

190 votes

Pascal           51%

Lando              38%

Johnny II         11 %

This inky baby is a girl and has been named RUMER. She came in at 7.1 oz and is now 9.8. The name was submitted by Cindy W. in the Name a Cat Program. Here is the result of the vote:

165 votes

Rumer           42%

Beazlee           36%

Hedwig            22 %

The brown and white tiger baby is a boy and has been named CATSBY. He came in at 6.5 oz and is now 9.4. The name was submitted by Cindy W. in the Name a Cat Program. Here is the result of the vote:

200 votes

Catsby           43%

Cleveland        38%

Pegaso            19%

The babies are being well taken care of by their Momma. The babies' eyes are just now opening. She is very relaxed nursing them at the milk bar.

Health Updates:

MARILYN has a bit of a goopy eye.  She is very tricky to treat.  During Tony's visit on Monday, he helped Lynnette by holding Marilyn during her treatment.  Tony had gained Marilyn's trust and held and petted her during his visit.  After her treatment, she gave him the cold shoulder--we know that she won't hold a grudge for long.  Please come back, Tony and bring Stephanie.  And thank you for all of the IAMS food that you brought during your visit.  Here's what my eyes are supposed to look like and will again soon.

Upcoming Vet Appointments:

VICTORIA hasn't been feeling well and went to see Dr. Darcy on 5/8.  She has some weight loss, is vomiting and has diarrhea.  She is almost 14 years old.  We will be keeping an eye on her.  She stays in Nyota's Nest and is not seen on camera.

SYLVESTER has a limp.  We are hoping it is minor but want to be safe and sure.  He will see Dr. Darcy on Monday, 5/11.

JENNY will also be seeing Dr. Darcy on Monday.  We have been treating her eyes but want to see if there is a better direction for her treatment. She does have some sight, but it is limited.

Holds:

There may be a very special hold in the making.  RAISIN and WIBBLES are most likely becoming Vegas Babies!  That's right, JUDE'S mommy is looking for some more friends for him.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Center Kitties:

CHANDLER and LUCKY are best buds.

TEDDY is taking a nap after a hard day's work keeping the peace in the Center.

HAYDEN thinks that the world looks upside down.

Beautiful babies, FOZZIE (held by Kim) and SMIDGEN (held by Megan).

Photo supplied by Ros

Adopted Kitties:

MR. ROGERS is living the dream. He has made himself at home.

SPOCK and MARGOT say, "HI!"

ANGELIQUE and BEBOP are now known as Momma and Baby. Big Brother, Garfield, loves Baby!

Meet Back Thumpers Room:

This is from Megan's post:

In the back part of the Rescue there is a room with some pretty special kitties. We call it "Back Thumper's Room". It's essentially a mini version of the Main Room in that it has free roaming adoptable kitties. The only thing is, these kitties are more shy and like things to be quieter. You may notice that in the rest of this "Kitties You Don't See" series there are collages of all the kitties but not for this one. That's because there is technically no set group of kitties in this room. All are currently adoptable if we can find their perfect homes.

Back Thumper's also acts as a recovery and intake ward. Sometimes kitties undergoing medical treatments are brought back (so we don't have to try and catch them every single day) and it also serves as a quiet space for new kitties to acclimate to life at the Center before "graduating" to the much larger Main Room.

The current crew includes:

Emmy

Tigerlily

Liebchen

Zoolove

PB

Sinopa

Juniper

Rocket

Siggy

Skye

If anybody catches your eye and you'd like to know more about them to see if they'd be good fit for your home feel free to contact us to learn more! We'd be happy to discuss finding these special babies their Forever Homes.

(please note that Rocket and Skye are special needs, the rest are very shy and will require a very patient, compassionate, and understanding adopter)

So there you have it! Best case scenario everyone finds their Forever Homes and a whole new crew moves in! But in the meantime they are all welcome to stay at this luxurious feline resort for however long it takes.

#defianceohio #NWOhio #AdoptableCat #adoptablecats #rescuecats #adoptacat #ffrc #rescuecat #adoptable #adoptme

Special Fundraiser Event:

A May Fundraiser was held this last week in honor of Derecho's 14th birthday that will be on May 16th.

Winner: Cyndie H

Consolation Prize: Blue Blankie and Journal, Won by Gary S

# Tickets Sold: 132

Funds Raised: $660

Winner:  Sondra A

Consolation Prize: Purple Blankie and Journal, Won by Carol RO

# Tickets Sold: 118

Funds Raised: $590

Winner: Rindi O (Pelican's Mom)

Consolation Prize: Dark Variegated Blankie, Won by Ron

# Tickets Sold: 105

Funds Raised: $525

Winner: Rindi O (Pelican's Mom)

Consolation Prize: 2 kitchen towel set, Won by Stan the Man

# Tickets Sold: 42

Funds Raised: $210

Winner: Selena

Consolation Prize: 2 kitchen towel set, Won by Darla W

# Tickets Sold: 91

Funds Raised: $455

Winner: Susan S (Susie)

Consolation Prize: 2 kitchen towel set, Won by Vickie B

# Tickets Sold: 106

Funds Raised: $530

Winner: Jabber

Consolation Prize: Kitty bag, Won by PLG

# Tickets Sold: 61

Funds Raised: $305

Winner: Lindsay SW

Consolation Prize: Kitty bag, Won by Rose F

# Tickets Sold: 78

Funds Raised: $390

The first two international shipments were paid by Debbie and Valerie. Total amount received from sale of the 733 tickets was $3,665. This was bumped up to $4,900, at last count.

Other Events:

Another Humane Ohio Event will be on Tuesday, May 12th.

The 21st Annual Lilac Festival was held on Saturday, May 9th. We had a donated table that was wo-manned by Gem and Mary Braids. If you ever have the chance to visit during this time, it is well worth the trip. We raised $758.35 this year.

Believe it or not, it is time to start planning for this year's Cat-a-thon! This year, the event will be held from June 15-19. This is the biggest financial Fundraiser of the year. We will using the same type of board as we have in the past. The boxes will be numbered 1 through 400. We ask for a purchase of one of more boxes. The number on the box is the amount that you pledge to FFRC. Many fun activities will be held during the week. More to follow.

Also, back by popular demand will be CatStock. This event will be renamed soon. We have received a number of suggestions. This will be a scaled down version of past year's events, so that staff can enjoy themselves. It will be a great time for a picnic and visit with your FFRC family. There may also be a small work party put together during the weekend. Mark your calendars for 9/12 & 9/13. Megan is working on contacting local hotels to see if she can get a group rate for those wanting overnight accommodations.

Current Needs:

A list is kept up to date on the Amazon Wish List found on the FFRC website.  We are a low on Little Soups, Stews, Bisques and Appetizers, canned chicken and salmon, Bleach, Odoban and 6- & 9-inch plates.

Other:

Our dryer bit the dust on Monday, 10/4.  We had a backup that we installed, but----it also bit the dust.  A new (to us) dryer is now in place and working great.

Megan will be on vacation 5/13-5/23.  Look out England and France!

The Valentine's Day Date videos are nearly ready to be sent.

If you haven't looked at our Instagram page, please do!! There are great pictures of our center's kitties. Thanks so much!

FFRC is always looking for Center volunteers. Candidates need to be at least 18 years old and have transportation to get here. Volunteers work set shifts and have assigned tasks, which include cleaning, feeding and other caring for cats. Please contact Megan if you would like to help.

Please make sure that you have a plan for your pets in the event that you are no longer able to take care of them.  The best plan is to have both a primary and a secondary backup.

2026 Calendars are now available and are being offered in two sizes:  8 1/2 x 12 or 8 1/2 x 14.   Orders for calendars will be through the FFRC Store and also on the FFRC website.  We are unable to take orders via the phone or e-mail.  

Photos by Dawn and friends.

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A salute to Mothers Day!

"God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers."

   Rudyard Kipling

"A mother's love is more beautiful than any fresh flower."

  Debasish Mridha

"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."

 Abraham Lincon

FFRC Blog Week Ending May 2, 2026

FFRC Blog Week Ending May 2, 2026

It's MAY!!!!  Each year, we celebrate May Day on May 1st.  May Day is a traditional spring festival and International Worker's Day honoring seasonal renewal and labor rights.  Did anyone dance around a maypole, crown a May Queen or give baskets for flowers or sweets?  At FFRC, we danced (in the aisles--or was that dodged cats while trying to walk?), we have multiple May Queens, but they don't like to wear their crowns and we gave bowls of kitty and baby food, as well as snackers!  I'd say that counts as a super May Day celebration!

Found on Pinterest.com

  

Adoptions:

We had a wonderful double adoption this week.  ANGELIQUE and BEBOP found their furever home TOGETHER!  This sweet momma and daughter are very closely bonded, so we are very happy that they get to live together.  They will have a 4-year-old BIG brother (22 pounds of orange fluffiness).  His name is Garfield!  As many remember, Angelique and babies arrived at FFRC on 11/25/25.  Did we have room--we hardly ever do--but we were faced with a "Take them or something bad will happen to them" decision.  AND we are so happy that we did find room in the center and in our hearts.  Angelique was born on 2/14/25 and BeBop on 9/25/25.  They will be living only a short ride from FFRC.  Thank you to their new family for keeping them together!

Intakes:

We have a new kitty named KAYLEE.  She is a returned kitty.  She was returned because she was having peeing issues.  However, we believe that the issue is more due to the young children and other animals in the home.  We have not seen any issues since her new time at FFRC.  She will need a quiet home with very few, if any, animal siblings.   Kaylee was adopted in 2020.  She is a long-hair Lynx Siamese and is very sweet, but shy.  She is about 6-years-old.

AND.......more kitties!

On Saturday 5/2/26, a mommy cat and her five babies were dropped off at FFRC. SURPRISE!!! The young momma cat is a dark grey

and her babies are:

grey with white face, chest and feet

grey and with lots of white

all grey (maybe inky)

inky (maybe dark grey)

and lastly grey tiger with white.

The momma is taking care of her babies and loves to be petted! We will wait a bit before naming them.

Health Updates:

Our two bitty babies that Debbie is taking care of now have names.  The boy is now named FOZZIE.  His name was submitted by SonJa from the Name a Cat Program.  There were 169 votes cast.  The results of the vote were:

Fozzie        64%

Benton       18%

Callahan    18%

The girl is now named SMIDGEN.  Her name was also submitted by SonJa from the Name a Cat Program.   There were 168 votes cast.  The results of the vote were:

Smidgen   48%

Hiccup      41%

LG            11%

If you haven't seen Megan's Monthly Update, please take a look in Facebook Chatters, it summed up April very well. This was taken from her post.

These two were found in someone's barn. When they were brought to FFRC one was very sick and has since been feeling better. They've had good gains and healthy appetites! They don't know it but their best lives have just begun! They'll get a nice stay at our little feline resort until their Forever Humans come and find them.

DERECHO had a bit of runny stool, so he is one real meds.  He is doing fine.  Megan took him in the back the other day just to get his weight.  He has not gained or lost any weight in quite some time, which is a wonderful sign.  

ZOOKY gave us a bit of a scare during her spay.  A mass was found on her bladder.  Some of the mass was removed during the spay.  We don't think the remainder will cause her any issues, but we are keeping an eye on her.  It may be a hormonal thing that will resolve itself.  She is doing fine.

Holds:

There may be a very special hold in the making.  RAISIN and WIBBLES are most likely becoming Vegas Babies!  That's right, JUDE'S mommy is looking for some more friends for him.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Center Kitties:

RAMSAY is now able to drive in all 50 states.  Thanks for making it legal!  I bet that was a fun driver's test!

We have many kitties that don't appear on the main room camera.  They are in Nyota's Nest, Front & Back Thumper's Room, the Cove, the Barn, the Kitty Kastle and roaming the grounds keeping it safe for everyone.   

Here's another snippet from Megan's monthly update post:

FFRC is so much more than just the Main Room and the Kabana! As you see here (and possibly more!), we have quite a few kitties that do not appear on cam. It's important for people to know this for several reasons:

1. When you donate, it goes to these guys and gals, too! You can see we provide the best care possible in the Main Room and the other areas are no exception. We even have several outdoor kitties that are aged in the double digits as living proof! These are all some pretty amazing cats, they deserve the very best and we make sure they get it. (We're only able to do this through your generous donations, so thank you!)

2. Some are Adoptable!! Nyota's Nest and Back Thumper's are two areas where we keep several Adoptable kitties. We'll go into more detail on those soon!

3. They're incredible cats! All of them! While they may not share the spotlight with the others they're all so special and wonderful. They're also all very loved. From silly Mitzi in the Office, to gentle Juniper in Back Thumper's, to sweet Chia in Nyota's Nest, to crazy Walter in the Cove, to personable JJ on the Porch, to handsome Blackie in the Barn, they all deserve to be appreciated.

Events:

The first Roadside Cleanup of Powerdam Road was held on 4/29/26. Denise, Cindy, Sheyanne, Lynnette, Megan and visitor, Eric M., all helped. Sorry, if I left anyone out. It was a beautiful day and was fun for all. Technically, we need to have a cleanup every 6 months, but plan on doing it more often. Powerdam Road is the road in front of the Center. Keeping the area clean enhances the Center and all of its neighbors' properties.

All money has been received from last week's Flash Sale. Thank you so much for taking care of this so quickly.

Tuesday, April 28th was Humane Ohio Day. We sent a total of 53 cats: 25 males and 28 females, including Cazmin, Vivian, Zooky, Mimble and Chica. We have sent nearly 400 cats for their spay or neuter so far this year.

Believe it or not, it is time to start planning for this year's Cat-a-thon! This year, the event will be held from June 15-19. This is the biggest financial Fundraiser of the year. We will using the same type of board as we have in the past. The boxes will be numbered 1 through 400. We ask for a purchase of one of more boxes. The number on the box is the amount that you pledge to FFRC. Many fun activities will be held during the week. More to follow.

Also, back by popular demand will be CatStock. This event will be renamed soon. We have received a number of suggestions. This will be a scaled down version of past year's events, so that staff can enjoy themselves. It will be a great time for a picnic and visit with your FFRC family. There may also be a small work party put together during the weekend. Mark your calendars for 9/12 & 9/13. Megan is working on contacting local hotels to see if she can get a group rate for those wanting overnight accommodations.

Current Needs:

A list is kept up to date on the Amazon Wish List found on the FFRC website.  We are a bit low on Snackers according to Dagda!

Other:

We have a new volunteer named JACK.  Welcome and thanks for helping!

We had a quick visit from GIZMO during Box Day.  What a cutie!

We also had a quick visit from CARMINE!!!  It was great to see him!

Megan will be on vacation 5/13-5/23.  Look out England and France!

The Valentine's Day Date videos are nearly ready to be sent.

If you haven't looked at our Instagram page, please do!! There are great pictures of our center's kitties. Thanks so much!

FFRC is always looking for Center volunteers. Candidates need to be at least 18 years old and have transportation to get here. Volunteers work set shifts and have assigned tasks, which include cleaning, feeding and other caring for cats. Please contact Megan if you would like to help.

Please make sure that you have a plan for your pets in the event that you are no longer able to take care of them.  The best plan is to have both a primary and a secondary backup.

2026 Calendars are now available and are being offered in two sizes:  8 1/2 x 12 or 8 1/2 x 14.   Orders for calendars will be through the FFRC Store and also on the FFRC website.  We are unable to take orders via the phone or e-mail.  

Photos by Dawn and friends.

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"The world's favorite season is the spring.  All things seem possible in May."

   Edwin Way Teale

"May is the month of expectation, the month of wishes, the month of hope."

  Emily Bronte'

  "As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in midsummer."

  William Shakespeare