10 New Year's resolutions to help cats

January is the time of year when many people look at their lives and resolve to make changes. One of the best ways to improve your life is to look for ways to help others. If you love animals, lending a helping hand to pets in need is a great way to keep that warm, fuzzy feeling all year long. In order to help people make 2014 a banner year for animals in need, Best Friends experts have gathered their top tips on how to make a big difference in the community — and for individual animals who are waiting for homes right now. The best part is that there are lots of easy things you can do that have a big impact.

10 New Year’s resolutions to help cats:

1. Join the Best Friends Legislative Action Center. You’ll get legislative alerts tailored for where you live, so you can let your elected officials know animal issues are important to their constituents.
2. Volunteer to help cats in your community. Sign up to help at your local trap/neuter/return (TNR) organization or clinic. Or simply become a feeder and caregiver for local community cats. No matter what you do when you volunteer, whether you trap, clean cages, foster, transport cats to and from surgery, or enter statistics into the organization's database, your help makes a difference.
3. Donate food or other supplies. Items you would normally throw out, such as newspapers, old towels, sheets and sweatshirts, can be used by TNR groups.
4. Become a foster parent or adopt a cat or kitten.
5. Advocate for cats. Go to homeowners’ meetings and city council meetings, write letters to your local newspaper, and spread the word about the positive outcomes of TNR.
6. Build community cat shelters. You can get inexpensive materials at any hardware store. Items like an old dog house, crate or ice chest can make a warm home for a community cat.
7. Handy at sewing? Make trap covers for a TNR group.
8. Help distribute flyers and door hangers to promote TNR. Spread the word about what an “eartip” is and how to identify one.
9. Go to your local veterinarian’s office and ask to donate to someone trying to get a large number of cats spayed or neutered.
10. “Cat sit” for a friend’s colony of community cats by offering to feed them each day.

Adopt a cat from Best Friends.

Photos by Best Friends staff