NYers I need help!!

So I know I haven't been around in a long time but things have been crazy. However, I need help and knew I could come here for some guidance.

A few weeks ago my boyfriends grandfather noticed a stray cat living under his porch. Not soon after he realized that she had given birth under there! There are 2 kittens, one orange and one tuxie (i think). Mom looks like a dilute tortie but she hasn't let us get a good look at her.

Anyway, I called All about spay neuter Inc. since I knew they did TNR (I adopted my Roxie from them) to come and help me trap them but I haven't heard anything back in over a week.

I am really worried about these kittens and momma. They kittens are eating dry food and starting to leave the saftey of under the porch to run around his yard. He lives in a high traffic area and I'm scared if I don't do something soon the worst may happen. Also, this momma has had kittens in his yard before but they didn't make it. We really want to see her get spayed and possibly adopted should she be adoptable. We were thinking about adopting one of the kittens as well.

Does anyone know of any other organizations in New York/New York City that could help me? I am getting desperate. I feel so terrible for these poor babies and I don't know what to do. I would be willing to try and trap them myself but I need a trap and someone to tell me how to do it.

The kittens are in Queens, New York. Glendale to be more specific. I live in Long Island but would be willing to meet up with whoever could assist me.

I apologize for the length but I am at my wits end. All I can think about it these desperate little things. Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give me!

I LOVE ANIMAL PLANET AND THEY HAVE A SHOW CALLED ANIMAL COPS IT FOLLOWS THE DAY AND LIFE OF NY ANIMAL CONTROL. THEY WILL HAVE MANY MANY BITS OF ADVICE FOR YOU AND MAY EVEN BE ABLE TO DIRECT YOU TO ANOTHER CAPTURE NEUTER / SPAY RELEASE ORGANIZATIONS IN THAT AREA. I DO KNOW THAT NETS ARE USUALLY ONE OF THE SAFEST WAYS TO CAPTURE FERALL CATS. LIKELY THE MOTHER IS NOT ADOPTABLE UNLESS IT IS SOMEONE WITH FERALL EXPERIANCE.

YOU COULD VISIT THE WEBSITE ANIMALPLANET AND SEE IF THEY HAVE ANY LINKS THAT WOULD WORK FOR YOU.


ALL THE BEST

HI !!

I live on long Island too. Joann owner of All About Spay Neuter is always
so busy with all the rescue she does that there are lots of times she
just does not have the time to get back to everyone right away.
I'm sure she did not intentionally not answer.

I am going to shoot her an email to see if I luck out. I don't know if she
can go to queens but she might know someone that can.

I am also a member of the AALI (Animal Allliance of Long Island) and
will shoot them an email to see if they know anyone in Nassau County
or Queens to help you out.

I doubt I will get any answers right away but hopefully within a week.

In the meantime if you put as many kitty enticing things on this mans
property that may help keep the cats there so they don't wander.

No balls because you said he is near a busy street and they may push
it out to the street.

I am assuming the porch is providing adequate shelter.

So if you can give them plenty of food and water and toys then they
may be content with staying put.

Don't put the food anywhere near where they sleep. Racoons and other
animals will be attracted to the smell of the food even long after you have
removed the food and the kittens will be in danger.

Anyway, I will get back to you as soon as possible but if you don't hear
from me or have any other questions you can email me at (small letters)
[email protected]

If you email me please put in the subject box....
THIS IS ROXIE225 FROM THECATSITE.COM

IF for some chance I don't respond to you it could mean that yahoo
threw your email into my bulk folder and I missed it so feel free to keep
emailing me.

good luck and thanks for helping these sweeties.

Thank you so much for your replies

Joanne, from all about spay neuter, emailed me back this morning! (I knew that she was very busy but I panicked) It was a good start to my day

It looks like she is going to lend me some traps this weekend. Hopefully their organization will be able to take in the Mom and babies but I am still putting a list together of other shelters that may be able to help.

My boyfriend went to his grandfather's house today and I sent him with some wet food for the babies. His grandfather said Mom is getting much more comfortable around him and will even hang out near him and meow! I think she knows we are trying to help her and her little ones!!

I will keep you updated on what is going on. Thank you again so much for your help! It really means a lot, not only to me but to the kittens too

Good luck! Keep us posted.

YAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy to hear that !!!!!!!

thank you for the update !!!!

Feel free to email me in the future for help, suggestions, ideas whatever.

just make sure to put your screenname and thecatsite.com in the subject area.

if i don't respond it just means that either i am away or more likely that yahoo
threw your email into my bulk folder and i did not see it so please keep
emailing me until i respond. i will always respond.

good luck with the mom cat and her babies !!!!
maybe grandpa will want to adopt the mom cat after her kittens leave ?

Hey everyone!! Sorry it took me a while to update but things have been hectic!!

I picked up two traps from All About Spay Neuter last Friday night. Joanne was great and told us exactly what to do

Monday was trapping day! We got there really early in the morning and there was no sign of mom or babies. Sure enough a little while later, the little tuxie came rocketing over the fence and into the bushes. He was a smart little thing and out-smarted my boyfriend quite a few times!! We attempted to trap him but he was so quick and ran and hid in their spot! So we decided to set the traps and go out for breakfast.

When we got back to the house, before we walked into the yard, I noticed that the little Tuxie was sitting on top of the trap, walking near it, everything but going inside of it! I was so confused but as I moved closer I realized we had caught something else!! It was momma cat!! We were so surprised because we thought it would be hardest to catch her. Guess she couldn't resist a little tuna

There was no sign of the orange kitten so we decided it would probably be best to try and catch the tuxie so we only had to worry about one more. My boyfriend was able to corner the kitten under the porch and scoop him into the carrier. I was so relieved but so so worried that the orange one hadn't made it We set up the trap with mom and the carrier with sibling right near the trap we were trying to catch little orange in.

Hours had passed and nothing. I got anxious and decided to walk into the dead end of the other block. My boyfriend's grandfather lives on the corner of a busy street but there is a dead end to the right. His next door neighbor has a construction site there and all that is done is the foundation so I was worried kitty may have gotten stuck in there (we rescued a young feral kitten out of there once before). There was nothing but when I got back to his grandfather's back yard I figured I should just look through the fence where the cats were coming over the whole time (where mom and tuxie came from in the morning). Sure enough all I could see was orange fuzz! Poor baby had gotten his head stuck in a loose shingle of the neighbors garage!!

We had to bang on the neighbors door and force him to let us into the site to save this baby! He has been uncooperative in the past but we were able to get in there this time, thankfully.

Mom and kittens are with All About Spay Neuter right now. Mom is going to be fixed and released since they are a TNR organization. The kittens are around 10-12 weeks old and sadly feral The organization has too many kittens so they are fixing and releasing older kittens that are feral. However, I feel so drawn to these babies that I don't think I could ever release them back into the streets. SO, as long as they check out healthy I think I am going to try socializing them myself!! I am thinking of adopting the orange one and I may already have a home lined up for the tuxie

Sorry for such a long post but I had to share my story. Thank you for reading and offering me help and support. It really means a lot that there are so many people who care about these babies as much as I do. Once I hear back from Joanne, I will update you guys on the situation once again!

Prettyboy, thank you for checking back!! I am definately going to be needing your help and expertise in the next few weeks. I would have loved for his grandfather to take in mom but he is 83 and already has his hands full with 2 dogs and 3 cats. If she seems friendly, I may foster her until I can find her a home though. It all depends on what Joanne says when I hear back from her.

Thanks again guys

So it seems we have another conflict with these poor babies. Mom and babies are all feral They have been spayed & neutered and their ears tipped so they can be released. I hadn't thought that this was going to be the case and am NOT prepared to release them back where they came from. Not only is it not safe for them there but my boyfriend's grandfather can't feed them -- he has a house Upstate where he lives most of the year but comes down to the city for a month or so in Summer. I don't know what to do!! I am meeting with Joanne to pick them up today and to discuss alternatives but basically what she is telling me is they have to be released back to where they came from or they will starve. I'm at a loss. Does anyone know of any organizations that takes in young feral cats to socialize or re-release somewhere safe??

Thanks again for reading and for any help or advice you may be able to offer me!

The young kittens can be tamed with time and effort. It is not something I would be ready for myself and you may not be either. I am not familiar with NYC as in the cat issues although I lived in the city for five years. I would think there would be something in a city of 8 million people.
Can you relocate the cats to your property?

i'm sorry. i know you must be worried and disappointed.
relocating them is not a good idea unless you are going to put them
in your house and keep them inside 24/7.

if you bring them someplace else they will scatter running looking for
something they recognize which they won't find.

right now they know where to find shelter and food because they have
been doing that all this time.

my cats were all feral. my friends cats were all feral. some more than others.
she has 4 and i have 3 all saved from outside. they all now live inside 24/7.

some were rescued when they were a few weeks old and some were a few
months old and some were a few years old but in the end they all tamed.

that does not always happen but i have heard it happen more times than not.

so if you want to adopt them and you know now that you will love them
and care for them all of their lives even if they never tame then i would
say go for it.

BUT if you don't think you can commit to them for their entire lives i would
say return them to where you found them.

but think of it this way if you do return them.... you got them fixed and
vaccinated which is so so good for them.

thank you for doing that for them. thank you for caring.

good luck and please let us know what you ended up doing.

So I have another update... this time with better news

On Monday my Boyfriend Jon and I went to pick up the kitties and mom from All About Spay and Neuter (who have been sooo kind and helpful, they are our angels!!). We were very sad about having to release them so decided we would look at some of the adoptable kittens they had there. We got to talking to one of the helpers and ::drumroll please:: we decided that we were going to give socialization a shot!!

So little orange and black were weighed, nail clipped, given dewormer and sent home with us and a meduim sized cage!! We took mom back to where we trapped her and released her. She was very feral and I am not prepared to socialize a feral that old since I have never done it before. She didn't seem too upset that her kittens were not with her. She bounded right back over the fence where she came from. I hope she lives many more healthy years

So I now have two little muffins staying in the spare bedroom of my apartment!! We are keeping them in a cage and trying to give them as much human contact as possible!! We are going to work with them for 3 weeks and see how it goes. I am very positive. Since they have been with me they seem less frightened. They will now allow us to reach in and pet them and we can even scoop them up to hold them for a little while.

I have no clue what I am doing since I have never done it before. I have been googling and researching for days and found many great tips! But I'm really going to need the help and support of all the wonderful and experienced TCS socializers

I bought them a bunch of food and toys. I have been covering their cage at night and leaving the news on during the day when we are not around so they can get used to human sounds. We bought beechnut stage 1 chicken and chicken broth and they love it!! One of the helpers told us it was like kitty crack and it definately is!!

I should probably start a new thread so I can get more replies and help. Maybe the mods can merge this thread into a new one when I do? Or change the title of this one? Whichever is easier.

Thank you all for coming back to get updated on these babies and giving me your continued support and help. I was so disappointed and scared that I was going to have to do something I would feel terrible about for the rest of my life. I feel so relieved to have a second chance with my precious little kitters

I started a new thread on the kittens and their socialization. Thank you everyone for your advice and support.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170758

Pop in to see how they are doing or offer any advice you have.