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I found
a cat. What do I do?
Slope Street Cats is not a shelter; our mission
is to spay and neuter feral cats to reduce Brooklyn’s
feline overpopulation problem. We do not have
the resources to take in abandoned domestic cats—in
fact, we’re always looking for foster homes for
the friendlies we find during our trap-neuter-return
projects. But we’re happy to provide you with
guidance and advice.
Friendly or feral? If the kitty
you found jumped into your arms or let you pet
her, she's probably friendly. If she hissed, swatted,
and ran away, she's likely feral. Click
here for more information on what to do about
feral cats. Bear in mind, there is a wide
spectrum from timid to friendly, even if the cat
once lived inside and was abandoned. If you’re
not sure, see if you can establish trust by regular
feeding and gauge how skittish she is around you.
Read more about how
to tell whether a cat is friendly or feral.
Lost or abandoned? If the cat
is friendly, there may be an owner anxiously looking
for her. Call Animal
Care & Control (311), which keeps a database
of lost/found pets, and report the cat. Put up
"Found Cat" flyers in your neighborhood—but
for the cat's safety, please ask any potential
claimants to bring a photograph to prove ownership.
Unfortunately there are unsavory folks out there
who will use this pretext to sell unwanted animals
to medical labs or use them as bait in dog-fighting
rings.
A bed for the night. Whether
the cat is abandoned or lost, she needs a place
to stay. Domestic cats are not okay outdoors—they
risk starvation, disease, being hit by a car,
or worse. If the cat is friendly, please consider
taking her in (or ask a neighbor to) for a night
or two, until an owner, foster home, or shelter
can be located. If you have pets of your own,
enclose the cat in a separate room to avoid potential
conflict or spread of illness.
Animal shelters. Try this list
of shelters, but bear in mind that due to
the existing pet overpopulation crisis in NYC,
they tend to be full or have waiting lists.
If the kitty has been vetted (tested and vaccinated),
she stands a better chance of getting into a shelter.
For low-cost vet options, see the low-cost
vet services on our website.
Note that unfortunately Animal
Care & Control does euthanize and therefore
should be viewed as a last resort only. If at
all possible, bring the cat to a no-kill shelter.
Find a home yourself. If the
cat is friendly, you CAN find a foster or adoptive
home for her yourself. Flyers, craigslist.org,
and Brooklynian.com
can be very effective. Take some cute photos and
email them to all your friends and coworkers—and
ask them to do the same. Before you adopt the
kitty out however, please read about the
tragedy of "free to good home."
It’s important to carefully screen potential adopters,
so that the cat ends up in a safe and permanent
home.
If you cannot find a shelter or foster home to
take the cat in, please provide it with food and
water—and if the weather is cold, a shelter. See
shelter
examples and cold weather tips.
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I found
kittens. What do I do?
For the safety of kittens, consider
first a safe shelter for the mother and kittens,
and the nutrition of the mother. She is feeding
the kittens, so her diet should be a high-grade
(preferably wet) cat food like Wellness or Petguard,
or a high-calorie kitten food. Do not move the
kittens into the shelter yourself. The mother
will decide if she thinks it's safe and move them
herself. The shelter should be free from any porous
materials that will absorb water (such as blankets,
towels, etc.). Despite the comfort of blankets/towels
when dry, they can be extremely harmful in rain
and snow. See shelter
examples.
Determine if the mother is adoptable.
If she is adoptable, fostering can be an option;
if not, the kittens should remain with her outside
until 6 weeks of age—at which time you can trap
mom and kittens at the same time (to get her fixed
and to adopt out the babies). Please see our tips
on how to
tell if a cat is friendly or feral.
If the mother is feral (and therefore not adoptable),
please trap, spay, and return her to prevent any
future litters! Read
more about how to do this.
Are the kittens adoptable? Kittens
8-12 weeks old and under are typically adoptable,
with increasing difficulty between the 8-12 week
period, depending on the situation (level of positive
exposure to people, general environment, personality,
etc.). Please see the kitten
development pictures to get a better idea
of how old your kittens are.
If you want to try to socialize the kittens, see
our domestication
tips and links.
Orphaned Kittens. From
the Alley
Cat Allies website: "Do not be too hasty
to move a kitten. The mother may be in the process
of moving her litter to a safer area. Watch closely
for several hours, but no more than a day, to
see if the mother returns. If not, and the mother
has abandoned one or more very young (neonatal)
kittens, their only chance to survive is bottle-feeding.
This is an intensive process not unlike caring
for newborn human babies. There's a lot to learn,
but once you know it, the process will become
second nature."
Recommended orphaned
kitten care links
Finding homes for
the kittens and/or the mother. Please
see our adoption tips
above.
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How
can I help a trapped or stranded cat?
Cats get stuck in trees because they have retractable
claws that work well climbing up but don't have
much to dig into on the way down. If you can manage
to angle a ramp covered in carpet (or something
the cat can dig its claws into for traction),
you might have a chance of the cat coming down
on its own.
Your objective is to get the cat down, but in
the meantime see if you can get food/water up
into the tree by swinging a rope over one of the
branches nearby (do not throw the rope directly
at the cat) and pull food up to the cat. Any food
will be helpful, but wet food with a higher water
content will help the animal to not become dehydrated.
The police and fire department are unlikely to
assist with the rescue. Try calling tree-trimming
companies or wildlife capturers/exterminators.
However, please do not let any untrained persons
grab a cat without protective gear. Even if the
cat is normally docile, animals under stress often
react out of panic. Because traps on unsteady
ground risk tripping themselves, we don't recommend
hoisting traps into trees for cat capture. Humane
traps should be tried only if the situation is
dire and all other methods have failed.
For more tips, click
here or try other sources by Googling words
like "rescue cat tree."
For emergency rescues such as: cat/dog fell down
a hole, loose on a highway or bridge, cemented
in grating/wall, NYC Animal Care & Control
has a direct dispatch phone number: (212) 788-4000.
You will usually be placed on hold and have to
wait several minutes. Do not hang up. There is
no faster way to get through.
For stray rescues, it’s up to you whether to take
in the animal after the rescue. If not, Animal
Care & Control will keep him/her, but be advised
that injured animals there do not stand a good
chance at being put up for adoption and will often
be euthanized.
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Help!
My cat is lost!
The first hours and days are critical in locating
a lost cat. Unfortunately there is no one centralized
place to report missing animals, so several steps
are involved.
Step 1. Alert your neighbors
and look for your pet in any obvious places. Think
like a frightened animal and look in any out of
the way, isolated places as well. Be sure to bring
treats, wet food that carries a smell, and a carrier
or humane trap, if possible. Make and post “Lost
Pet” flyers in your neighborhood (or wherever
the pet went missing), local vet offices, pet
stores, and supermarkets. Missing
pet poster templates are available free online
to use.
Step 2. Alert Animal
Care & Control by dialing 311, and let
them know you'd like to file a missing pet report.
Search AC&C’s
online database of found pets.
Step 3. Notify local
rescue groups and veterinary
offices about your missing pet via phone or
email. If emailing, include a picture. Some local
vet offices keep a "missing pets" binder.
Step 4. Utilize the many online
resources and email services that help locate
missing pets:
Prevention.
It's a good idea to have current pictures of your
pet that would translate well to a flyer, so you
can quickly make copies to distribute. Having
your pet microchipped is a good idea, but will
only work if the pet is turned in to a location
that has a microchip scanner. Make sure your cat
wears a safety collar with tags (with phone number/address).
Make sure that any pet-sitter you hire knows that
if your animal goes missing, you are to be notified
immediately.
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Will
you take my rescued or unwanted cat?
Slope Street Cats is not a shelter; our mission
is to spay and neuter feral cats to reduce Brooklyn’s
feline overpopulation problem. We do not have
the resources to take in unwanted kitties—in fact,
we’re always looking for foster homes for the
friendlies we find during our trap-neuter-return
projects. But we’re happy to help you problem-solve.
Allergies? Many folks write to
us needing to get rid of their companion animals
due to the allergies of a loved one. Since no-kill
shelter space and adoptive homes are severely
limited, please consider trying first to reduce
the allergies. See “Top
10 Steps for Reducing Your Allergies to Cats,”
from About.com.
New baby? Some people believe
the old wives' tale that you need to remove your
cats from your home if you are expecting a baby.
Many cat owners (including some of our volunteers)
have successfully managed to keep their cats and
babies in a harmonious household. If you have
concerns about this issue, please see “Cats and
Babies” under Tally's
Cat Behavior Links.
Bad behavior? If you are at
wit's end because your cat is behaving badly (scratching
furniture, going outside the litterbox, fighting
with other pets, etc.), please view the invaluable
advice at Tally's
Cat Behavior Links. Most issues are resolvable
with just a little research. Feel free to email
us if you have questions—chances are one of our
volunteers has dealt with similar problems.
Pam
Johnson Bennett's books on cat behavior have
also proven helpful to us. While her books provide
more in-depth advice, she also has answers to
frequently
asked questions on her website.
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How do I report animal
abuse?
If you see something, say something!
To report animal abuse, contact the ASPCA
NYC Humane Law Enforcement Department at enforcement@aspca.org
or (212) 876-7700, ext. 4450.
If a cruelty situation is unfolding on the weekend,
when Humane Law Enforcement is closed, try calling
Animal Care & Control at (212) 788-4000.
You can also report abuse to ordinary police officers.
They are required by law to issue a ticket to
or arrest anyone who violates NY
animal law. Note that sometimes even police
officers themselves are unaware of this fact,
so know your statutes and insist that action be
taken!
Document, document,
document. Take detailed notes on the
what/where/who/when of the situation. Take photographs
or videos and gather witness statements if at
all possible. This will greatly help authorities
pursue the case.
Insist on results, but be patient.
City agencies tend to be overwhelmed. Familiarize
yourself with New
York State Agriculture & Markets Law Article 26,
and follow up with the authorities respectfully
but persistently regarding your situation.
For further information, see:
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