We’ve all seen them. Some of us have been unable to resist taking them in. My friend SS was one of those compassionate suckers. She and her tenant took in 7 kittens, all with bad eye infections and a few of them already blind. They’re nursing them back to health, but obviously cannot keep all of them. They would like to place them in wonderful homes. The above photo is the best one she was able to capture (I’ll leave my photo critique out). I’ll have her leave contact info in the comments and/or on the forum.
It prompted me to write this post because it breaks my heart that I can’t take in each and every stray I see in Bed Stuy. We ended up with 2 new cats since buying that house, bringing our total up to 6. There are so many on the streets there, eating from the garbage, getting hit by cars and getting diseases.
If you have feral cats living in your backyard, there are some things you can do even if you cannot house them. The city has a number of animal rescue programs which help folks trap, spay and/or neuter wild cats and release them back to the streets. They won’t have a home, but at least it will stop them from reproducing.
Please see the links below for workshops on trapping, low cost spay/neuter, private rescuers and no kill shelters.
And check out this poor bastard’s blog. Little does he know he’s going to get attached and keep every one of those cats. Sucka!
Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals
Pet Finder
Muffin’s Pet Connection
NYC Feral Cat
BARC
Slope Street Cats
5 Comments
Poor jimmy legs! I know how he feels. I’m trying to scrub off the neon blinking sucka sign on my forehead but it looks like that’s major surgery. The kittens we rescued in the above story are really amazing. It’s taken me about 3 weeks of medicating several times a day and finally I can see eyeballs under all the horrible stuff. These are the most beautiful kittens I’ve seen-several look like Maine coons. Bella the long haired calico is all blind and the little long-haired black and silver is probably half blind. 2 others are completely blind ( a red tabby and an all black kitten), 2 have normal eyesight (more or less) and one other may have partial sight. If you didn’t know they were blind, you wouldn’t guess. They get around the house amazingly well and into everything amazingly well. They very friendly (think heartrendingly needy) and if I had the room I would keep them all but I already have 4- all rescues ) and an apartment, not a house. I’m taking the TNR course at park Slope Cats- there’s loads of strays on our block and lots of kindhearted people who feed them.
Eye infections are hellacious in cats. It’s a herpes style virus- specific to cats only- and can spread from cat to cat. 80% of the cat population have it, but dormanat for the most part.If it gets out of control it can rupture the orbs, leave scarring and make the eyes swell up like marbles. These kittens have gone through it all and are still playful and sweet and need good homes. If anyone is interested we can be reached at = ctafc at earthlink dot net = sorry for spelling it out. Hate spam. We’ll post more pictures later too.
what can i say? we’re softies! eye infections totally suck, i had that in a kitten a few years ago and even the vet said he might lose the eye. but he eventually recovered, he’s a little cross-eyed now but is otherwise fine. hope your kittens work out eyewise. the good thing about kittens is that they’re pretty easy to get adopted out, there is a light at the end of the tunnel!
and yeh, sometimes i look around and quote that line from Arrested Development: “I’ve made a HUGE mistake.” then the cats do something cute and extend their stay exponentially. alas.
They had you at meow. Ha! I’m cracking myself up. It’s funny because it’s not me. The most cats I’ve had at one time was 13. They were fully grown, all rescued from various places. I used to work at the Humane Society. We saw eye infections there all the time. It doesn’t really seem to bother them once cured. Even if they’re blind. They adjust alot better than us.
Gee- it’s nice not to feel all alone! My family has tsked tsked for years over my fondness for kitties. But who can stand to see an animal suffer-I can’t. I wanted to do vollie work at a shelter but I know what will happen. My 4 original cats are so upset with me- but they like the kittens. Go figure- I get blamed.They get the fun.
I ‘ve never sen eye infections this bad. several of them were so extreme they looked like marbles were glued to their heads. One of the eyes ruptured as I was taking a kitty to the vet so then there was a lot of blood- lucky I once was a nurse’s aide. But they didn’t seem to be in great pain- uncomfortable, but they still managed to run around and play and eat like little pigs. The blind ones really are amazing- they run all over the place and you would never guess they are sightless. Have feelers out for homes but nothing definite yet.
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