FERAL INCOMING: Big Zeke Checks In! (#620)

Yes, Zeke has food on his nose but I'm not going to tell him... He was HUNGRY!

Zeke is an unexpected but very welcome guest here at AFAR.

He was... Well, you can't call it trapped... but more like made himself available for pick-up to one of our trappers as she was checking out a colony.

As she pulled up in her car Zeke casually walked up to her and sat next to her and basically said 

 

"Alright, I'm ready, let's get out of here."

 

At that point, the trapper had no choice but to pick up Zeke, who is enormous, and lug him into the car.

And so Zeke is now settled in for a few days here for some rest and relaxation while we get him an appointment with the vet to make sure he is healthy and ready for adoption.

He has a few scars on his back that looks like he had been bitten by a larger predator but they are healing up nicely.

That was perhaps the catalyst that made Zeke say I think I'd better get indoors sooner than later.

We are only too happy to help him because he is a sweet, cuddly, big moosh who deserves a forever home after what looks to be a couple of rough years outside.

Here are a few more pictures of Zeke...

Check back soon for adoption info!

FERAL INCOMING: Colony Of Feral Cats Lose The Only Caretaker They Have Ever Known (#619)

Here’s one of those stories you never really get used to when you run a shelter and it has happened a few times believe it or not.

This poor man belongs to a colony that was fed exclusively by an elderly woman who had them all spayed and neutered and did all the right things when you are dealing with ferals.

She is the only person they have ever had contact with and they are the only cats she ever had though they never came into her home.

The heartbreaking problem now is that the woman has passed away.

There is no one to take care of her colony and they are all completely wild, untamed, and impossible to catch as they only knew the woman who cared for them their whole lives.

This is the only one we have been able to trap so far after we were alerted to the situation.

Yet after the trapping is completed the next part is even harder as they can’t be placed in a home as they are all 100 percent feral and terrified of everyone but the woman that took care of them.  

So we are in the process of not only trying to catch the remaining members of the colony but then trying to figure out if we should relocate them to an existing colony, try to find homes with patient families, or release them back to their original spot and try to find a caretaker for them.

Updates to come.

ADOPTION ALERT! Kiki And Goose Are Ready For Their Forever Homes!

Kiki and Goose

Hey everyone!

Remember the 8 ferals we took in from the group home in early January?

Well, we were able to successfully socialize four of them: Binx, Elton, Kiki, and Goose.

Binx and Elton were adopted last week before we could even get them up on Petfinder solely through word of mouth so that was wonderful.

They were a bonded pair so that was the best...

Binx and Elton

So now we just have Kiki and Goose who are absolutely the cutest, sweetest and no-drama felines ever to grace this planet.

If you are interested in adopting either of these two gorgeous beings you can check out Kiki's Petfinder page HERE and Gooses' page HERE.

Here are a few extra pics of the two sweets!

FERAL INCOMING: Sweet Tuxedo Boy Trapped Just Before The Snow Hits! (#618) *UPDATE

Hey everyone say hello to Panda!

We received a call about him wandering a neighborhood in Cutchogue all by his lonesome and with the snow coming we quickly went out and picked him up.

I mean we literally picked him up! He is not scared or aggressive in any way and was instead just grateful not to be out in the cold and get some food.

It turns out Panda was dumped by his owners when they moved out of their home.

As he had never known anywhere else he remained at the house and slept on the doormat by the front door waiting to be let back in by his family.

Despite having such a rough turn Panda's disposition is beyond friendly and he loves human contact and comes running every time we open the shelter.

We haven't even had to cage him in fact...

Panda lounging!

We are going to get some dewormer into him and a lot of food – he is so thin – and take him to the vet to get a check-up.

As soon as that is done we are putting him up on our Petfinder page as he is more than ready for his forever home.

This is one of the sweetest we have come across in our 15 years doing this work.

I mean look at that face...

UPDATE: Panda is all done with his vet visit and the boy is in perfect health!

Here is his PETFIDER PAGE!

FERAL INCOMING! Beautiful Tabby Girl Dumped In Subfreezing Temperatures (#617)

Say hello to Mia everyone.

Somebody dumped poor Mia in a neighborhood in Calverton last week when it was 20 degrees below freezing.

Luckily a woman noticed her wandering around and put out some towels for her to burrow in for warmth.

She called all the shelters and nobody would take her so she finally posted this notice at an online community site where we read it...

We, of course, went and picked her up immediately.

The woman was not joking! Mia is a sweet, beautiful loving cat with an amazing purr.

Due to her health, generally good condition, and weight we have to assume she was recently dumped.

Mia is now just resting up and getting ready for her vet visit so we can get her bloodwork checked out and make sure she is healthy and spayed.

We will also check for a microchip to make sure she isn't a runaway.

We will give an update on her condition as soon as we find out how she checks out.

FERAL INCOMING: Bonus Cat From The Group Home! (#616)

After we took in the 8 cats and kittens from the group home two weeks ago we were pretty sure that was it for that particular property... but were happily mistaken.

With all of the cats still here in various stages of recuperation from their vet visits, deworming, and defleaing treatments we got another call from the home informing us there was yet another cat there apparently wondering where the heck everyone went!

We went over and it was an easy trap for all involved as he is a sweetheart and we literally just picked him up and chauffered him over to our shelter.

He is no longer in a cage as we transferred him into the "friendly room" where we have three other cats from that colony we are trying to socialize for adoption.

He's a GOOD boy!!!!!!

If we can adopt 4 out of the 9 it will be a good day as the others will go back to a nice situation where they are fed regularly and looked after by the home's residents.

In addition, we have set up a couple of insulated cat houses to help keep the remaining crew warm through the Winter.

FERAL INCOMING!!! Abandoned Emaciated Cat Trapped At Condo Complex (Feral 615)

On Friday night one of our trappers captured this poor male longhair at a condo complex in Wading River.

He is nothing but skin and bones and matted hair...

Despite the horrific shape he is not feral and proceeded to collapse into a heap of purring once he was inside and warm and being pet.

We knew why when we learned that the complex is mostly for older, retired people as we have seen this before.

It happens when elderly people adopt a cat and then pass away without any plans for the care of their companion.

Their relatives come and sell their homes and don't want to be bothered with having to place a pet or even just dropping them off at the local shelter.

So they abandon them.

This is the result.

As he was fed regularly and probably brushed or had his hair trimmed he never had to hunt for food or groom himself.

Out in the wild, he starved and his coat became a solid, painful mat.

We immediately shaved all off his tangled fur and got him into some warm blankets with as much food as he could eat...

All he has to do is rest now and we will find him another forever home... He has been through enough losing his human and then being abandoned.