Forever Families For Felines

10/12/2026

Back in August, we were contacted about a kitten who was discovered at a local business in town right outside their building. She looked to be about 10-12 weeks old, appeared scared and skittish, and hid between an electrical box and a ledge.
Our director, Joann, went over with a kitten trap and staff at the business kept an eye on kitty through the window, but at some point she jumped off and ran away out of view.

Our member, Brenda, set up a trail camera and the little calico made one appearance in the middle of the night, but then was never seen again. We gave the heads up to our friend and volunteer, Dawn, who has a small, managed colony nearby, to keep an eye out.

Flash forward to the middle of September and to no surprise, this little girl began making appearances at Dawn’s colony!!! Soon after, Brenda went on a rainy Sunday to trap Kitty and thought it would be easy, but the pretty girl gave Brenda a run for her money, who sat there for three hours in an attempt to get her!!! Right when Brenda was about to pack it in, kitty decided to give up and FINALLY went in the trap. She was named Lucy because she had been eLUsive from day one!! 😹

She was going to be a TNR but upon getting home and assessing her, Brenda did not want to fix and release her as a feral if she didn’t have to. The decision was made and Lucy was spayed as a friendly cat and SNAP tested negative. Next was the hardest part…..finding someone who was willing to adopt this scared & shy girl during a time when even friendly cats aren’t being adopted!

Dawn was determined to spread the word about pretty Lucy and her hard work paid off…friends of a friend were looking to bring another cat into their existing two-cat home, and were open to giving Lucy a chance!!! It’s only been a few days but Lucy, now named Pumpkin, is slowly coming around!!!! She is definitely food motivated and loves her lickable treats, as many cats do!!!

We’d like to acknowledge the business who first discovered Lucy/Pumpkin and made several efforts to continue looking for her and put out food in case was she nearby. Thank you to Brenda for spending hours in the rain on her only day off trying to trap this girl, to Sandra with APLNJ for squeezing in the spay, and to Dawn for her determination in finding a “forever home”.

Most importantly, thank you to Michelle and her husband Ken for opening their home and hearts to our elusive but sweet girl and giving her a chance!!!!
Happy tails, Pumpkin Spice!!!! 🤎🤍🧡

09/28/2026


Forever Families is thinking of everyone on the East Coast following the nor’easter that has caused widespread damage and flooding. In weather like this we can’t help but worry about all of the homeless animals out there, domestic and wild, who are trying to seek shelter and stay alive.

Special thanks to our volunteer, Brenda, who on her only day off from working two jobs, spent hours in the rain driving between three towns to feed and check on our colony cats. These animals depend on us and they sit and wait, so there is no taking a break from feeding them.

We hope everyone is safe as we look forward to sunny days ahead! 💛🐾☀️

09/11/2026

PRECIOUS — THE CAT WHO SURVIVED NEAR GROUND ZERO. ❤️🐈

On September 11, 2001, Steve and D.J. Kerr were out of New York City. Their beloved cat, Precious, a Himalayan-Persian, was at their apartment in Lower Manhattan, directly across the street from the World Trade Center complex.
When the towers collapsed, the force shattered the windows of their building and filled the apartment with glass, steel, smoke and thick dust. The area was sealed off, and for days the Kerrs could not safely get back inside to search for Precious. Emergency workers eventually entered and left food and water for her — but when the Kerrs were finally allowed into the apartment, none of it had been touched. There were no pawprints in the dust. Precious had simply disappeared.

They feared she had died.
Then, on September 30, a city worker installing lights on the roof heard something through the devastation: a cat crying.
Building workers, a rescue dog and volunteers from the Suffolk County SPCA joined the search. Somehow, Precious was alive on the roof. She had survived for roughly 19 days, apparently drinking contaminated rainwater. When rescuers finally caught her, she was in terrible condition — steel and glass particles were lodged in her eyes, the bottoms of her paws had been burned black by the scorching roof, and she had lost nearly half her body weight.

Yet Precious had survived.
She was rushed to the emergency animal hospital established by the Suffolk County SPCA. Veterinarians initially worried that after so long without food she wouldn't be able to eat normally. Precious had other ideas: according to her owners, she began eating less than two hours after coming home. ❤️
With treatment, her infections cleared, the debris was removed from her eyes without permanent damage, she regained her weight and was once again able to jump normally. Her owners later wrote that, despite everything she had endured, Precious became healthy and remarkably well adjusted.

At a time when New York was surrounded by unbearable loss, the survival of one little cat offered a tiny piece of hope.

And Precious wasn't the only animal affected. The ASPCA established veterinary units near Ground Zero and ultimately rescued hundreds of pets that had been stranded when residents were suddenly evacuated from Lower Manhatan... ❤️🇺🇸🐈

08/25/2026

Two years ago mama Katherine was tending to her five littles in our volunteer’s “cat room”.  Barely a year old herself, Katherine was allowed outdoors where she became pregnant and gave birth under a building close to one of our colonies. Our volunteer saved her and the babies and brought them indoors to safety where they were named after the Jackson 5!

Mama Katherine was so sweet and loving it’s no surprise she was adopted first! She is now named Savana, and here is a video update of her getting some loving from her human mom, Liz !

08/24/2026

Our volunteer Brenda trapped this pretty lady early last week for TNR and guest hosted her recovery from being spayed. She was released this past weekend (video in comments)

Kitty is one of a very large colony in a nearby town which thankfully has some money to TNR feral cats in the community. Brenda, along with other rescues, will begin the trapping of nearly thirty cats and kittens this upcoming weekend at the location.

Stay tuned for this huge undertaking!!!! 🐾🐱

08/02/2026

These photos show just a small glimpse of how busy Forever Families has been in the past month or two. We are in the middle of kitten season and new cats just seem to be popping up everywhere. If they continue to make an appearance at one of our managed colonies they are welcomed to stay, but we trap and fix them as soon as possible to keep our colonies under control.

We experienced a sad loss recently as one of our ferals, Slim, was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma cancer. He was brought indoors and vetted to help determine what was going on as it did not look good. As suspected, his condition was pretty severe and he declined quickly. Despite the sadness this brought us, we are glad he was safe inside for the last part of his life and he did not go off and hide somewhere outdoors in his final moments. Thank you to Marci with Best Friend Dog and Animal Adoption for allowing use of their vet on such short notice as ours was unable to accommodate us, and for the kindness and generosity she showed our Rescue. 

On a positive note, we brought indoors two of our senior ferals from different colonies. Mya was removed from her location because the apartment complex kept boarding up the crawlspaces despite knowing cats were seeking shelter there. She is adjusting well to life indoors and soaks up the love and affection given to her by Joann, our rescue director.

Fluffer Nutter is approximately 14 years old and the last remaining cat from one of our original colonies. She came from an area located behind a storefront where she would often wander off and there would be times we wouldn’t see her for a day or two, sometimes even more. The worry regarding her well-being was constant, so a decision was made to bring her indoors where she is doing absolutely amazing!!!

We want to acknowledge our volunteer, Brenda Gromek, for her tireless dedication to helping animals in need. She works a second job to help fund our rescue, and does most of the trapping, transporting, and recovering of the feral cats we are fixing. Brenda also assists residents, other rescues, and even animal control with trapping and recovering as part of the TNR process.

Forever Families would also like to extend a special thank you to our friends and followers Dawn S-man and Christine Bistis who have been assisting with the feeding at a few of our colony locations. As the saying goes…It takes a village, and we are so grateful for you both!!!

If anyone would like to support our continued TNR efforts or the feeding of nearly 100 colony cats daily, please consider donating via the PayPal and Venmo links. Any monies collected will also help offset the vet bills incurred as a result of Slim’s cancer, and the other cats that needed vet care
🐾 No amount is too small!!! 🐾

Please share our post to let people know how important TNR is, especially to the cats and kittens still out there. They need our help!

https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2309498?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKyqxtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHoFcvqnNusSEZ7M_RUKYCg-IXYDqbzdprpDFnDk67s_HXq_T3--pJgZaLcQy_aem_LL3cvdqGdLuw22lnAbwbeg

https://www.venmo.com/u/Forever_Families

07/04/2026

🇺🇸 Happy 250th, America!!! 🇺🇸

We hope everyone has a great holiday, and pets everywhere are kept safe!

07/02/2026

05/08/2026

The “return” today of this spayed TNR feral closes the final chapter to what has been a longer than expected project for Forever Families!!!

In June 2025, we were contacted by someone requesting help at a colony where people were feeding and not fixing….the worst thing for these innocent cats! It was implied there were “just a few” kittens and handful of adults when in reality it was far worse. We discovered the young and older adult cats were skinny and practically starving, and the kittens were sickly.

Our rescue immediately began trapping for spay/neuter and in the beginning we brought 12 kittens to safety (thank you Eleventh Hour Rescue for taking them). The summer weekends spent trapping were long and hot, and the days spent driving them back and forth to the clinic for surgery (and setting them up for recovery at home) were tiring. Over the span of the following months, Forever Families TNR’d nineteen cats, the majority which were female. That’s a LOT of kittens that could’ve been born if these females weren’t fixed!!! 🙀

“Whiskers”, who is released in the video, was the last unfixed cat at this colony who decided to give us a run for our money as she has successfully avoided our trap for quite some time. Most recently our volunteer Brenda spent several days in a row attempting to catch this girl, but Whiskers continued to be elusive.

With the help of a drop trap used by friend and fellow rescuer, Roza Uhl, we successfully caught Whiskers, who was spayed this past week!!! She was the 20th and last remaining cat at this location to be fixed, finishing the TNR part of this project. Special thank you as well to Liz Farkas for assisting us with the last minute spay appointment! Liz runs the amazing rescue Ironbound Cats….this post wouldn’t let us tag the page but look them up on Facebook and give them a follow to see the hard work they do in Newark, NJ!!!

We still continue to feed these cats daily and ensure their needs are met. With that being said, we have to thank our dear friend Dawn S-man who assists in feeding this colony several times a week and has also attempted to trap elusive Whiskers!!!

Thank you as well to our followers who have contributed to us as the money you have donated was put towards the surgeries for this colony and to purchase food so we can continue to sustain them.

♥️🐾 We appreciate you all!!!! ♥️🐾