Forever Families For Felines

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!!!! ♥️🐾

04/04/2026

Kitten season is officially upon us!!! Spay/neuter through TNR is crucial to help control the overwhelming number of community cats and provide them with protection by receiving vaccines and flea treatment.

Did you know male cats can roam significant distances to find a female in heat, often engaging in territorial disputes with other males? This is the time when we will often see a “newbie” appear at a managed colony as they are attracted by the food during their travels to find a female, and will often stop to grab a bite to eat . 

Our volunteer, Brenda, has been busy these past few weeks trapping cats at various locations in our area including one of our own colonies where a young female appeared suddenly followed by a boy. Both were trapped, spayed/neutered, vaccinated and released. A few days ago she assisted a local business owner with trapping seven cats on their property for TNR spay/neuter, three which were females who joined the “no babies club”.

Most significantly, Brenda assisted animal control for the City of Plainfield with an eviction/hoarding house situation.  The ACO was able to contain the cats from inside of the home and bring them to safety where local nonprofits took them into their rescues and shelter.  However, feral cats were discovered outdoors in the yard during this process. Brenda spent time at this location assessing the amount of cats, discovering many of them were fixed already with an ear tip. She got right to work on the unfixed cats and successfully trapped four in a little over an hour. 

While getting these cats situated in her garage at home to be brought for spay/neuter, Brenda observed the white cat in the last photograph to be docile and alerted the clinic of it being a potential “friendly”. During the time of being prepared for surgery, it was discovered the cat was already neutered and was one of the indoor cats who accidentally escaped during the eviction process! His vaccines were updated, he tested negative for FIV/FeLV, and will be assessed further for adoption as he was still a bit reserved, most likely from the trauma of suddenly being an outdoor cat. He was extremely thin and it’s suspected he had a difficult time fending for himself outdoors 😿 However, a better life awaits him now!!!

Thank you Animal Protection League of Nj for providing low cost spay/neuter for all of these cats!!! Your assistance is appreciated!!!!

Thank you to our followers for your constant support and allowing us to do what we do!

🐱🐾 HAPPY CATURDAY!!!! 🐱🐾

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

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

03/21/2026

🐱 🐾 CATURDAY ADOPTION UPDATE!!! 🐱🐾

Lexi with the 🖤 nose (now named Luna) and Inky were trapped as part of a large colony Forever Families has been working on TNRing since June 2025. Upon recovering them, they were discovered to be quite docile so our volunteer, Brenda, worked with them to assess their friendliness instead of releasing back out (the R in TNR). These adorable girls were eventually adopted into loving homes where they are spoiled and living a wonderful life indoors!!!!

Thank you to our follower Dawn S-man for introducing Inky to her friend, also named Dawn!
And thank you to Heather and her husband, Michael , for loving Luna the way you do and providing us with frequent updates!!!!

03/17/2026

Today, on Saint Gertrude of Nivelles’ feast day, we celebrate a quiet protector of the most misunderstood and overlooked souls… our cats.
Saint Gertrude is known as the patron saint of cats, travelers, and those in need of comfort. It’s said that she watched over both people and animals, offering kindness where it was needed most—especially to the small, the unwanted, and the forgotten.
If she were here today, I think she’d be sitting beside the scared feral, the sick kitten, the ones the world looks past… reminding them they matter.
And maybe that’s what rescue really is—being a little bit like Gertrude.
Showing up.
Loving anyway.
Caring for the ones no one else will.
So tonight, hug your kitties a little closer—especially the shy ones, the broken ones, the ones still learning to trust. They are so worthy of love.
And if you’re out there feeding a feral colony, trapping to help, or opening your home to one who needed a chance… know this: you are doing sacred work.
💚🐾

03/09/2026

Forever Families has had a rough start to the new year 😕

A few weeks ago, one of our young cats at a newer colony we’ve been tackling since last year showed up with a serious injury. He was trapped and brought to the vet. Gruesome is only way we can describe the wound…it appeared as if the majority of his leg and hind area had been degloved, possibly from hopping under a car to stay warm. We have several insulated shelters in that area which the cats use, but this winter was just so brutal maybe it just wasn’t enough.
We made the decision for Nicholas to cross the rainbow bridge as it was the most humane thing to do given the extent of the injuries.

Last week while feeding one of our longest managed colonies, our volunteer Brenda discovered two very young kittens dumped inside of one of the shelters. They appeared to be approximately 4 to 5 weeks old and very clean and well cared for, indicating they most likely came from inside. This area is a parking lot in a busy urban area. There was no mama cat just randomly passing through and dropping her babies in the shelter….. this was done by a human.
Although the kittens are safe we still wonder if they have littermates and are they okay? Most importantly where is the mom, and is she going to be fixed so it stops the cycle of unwanted kittens, resulting in situations like this where they are just dumped? Unfortunately this location has been the scene of abandoning cats previously, and the chances of finding the human and offering services to fix mom doesn’t seem likely.

As if that was not enough, this past weekend our same volunteer received a panicked phone call in the very early hours of the morning from a restaurant employee at one of our other colonies.  He arrived to work at 6am to discover one of our cats was in the middle of the parking lot unable to use his back legs and crying in distress. At first it was suspected he may have been hit by a car, but upon rushing him to the vet they noticed his lower hind and back legs were completely cold and limp and diagnosed him with “saddle thrombosis”. Given his older age of approximately 13 or 14, and the agony he appeared to be in as well as the recovery from something like this being slim, the decision was made to allow him to cross the rainbow bridge. He Is the cat In the attached photo 🐈‍⬛

Despite these sad beginnings, Forever Families is determined to keep moving forward on behalf of the other animals that are out there. They rely on us!!!!

If you would like to donate towards the unexpected vet bills we incurred in a short amount of time, or to the 70 community cats we look after daily, please see the PayPal and Venmo links below. 

🐾 THANK YOU 🐾

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

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