Saving Cats & Kittens in Michigan
Memorable Rescues
This huge rescue involved 24 kittens being saved and 12 more cats TNR'd on a property in Northville. Five cats turned into 60 cats within five years of not spaying and neutering. This is a reminder how important it is to spay and neuter your animals, even any feral cat colonies that you may be taking care of!
Layla (left), originally Lilac, from this litter all grown up!
This little family was plucked from a birds nest in a pine tree! Mom was staked out for 3 hours after dark and safely drop trapped by our volunteers. The kittens were retrieved out of the nest in the pine tree once mom was trapped, and they were raised indoors. Mom was too feral to be socialized, so once her babies were weaned and she was fixed, she was released at Maybury Farms in Northville.
Howie was, and still is, part of a small managed colony of feral cats in Utica near a river. He eats on a porch and has a shelter, but he was not neutered until he was horribly attacked by a wild animal. Howie was trapped and then taken to our full service Vet, where he underwent surgery on his face to debride, suture, and clean out his wounds. He stayed in a rescue foster house for a month while he healed and received antibiotics and cream ointment for his wounds; these were applied with a long q-tip through the bars of the cage. Once he was fully healed, he was released back to the same property to be cared for.
Lil' Pancake was rescued from behind an a/c unit in Clinton Township along with four siblings and her mom cat. Once she was big enough to eat normal food, we knew something was wrong when she kept throwing up, so she went to our full service Vet, who found out the reason: Pancake had no anus, and fecal matter was ineffectively passing through her vaginal opening. There was no separation between the two. She was referred to OVRS and they had never seen this before, but they agreed to attempt life saving surgery on her. There were many difficulties, including a reconstruction surgery for her stitches busting the first night. She eventually went home, where she was given meds and Miralax everyday. She wore little diapers and nightgowns and we prayed for a miracle. Today, Lil Pancake is known as PanPan, and she still has medical concerns, but she is living her best life as a 'foster failure', thankful that we never gave up on her!
Brooke came to us when we were called to trap a family of cats behind a factory near a freeway. Both kittens in this family had eyelid agenesis, although Meadow only needed one surgery, and was adopted right away. Brooke, however, needed major transplant surgery on both eyelids, and she also has no tear ducts and she can't blink. She deals with dryness and infections chronically and she gets eyedrops daily to moisten and clean her eyes. She had 4 surgeries to create some semblance of eyelids for her, as well as cryogenically remove eyelashes that were growing inward toward her eyes. She will stay in our care until someone who is qualified to care for her and give her daily treatments offers to adopt her. She lives happily in a foster home until then!
Lady had her kittens under a wood pile behind a house. Because the homeowner found them, Lady moved the kittens deep inside a drain pipe under a driveway at 3 days old before we could rescue them. We contacted the local fire department, but they declined to help because of potential liability issues. We attempted to get them out with a fish net and a long band flagpole, to no avail. It ended up raining, and although we blocked the drains with huge towels and wood, one kitten had unfortunately drowned before Lady could bring them all out. We were able to trap Lady on the 4th of July and bring her and her kittens to safety. They were all vetted and adopted.
This is an Honorable Mention to Young Masters Tree Service LLC, for coming out for free to help get a cat out of a tree!