Colony Cats of Birmingham TNR Team for Kitty Kat Haven & Rescue

08/16/2024

Please help if you can!

08/15/2024

We have a super duper special foster request!

Y'all may remember sweet Cinnabon who came in in such terrible shape with 3 little babies. It was a bit touch and go and at one point a biopsy was done to see if she had mouth cancer. But she did not thankfully. She has an eosinophilic granuloma on her tongue which is an inflammatory skin condition. This can be due to insects (especially fleas), dietary and environmental allergies, infectious agents, and genetic or hereditary factors. The cause cannot be identified in some cats. She is better and is on a daily oral med called Atopica. I believe she is also on a special diet for the moment. She is skittish at times and the issue is the hates her current foster's dog. So she needs a foster home with NO dogs. She has been spayed.

So Cinnabon needs a special foster or foster to adopt home that can cater to her needs. Please apply to foster at kittykathavenrescue.org

Let’s find our special girl her happy ending!!

08/15/2024

Big news! Our TNR team is working on a pilot program called the “Scratch and Dent” program. In short, this program allows us to take in older feral kittens (aka teenagers) in high-risk areas attempt to socialize them and find them appropriate homes for their level of socialization. These homes could look like barn homes, outside homes in safer communities, garden shop homes, or even winery homes. In the event they do tame up they will graduate and join our regular adoptable cats. We hope this will open more avenues of care and adoption for cats who would otherwise live very short and dangerous lives. Our first group is pictured below. Somewhere in the Birmingham area these kittens were running through traffic on a road motorists think is the Talladega speedway. The kittens couldn’t care less about the traffic and we literally watched as one barely got away from being hit. We couldn’t return them, so the program was born!

How can you help? You can help by spreading the word! We have our first pilot group of teens and they will need homes in a few weeks/month. We have an application we will be posting later today that goes over what to expect and what we hope their new home would look like. This isn’t your typical adoption so we have more wiggle room, for lack of better terms, on what you would to provide for these kitties. We will also need fosters willing to help us evaluate and tame these kitties. Another way to help is by donating towards their very basic vet care or purchasing something off of our Amazon Wishlist. Being a new program we know we will have kinks to work out, but we are so excited to move forward with this adventure! Do you have questions? Drop them below!

Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/Z00SA91SCZEL?ref_=wl_share

Venmo:

08/14/2024

Birmingham caretakers PLEASE keep your eyes out for the safety and well being of the community cats. Even if they aren’t yours! Birmingham Animal control is still rounding up cats, going onto private property to set traps, and chaining them on these properties. GBHS cannot take in dogs right now, so we fear the targeting of community cats might get worse. Remember to document any interaction you might have with officers and if anything happens or you have questions please contact us. This behavior is despicable and we truly hope we can get the city to see the error of their ways sooner than later!

08/13/2024

Update on the BBQ Project kittens and Raven’s Project:

BBQ Kittens: These guys range between 3 weeks and 5 weeks old. We had one crash today (he’s okay) from flea anemia. Three of them have great fosters. The other four are also with an awesome foster, but we would LOVE to find a new foster for them that is medically savvy and capable of bottle feeding and medicating four sick babies.

Raven’s Project: Our five spicy babies from this colony had foster homes, but we had to put some of the sick kittens from the BBQ Project with their foster. So, these five now need a foster or fosters to tame them up and teach them manners.

Fostering quite literally saves lives. These babies need experienced fosters willing to dedicate some time to them. You will never be left to your own devices. We have an amazing support system for our fosters and even volunteers ready to come help you with any sort of emergency situation. If you can foster please message us directly and fill out a foster application at kittykathavenrescue.org

08/12/2024

Alright you guys, we need your help! Last night we caught five kittens at Project Raven. They were planned for and fosters in place and they’re fairly healthy. We then made our way to the BBQ Project to assess and trap cats. We ended up leaving with eight sick kittens between 4-5 weeks and one mom cat and her four 2 week old kittens (does not include the seven we got for TNVR). So let me break it down for you so it doesn’t get too confusing:

The BBQ Project caretaker started letting unaltered cats into his house and ended up with kittens. He was doing his best, but these kittens were in ROUGH shape. All are undernourished to the point you could call them emaciated, they have terrible upper respiratory infections (sneezing, eyes sealed shut, runny nose, etc.), and they’re covered in fleas. When we originally saw them we rushed them to Steel City ER. Unfortunately, we were too late saving one of the kittens so he was humanely euthanized. We stayed up until 2 AM giving them fluids with B-12 and B complex, doing fading kitten protocol, and generally fighting to keep them alive. It was very touch and go for several of these poor babies. Happy news- ALL seven made it through the night and are going to see our favorite vet today. From the same project we also pulled a mom and her four kittens. They are seemingly okay for now, but had a million fleas too. Mom is very shy, but we couldn’t take the chance her kittens would end up as sick as the others.

We ended up bringing in 16 kittens and one adult cat for care yesterday. It was completely not planned and emergent. We couldn’t leave those babies there. If you could please donate to help us with their vet care we would be SO grateful. I can’t even do the math on what 17 vet visits and medical supplies looks like right now, but it’s a lot. Any amount helps us save them ❤️

Electronic donations can be made through Venmo and PayPal:
In the notes or comments please put BBQ KITTENS.

Any cash or check donation can be made at Kitty Kat Haven and Rescue off of Old Columbiana Road in Hoover. Thank you guys!

08/11/2024

Six more cats caught at the Raven Project! These five babies will be going into foster to work on their manners, while mama will be spayed, vaccinated, and returned to her caretaker. Even though she isn’t friendly, she is loved and very cared for. It’s the end of a long cycle for this mama cat! And the start of happy ever after for her kittens ☺️

Donations for kittens vet bills can be made through PayPal or Venmo

08/10/2024

Edit: Wilford Brimley went across the rainbow bridge last night. We found out his leg was completely dead and starting to mummify. They think it was a snake bite. Poor buddy is at peace now. 🌈

WARNING GRAPHIC

We have an injured feral heading to Steel City Emergency Vet. His caretaker said he was missing a few days and then showed up like this tonight. He can’t use one of his back legs. Our team member had to crawl under a house to get him and he is FERAL. Poor boy does not feel good. We anticipate the start of his bill should be between $250-300. If you can help us take care of him please donate through PayPal or Venmo. You can put notes as “Wilford Brimley”

Venmo & PayPal

08/09/2024

We were contacted by a team member’s family from south Alabama last night because these two babies were found without mom. They thought they were doing the right thing and took them home. It ended up being too late to reunite with mom so we arranged to meet halfway to get them. We hope to connect with local rescues to get mom and any other kittens TNR’d. Meet Weevil and Peanut? Can you guess what city they’re from?

To donate to their care ($160 per kitten) please use Venmo or PayPal

08/08/2024

More traps over the last two days!

• Big boy one from McCalla (he was the last kitty left in Jeans colony 🎉)

• Big boy two came from a little group we have been working on in Hoover

• Sweet Chamomile is the daughter of Big boy two. We are working to trap her three remaining siblings and mama

• Female kitty from downtown (no picture yet)

Our team is awesome and we can’t thank them enough ❤️

08/08/2024

Our voices need to be heard. Changes need to made to the way we view and care for community cats.

BIRMINGHAM UPDATE ❗

Alley Cat Allies is calling on people in Alabama to protect Birmingham's cats. If you live in the state, please take action now: https://actnow.alleycat.org/page/71239/action/1

The City of Birmingham is targeting cats outdoors, owned and community cats, and their caregivers. Alley Cat Allies sent a letter asking the city to stop its aggressive action immediately. Now, we're asking advocates to join us and email Birmingham's mayor and city council.

08/07/2024

Guess who had her FIVE babies today? That’s right! Mama Briar gave birth to five little beans this afternoon. Mama did a good job in birth and is making biscuits while her little ones nurse. We are so excited for her!

08/07/2024

✨RESCUE PLACEMENT ONLY✨

We are going through our requests and this sweet little crew is in need of RESCUE placement. We will not give out details to adopt them separately. We prefer they be taken in by a reputable rescue group, vetted, and homes found that way. We have no fosters or funds to take them in ourselves. They’re approximately six weeks old, there are five total, and they have had some human socialization so they aren’t super feral. Mom and Dad are both feral and we will have the spayed, neutered, vaccinated, and returned. Please reach out if you can take these babies! And please, please share!

08/07/2024

Good morning from Shrimpy Shrimp 🥰

08/07/2024

Sweet Briar was thrown outside like trash when her family no longer wanted her. She showed up at one of our colonies a couple of weeks ago. We made the decision to go ahead and pull her into foster because we were sure she was about to pop! She’s still holding on tight to her babies, but she’s safe and she’s loved. I mean, look at these pictures!!! That’s one happy mama. How many kittens do you think she will have?

Also, Briar is being fostered by the sweetest new foster family with two little boys. Briar loves them and they love her. Take a chance on fostering! It’s so rewarding and teaches kids such valuable life lessons ❤️

08/07/2024

Thirty cats later and Jean’s colony in Mcalla is officially DONE!!! Hard work and dedication from both the caretaker and our team made this possible. Our last cat from this crew will be fixed tomorrow and we can write that one off of our list. Colonies and projects can be hard to officially close out because those last few became super wary of our traps and tricks. Patience is the key! Excuse us while we celebrate 🎉

08/06/2024

More kitties caught last night!

• Two from Leeds
• One from Alabaster
• One from McCalla
• One from Trussville

Our team covers such a widespread area! We know that cats can’t read city limit signs, so why should we? These kitties are all from projects we have been helping. Slowly, but surely cutting down on the overpopulation problem in the Birmingham Metro area.

To support our mission (aka help us with gas! We use so much gas doing TNR and colony care!) you can use our Venmo:

08/06/2024

This!!! Exactly 🤷‍♀️

08/06/2024

Being threatened with a fine or citation for caring for community cats is a scary situation, and Alley Cat Allies has some guidance to help. Just visit alleycat.org/Citations

08/05/2024

We love a full circle moment! Our team member Vanessa trapped a mama kitty this morning in Alabster. Mama was fixed today and will be returned home tomorrow. She also grabbed her five kittens! Full circle TNR is SO important. You cannot just grab babies when you see them. You have to make a plan to fix mom and dad as well or you’ll have more babies in a few months. These five (believe us there are five!) will move into a foster home to become socialized and eventually adopted ❤️

08/04/2024

An oldie, but a favorite! Potato was fixed seven years ago and greets me like this every day. He’s a sweet boy, but doesn’t do well with other cats and is only socialized with me, his feeder. TNVR works and stabilizes colonies.

08/02/2024

Compassion is not a crime. The acts of community service carried out by advocates should not be penalized but instead supported.

Learn how we're working to protect cat advocates and caregivers: alleycat.org/Compassion

08/02/2024

Despite what some may think, we don’t want a bunch of cats running all over the city of Birmingham. We want to work with Animal Control to address the population problem the humane way. We want the laws regarding pets (dogs and cats) to change! We need laws governing spay and neuter requirements. This paired with TNR for ferals is the only way we are going to make a difference.

08/02/2024

Bumblebee checking in!

If you all remember Bumblebee is another East Lake kitty. He ended up having to have a tail amputation and we figured out after surgery he was actually a sweet kitty. Bumblebee is currently in a foster to adopt home and he’s supervising all the major household chores! We made Bumblebee our spokescat for all feral and strays in East Lake. He’s a testament to what a little compassion does for these cats!

If you’d like to support our team we have a couple of ways you can! One is buying shirts. We have a Bumblebee Cat shirt and a TNR Cat shirt. They’re both linked below.

You can also make a donation through Venmo:

Bumblebee Shirt: https://www.bonfire.com/bumblebee-cat-shirt-1/

TNR Shirt: https://www.bonfire.com/tnr-shirt160/