FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Back Street Kittens originated in February 2019, when Teresa Kern, a former animal rescue worker living in Duluth, Georgia, found five seven-week-old feral kittens in her back yard. After taking them into her house for care, she approached several of the local rescues for assistance, only to find out that they were overextended and unable to help her. Following a couple of trips to the vet (and some very large bills), someone there suggested she had the right background and experience to start a rescue of her own.
Teresa recruited a few friends from her days working in cat rescue to join her in the adventure and Back Street Kittens, Inc., was born. We are registered with the Georgia Department of Agriculture and are designated as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization by the Internal Revenue Service.
We are a small, foster-based rescue which allows us to keep our focus where it belongs: on our fabulous, formerly-feral kittens!
Due to a lack of space/resources, we do not take in kittens/cats that owner’s want to surrender nor do we take in other friendly kittens/cats. We concentrate on trapping/socializing feral kittens and doing TNR for the cats that are too old to be socialized.
Most cats in shelters or foster homes were turned in by the owners, or were abandoned strays that found a friendly human. If they are placed into a new home, they can re-adjust to life as a pet.
Feral cats have never been household pets or had any other contact with humans, and thus only perceive them as larger animals that can hurt them. They are afraid of humans and hide from them. Because of this, their needs, and their kittens, are often overlooked by the rescue community due to the sheer number of surrenders and strays already in the system.
Most feral colonies originate from a group of un-neutered stray cats. Some feral cats, particularly those living in managed colonies, may tolerate the presence of their caretaker or other humans, but they are still unable to adapt to indoor life as a pet.
It is extremely rare for an adult feral cat to be able to make the transition to life as a household pet. Those who do generally do not become cuddly pets, but rather are placed as working cats in barns and warehouses.
If kittens born to feral cats are removed from that environment at a young enough age (generally before they are 3-4 months old), they can be socialized to the presence of humans and later adopted as household pets. In order to make sure we can remove the kittens before they get too old for socialization, we sometimes take pregnant cats into foster so that they can give birth in a safe environment and we can start working with the kittens when they are very young.
If a pregnant cat is taken out of a colony, she is provided shelter with one of our fosters until the kittens are born and weaned. After that, she is spayed, vaccinated and returned to her colony.
The best solution for other adult cats is also spaying/neutering, vaccinating and returning to their colonies.
Feral cats have the same low rates of disease that pet cats have. In addition, feral cats that go through the trap-neuter-return process are vaccinated when they are altered.
Many feral cat colonies have human caregivers, who provide food, basic shelter and basic veterinary care. This reduces or eliminates nuisance behaviors.
It wouldn’t work. Extensive research has shown that the best method of managing a feral cat colony is trap-neuter-return (TNR), a process which leaves the colony intact while gradually reducing its population via attrition. Research has also shown that abruptly removing feral cats from the environment can upset the local ecological balance in disastrous ways.
Our feral kittens come mostly from locations in Gwinnett County. We do work with Henry’s House Feral Communities and will work with other feral colony keepers and the general public to identify feral kittens in need. When we have space, we may occasionally pull feral kittens from animal control when someone has trapped feral kittens and turned them in.
What does Back Street Kittens do when a pregnant cat and/or kittens are found in a feral colony?
We work with the colony’s caregiver to trap either the pregnant cat and/or the kittens and provide them with initial veterinary care. Trapped mother cats are provided a safe place to stay until the kittens are born and weaned; they are then spayed and returned to the colony. Weaned kittens are placed with screened and trained foster parents who will care for them and acclimate them to life with humans.
Socialization of a feral kitten includes getting them comfortable with being held and touched, teaching them how to play, talking to them, and introducing them to other humans so that they don’t only adapt to the presence of their initial caretaker. The formerly-feral kittens can be adopted out as soon as they are (a) old enough to be on their own and (b) can be held and touched by other human beings without biting, scratching, fighting or running away.
Since we make sure the kittens are properly socialized, you’ll probably never know they were born to a feral mother! In fact, kittens born to feral mothers are often healthier than average and can provide years of happy, healthy companionship for their humans. This is one reason we think they’re fabulous!
Some kittens, particularly those trapped after about 8 weeks of age, may retain a few mild feral behaviors such as being afraid of strangers or resistant to change. Part of our adoption screening process includes placing these kittens in households where their needs can be managed.
However, if a kitten doesn’t properly adjust to socialization at all, we will not adopt it out. Instead, we return it to its original colony as an adult cat once it is spayed/neutered and vaccinated.
Sources:
