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It had been raining for hours. Everything was soaked. The whole area was a grey, cold, mess. As I was making a dash for the car after feeding my feral cat colony, my heart caught in my throat as I heard the unmistakable plaintive mew of a cat in trouble. I followed the sound to the large storm drain at the end of the parking lot. There, perched above the grate was a soaked, skinny, and very young mother cat mewing and pacing. She ran when I approached but did not go far. She was not a cat I had seen before. I peered into the torrent of leaves and mud rushing into the drain.  There, on the concrete culvert below was a tiny days- old kitten, half drowned, and still as death. I was horrified and knew I had to get to it. There was a large opening at the edge of the grate created by erosion. I could not get through it nor could I lift the heavy grate. I was as frantic as the thin little mom cat watching me from the wet bushes. Though dressed for work (and late) I lay across the grate and shoved my arm into the hole as far as I could, terrified I would knock the little wet furry ball into the water. But, against all hope, I could just snag the tiny back quarters and lifted the little cold bundle out of the drain. It was alive but just barely.  Running to my car I held the kitten in my hands and warmed it under the car heater willing it to live. The miserable little mother cat watched my every move from the bushes. After a few minutes the kitten moved and mewed a little. Taking a trap (doesn’t everybody carry a trap in their car?) from the trunk, I placed the warmer kitten inside, covered the trap with my coat and set it near the bushes. Holding my breath, I watched as the mom cat creep over and sniff her baby through the wire. Against instinct and caution she decided to brave the trap. As the trap slammed shut behind her I felt so much relief. I was not able to find any other kittens so took the mother and her surviving baby home to recover.  A few weeks later, the little mom cat was spayed and relocated to my colony. The baby took some time to recover from her ordeal but eventually grew into a fat little happy kitten. Once spayed and vaccinated, little Stormy went to a wonderful loving new home. I mourn for the all the little ones who will never know warmth and love and all the mom-cats who will have litter after litter to become feral cats because of human insensitivity. It is our responsibility to help them. After all, it is because of humans that feral cats exist.

Perhaps you have seen a Friends of Felines volunteer wearing our white tee or sweat shirt with the colorful design of a cat sitting on some rocks before an ocean sunrise. Maybe you even have one of the tee or sweat shirts yourself purchased from volunteers at local events. They are also available via our website https://www.friendsofelines.org/gift.php Tee shirts are $15 and sweat shirts are $25. Did you ever wonder what the design represents?

About 16 years ago, while driving to the ferry at Fort Fisher, I spotted a three-legged little black cat scurrying across the busy road and into a parking lot overlooking a large pile of rocks at the shoreline. It broke my heart to see the little one trying to scramble up the rocks to reach a pile of food being doled out by an elderly couple. Missing a back leg made it difficult for the little cat to climb as fast as the others. I watched as several cats gingerly climbed out of the rubble to feast on the food and water provided them. I had no idea there were so many. The couple fed them for years until traffic and people caused the demise of the little colony. I never found out the fate of the little three legged cat.

That encounter lead me to a group that was forming to care for the forgotten ones, now called Friends of Felines. The artwork I designed for the shirts represents the Cats On The Rocks of that colony long gone. Your purchase of our shirts will help provide for feral cats. They make great gifts!

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We have no idea where he came from. Surrounded on all sides by cat friendly people, the little neighborhood feral colony is fat and happy and, for years, kitten free. So when the headlights illuminated the yellow tabby kitten in the front yard that bolted for the azaleas, it was a shocking discovery.

Getting a trap from storage, we set it under the bush in the direction of the kitten’s escape path. Days passed with no luck. Deciding to try one more time, I set the trap. The next morning, there he was, frightened but no worse for wear.

He was not very old...maybe 7 or 8 weeks and not large enough to neuter. We named him Moses, because he came out of the bushes. (OK so it was a stretch but it was cute nonetheless). Moses was scared at first but quickly learned to trust the hands that fed him. He had obviously been around humans before he found himself most likely abandoned. Soon the day came for him to be neutered. Though very young, I decided to have.  Moses tested for Feline Leukemia. When Moses’ test came back as a “weak positive”, the veterinarian said Moses was really young for the test and advised a retest when he was at least 4 months old as kittens’ immune systems can grow stronger with time. A few months later, his repeat test was negative.

Moses grew fat and happy and wrapped himself around my heart. Later, when he was about four months old, another test found him to be Leukemia free. I had decided to keep Moses when out of the blue, Debbie came into our lives looking for a furry angel to heal her heart.

In Debbie’s words, Due to a house fire in June, I lost a very special friend. We were thankful no person was at home and my pictures and some stuff remained unharmed. But, I lost my cat, Zeke. He was a 6 year old tiger that was my best friend. Losing the material stuff was bad but losing him was devastating. We had to stay in a motel for 30 days. The staff thought I was a fireman in training because every night I would come in covered in black soot and smelling of fire. Our insurance would not cover all of the house contents so we salvaged and cleaned what we could. Finally, after long hours of searching, we decided to move to a new state and start over. A few road trips later, we purchased a new home in Burgaw and moved here just before Thanksgiving. NC was a long way from central Ohio and our extended family but we decided it was for the best. I was here about two weeks when I decided it was time to find a cat. There was an ad in the paper but the young woman did not have male cats. She got me in touch with Sharon. To make a long story short, I adopted the best little orange tabby in the world. He is now over six months old and has adjusted well to our new home.

Tiki, Moses’ new name, thinks he is a soccer player. He throws a ball and chases it through the house. It is usually about 11:30 PM when Tiki gets his second wind and wants to play some more. We just shut the bedroom doors and let him run throughout the house!  We attempted to adjust his sleep schedule so everyone can get some night time sleep. But, he finds little nooks and crannies to nap in during the day so we can’t find him. Being nocturnal is part of being a cat so we just deal with it. You know the old saying, “Dogs have masters, cats have kingdoms!” We love North Carolina and we love Tiki. He made our new home complete!

From abandoned kitten to loving companion. We only wish that they all could know the love and peace of a warm lap, a full bowl of food, and the kind hands of someone like Debbie to love them, free from danger, disease, and a lifetime of bearing kittens born to be feral. If you have room in you home and in your heart and would like to help foster cats or kittens until loving forever homes can be found for them please contact us at Friends of Felines via our webpage or call 910-452-6721. You can also “friend” us on our Facebook Page! We always need volunteers and of course, donations to help so much! Our address is Friends of Felines Post Office Box 475, Castle Hayne North Carolina.

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To some, the mere mention of kitten season brings up images of adorable fluffy kittens playing, jumping and wrestling. To animal shelter workers everywhere it has an entirely different meaning. Kitten season is the beginning of a nightmare- countless numbers of kittens coming through their front doors with not enough homes. It means mass euthanasia with no end in sight, until December, when there might be a two-month reprieve from the onslaught.

Cats are very prolific creatures. In our part of the country a cat can have at least 3 litters a year with an average of 4-5 kittens. Multiply that by the number of strays, ferals and cats with irresponsible owners and you have an astounding number.

Unfortunately, media resources like this do not help to educate irresponsible pet owners as lost will never visit this website. As a result, it is up to us to spread the word on the importance of spaying and neutering. So speak out, let them know. Do not allow pet owners to remain uninformed.

Kittens are cute, but killing kittens because there are too many is not. It's sad that springtime, a season for new beginnings, is the beginning of the end for millions of unwanted animals that should have never been born.

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