Local Shelter Saves Kittens from Overrun Home

Kent Animal Shelter is holding over a dozen kittens at their Calverton shelter after rescuing them from a group of over 40 cats that remain in and around a messy Miller Place home.

According to shelter Executive Director Pam Green, Kent is in the process of evaluating the cats currently, and plans on spaying and neutering them before adopting out the ones they can. The shelter is currently doing two-for-one adoptions on cats due to an excess at the shelter, even getting some foster parents to host cats while they wait for a long-term home.

"There is an ongoing effort to tray and spay and neuter them, and get the adoptable ones out there," Green said. "If the kittens are feral, it's much easier to work with them. But if adults have been running feral for several years, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to."

Kent and Volunteers for Animal Welfare – a Sound Beach-based nonprofit – rescued the cats on Monday. The Heanerly Drive homeowner had let the number of cats on the property – and the property itself – run astray after her husband, mother, and mother-in-law all passed away in a short amount of time, Green said.

"I guess it was a lot at once. She was left by herself with the house," Green said. The homeowner had started hoarding items, and the home had got so overrun that some cats on the property had fallen prey to raccoons.

VAW volunteer Rita Miszuk said that as of Tuesday, six kittens were being bottle fed after being rescued from the home, with another eight more six-to-eight-week olds in hand. She and volunteers from Kent will be going back to rescue more. Green said that there are about 43 cats estimated to be on the property.