Help the Carroll Street Cats get a new home
Donation protected
For the last four years, we have cared for the colony of cats living on Carroll Street. Rain, snow and shine we have fed these 11 cats daily, provided them water and shelter, have gotten them all veterinary care, and spay and neutered them. We've had the immense privilege of bringing 5 of them inside to become indoor cats, and had our hearts broken when we had to say goodbye to two of them.
The remaining outdoor cats are:
- Cheetah and CJ: an adorably misfit bonded pair. Cheetah is by far the most social cat of the group and he'd have been an immediate shoe-in to come live indoors, but his heart belongs to CJ, the most shy and human averse cat of them all. We could never separate these two.
- Bobtail: the matriach. Bobtail is one of the only female cats in this colony and we suspect she is the mom to most of them. She is certainly the mother of Chex (our now indoor cat), and the resemblance between her, CJ, and JJ is uncanny.
- Junior: our famous grumpy boy of the bushes. Junior has always kept a bit distant from the rest of the colony, but he and Bobtail can sometimes be seen holding colony meetings on the sidewalk together on warm days.
We love these cats and, if we could, we would have stayed on Carroll St with them forever. But in what feels like such a bittersweet ending, we have to move. We have outgrown our apartment and transparently, we were priced out of this neighborhood years ago (bless rent stabilization for allowing us to stay for as long as we did!)
We could not imagine leaving these cats to suddenly fed for themselves after growing accustomed to 4 years of daily care. That's not even an option. But we can't take them with us to our new place - it's not a fitting place for a cat colony (it's frankly a lot like Carroll St in that way - this block could never properly sustain the amount of cats living on it naturally.)
Instead, we will be relocating the Carroll St cats to the yards of two incredible rescuers, who already have small colonies of their own. Cheetah and CJ will go together to one, and Bobtail and Junior to the other.
Before they go, we want to make sure they're properly vetted. They are all due for their vaccinations and I know for a fact (based off their prior vet records and my own eyeballs) that 3 if not all 4 will need dentals.
Which leads to this fundraiser. I can with certainty get all four cats a "low cost" dental priced at $875 each. That would be $3,500 total. There is a small chance that I could get them in at the Cat Cafe clinic (which prices dentals at an incredible $250) but they have told me their wait list is very long at the moment. Speed is a bit of the essence, as we want to relocate the cats before the deep winter sets in.
For those reasons, this fundraiser is set assuming their vet care will be $3,500 total. However, thanks to you all overfundraising for Stinky by $500, I have set this fundraiser at $3,000.
If I am able to miraculously get them lower cost care I will adjust the goal. Any money raised in excess for them will go actually go to all the supplies needed for their relocation (large crates ($200+ each!), tarps, cozy shelters, and lots of friskies to be donated to their caretakers). Anything beyond that, as always, will go to our next cat in need.
Relocating this colony is both a dream and a heartbreak. It is one of the most complex projects we are attempting to pull off and it is deeply close to our hearts. We just want the best for these four sweet cats, who somehow stole our hearts over the last four years. They are quite special and we appreciate you helping us make this next chapter possible for them.
Organizer
Elizabeth Falcone
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY