Did you know that FOMCA’s busy Trap-Neuter-Return program extends beyond just spaying and neutering feral and free-roaming cats? When we are helping residents who reach out for help with feral cats - more often than not we encounter kittens! Kittens that are young enough, even if they were born in a barn or in the wild, can be socialized in foster homes and live their lives as pet cats instead of being released back into the colony where they were born.

Fostering and socializing semi-feral kittens is a big job - often they have medical needs that need to be taken care of with daily medication, along with the most important job of teaching them to trust people. Sometimes the concerned residents who reached out for help with the cats take on the responsibility of fostering and finding homes for the kittens, like animal lover Rachell.

"I had to get a new place for my folks because they are having a lot of health problems and they need to be near to me. We didn't realize until we were moving them in to their new home that there was a very friendly cat who kept coming around. I could tell by the looks of her that she was either pregnant or had recently given birth. I contacted the realtors to try to contact the seller and I also spoke to the neighbors, but nobody claimed the cat even though she was clearly friendly. 

Within the first couple of weeks of moving we realized she was sleeping underneath an old shed nearby. We kept a close eye on her to see if it was okay to try and trap her to have her fixed as we didn’t want to run the risk of taking her away from a litter that depended on her. There were also two skittish male cats that were also coming around for food when we would set it out for her. Within a few days we were able to determine that she did have a very young litter of kittens she was caring for, and we needed to wait a little before we could help this family out."

Rachell managed to gather up the kittens and mom once they were eating on their own and right before the first cold snap in November. She set up a quiet space for them in her laundry room for them to get used to her handling them as they continued to grow and gain weight. The kittens were all varying levels of skittish around people because they were raised without much human contact under a shed.

After their spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations and dewormer were taken care of by FOMCA, four of the more social kittens were transferred to Furever Friends Animal Rescue in Asheville. The mama kitty, now named Clementine, and her most shy kitten remain in foster care with Rachell and are looking for homes still!

Rachell had kind words to share about our volunteer TNR coordinator Ann Zook, who makes this program possible:

“Ann with FOMCA has really amazed me with her level of care and compassion when it comes to helping stray cats! She has gone out of her way to help me find solutions for these cats and kittens. Shortly after literal back surgery she was out bending over backwards again to help me help these cats. I could not have made a difference in these cat’s lives without her help and without the help of FOMCA’s program.”

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If you or someone you know if interested in adopting Clementine or her kitten, please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

We will forward your info to Rachell!

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