The first step is to fill out an application at https://crowdedhouse.pet/apply.
Once we receive your application we’ll reach out to set up an introduction. In most cases we require that you come talk to us and meet the cat in person.
If you have submitted an application and haven’t heard from us within 24 hours, please reach out via text message to 916-432-3432 to follow up.
In the summer of 2022, we caught “Cookie” as a 8-week-old kitten. She was starving and had a bad eye infection. When we took her to the veterinarian the next day she commented that, “It’s a good thing you caught her yesterday because this kitten wasn’t going to make it to tomorrow”.
After spending six weeks in a crate in our living room, “Phoebe” went into heat and we took her to get spayed. Over the time she was in the crate, she started to warm up to us and would eat squeeze-up treats from our hands. When she was healed from the spay, we decided to release her in the house and see how she felt about family life.
She quickly decided she liked being a house cat and made our home hers. She’s still reluctant to be touched, but is engaged and loves being around us.
Thank you! The biggest way you can help is by spreading the word. We need to find homes for these kitties and that’s our main priortiy. That said, many folks aren’t local or already have full houses and still want to help. We’re not a registered charity (yet) so any donations aren’t tax deductible but are always welcome.
Here is a link to our Amazon wishlist. Anything and everything on that list would help us care for our fosters and we’re very grateful to you.
We are associated with a college in the Sacramento area that has a feral colony on campus. We’d rather not specify which one directly since there are some challenges dealing with managing the cats there.
There is finally a trap-neuter-release program starting up so we’re hopeful over time there will be fewer and fewer kittens.
Most of the times that we catch kittens, they’re too young to reliably determine gender. Also, even if we could tell, they often are too skittish or scared to be handled as needed to inspect things. Even veterinarians struggle to accurately sex cats prior to about 12 weeks of age and we’ve had multiple occasions where what we or a vet told a new family was wrong.
Likewise, the only way to really tell a kitten’s age is by weight and many of the ones we bring in are malnourished enough that it would be inaccurate. Plus, for the same reasons we struggle with new kittens to inspect genitals to determine gender, getting them to sit still on a scale is a challenge. That said, we have enough experience that we can make educated guesses on age and will do so when we’re working with the adopting families.
It should also be noted that we’ve often gotten requests for specific genders, usually because the family already has cats and are worried about conflict. In our experience, even with families that have existing cats with strong personalities, the young kittens are pliable enough that gender doesn’t matter as much for the older cats. Basically they can boss them around when they’re just 8 weeks old and teach them who really runs the household.
If the kittens are with us for a long time, we take them to get vaccinated. Many of the ones we find are too young to be vaccinated yet and their new owners will need to get them seen by a vet once they’re in a forever home.
So far all of the kittens we’ve caught have been without serious health issues. Most of them have fleas and occasionally ear mites, but of the ones we’ve had tested for other issues we have never had any arise. Likewise, we know that the cats in the feral colony are healthy with no indication of serious illnesses.
Yes, adult feral cats are typically very skittish around humans and are much more like wild animals than their housecat brethren. That’s one of the main reasons we’re so focused on the kittens, they’re still able to learn to live happily with us.
It takes time and effort to socialize some of these kittens. Even though the colony we work with is fairly safe and there’s food and shelter availble, the kittens still need some adjustment. We now have a lot of experience working with shy or aggressive kittens to get them to a point where they’re just as comfortable and cuddly as any other cat you know.
We cover all of the food and vet costs out of our own pocket. It’s a labor of love and we’re willing to do it.
So far we’ve been lucky enough that all of our kittens have been placed through word of mouth via family and friends to homes that people we know personally can vouch for.
We have a very large crate that we’ve constructed from several large ferret cages in our living room. Sometimes if we need extra room or need to separate some of the kittens, we bring in a large collapsable dog crate that we’ve mounted shelves in as well.
We also encourage our tween daughter and her friends to handle the kittens as much as possible and we personally spend time every day holding them with us on the couch.
All of this attention and exposure does wonders to socialize kittens who have never known life under a roof, let alone with humans and other pets.
All of our kittens are very used to people by the time they’re ready for adoption and most of them are comfortable with dogs as well. Some never get over their fears even though our dogs are very good with them, but the ones we take in at a young age get nannied by one of our dogs and become very accustomed to canine friends.
Usually by the time the kittens are out of the den, they’ve already been weaned and are on their way out the door. Cats don’t stay attached to their offspring the way humans do and typically will leave kittens to their own devices around 10-12 weeks anyway.
We work with the trap-neuter-release program whenever we can to ensure that momma cats get spayed but if we’re unable to catch them then unfortunately they often end up pregnant again within 2 weeks of removing the kittens and the whole cycle starts again.
If we’re really lucky, we can identify a definitely pregnant momma cat and trap her. If she’s far along, we’ll keep her in a crate and let her have the kittens in our house. We do all the same care for the kittens as they grow up from neonates to fully weaned and once they’re all adopted out, we’ll get the momma cat spayed and rereleased at the colony (or maybe try to adopt her out if she takes to humans well).
Only in very rare circumstances. Most of the adult cats living in the colony we work with are too feral to be happy living in a house. The best thing for them is to ensure that they are neutered and vaccinated and that the colony has the resources it needs to keep them fed and safe.
The exception is with pregnant cats as described above or the couple of times someone has dumped otherwise domestic cats at the colony. The latter don’t do as well in a feral colony and if we have room and resources we can help get them rehomed.
It depends. We’re pretty taxed just taking care of and finding homes for the kittens we rescue at this specific colony. We can’t save every cat that needs a home, no matter how much we want to. Depending on where you live, your local SPCA likely has resources that can help you get the kitten(s) into forever homes.
That said, feel free reach out to us and we’re happy to share guidance on care, socialization, and resources on working with ferals. If you have homes lined up for the cats you’ve found and you’re in or near Sacramento, we might be willing to help foster and socialize them until they’re ready for those homes, but we typically can’t take on the added responsibilty of finding homes.
We need something to call the kittens while they’re in our house. Almost always, we let our tween daughter and her friends pick the names and just go with whatever they suggest.
The families that adopt the kittens almost always change the names. Usually the name you see on the site here in the success stories section is the name that we gave them. Occasionally we’ll make a note of their new names and sometimes we have a forever home lined up quickly enough that they get to decide the name in the first place so we’ll just use that.
It stands for Trap-Neuter-Release. We work hard with every kitten we rescue to get them socialized and ready for forever homes. Unfortunately, we sometimes get kittens that are too old for them to every really be comfortable living side-by-side with humans. They may love getting fed and even let us pet them, but they don’t get comfort from being with us and will never be lap cats.
When we come across cats like this, we’ll work with them for a time but if they don’t come around, we sadly don’t have any choice but to rerelease them in the feral colony. Before doing that, we get them neutered and vaccinated and have their ear docked so folks know they’re known ferals.
We still love these cats and they live a good life in the colony, just not alongside humans.
Many of the rescues and pet stores will only work with registered non-profits, which we are not. We are just a family who is trying to help these kittens. Because of those restrictions we haven’t been able to work through pet store adoption events.
As for shelters, we run into some challenges because the kittens are found outside of Sacramento County but the shelters have enough unwanted cats on their hands locally that they won’t help us place these kittens. We could go through the shelters near where they are found, but they are overflowing as it is and there are more people in the city looking to adopt.
Because we are not actually a rescue, we don’t charge an adoption fee. If you want to help in some way, we always welcome canned kitten food and spreading the word to help get all of them adopted.
You don’t need to. Just show the kitten where the box is a few times so that they know how to find it and instinct will do the rest. We’ve never had a kitten who didn’t know what to do with a litter box from the moment we brought them home.
While most behavioral or other issues are best worked out with you and your vet, if for some reason you can’t take care of a cat your got from us, please bring them back. We will always welcome them, won’t judge you, and will work hard to find them a home that’s the perfect fit.
Nearly all kittens will need a few days of adjustment to a new home. Make sure they have easy access to food, water, and litter box. Most kittens start eating normally within 48 hours of going to a new home.