Freezing winter temperatures are around the corner, and as Brooklynites break out their winter coats and turn up the heat, volunteers are helping the borough’s thousands of feral cats get ready, too.
Brooklyn is home to thousands of feral felines, many of whom are used to life as a stray and prefer life outside, away from humans. But, no matter how street-savvy they are, cats are domestic animals, and they’re not suited for months exposed to cold temperatures and winter storms.
Enter volunteers from Flatbush Cats, who spent two Sundays this month building outdoor shelters for “community cats” around the borough.
The shelters are simple, made from large rubber storage containers with holes for the cats to enter and exit, sealed with spray foam and filled with straw.
But they make a big impact for the cats, said Max Branch, Director of Community Programs at Flatbush Cats.
“We’ve gotten used to seeing cats outside, that doesn’t mean they’re able to fend for themselves,” Branch said. “Every cat that you see outside is being fed by someone, knowingly or unknowingly, and they’re looking for a warm place to shelter.”
Cats in search of warm, dry places often wiggle into car engines, or find their way into basements or garages they can’t always get back out of, Branch said. If they can’t find anywhere to go, they’re left to face the weather on their own.
“Cats aren’t designed to survive in these temperatures, and suffer negative outcomes because of that,” he said. “Not only are we providing a place that is a little warmer than outside, we’re also providing alternatives to these more dangerous spots outside where they would otherwise choose to shelter.”
The 250 shelters built by Flatbush Cats this year were mostly distributed to colony caretakers — people who have taken on the responsibility for feeding and caring for feral cat colonies — around Brooklyn.
A well-built shelter will provide a cozy place for cats to weather the winter for about a year, Branch said, and they’re fairly inexpensive to build.
While the shelters are a necessity for outdoor cats, they’re not a solution to the stray cat crisis in Brooklyn or New York City as a whole.
“New York is a uniquely inhospitable place for community cats,” he said. “Not only the weather … but a myriad of dangers in their environment. You have everything from cars to poison that’s put out for pests, to a lack of access to medical care. This is one way we can make their lives slightly more comfortable, but it’s only really addressing a symptom of much larger problems.”
As the cost of pet care, especially veterinary costs, have risen, so too have shelter and stray populations in New York City. Without a city agency dedicated to maintaining feral populations, community caretakers and rescuers have taken on caring for those stray cats and keeping their populations under control through Trap-Neuter-Release and adoption.
Rescuers struggle, though, to find affordable vet care, and shelters are strapped for space. Populations have continued to rise in and around Flatbush, Branch said.
And while many long-time strays are unfriendly to humans and content to be altered, vaccinated, and re-released, more and more are friendly and suitable to life indoors.
“What that tells us is that there are more and more cats outside that could have happy homes inside,” Branch said. “A large number of them most probably found themselves without homes through no fault of their own because outside forces are making it so that the people who love and care for them can no longer do so.”
In the short term, Brooklynites can help out by providing shelters and care for cats, Branch said, or look to foster and adopt shelter pets.
But longer-term, organizations like Flatbush Cats are looking for “upstream solutions,” like increased support for free or cheap vet care, to make sure New Yorkers can afford to care for and keep their pets and caretakers can afford to look after their colonies.
If locals want to help out by building shelters for local cats themselves, instructions are available online, and the materials are relatively inexpensive, Branch said. If they want to take it a step further, and become a colony caretaker, he recommended starting by talking to neighbors to find out who else is helping care for the cats.
Then, he said, they can sign up for a TNR workshops, get to know local rescues and vets, and get to work.
“Talk to your neighbors, find out who’s feeding, and get together to see what you guys can do together to make sure not only that the cats have a warm place to stay and warm meals, but also access to spay/neuter so the two-cat situation on your block doesn’t become a 20 cat situation, which can happen incredibly quickly,” Branch said.
