​ The Flushing Cat Project​

(Doreen & Paul's Project)

Working in Flushing for many years made me aware of the many strays in the area.  Many of them were pets who were once owned but never spayed and neutered.  As a result the stray population was out of control.

Through the years we have met many dedicated animal lovers who feed these cats on a daily basis.  They saw these cats grow from tiny kittens into beautiful adult cats.  Some of the kittens never make it past a few weeks, some matured into healthy adults and continued to reproduce and some were so frightened they are almost impossible to help.

Our first Flushing rescue took place in the winter of 1995, when 3 homes were about to be demolished.  The elderly woman who lived there had many beautiful and unaltered cats.  When the woman's home was sold her family moved her out of state and left her precious cats behind - in the street.  We knew that along with the homes the cats would also be destroyed.  That winter was bitterly cold and we had many heavy snow storms but we were determined and saved a total of 15 cats.

But the rescuing didn't stop there because we then learned of 2 other places that cats were multiplying.   A 24-hour parking garage​ was home to many cats along with many newborn litters.  Most of them were run over before they reached maturity.  We spent many long nights setting traps and searching abandoned cars for signs of cats or newborn litters.   We were very successful and managed to save 21 cats.

The next area that we became aware of was just 2 blocks away in a locked employees ​​​parking lot of a large department store.  The cats slipped through the gate and made their way to the back of the lot where young kittens played and older cats just lounged in the sunshine.   The population problem was out of control.  With the help of a few concerned residents we were able to help 23 more cats.

Because we also rescued many cats from other areas we were always limited to the amount that we could take in from these 3 areas.

We would like to continue helping these cats and reducing the population as much as possible but we need your continued support. Donations to help with vet bills, testing, vaccinations, spaying/neutering are always needed. But most of all we need a place to keep these cats until they can be adopted. Many of them will require working with to make them sociable and easier to adopt. This is a major problem for us because of a lack of foster homes and not having a shelter of our own. Because of this problem we will only be able to help one or two cats at a time. The problem is that the ones we leave behind will continue to populate​

Note:  Throughout the years we have rescued many cats from these particular areas but have found it difficult to concentrate on just one area when so many other animals are in need of help.