{providing a path to adoption for feral and under-socialized cats and kittens}
Creating a Foster Home
Giving Every Cat the Chance They Deserve
Cat rescue is complex and challenging, and working with feral/stray cats is even more demanding. Unaltered feral and stray cats are the primary contributor to 'kitten season' -- often causing overcrowding at municipal shelters. Feral cats and kittens deemed un-adoptable are also the least likely to leave a shelter alive. Trap Neuter Return (TNR) reduces births and humanely addresses overpopulation, but not every cat can humanely be returned to its outdoor home after sterilization. Often TNR workers become disheartened and reduce or stop their trapping service to the community because of the lack of options for cats which cannot be returned.
"Garden adoptions" are one option for feral and less-socialized cats, but given extra time, training and attention, many "street" cats can be rehomed to traditional environments. Cats which have never lived inside require not only training and socialization, but also time to acclimate to the sights and sounds of indoor living. Placing these cats in a traditional foster home or indoor rescue environment is stressful for both the cat and volunteers, and often results with the cat hiding for weeks or months out of fear and often never become adoptable.
Feral Bridge will offer transitional placement in a garden and home setting, allowing for a less-stressful acclimation to indoor living. Providing daily training and positive human interaction, we will help 'street' cats acclimate to indoor conditions and traditional foster/adoptive homes.
Feral Bridge will also offer training workshops, video demonstrations and written materials to increase its reach and enable other rescuers to use our model to help navigate the challenging work of rehoming under-socialized and feral cats.
Creating a Foster Home Tailored to Meet the Needs of Feral Cats and Kittens
The January 2019 purchase of a duplex in Ogden, Utah has allowed for the creation of a workspace and foster home for cats and kittens transitioning to indoor living. With modest changes and upgrades, our foster setting began accommodating its first set of cats in June, 2019.
We recently completed the creation of safe outdoor space including the conversion of a 12 x 40 side-yard into a garden/exploration area -- fully cat-proofed to ensure safety -- and an indoor acclimation/quarantine space for new foster arrivals and cats with illnesses.
Background for Success
My name is Sarah Rogers. Prior to forming Feral Bridge in 2019, I founded Feral Change (2007) -- an Oakland, CA nonprofit whose primary mission is to spay and neuter free roaming and feral cats -- TNR (Trap Neuter Return). From 2013 to 2017, Feral Change operated a TNR holding/recovery space and foster center for difficult-to-place cats via donated space from American Steel Studios until the building was sold. More than 800 cats received services -- and more than half were socialized and re-homed through direct adoption or adoption through rescue partners. Feral Change continues its mission via dedicated volunteers continuing to work with local rescues, the municipal shelter, and community activists to bring awareness to the plight of the community's feral and stray cats and to promote TNR as the 'first line of defense' in preventing unwanted kittens and cats from ever entering a shelter. Receiving a Best of the Bay award from East Bay Express in 2015 and a hero award from Oakland Animal Services in 2016, I'm proud of all that Feral Change has accomplished.
My relocation to Utah in 2018 has provided the opportunity to secure space and realize a dream that would have otherwise been un-affordable in my former hometown of Oakland, CA. Feral Bridge is the beginning of a new chapter of rescue for me, personally, and I look forward to supporting/training the next generation of rescuers; as well as working with the established organizations and individual cat rescuers I have known for years.
