FMAR rescues 2 mother cats, 9 kittens, 10 cats — now they need homes

In late January Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue, a no-kill shelter located in Sumpter Township, received a call over the weekend that someone wanted to bring in a mother cat and nine kittens. FMAR agreed to this.
On Jan. 29, the people who called brought in a box with seven kittens, approximately three weeks old. They indicated that they were unable to get the other two and the mom.
Jennifer Rutherford, operations manager at FMAR, said at that time the story was something around a vacant apartment near them that they found out had all these cats.
These kittens were too small to be on their own yet, so the FMAR board president took them home to bottle-feed them.
“We reached out to the apartment complex to see if we could arrange a time to meet to try and capture the remaining two kittens and mom,” Rutherford said. “It was at that time that we learned the people who brought in the seven kittens were actually the former residents of the apartment in question. They had been evicted.”
Rutherford said when the FMAR staff entered the apartment, it was filthy and covered in garbage and animal waste. While walking around it was discovered that more than just the two kittens and mom were there.
“Over the next several weeks, we returned four times to capture more cats to bring to our shelter,” she said. “When we brought what we thought was the last one back on Feb. 13, we had totaled 19 cats rescued from this apartment in Flat Rock.
“Our most recent development was that we were able to secure the mom cat and two remaining kittens from the beginning of this whole process.
“It seemed like a person was trying to do the right thing and care for all of them, but it was overwhelming and got out of hand,” Rutherford said.
She said FMAR has been working through getting the animals set up with age-appropriate vaccines, spay/neutering them, and testing them for socialization so they can get them adopted out to loving homes as quickly as possible.
“While we definitely want to be able to get all of these cats adopted, we also are hoping to help bring attention to the effort that went into rescuing these animals and that FMAR is here to help the community,” Rutherford said.
She said it definitely was a case they never expected to be that involved. In total it was 2 mother cats, 9 kittens, and 10 cats roughly a year or older.
“As these animals become ready for adoption, we will put them up on our website,” she said. “It depends on how fast we can get them evaluated for health and they spay/neuter them.
“But, people could put in an adoption request (also on the site) and if they see a cat they like on the website, they can indicate that or just indicate general age that they are looking for.
“They can also call to set up an appointment or drop by during our public hours on Saturdays from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. The application is key to get the process started, but we tend to be pretty flexible for people who want to come save one of our furry buddies.”
friendsofmichigan.org/adoptable-cats
51299 Arkona Rd., Sumpter Township
(734) 461-9458