Manhattan Nursery’s the Cat’s Meow

By JULIAN CANTRES

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals celebrated the successes of their first cat nursery at a “graduation” ceremony Tuesday.

The Pee Wee Nursery in Manhattan, dedicated to raising kittens and preparing them for adoption, opened in mid-August. Since opening, the nursery has seen almost 300 kittens, about 130 of which have already been sent to the ASPCA’s adoption center.

As the cats played with each other or slept in cages, Gail Buchwald, Senior Vice President of the adoption center, spoke positively of the organization’s efforts to help “New York City’s most vulnerable population” and reduce euthanasia. The city’s live-release rate for kittens has increased from 26 percent in 2003 to 80 percent in 2013, she said.

“If you’re a homeless animal,” she continued, “New York City is where you want to be.”

According to Judith, one of the employees at the event, the litter includes very young and small kittens, some “raised since they were born”. They are kept in open-air cages with other cats (usually one or two), and 24-hour staffers give them baby formula every two hours, followed by cat food as they grow older.

Once the kittens grow to two pounds, they are spayed or neutered and sent to the adoption center.

Judith called her job hard work, but also described it as “rewarding”.