Brooklyn rescue group seeks homes for abandoned kittens

It was cuteness overload inside Pet Delight on Saturday, November 9, where nearly a dozen kittens and cats were curled up in cushions just begging every passing visitor to adopt them.

The group—all of which are spayed, neutered and given their vet shots—are just a few of the pet-hopefuls rescued and/or fostered by the nonprofit Brooklyn Rescue Umbrella (BRU), which provides Adoption Assistance and “random acts of kindness” to stray, feral, abandoned and throwaway cats.

“We’ve been around since 2011 and in our first year, we had around 100 adoptions, easily,” said Josie Marrero, BRU’s founder. “At first we did dogs and cats at a Petco on Stillwell Avenue, but now it’s all cats. We saw there was a need and knew the frustration of seeking help and seeing that no one was there. So we started [BRU] ourselves.”

BRU follows a no-kill policy and it has cats, such as Mona, Timothy and Misu, all on the older end of the foster cat spectrum at two and six years old, respectively, who have been seeking homes for a while, but are so sweet and loved by their foster humans that BRU is still holding out hope for “forever homes” for them.

“Mona has Bette Davis eyes,” smiled Marrero as she snuggled with the brown-grey-colored beauty that was traumatized after being born in the home of a cat-hoarder in Brighton Beach and then being adopted by a couple who returned her to BRU after they broke-up. “She wants to be a single cat, not with others, but let her snuggle into bed with you and she’ll be fine.

Some of the kittens present at BRU’s latest adoption/fundraiser event were among the dozens, if not hundreds, of animals rendered homeless by Superstorm Sandy—whether by their home being destroyed, their owner becoming sick from mold or simply being abandoned on the Coney Island Boardwalk.

Timothy, the six-year-old possible Russian Blue mix with a calm, friendly personality and a purr that comes out whenever you pet him, was abandoned on the Boardwalk about six months ago.

Frankie and Patti Cake, two five-month-old honey-colored tabbies, were left behind in a soda can carton on the Boardwalk along with two other kittens, and have been bottle-fed since a few days after birth. They are healthy, playful and very attached to one another, so Marrero hopes that they will be adopted together.

Spice, a playful four-month-old female born under the Boardwalk, “thinks she’s a show cat.” Although she tested “light positive” for FIV—the feline version of HIV—and will be retested in a month, the virus cannot be transmitted to humans or dogs, and she may simply be a “carrier” of the virus. She should go to a household where she is the only cat.

“The cat situation is getting out of hand and we need to do something,” said Manhattan Beach resident Susan Vosburgh, a foster human who was buying some homemade cupcakes at BRU’s bake sale fundraiser. “I wasn’t even aware of BRU until we fostered a cat that came every night in our garden before Sandy.”

All funds from the bake sale and donations will go towards paying for veterinary bills.

BRU will be holding adoption events inside and/or outside Pet Delight, at 300 Kings Highway, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays throughout November and December. Any questions can be sent to brooklynrescueumbrella@gmail.com.