Community Corner

Box of Kittens Dropped Outside Rec Center

H3 Pet Supply received a box containing five kittens that someone left in front of the Rec Center at some time in the early hours of August 9

A mysterious white box was plopped at the entrance of the this past Tuesday, with no addressee or mailing information. Upon further inspection, the word “Kittens” was scrawled across the outside. The box was sealed shut, save for a few small holes poked in for airflow.

Cindy Socha and Lisa Gay of , who are very active in animal rescue and advocate adoption rather than pet store purchase of furry friends, said Amy Page reached out to them for help.

“What happened was that somebody who works at the community center saw the box outside in front of the building,” Socha said. “They [the kittens] were in a white, maybe three-foot high cardboard box.”

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“[Page] called because she heard that we try to rescue as many kittens as we can. She asked if we could take them – unfortunately we don’t know how to say no. She brought them in and they are very, very cute! So adorable!” Socha beamed.

While the kittens can eventually be put up for adoption, they are currently set up in a foster home where they will receive the proper care, love and socialization necessary for making them adoption-eligible.

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“They’re only about five weeks old, so they don’t really know how to use the litter box yet and they were covered in fleas,” Socha said. “They didn’t seem all that used to people, so we set them up with this foster home, which has been fine with them.”

The foster parents are cleaning up the five little balls of fur and teaching them about litter box usage.

“In about three weeks they’ll go to the vet to get their first set of shots, get tested for cat diseases and then treated for all parasites – fleas, worms, all that stuff,” Socha said.

If all goes well at the vet visit, the kittens can be put up for adoption. H3 Pet Supply holds a weekly cat adoption at the store from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. each Saturday. Those wishing to make an addition to their family get a chance to meet and interact with the cats and kittens.

Socha said that the amount of stray cats brought in is almost overwhelming.

“The problem is, right now we have so many kittens. With these five we probably now have 38 kittens, all rescued off the streets,” she said.

Why the influx of felines? Socha give two main reasons: sightings of stray cats are more common and accepted than that of dogs, leading people to underreport the situation, and this time of year is the height of kitten births.

“I think that because there are so many cats on the street, people don’t think anything of it when they see them,” Socha explained. “I don’t know if these five kittens were strays someone found in their yard, or someone’s cat had kittens that they’re trying to get rid of. I just wish they had found a better way to get rid of them.”

Recently, Socha and Gay got a call from a woman who owns a trash-recycling place in Milford and “they were dumping out one of their loads, and out came a mom cat and kittens from one of the dumpsters.”

Then on August 9, they received a complaint call about a cat hoarding situation. “It’s everything all at once,” Socha said.

But why? Socha said the answer lies in Mother Nature.

“This is the time of year, unfortunately. Cats usually only give birth twice a year, some time between the Spring and the Fall typically.”

However, Socha said some good news is “that because so many are born outside during this time when the weather is much more pleasant, the chance of surviving is better.”

Fortunately, these five kittens were saved just in time. “It’s possible they could have died in the heat. There were only a couple little holes punched in the box for air,” Socha said.


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