Ciera is one of the longest standing members of a feral cat colony that I manage. A few months ago, Ciera got sick. She had an upper respiratory infection so bad that I could hear her breathing a block away. She sounded like she was snoring all the time! Ciera stopped eating because she did not feel well and over time, lost a tremendous amount of weight. She avoided being caught for weeks until she was so sick that I was able to pick her up. I took her to the vet and she has had almost every test run on her that we could afford. She got better for a little while and gained almost two pounds (7.6 pounds, compared to the extremely skinny 5.8 pounds when I first caught her). A few weeks ago, Ciera started to get sick again and her breathing problems have come back. She has stopped eating again and has begun to lose weight, despite being force-fed. One of Ciera's eyes has also begun to bulge out of its socket. The vet thinks her upper respiratory infection has created an abscess behind her eye. We have done everything we can do as conservative treatments. What she really needs is a CT scan to diagnose the real issue that is causing all of her problems. If it really is an infection, the vets will be able to drain the abscess and hopefully solve her problems. We are a small rescue group and cannot afford the costs associated with a CT scan. We have already spent $1000 on Ciera and don't want to give up on her now. Throughout this entire process, Ciera has discovered that people aren't as bad as she originally thought. She has turned into a wonderful and sweet little lady. She now wants to be in the center of all the action and loves being rubbed. Please help us get this scan for Ciera so we can find out what is wrong with her once and for all. Any amount will help - even $5 or $10. Ciera says "Thank you for caring about my life!"
News
The Animal Rescue Site is hosting a Shelter Challenge. The shelters that receive the most number of votes will be awarded a grant to assist with their animal rescues. Bray's Buddies operates solely on donations and can only rescue as many animals as funding allows. If we were able to get one of these grants, we would be able to help significantly more animals. Voting is open from September 14, 2009 to December 20, 2009. You can cast one vote per day.
Put "Bray's Buddies" in as the shelter name and "NJ" for the state. Make sure to click "Vote" next to Bray's Buddies after you search for the shelter. Please come back to vote every day - we could use all the votes we can get! Thanks! :)
Who We Are
Bray’s Buddies is a no-kill Animal Rescue Organization in Rahway, NJ. We are a small rescue organization, specializing in cats and kittens. We do not have a shelter – all of our animals live in foster care. We focus on Trap-Neuter-Return for feral cats in our area. While we work to spay/neuter these outside cats, we take in any kittens born to the un-spayed mothers. These kittens are domesticated, given any medical care necessary, and are put up for adoption. They are all wonderful kittens and are very social, with both humans and other cats. They grow up in a warm and loving environment and live in foster care until a wonderful family decides to adopt them. Please look at the foster kittens and cats that we have available for adoption. The more kittens we find homes for, the more we are able to help.
Our Programs
In February 2009, Bray's Buddies organized a large-scale Trap-Neuter-and-Return Program focused on feral cats living in downtown Rahway, NJ. Through a grant from the City of Rahway and private donations, Bray's Buddies raised $3,150, allowing 63 cats to be spayed/neutered. In addition to the neutering, all cats received vaccines, were de-wormed, and had their ear's tipped to identify that they have been neutered. Since February's program, not one kitten has been born in any of the participating feral cat colonies. This program was a tremendous success! We look forward to organizing similar programs in the future and are hoping to receive grants to allow us to continue this work.
Adopting a friend
Our adoption policy is that potential adopters must come meet the cat or kitten on a separate visit than when they take them home. It is extremely important to us to find the right match between the adopter and the cat. We want potential adopters to have time to think about the kitten's personality and make sure that the kitten will fit in well with their family and lifestyle. Adopting a pet is a big decision, as cats can live 20 years. We want to make sure that the kitten finds the right family to live with for the rest of their lives.
