WEST ORANGE — The West Orange Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Return (TNVR) program recently paid a visit to Petco in West Orange to feature adoptable cats.
Luna is a 3-year-old special-needs cat. She loves to play and sit by windows watching outside. She’s amazing at the vet and with house guests and strangers. Luna is loving, sensitive, aware, loyal, and tolerant. She loves to walk on a leash and needs to be in a home with no other cats. A gentle, mellow, cuddly dog may be okay with her.
Because of her condition, she needs to be in a no-scented laundry detergent home. She doesn’t have enough collagen, which causes her to scratch herself. For that reason, she had to be declawed. But West Orange TNVR President Judith Stier does not agree with declawing cats. “This was to save her from grief,” she said.
Luna’s condition is called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDF). It’s a group of inherited connective tissue disorders that weaken the body’s structural proteins. It’s characterized by overly flexible joints, stretchy skin and tissue fragility. She also had to have her tail amputated.
She had been adopted prior, but was surrendered.
“She’s a love bug,” said Stier. “She’s just a good kitty.”
Mama Quince is a 6-year-old cat who was scheduled to be euthanized. But on that day, she gave birth to two babies. The babies were adopted and Mama Quince is also available for adoption.
“She’s become quite the mush,” said Stier.
West Orange TNVR currently has 13 cats available for adoption.
“We love them all and would love to see them get homes,” said Stier.
She explained that their cats are fostered and taken care of until they are adopted. “We need fosters,” she said.
Stier further explained that, when a cat is adopted, there’s always an adjustment period. And in the context of older people adopting cats, they need a family member to commit to taking the pet, in the event of a tragedy. West Orange TNVR does not have same day adoption. There’s a six-page application in the process.
West Orange TNVR is a non-profit 501c3 organization that stabilizes the free-roaming cat populations by spaying or neutering and giving vaccinations for rabies and distemper.
“We fought for an ordinance to do what we do legally and were granted the ordinance (in) February 2016,” said Stier. “West Orange TNVR does not receive any funding from the township. To date, we have spay/neutered 1,620 cats and adopted 1,318 cats and kittens. The kitten numbers also include owned cats. Many pet owners do not have the money to do this, so we do help on request to help. We also have caregivers maintain the many colonies that feed and monitor the cat’s health. We send food monthly to our caregivers. We seek to ensure they remain healthy and the area in which they live remains safe and pest-free. Our needs are financial, at this time.”
To learn more about the West Orange TNVR, visit: https://www.wotnvr.com/.
Photos by Maryanne Christiano-Mistretta
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