Bideawee's Feral Cat Initiative

Bideawee's Feral Cat Initiative Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Bideawee's Feral Cat Initiative, 3300 Beltagh Avenue, Wantagh, NY.

A program of Bideawee that supports the work of those who practice Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in New York City and Long Island to improve the lives of feral and stray community cats and reduce the number of kittens being born on the streets Bideawee’s Feral Cat Initiative supports the work of organizations and individuals who help feral and stray community cats through Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) in New York City and Long Island.

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 6–8 weeks old is the ideal age for taming (socializing) feral kittens, and you can do it in days using foo...
09/02/2026

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 6–8 weeks old is the ideal age for taming (socializing) feral kittens, and you can do it in days using food as an incentive. Why? This age range is when kittens go from complete dependence on their mom to complete independence. They're ready to learn a new way of life.

Kittens get a push toward independence as the weaning process ends. Mother's milk is no longer enough to fuel their rapid growth, so kittens eagerly accept a new source of nutrition. At the same time, Mom grows increasingly intolerant of nursing — she needs to save energy for her next litter.

This is also a time of accelerated learning for kittens. When they start leaving their den at about 6 weeks, Mom gives them a crash course in survival over the next 2 weeks. They learn to hunt on their own. They learn to run when Mom growls a warning and to hide until the danger has passed. If Mom fears humans, the kittens will learn that fear. Research shows that the impressions and habits formed at this age become deeply ingrained. Within the 6-8 week window, kittens can overcome a fear of humans if they experience a counterincentive of food and nurturing from us. But after that second month of life, their minds are not easily changed.

Learn more in our free "Taming Feral Kittens for Adoption" webinar:
On-Demand Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCITFKV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCITFKH

And for in-depth info on socializing kittens:
Urban Cat League : https://urbancatleague.org/taming-toolkit
Flatbush Cats : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuusLiEn_3Z2w--AXzrUAIrYV2hwXAZw6
Kitten Lady : https://kittenlady.org/socializing

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 When it comes to weaning kittens, slow and steady wins the race! Let each kitten go at their own pace.Some...
08/26/2026

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 When it comes to weaning kittens, slow and steady wins the race! Let each kitten go at their own pace.

Some kittens try their first slurry — a mixture of formula and kitten pate — and eat it up, but others refuse any meat-based food at first. Continue to bottle-feed around the clock every 5 hours until kittens can eat — not "nurse" — slurry unsupervised. Once they reach that point, they can be left overnight with ample wet food and/or slurry.

Some kittens transition to solid food within a few days, but some take longer depending on their condition. Underweight or sick kittens may need the bottle longer, while hardy kittens may jump right into eating plain wet food, or even kitten kibble. For extra picky eaters, try a variety of kitten food options.

Weighing your kittens before and after every meal is crucial during weaning, as you can no longer count each milliliter they consume. Failure to gain at least 10 grams per day is a signal to slow the weaning pace.

Once your kittens are eating confidently and gaining steady weight, they can graduate from the bottle to being left with ample wet food overnight — and you can sleep. Keep weighing them to make sure they'll make their spay/neuter target weight!

Learn more in our free "Bottle-Feeding and Care of Orphaned Kittens" webinar:
Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKH

And for in-depth info on raising kittens:
Kitten Lady: https://kittenlady.org/kitten-care
National Kitten Coalition: https://kittencoalition.org

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 At 5 weeks old, bottle baby kittens' premolar teeth emerge, a sign that their bodies are preparing to eat ...
08/19/2026

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 At 5 weeks old, bottle baby kittens' premolar teeth emerge, a sign that their bodies are preparing to eat meat. If their condition is stable, it's time to help them make a gradual transition from nursing to eating solid food — weaning. Just remember, each kitten weans at their own pace!

To start, place a very shallow dish of water in your kittens' enclosure, for hydration and to let them practice lapping with their tongues, a skill they'll need to eat independently.

Supervise closely when introducing food. A good beginner food is "kitten slurry," a soupy mix of formula and pate kitten food. Using a shallow dish makes it easier for kittens to practice lapping it up, but watch them carefully! If they just push their faces into the slurry, they're trying to "nurse" it. Kittens who try to suck on food need patient practice. Using a shallow dish decreases their risk of inhaling food into the lungs, which can be deadly.

For a first "weaning meal," offer ½ their normal bottle formula, then carefully introduce slurry, then offer the bottle again. Over 1 week, slowly increase the number of meals when you offer slurry. Adjust the ratio of pate to formula to make slurry wetter or meatier, to each kitten's liking.

Learn more in our free "Bottle-Feeding and Care of Orphaned Kittens" webinar:
Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKH

And for in-depth info on raising kittens:
Kitten Lady: https://kittenlady.org/kitten-care
National Kitten Coalition: https://kittencoalition.org

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 Weaning is a major transition in a kitten's life, and it's crucial to know how to tell when they're ready....
08/12/2026

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 Weaning is a major transition in a kitten's life, and it's crucial to know how to tell when they're ready. Normally, kittens can begin the weaning process at 5 weeks of age when their premolar teeth start to emerge. These teeth are for chewing meat, so their arrival is a sign that a kitten's body is preparing for a diet of solid food. But don't just go by their teeth!

A kitten's overall condition should be stable before you start adding meat to their diet. Why? The switch from milk to meat is very challenging for their little body. Ideally, kittens should weigh at least 550 grams at 5 weeks. However, many orphaned kittens who are found at this age are underweight — they'd benefit greatly from a few days of bottle-feeding (amount and timing according to their weight) to increase their weight until they're stable. Illness or dehydration can add to the challenges.

Even for robust kittens who are 5 weeks old and are meeting all their developmental milestones, weaning is a journey, not a destination! Just as we wouldn't change a human baby’s diet from formula to pizza overnight, we should let kittens wean gradually, at their own pace. Next week we'll give tips on how to help kittens on this journey.

Learn more in our free "Bottle-Feeding and Care of Orphaned Kittens" webinar:
Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKH

And for in-depth info on raising kittens:
Kitten Lady: https://kittenlady.org/kitten-care
National Kitten Coalition: https://kittencoalition.org

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 When fostering growing kittens, it's important to provide a safe, age-appropriate space for them. Whether ...
08/05/2026

It's ! 🐈💛🐈💙🐈 When fostering growing kittens, it's important to provide a safe, age-appropriate space for them. Whether you have bottle babies who are becoming too mobile to stay in a cat carrier nest, or you just took in 5-8-week-old weaning-age "toddlers," here are some tips.

• Keep your pets safe — quarantine foster kittens
• Set up an enclosure or room with distinct areas for rest, eating, play, and toileting:
- Easy to clean and disinfect
- Washable bedding and toy mama cat
- Hiding box
- Plenty of toys
- No hidden dangers — think like a cat
- Consider using tech for monitoring (e.g., wi-fi nanny cam)

Organizing separate zones for play and rest will make it easy to create healthy routines. When they've burned off their energy with vigorous play, signal that it's time to wind down by serving a meal in their dining/relaxing area. This sort of routine mimics the hunting-eating cycle of the natural world, so kittens respond well to it. Kittens who are in a predictable routine also seem "well-behaved," making them more attractive to potential adopters.

Learn more in our free "Bottle-Feeding and Care of Orphaned Kittens" webinar:
Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCIBFKH

And for in-depth info on raising kittens:
Kitten Lady: https://kittenlady.org/kitten-care
National Kitten Coalition: https://kittencoalition.org

It's ! 📝🐈 How can you kill or prevent fleas on a feral cat who won't let you close come enough to apply a topical medic...
07/28/2026

It's ! 📝🐈 How can you kill or prevent fleas on a feral cat who won't let you close come enough to apply a topical medicine? It's easy enough to have a vet apply a 1-month topical flea treatment while feral cats are sedated at a TNR clinic. But what if you want to keep your holding space flea-free before surgery, or let colony cats take shelter in a basement, or help a colony cat with a flea allergy?

Luckily, two inexpensive over-the-counter oral flea treatments are available online for your colony care needs. The generic medications nitenpyram and lufenuron work well together to protect cats (and property) from flea infestations. Each dose of nitenpyram (also sold as Capstar®) kills adult fleas and lasts for 24 hours. One dose of lufenuron kills flea eggs and larvae for 1 month. Most buyers give the monthly dose of lufenuron with a dose of nitenpyram, following up with at least one later dose of nitenpyram.

To dose a feral cat, crush a pill or empty a capsule into wet food or a treat to mask the flavor. For dosing multiple colony cats, use separate bowls placed apart from each other, and use a favorite high-reward food so everyone gobbles up their own dose quickly.

If you can afford a prescription drug for an allergic feral, there are two options: Credelio® chewable tablets, which kills both fleas and ticks, and Comfortis®, which kills adult fleas. One dose of either drug protects cats for a month. Note that neither of these drugs kills eggs or larvae.

Learn more about how solution-focused approaches like this can defuse conflicts and gain support for TNR in our free webinar:

Love Cats? Hate Cats? Be an "Advocat"
On-Demand Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCICRV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCICRH

And for in-depth info on TNR:
Alley Cat Allies : http://alleycat.org/TNR

It's ! 📝🐈 Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) solves and prevents a LOT of complaints against community cats. Unfortunately, TNR d...
07/21/2026

It's ! 📝🐈 Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) solves and prevents a LOT of complaints against community cats. Unfortunately, TNR doesn't stop cats from "trespassing" in garden beds to do their business. What to do when your colony cats are pooping on someone's prize petunias?

We've had success with these tried-and-true humane cat deterrents from our friends at Alley Cat Allies:
• Scatter citrus peels or wet coffee grounds. Cats hate the scent! 🍊🍋☕
• Give your cats an outdoor litter box, such as a cats-only sandbox or a patch of tilled soil in a corner of your yard. Scoop regularly. 🚽
• Use barriers to digging. Press plastic carpet runners (spike side up), chicken wire, or a "s**t mat" in the soil, or place criss-crossed sticks on the soil. Large river rocks deter weeds as well as cats. 🪨🌿
• Go high-tech with motion-activated sprinklers to shoo cats away. It sounds mean, but because the sprinklers hiss loudly when triggered, cats in the area will flee before the water ever touches them. The kitties skedaddle, but they don't get soaked — a win-win! 💦

To make it as painless as possible for your neighbor to try your solution(s), offer to provide and/or install garden deterrents, if you can. Most of these ideas are cheap and easy to implement. A motion-activated sprinkler costs $50–100, but you can lend one to a neighbor for a month or two until the cats are "trained" to avoid their garden. Cats are creatures of habit, so their new "manners" will stick, provided they have a place to do their business in peace.

Learn more about how solution-focused approaches like this can defuse conflicts and gain support for TNR in our free webinar:

Love Cats? Hate Cats? Be an "Advocat"
On-Demand Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCICRV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCICRH

And for in-depth info on TNR:
Alley Cat Allies: http://alleycat.org/TNR

It's ! 📝🐈 Are ants 🐜🐜🐜 spoiling your cat colony's "picnic," even if you move the food bowls away from ant hills and tra...
07/14/2026

It's ! 📝🐈 Are ants 🐜🐜🐜 spoiling your cat colony's "picnic," even if you move the food bowls away from ant hills and trails? No worries — just ant-proof your bowls with this simple trick:

Nest each bowl in a slightly larger bowl filled with water to create a moat. Ants won't cross water, so your cat food will be safe from an infestation. Make sure the gap between the bowls is too wide for ants to reach across it.

You can also buy ready-made ant-proof bowls online. Check the size of the bowl before you buy; some are made for large dogs and they may not fit in your feeding station.

Learn more about how solution-focused approaches like this can make your TNR feeding station a welcome addition to the neighborhood in our free webinar:

Love Cats? Hate Cats? Be an "Advocat"
On-Demand Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCICRV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCICRH

And for in-depth info on TNR:
Alley Cat Allies: http://alleycat.org/TNR

It's ! 📝🐈 Feeding issues are a top cause of complaints about community cats. To address or prevent complaints, just fol...
07/07/2026

It's ! 📝🐈 Feeding issues are a top cause of complaints about community cats. To address or prevent complaints, just follow these basic feeding best practices to help keep the peace — and keep the cats well-fed and happy!

• DON'T leave "cat trash" behind. People will unfairly blame the cats for the mess.

• DO put paper plates, empty cat food cans, etc. in a trash or recycling bin before you leave the colony, or take them with you.

• DON'T feed at random times and/or leave food unattended. This can attract wildlife, drawing unfair blame on the cats and risking fights between cats and critters.

• DO feed on a schedule. Cats love routine — they'll wait for you to arrive and they'll eat their fill within 30 minutes. If there are leftovers, remove them after 30 minutes, and next time you'll know the right amount to feed.

• DON'T dismiss, insult, or argue with complainers. It may feel good for a minute, but it could escalate the situation and put the cats in danger.

• DO talk calmly to neighbors who complain even though your feeding area is tidy. Ask for specifics and look for a fair compromise. The answer may be simple, such as feeding at a different time. By taking complaints seriously, you're halfway to a "win" for the cats.

Learn more about how solution-focused approaches like this can defuse conflicts and gain support for TNR in our free webinar:

Love Cats? Hate Cats? Be an "Advocat"
On-Demand Recording: https://bit.ly/BFCICRV
Handout: https://bit.ly/BFCICRH

And for in-depth info on TNR:
Alley Cat Allies : http://alleycat.org/TNR

07/01/2026

Baby, it's hot outside! Check out these life-saving hot weather tips for outdoor cats from our Director of Community Initiatives, Elyise Hallenbeck...

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3300 Beltagh Avenue
Wantagh, NY
11793

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