IMPORTANT NOTICE
Due to moving our shelter to a new building, we are unable to accept intakes. We will announce a reopening once we are fully settled into our new space.
INTAKE INFORMATION
Thank you for trying to help a cat in need! We appreciate your effort and try to help as many cats as possible within our capacity. In order to best serve our community, we have strict requirements for the cats we accept into our rescue. Please read through this page thoroughly before contacting Murphy's Kittens.
INTAKE REQUIREMENTS
Our mission is to take all the stray cats and kittens off the streets of St. Johns County, Florida, provide them with proper veterinary care, and adopt them out to loving, forever homes. We are focused on accepting stray, unfixed cats in order to attempt to minimize the amount of kittens born in the community and help the existing population of friendly cats find homes.
To align with this mission, we are prioritizing the acceptance of:
Stray (unowned), unspayed, sociable female cats
Stray (unowned), unspayed/unneutered, sociable kittens over 2 pounds
Stray (unowned), unneutered, sociable male cats
By “sociable”, we mean cats that are friendly or on their way to being friendly. The cat must be put into a carrier to come to the rescue, so if you are able to do that, they are probably considered sociable.
If you have a feral (unfriendly, anti-social, not able to be handled) cat who you are needing help with, please email info@murphyskittens.org and we will see what resources we have available to help you. We unfortunately do not yet have the space to accommodate a feral cat population, and we believe our limited resources are better suited towards helping friendly cats find homes than rehabilitating feral cats. We will attempt to connect you with a local trapper who can trap the cat, get them spayed or neutered, and return the cat to their colony.
Unfortunately, we are not able to accept owner-surrendered cats. If you need to rehome your cat, please visit https://resources.bestfriends.org/article/rehome-my-dog-cat-or-other-pet for resources and information on best practices for rehoming. We recommend using rehome.adoptapet.com to post your pet for interested parties to see. Other rescues in the area may be able to take your pet for you.
WHAT ABOUT KITTENS?
Our policy is to not accept kittens until they are at least 8 weeks old and weigh at least 2 pounds. Young kittens do not do well in the shelter environment and tend to become ill. They do much better when they remain with their mother until they are weaned.
If you find kittens, please follow this chart provided by the Kitten Lady to decide how to best help them. If they are healthy, clean, and in a safe place, please feed the mother and leave the kittens with her, which is the best place for them to be until they are weaned. Please do not relocate kittens if they are in a safe place and with their mother; this greatly decreases their chance of survival.
We are unable to accept orphaned kittens under 8 weeks old. If you find orphaned kittens, please contact a veterinarian. You can email us at info@murphyskittens.org and we may be able to connect you with local resources, but we are unable to accept them ourselves. The Kitten Lady is also a fabulous resource for how to care for neonates.
INTAKE APPOINTMENTS
The first step in bringing a cat to our rescue is to send an email to info@murphyskittens.org. Please include as much information as possible about the age of the cat(s), how many there are (if multiple), color, sex (if known), where the cat(s) were found, and any other pertinent information.
Once the form is submitted, please allow up to 3 business days for a response. We will contact you and let you know if we are able to take the cat. We are constantly monitoring our inbox and will respond as soon as possible. Please do not call, email, or text us before 3 business days have elapsed; this simply clogs up the system and makes it harder to respond promptly. We are typically not able to take cats in on the same day a request is submitted, so, if your need is urgent, please explore other options while waiting for our response.
If we can take your cat, we will give you a date and time that the cat can be brought to our facility. We request that you respond to our message within 48 hours to confirm the appointment. If we do not receive a response, the appointment will be given to the next person on the waiting list.
We are currently not scheduling regular intake days, but, if we are able to help you, we will set up an individual intake appointment.
POLICIES
We are only able to accept cats from residents of St. Johns County. The cat must have been found in St. Johns County.
An intake fee of $20 is assessed per cat that is brought to Murphy's Kittens. This fee helps the rescue to provide care for the cat, including spay/neuter, microchipping, vaccines, disease testing, and other costs (average cost per cat = $150). This fee is payable by cash or card at the intake appointment.
Someone must be able to bring the cat to the intake appointment. We are unable to travel to pick up cats.
Cats must be brought to us in a carrier. It is unsafe for the cat and for us to accept animals that are not contained. The crate will be returned to you at the time of drop-off.
Upon arriving at your intake appointment, you will be asked to sign a surrender form releasing all rights to the cat.