.jpg)
2025 Adoption Events
Saturday, May 17th, June 21st
Petco Totowa 11am to 2pm
Kittens& Cats & More Cats & Kittens!!
Check out our Pets for Adoptions
Get Pre-Approved
Tricky Tray 2025
Save the Date
Sunday, Sept 21st
DoubleTree by Hilton~ Fairfield
At the Hands of an Abuser
Heading 1
Rugby And Tug
Update:
Rugby has found his forever home!! We love you always Rugby!!
Rugby has had his surgery to fix his broken femur. It was a long recovery for Rugby and his foster Mom, its hard to keep a kitten from running, jumping and playing. Rugby went to his forever home on 3/19/2025, his new mom was very excited to finally bring him home! Rugby will have a new playmate, as his brother Tug has not been found, though we will never stop looking for Tug.
On December 16th, a pair of 5 ½ month old feline brothers, Rugby and Tug, were adopted by a local young man. We were happy that yet another forever home was found for our well-deserved kittens. If only the story ended there.
We were notified via a post on Facebook of a very questionable individual looking to adopt. Another local rescue had already had a fostering issue with this shifty gentleman and wanted to get the alert out. Thanks to their persistence and their unfortunate loss of two kitten lives from suspicious circumstances, the police had been asked to perform a welfare check at the home. Their check was to no avail as the door to the home went unanswered. After speaking with local rescue they had continued concerns about the same individual bringing a kitten into an Animal Emergency Group on December 22nd with a fracture of some sort. S.T.A.R.T. contacted the ER group and realized that it was our kitten, Rugby, that was seen at the hospital, yet they were not at liberty to divulge any specific medical care or the kitten’s condition.
Once again, the police were called in, this time by S.T.A.R.T., requesting assistance to get our kittens surrendered back to our care. Thankfully on December 30th, we were able to retrieve Rugby yet little Tug, we were told, escaped the home. We rushed Rugby back to the ER to get the care he so desperately needed. Since the diagnosis of a broken femur on December 22nd, Rugby was kept in a carrier by this abuser with no food, water or medical attention until our retrieval eight days later. Emaciated and broken, Rugby is now fighting for his life. Our priority is to get him stable enough, strong enough, to undergo surgery for his broken leg, either to mend the break or to amputate the hind leg. We will never know how Rugby sustained such a horrible injury, and maybe we don’t want to know, but we are asking for your help in healing this little boy. Invoices for Rugby's critical care was over $5,000.
Update: on 1/15/25 Rugby was healthy enough to get his broken leg surgically repaired. He will be on cage rest for the next 8 weeks and we can only hope he heals perfectly!! Surgery and Medical care exceeded $1,500.
Any donation you can give to help with Rugby's care will help!!
In the meantime, traps were set and signs posted to bring home little Tug. Maybe this boy did the right thing by running from this abusive situation, but now we need to let him know there are good people in this world. We pray we find him, get him medical attention and reunite him with his brother.
Animal abusers need to be stopped but this can only happen with the constant communication between rescue organizations and community members. The lives we continue to rescue put their trust in us and we cannot let them down. And we will not let them down.
We all THANK YOU ALL, START and Rugby, for your generosity and help! Please share Rugby's story with Friends and Family! Thanks again!!
Thank you
S.T.A.R.T. , Save the Animals Rescue Team
PO Box 1098, Little Falls, NJ 07424
Phone: 973-785-1245
On February 15th, a cry for help was heard over social media. Right in our backyard in Paterson, NJ, a home claimed to be overwhelmed with fifty cats. The rescue organization, Homeless Tails of Wayne, answered the plea and soon realized the gravity of the situation. The home, in deplorable condition, was overrun with over 140 cats. Homeless Tails, along with Animal Control, took on the major task of reaching out to local rescues and shelters to help. The initial evacuation was set to remove all of the kittens, the pregnant cats, the nursing mother cats and those in need of immediate medical attention
When you adopt a single cat, you make a difference in the lives of many. Please help us to help them, one cat at a time. This rescue effort
is not complete until every cat is removed and in a new loving home.
S.T.A.R.T., Save the Animals Rescue Team founded as a non-profit organization by Annette Lamberti and is the original S.T.A.R.T., in North New Jersey. S.T.A.R.T., is a humane organization whose mission is to rescue stray, abandoned, injured, and abused animals, in northern New Jersey. The animals rescued are examined by a veterinarian, spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and placed in one of our volunteer foster homes. Since S.T.A.R.T. does not have a shelter facility, these animals remain in our foster care until they are adopted.
PLEASE ALTER YOUR COLONIES
PLEASE Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) your colonies and strays you feed. Remember kittens can get pregnant at 4 months, puppies can get pregnant by 6 months old. If you feed an outside cat colony, please seek out help to TNR (trap, neuter and return) while your colony is small. Colonies grow to 20 – 30 cats in a blink of an eye. Cats that have been TNR'd have what we call an ear tip (their left ear is clipped to be flat - not rounded like the right ear) so if you are feeding a cat that does not have an ear tip, please take the cat to be altered at your vet or one of the low-cost facilities in the area that help to reduce overpopulation. Please, please, please get them altered before the next litter. Don’t wait until you see kittens! If your neighbors feed, please let them know the cats need to be altered asap ! If
Share the Love with Nico
Our Special Needs Kitty
Nico is a beautiful black and white tuxedo girl. Born in mid July, 2022, her “half moustache” is only part of her cuteness. She loves to look at you with her soulful eyes and will even talk to you. She is full of life and full of personality. You could say that this little one wants to be your best friend. The perfect companion for those lazy nights on the couch. At first glance, Nico looks like any ordinary cat, but in fact she has something very special about her. Nico is paralyzed.
Nico was found in the street, crying out for someone to come to her aid. A young girl picked her up and reached out to S.T.A.R.T. for guidance. We brought Nico in and immediately rushed her to the vet. The heart of a rescuer is strong but seeing any animal in a helpless state can break you. After an exam and x-rays, we received both good news and bad news. The good news was that nothing was broken. The bad news was ………. that nothing was broken. Nothing broken means there is nothing to repair. She most likely has suffered from a ruptured disk which has left her with no mobility or feeling in her back end.
You may think that a cat in her condition will never live a full life. All you have to do is meet Nico and you realize just how full of life she is. She loves to play, she loves to eat, and she absolutely loves to be loved! Of course, her maintenance is a little more involved than a regular house cat. Her bladder needs to be expressed 3-4 times daily. A fairly easy task but keeping her on a schedule is key. We are looking to find her a forever home with someone who has experience in paralysis and what Nico’s limitations and capabilities may be. She has truly opened our eyes to what is important in life.
Nico is vaccinated, altered, FeLV/FIV tested negative and microchipped. If you are interested in adopting this pet, you can start the process and access our pre-adoption application which is located on our website at www.startpets.net, click on Pets for Adoption then application; complete the form, and submit/send.
Donate Today
Donate Today
In Memory
Save the Animals Rescue Team says goodbye to dear friend's
with "In Memory Donations"
Donations can be made in the name of a person that has passed in their memory.
Please use the below link to go to our " In Memory of a Loved One" Page
If you would like to leave a donation in the memory of someone that has passed, please make sure you include your name & the person's family's name and address. S.T.A.R.T. we can send our condolences to the family and send you a list of people that have made donations.
Donate Today
Kitten season is always here!!!
The doors of S.T.A.R.T. are bursting open with the pitter patter of tiny feet! Or should we say paws! Save the Animals Rescue Team has many foster parents that are tending to little ones who are looking for their forever homes. While we would love nothing more than to save them all, we can only tend to so many, so every adoption allows us to save yet another life. The rescuing never ends but we can only succeed with the help and generosity of our community. What a rewarding feeling it is to say you helped to save a life!
Meet and Greets only at Petco Totowa. Our adoption events on weekends at Petco on Route 46W in Totowa from 11a-2pm are scheduled monthly. Please check out our Pets for Adoption and send us an email and we will set up an appointment.
Keep in mind that kitten season does not mean that our adults get overlooked. While the colors and the personalities of the cats may vary, the need for love does not.
All of the cats in our care are altered, up to date with their vaccinations, tested for FELV/FIV and microchipped.
Any questions, please call S.T.A.R.T. at 973-785-1245 or visit www.startpets.net!