About
Our Mission:
Reduce the population of homeless cats and provide them with loving forever homes.
Throughout the city of Boston, there is a population of feral and abandoned cats suffering homeless lives. Boston’s Forgotten Felines (BFF) is a group of dedicated caretakers who feed, TNR (trap, neuter, return), and re-home friendly cats. We make sure every cat in our care gets spayed/neutered, and we provide medical help for injured and sick cats. We believe education is the key to reducing and one day preventing animal homelessness. You, too, can help end this cycle by being responsible pet owners, including spaying/neutering your pets and not abandoning them.
Boston’s Forgotten Felines is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We rely on a network of volunteers and your donations to keep us going.
Our Story:
Over 30 years ago, BFF’s founder, Joni Nelson, began feeding feral cats on the streets of Boston. A year later, she was working on TNR’ing hundreds of cats and setting up feeding stations for the ferals. At one point, Joni and her friends were feeding 200 cats at 69 locations across the city each day. Today, BFF now has a 501(c)(3) nonprofit status with dedicated volunteers of all ages. In April 2025, we lost our founder, Joni, but we continue the rescue in her memory, led by Lynne Gramer, Victoria Ruff, and Cindy Bortman.
Because of the large number of abandoned cats and kittens, we continue to need rescuers, foster homes, feeders, and other volunteers. With your help and support, we can rescue even more cats and kittens and place them in loving homes.
“There are moments in one’s life when everything changes, and you are never the same. That’s what happened to me when I went out to feed Boston’s Forgotten Felines with Joni in January 2015: I knew I had to help and that I’d never be the same.”
– FCW Danapel
Trap, Neuter, Return:
Many feral cats cannot be adopted, so we focus on TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return) to reduce Boston’s feral cat population. In addition to feeding our feral cats daily, our dedicated Feral Cat Warriors (FCWs) will trap any new cats that arrive at the colony site. The cats are brought to the vet, where they will be scanned for a chip to make sure they are not owned. If needed, the cat will be spayed/neutered and will get a thorough check-up, including updated rabies & FVRCP vaccinations, flea and dewormer treatments, and teeth and ears checked. If feral, the cat will be eartipped (the common practice) so that once back on the street, others will know they are part of a colony and fixed.
Interested in becoming a Feral Cat Warrior? Click here!
Meet Mouse:
We trapped Mouse and six of his relatives during the summer of 2024. At the time, Mouse was a scrawny and sickly kitten. He was so skinny, his fur stuck up, and his face was covered in gunk. We didn’t think he would survive.
But thankfully, we were wrong! Because of our dedicated volunteers, Mouse is now a healthy lovebug– we can’t count how many people have fallen in love with him.
And we don’t blame them: Mouse is a bundle of joy. Whenever someone walks in, he rushes to jump up into their arms and purrs very loudly. Although he loves being held, Mouse has so much energy; he adores playing and hanging out with kittens.
