Albany’s Orange Street Cats

Typically when a building gets condemned and torn down, it goes largely unnoticed. However, in the case of 198 Orange Street, there is an effort underway to save and find homes for over 90 cats, ranging from kittens to adults, that were left behind.

The city condemned the dilapidated 820 square foot home in a rundown section of Sheridan Hollow on July 21 when a neighbor reported a foul odor they thought to be caused by the sewer. Instead, authorities found an unstable building occupied by over 90 cats, 2 dogs and 1 woman. The woman living in the apartment wanted to save them all and simply couldn’t turn them away.

In the past three weeks, the newly formed Orange Street Cats Organization, a group of 15 to 20 volunteers, has been rescuing the animals before the house is demolished. They have already spent thousands of dollars to take care of the felines. Despite some minor health problems and dirty conditions, most of the cats are loving and affectionate. The group has been receiving assistance assistance from the Mohawk & Hudson River Humane Society, Normanside Veterinary Clinic, Bloomingrove Veterinary Hospital and Animal Lovers, but more help and homes are needed.

To learn how you can help, contact Orange Street Cats at or call 518-533-5242. Many cats are already ready for adoption – check out the Adoptable Cats page. Some need foster care and the organization is also accepting donations.

(*All Photos from Orange Street Cats)

More Information: “Cat love trumps law” by Jordan Carleo-Evangelist

Brian Tromans

8 Responses

  1. Robare says:

    Please do not remove all the cats from that building! The cats serve a purpose to that building and the neighborhood by hunting mice and rats. Too many mice and rats can spread diseases.

  2. hellomolly says:

    if you want a cat to hunt mice, adopt one. Filthy, unvaccinated and uncared for cats also spread disease.

  3. Robare says:

    Who are you to suggest that I might want a cat to hunt mice? Are you saying that I have mice? Do you claim to be a psychic? What the heck are you thinking?

    So based on your logic, those cats should not be catching mice or rats because they are not adopted. Only adopted cats have the right to hunt mice or rats in that building, Right?

    Based on your twisted logic, all the cats should be removed from the building allowing the mice and rats to overpopulate the neighboorhood and spread disease.

    You need to live in a neigborhood that is infested with mice and rats and maybe you might comprehend the importance of free range cats in the hood. If you were homeless and ended up in an adandoned building and at night some rats start to visit where your are resting your head, how would you like that? That is why people who are homeless make friends with stray cats and realize how helpful they are. I hope you can understand this. Why do you think the Egyptians made idols out of cats? The stray cats prevented and stopped many plagues in Egypt. Why did the blubonic plague in Europe spread and killed millions? Cats were considered as evil and demonic and many were killed, therefore, the rat and mice population exploded, spreading the plague to humans.

    Are you a scientist and can prove that cats spread diseases to humans? I would call that a mad scientist. Cats do not spread diseases to humans, cats can spread diseases to other cats.

    Adoption is important and 90 cats in a abandoned building is way too many. I can see taking away 80 cats and leaving 10 to keep the rodent population down.

  4. Cihan says:


    While I am not personally aware of a viral disease that can be spread from cats to humans (although there was a case of last year’s swine flu reported in a cat), there *are* parasites that can be spread from stray cats to humans. Roundworms and tapeworms, among some other parasites spread their eggs through infected cat feces, and there’s nothing stopping a stray cat from doing its business in your home garden, for example.

    There’s a difference between a stray cat, and a feral cat. A stray cat is a domesticated animal without a home, where a feral cat is a non-domesticated animal. In the case of strays, they should be picked up and adopted, but in the case of ferals, the trap, neuter, and release (TNR) programs prove the most effective.

    I personally think it kind of absurd to demand that domesticated and tame animals be left outside without an opportunity for someone to adopt them. Also note that this house is to be demolished, and that the feral cat population that already exists in Albany is no small group either.

    As for your historical argument, not all of that makes a whole ton of sense either. To begin with, we don’t really have solid proof of what caused the Black Death (the historical plague across Europe that you are referring to). The general consensus is that it was the bubonic plague, although other reputable sources believe it may have been another disease altogether. Bubonic plague isn’t an issue in NYS, and in the end it is spread by fleas (rats and mice being very fast moving bodies for fleas to be transported on makes them more likely to transmit those fleas, but all stray cats are also bound to have the same fleas, in such a situation). On the other hand, although uncommon, rabies is more relevant to NYS, and rodents are very rare vectors for that disease, making your rat/mouse disease argument fairly invalid.

  5. hellomolly says:

    And how you would decide which cats get rescued and are allowed to live in a healthy environment, being cared for, with vaccines and vet care, and which cats remain in filth, spreading diseases to one another, creating a general mess and then inevitably creating more cats that multiply to create the exact same problem within a few months? Think about it for more than two seconds and maybe you’ll get it. Removing those animals from that building is the only humane way to deal with the situation. I doubt removing a bunch of cats from ONE of the many derelict buildings in that area will have a significant effect on the rat population. Truly, think before you type next time.

  6. Jason Brown says:

    Good post, Brian. They need a better home and this is a great way to spread the word.

  7. Machelle says:

    Ummmm, maybe nobody has payed attention to the story…. The house was demolished! should we really think it is ok to leave ANY cat in a house that is going to be demolished in living conditions worse then a 3rd world country? The living conditions alone are enough to spread diseases!!!! And how would you like to have to live like that, but once again, none of that really matters considering that like I just said, the house was demolished. Unless you think it’s humane to demolish a house with a cat inside of it, I think you might wanna re-think your story! Number one reason for any cat having any disease is HUMANS!! If people would get thier pets spayed/nuetured then we wouldn’t have to worry about an over-population of animals that are not able to find homes. As far as Rats and Mice, SET A TRAP!

  8. Irina says:

    Robare, I hope that you were pulling one over on us, because clearly you are a tool, and people who think they way you do scare me.