“I totally took advantage of that meow,” she said.

Little is known of Imando’s biography except that he was found in College Point, Queens. Kittens turn up unattended, in vacant lots, in building basements, in parks, all over the city, for a variety of reasons, Ms. Bravo said.

“If a mom is moving a litter very hastily, she may leave one behind,” she said, “like if she’s scared of a predator or if people are threatening her nesting place. Or he may be the only survivor from his litter.”

Kittens come to the nursery as young as one day old, usually through the city shelter system. They are evaluated medically and then spend up to two weeks in quarantine. After kittens eat on their own, they move to the “peewee” unit, where their keepers prepare them for adoption by getting them used to being handled.

A volunteer named Kelelyn Lemay demonstrated some of her techniques on Yoshi, an orange-striped 6-week-old.