Stray and Feral Cats

 Community cats are unowned or semi-owned cats that live their lives outdoors, and typically fall into two categories: a “stray” cat probably once lived indoors as a pet, and was then abandoned or given away “free to a good home” to an irresponsible pet owner (but you can usually tell these cats are familiar with and even friendly to humans, as well as being more vocal than a cat defined as “feral.”) Feral cats are the other kind of Community Cat- fearful of people and will avoid human contact by all means necessary. If trapped or cornered, these cats will typically panic instantly, oftentimes causing harm to themselves in their attempt to escape a human. Because of the complexity and likely failure of attempting to “socialize” a feral cat, in addition to the general consensus that these cats cannot be adopted into homes as typical pets, feral cats were trapped and euthanized by the thousands in municipal shelters’ attempts at population control because, regardless of their demeanor or classification as “stray” or “feral,” these Community Cats have one thing in common: their ability to reproduce exponentially. Only about 3% of Community Cats (out of an estimated 80 million) are spayed/neutered, and each outdoor cat has the potential to add 20-25 new kittens yearly to this already massive number. Within 7 years, these numbers skyrocket to 10,000, and it’s clear why an effective strategy of population control becomes necessary. Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you feed them, fix them?” What this means is that each of our neighborhood’s homeless cats was once either abandoned by a previous owner, given away for free to someone unable to provide sufficient vetting, a lost pet who was never micro-chipped and reunited with their owner, or the offspring of one of these cats. As a result, the fault lies at the feet of humans. When we collectively accept responsibility of a cat we see outdoors, and display the initiative to ensure this cat can no longer continue reproducing and can no longer risk exposure and possible spread of infectious disease, we begin to see the community cat population stabilize and reduce over time- eliminating the next year’s 20+ new homeless kittens that will overwhelm our community shelters once again next year. So how do we- as community members seeing these cats- help regain control of the population increase, stop the spread of feline/small mammal diseases that are completely preventable given today’s affordable and accessible vaccinations, and simultaneously decrease the strain on our animal shelters by reducing their new spring kitten intake every year?
The overwhelming majority answer is “TNR.” And it’s simple enough that with the resources available on this site, you can do it all by yourself. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is an animal control management practice where community cats are humanely trapped, sterilized by a veterinarian, vaccinated against rabies, eartipped, and returned to the trapping location.

Ready to begin TNR in your own neighborhood? Complete and step-by-step instructions are available on the Resources page.