animal welfare advocacy happens here
Coconut Cats​
What is a Feral Cat? A feral cat is born and raised outdoors with little or no human contact, or is a stray that has lived outside long enough to become wild. Feral cats are elusive and typically distrustful of humans, often resulting from pet abandonment or failure to spay or neuter pets .
Feral cats form colonies and seek shelter wherever food is available, often in alleyways, empty lots, or abandoned buildings. Their lives are harsh, filled with struggles for food and water, and they face constant threats from disease and predation.
These cats, representing the abandoned and lost, need our help.​​Difference Between Stray and Feral CatsYes, there is a difference. Feral cats are primarily wild or adapted to live outdoors, whereas stray cats are lost or abandoned pets. Stray cats generally trust humans and often seek shelter near people, relying on them for food."Catch and Kill" Doesn't Work. " The 'catch and kill' approach is costly and ineffective. Eradicating feral cat colonies often leads to the "vacuum effect," where new cats occupy the area or surviving cats breed more carefully.
This method only offers a temporary solution.​​​Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) Does WorkTNVR is a humane method that involves trapping feral cats, spaying or neutering them, vaccinating them against rabies, and returning them to their colonies. A caretaker provides food and shelter, stabilizing the population. TNVR is cost-effective and humane, allowing feral cats to live healthier lives without contributing to the homeless cat population.
What is TNR?
How Trap Neuter Return
Benefits Cats and Communities
​​Humanely controlling the free-roaming cat population is a pressing issue in many communities. Unchecked numbers may lead to crowded shelters, high euthanasia rates, and numerous free-roaming cats who are susceptible to disease. The most humane and effective way to manage cat populations is “TNR,” or Trap Neuter Return. Learn more about what TNR is, how it works, and why it is a vital strategy for managing cat populations.
​
What is TNR?
​
Trap Neuter Return (TNR) is a method used to control the population of free-roaming or community cats. The process involves three primary steps:
​
-
Trap: Humane traps are used to safely capture free-roaming cats. Volunteers or animal control officers use humane traps to capture a free-roaming cat. These traps are designed to cause minimal stress and injury to the cats. The captured cats are then transported to a veterinary facility.
-
Neuter: The trapped cats are taken to a veterinary clinic where they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and given a health check. In many TNR programs, cats are also ear-tipped — a small portion of the left ear is surgically removed—to indicate that they have been sterilized and treated.
-
Return: After recovery, the cats are returned to their original location. Returning the cats to their original location is crucial, as it avoids displacing them into unfamiliar territory where they might not survive. Plus, this helps reduce the population size over time by eliminating breeding and preventing new intact cats from joining the colony.​
TNR is widely recognized as a more humane method of managing cat populations compared to euthanasia.
Benefits of TNR
​
-
Population Control: By preventing reproduction, TNR gradually reduces the number of cats in a community. Over time, this leads to a decrease in the overall population of free-roaming cats.
-
Improved Health and Reduced Suffering: Sterilized cats tend to be healthier as they are less likely to contract certain diseases, engage in fights, or roam over large distances in search of mates. Vaccination during the TNR process also helps control the spread of diseases.
-
Humane and Ethical: TNR is widely recognized as a humane method of managing cat populations compared to ineffective alternatives like euthanasia. It allows cats to live out their natural lives without contributing to the overpopulation problem.
-
Community Benefits: TNR programs can lead to fewer complaints from residents about cat-related nuisances such as yowling, spraying and fighting. Additionally, stable cat colonies can help control rodent populations.​