Community Cats

Community cats is an umbrella term for feral, stray, alley, and/or otherwise ownerless free-roaming cats. Healthy community cats have a caregiver and may be valued by multiple residents of the neighborhood. In areas with substantial populations of unaltered cats, colonies will likely form. Colonies can grow drastically in number in a relatively short period of time. In seven years a pair of cats and their offspring can yield 42,000 cats.

In order to humanely decrease the stray cat populations, Grand Prairie Animal Services and volunteers coordinate a free community cat fix program called "Trap-Neuter-Return" (TNR).

The TNR program involves (1) trapping all or most of the cats in a colony, (2) getting them sterilized and (3) releasing them. Cats returned to the community are tipped on the left ear to identify them as sterilized.

Once fixed, these cats will be better neighbors. They will not be as likely to engage in problem behaviors like yowling, fighting, or spraying. Best of all, they will not be reproducing and increasing the number of homeless cats.

An intact community cat that is brought into the shelter to participate in the TNR Program is, at times, an indicator of a larger unaltered population. This acts as a flag for Animal Services staff to provide additional follow-up and support in the areas of our community that need it most.

TNR is supported by numerous cities and counties as the only proven way to effectively control feral cat population growth

Residents are encouraged to spay or neuter all domestic cats. Low cost programs, such as Spay Neuter Network and Texas Coalition for Animal Protection provide transportation services from the Prairie Paws Adoption Center.

Donating to the program and volunteering on the Grand Prairie Cat Crew are a huge help! Grand Prairie’s TNR program is assisted by volunteers who work with Animal Services staff.

To donate funds or to volunteer for any of the following roles on the Grand Prairie Cat Crew, please call 972-237-8575 or email gpcatcrew@gmail.com.

Volunteer opportunities include:

• Cat Colony Caretakers - Feed and water daily, keep count of cats in the colony, and ensure all cats are sterilized and have tipped ear.
• Transporters - Pick up feral cats and transport to them to get spayed/neutered.
• Block Walkers - Walk neighborhoods (with others) where there are known feral cat issues and leave Trap-Neuter-Return information for residents.
• Events and outreach volunteers - Help us spread the good word for cats (at various times and places)!
• Foster Kittens - Fostering kittens through the GP Cat Crew program helps socialize feral kittens.

Fostering kittens through the GP Cat Crew program helps socialize feral kittens. Email gpcatcrew@gmail.com for information.

If you find a cat that is alone, has a shiny coat, and seems well feed, it most likely belongs to one of your neighbors. Cats are very good at finding their way home and will eventually make its way back. There is no law in Grand Prairie against free-roaming cats, so please leave stray cats where you found them.

Ear tipping is a surgical alteration showing that a community cat has been spayed/neutered. It’s part of TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return).

These cats should never be re-trapped or brought to a shelter, unless sick. Instead, they should be left in their neighborhood to provide cat population control. Studies have shown by just being there, they prevent other cats from moving into the area. And, because they have been fixed, they will never have litters of kittens. Even if you don’t like cats, TNR ear-tipped cats have an important job to do in keeping your neighborhood a nice place to live.

Unless there is an immediate threat, leave kittens in place where their mother can find them, especially if they are too young to eat on their own. If you need to move the kittens, place them nearby where the mother can find them. If you must intervene with kittens, you can help by providing in-home foster care until the kittens are 8 to 10 weeks of age. Email prairiepawsfoster@gptx.org for information on fostering.