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.
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.