Trap-neuter-return

If you need guidance or assistance with humanely managing a community cat colony or stray, Felius will assess your needs and see if we can help through our free trap-neuter-return (TNR) program.

Our TNR program is currently paused as we relocate to a new facility. We will resume operations in the late spring/early summer. Visit felius.org/rescueresouces for other recommended organizations that may be able to help.

What is TNR?

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is when community cats (feral cats) are humanely trapped and taken to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and have one ear tipped (a visible sign that a cat has been a part of a TNR program), then finally returned to their colony or placed for adoption if appropriate. This program reduces the number of cats able to reproduce thereby reducing the number of kittens.

Felius program rules:

  • You must be the rightful keeper/caretaker/custodian of the Animal(s) OR you have reason to believe that the Animal(s) do not have a rightful owner/keeper/caretaker.

  • You surrender to Felius Rescue any and all property rights to the Animal(s) and certify that no other person has a right of property to the Animal(s).

  • You understand that Felius Rescue has the right to evaluate if the Animal(s) can be socialized and adopted through our standard adoption process. If the Animal(s) is not suitable for adoption, it will be returned to where the Animal(s) was originally found after the TNR process is complete.

  • Felius Rescue will not relocate Animal(s) upon release, for any reason. The Animal(s) must be re-released exactly where they were originally trapped.

Note: We have a small (but mighty) team of TNR volunteers. Please be patient while we process your application. We try to help every cat we can, but unfortunately we cannot help everyone.

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More about TNR

Felius Cat Café & Rescue launched it's Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program in the fall of 2019. TNR humanely reduces the number of community cats (also known as feral cats) who can reproduce. This helps to control feral cat populations, which has a positive impact on both animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Scientists estimate that there is somewhere between 60 million and 160 million feral cats just in the United States. And these numbers continue to grow.

Feral cats (and cats let outside by their owners) can spread disease and are responsible for killing more than 4 billion animals per year, including approximately 500 million birds. This has devastating impacts on local and global ecosystems.

With TNR, community cats are humanely trapped in a size-appropriate trapping device, and then taken to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, ear-tipped (a safe and visible sign that the cat has been altered), and then returned to their surroundings, or made available for adoption if appropriate. Read about David on our blog, one Felius' biggest TNR success stories!

In addition to having our own trapping program, Felius works with community members to provide assistance and education around safe practices for TNR. To date, we have TNR'd over 811 community cats.

If you want to get involved with our TNR program, visit felius.org/volunteer to complete an application.

Still have questions?

Submit your question to our rescue team using the form below.