COMMUNITY CATS

What is a community Cat?

Community Cat is a term used to describe unowned, free-roaming cats. These cats can be friendly or feral, adults or kittens, healthy or sick, altered or unaltered. They may or may not have a colony manager (or caregiver). While Community Cats are unowned, they do have an outdoor home and

For many years, community cats were trapped and killed in a failed attempt at population management. Using this trap-and-kill approach is not only ineffective at reducing outdoor cat populations, it’s a burden on shelters. Because shelters aren’t able to handle that level of feline intake, cats now account for roughly two of every three animals dying in U.S. shelters.

Community cats are unowned, free-roaming outdoor cats who may be social or under socialized with people and may or may not have a human caregiver.

Many of our compassionate neighbors care for community cats and provide food, water, and even outdoor shelter. Other cats thrive without any human intervention.

Whatever a cat’s individual circumstances, the term “community cat” reflects the reality that for these cats, “home” is within the community rather than in an individual household.

What is TNR (Trap, Neuter, Return)?

TNR is an abbreviation for Trap, Neuter, Return, a program designed to make Community Cats better neighbors to the humans and other pets they live among. With this program, cats are humanely trapped, brought to the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society Clinic, altered, vaccinated, and eartipped. They are then returned to their outdoor home.

The proven program naturally stabilizes and reduces Community Cat populations. It keeps community cats (and by proxy, other cats living in the area) more healthy and makes them better neighbors because behaviors and stresses associated with mating, such as yowling or fighting, stop.

Not only does TNR make good sense, it is also a responsible, humane method of care for outdoor cats.

You can make a difference and save lives!
Together, we can educate people about feral cats and the fact that they don’t belong in shelters.