Each year in the US, millions of kittens are born to free-roaming, community cats. The majority of these cats are not socialized to humans and cannot be brought indoors as family pets. The most effective method of controlling the population of community cats is Trap, Neuter, and Return (known as TNR). Free-roaming cats are trapped using humane traps. They are taken to a veterinary clinic where they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, de-wormed, and treated for fleas/ticks. They receive pain medication and are held for a period of time to ensure they are eating and have recovered well. They are then returned to the same outdoor location in which they were trapped. These cats also have a small portion of their left ear removed while under anesthesia. This is called an "Ear Tip". It is a way of indicating to persons in the community that the cat has been through the TNR program and will no longer be contributing to the over-population of cats in the area. 

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While saving orphaned kittens is a large part of our rescue's mission, an equally important aspect is ensuring that the free-roaming cats in our community are not continuing to produce litter after litter, season after season. 

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Watch a video of our first TNR kitty "Tommy" being released back to his outdoor home:   Tommy's Release