What is Trap-Neuter-Return?

Did you know that female cats can become pregnant as early as four to five months old and can have as many as three litters a year? Crunch the numbers and a single unaltered feral female and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years. Yowza!

So how are we not all overrun by cats? Through a program called Trap-Neuter-Return, in which volunteers (like you) trap a feral cat, get them spayed or neutered at a vet that participates in the program, and release them back to their original location.

Why release back?


You may think that taking the cat to a shelter is your best option, but it's not. All feral cats brought to city shelters are euthanized because they are unsocial and fearful of people and thus unadoptable (this is what separates them from strays, which have lived with humans before and could live with them again). So if you trap the cats, get them spayed or neutered, and then return them to their original location.

The Human Society of the United States (HSUS) made a great video that shows first-hand why their organization, along with the ASPCA, agrees that TNR is the best, and most humane, option for dealing with feral cats.

Tags: feral cats, how to get rid of feral cats, national feral cat day, trap neuter return, trap-neuter-return