TNRM/Register Your Colony
Feral and free-roaming cats are everywhere and can be found throughout our community. Despite the fact that some people loathe cats, a large percentage of the population will assist these animals whenever necessary. Their unchecked reproduction has created a significant burden in terms of quality of life for these cats.
The impact of the feral and stray cat population goes beyond quality of life issues and reaches far into the cost and effectiveness of our community’s animal control system. The unneutered street cat population serves as a constant source of new cats and kittens. Many of these animals find their way into local shelters, taking up badly needed space, making it more difficult to adopt out cats already rescued and contributing to a financial burden of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from the cost of
euthanizing cats.
To date, the official policy for dealing with feral cats has been a mixture of “trap-and-kill” - so named
because ferals are unadoptable and invariably end up being euthanized when captured - and doing
nothing. Both approaches have failed and will continue to fail if further pursued.
Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return, and Maintain – commonly referred to as TNR is the only
non-lethal way, at this time, to reduce the population of feral-neighborhood cats. TNR, is being
embraced by towns and municipalities all across the nation. The ASPCA, the HSUS, and Alley Cat
Allies support Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) as the most humane and effective strategy for managing
the feral cat population."
Critter Shack is committed to our community cats and committed to reducing and stablizing healthy cat
populations in our community through TNR. Since November of 2013, with the generous donations of
funds, vaccinations, the time and energy of eight local and surrounding area veterinarians, Critter
Shack has spayed/neutered and vaccinated over two thousand cats.
In November of 2015, Critter Shack Rescue opened a low cost spay/neuter clinic providing spay/neuter
services to the public for both pet and community cats as well as dogs. Visit our Spay/Neuter Clinic
page for more information.
PLEASE NOTE!!
These clinics are intended for those who are managing feral cat colonies and those who are
working to reduce the number of free roaming community cats. These clinics ARE NOT for pets
or indoor cats. Please have your pet cat spay/neutered and vaccinated by your veterinarian.
If you are practicing TNRM, please consider registering your colony with Critter Shack. Click here
for more information on Registering Your Colony.
Benefits of TNR
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Reduces shelter admissions and euthanasia rates
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Improves public health
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Provides access to grant funding and volunteer participation
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Decreases nuisance complaints
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Green solution to rodent control
Resources
Trapping Guidelines
Video: A comprehensive view of TNR as the only effective strategy
