Companion Animal Trust Inc

Causes: Animal Protection & Welfare, Animals

Mission:  The mission of the organization is to help and advocate for homeless animals through rescue, adoption and the reduction of the number of feral cats living on the streets.

Programs: The Neighborhood Feral Cat Initiative provides free monthly Trap Neuter Return training workshop to the community. Attendees will learn all the steps in setting up a managed cat colony including establishing good community relations, feeding, building and placing shelters, arranging vet care, safely handling feral cats, and trapping.   All workshop attendees will become TNR certified and will gain access to low cost spay/neuter and trap rentals.  Feral cats are free-roaming cats that are untamed and unsuitable for adoption. These cats are either born in the wild or have been abandoned and become wild.  If left alone, they keep reproducing, creating a crisis on many levels. The cats suffer and are more prone to sickness because they have fights and more litters. They can also become a neighborhood nuisance or can prompt well-meaning community members to call animal control to take care of them however, this just means that the cats are removed and killed, prompting new cats to take over the territory.

In the process of Trap-Neuter-Return the cat is humanely trapped, then transported to a vet where it is spayed or neutered, ear tipped and rabies vaccinated. Then the cat is released back to its original outdoor location and managed by a caregiver. The benefits of TNR to the community are many.

• A caregiver manages the colony and maintains a clean environment through controlled feeding.

• TNR will permanently reduce the colony size through attrition.

• Nuisance behaviors such as male spraying and fighting are dramatically reduced resulting in less calls to Animal Control

• Less cats and kittens are brought to an overburdened shelter resulting in reduced costs associated with housing and euthanasia

 For more information go to The Neighborhood Feral Cat Initiative website Neighborhood Feral Cat Initiative.