Community Cat Movement The Educational Wing Of Community Cats United, Inc
March is
International Community Cat
Trappers Month
TNVR (trap-neuter-vaccinate-return) is the practice of humanely trapping feral cats, spaying/neutering, vaccinating them against rabies, and then returning them to their colony to live out their lives. During this process, strays and friendly cats are adopted into homes through rescue groups. Feral cats are returned back to their habitats and watched over
by dedicated cat-lovers - all usually at the caretakers expense.
Cats are released at the same place they were trapped unless they are in imminent danger there. Relocation is a long and difficult process, involving crating of the cats at their new home until they acclimate. This is to avoid having them attempt to return to their orginal home.
As you can see in many of these images, TNVR often includes eartipping . This is not painful, and is used to identify feral cats that have already been fixed. TNVR drastically reduces the birth rate of feral kittens, which in turn makes more space for adoptable animals at local shelters.
The Trapping Process
(click on the first picture to folow the process)
One unaltered female has great reproductive abilities.
TNVR is needed. (Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return)
During the trapping process, traps should be monitored at all times.
Trapping is a practice in patience. Cats are careful by natural so the trapper must remain hidden and wait for the cat to enter the trap. Food is placed inside the trap to get them into the trap.
When an unaltered colony of cats is found, TNVR needs to happen quickly to avoid unwanted litters. Many cats are usually trapped at one time at one location.
Cats are transferred from the traps to carriers and covered to calm the cats.
During this process, cats are either spayed or neutered, ear-tipped (or some ID to show they are fixed), and vaccinated. They are held for a length of time to be monitored and allow recovery. This is TNVR.
The ear-tip allows for easy identification of a spayed or neutered cat. If it happens to be retrapped, it will be released immediately, knowing it has been TNR'd already due to the ear-tip. It also provides the cat with a far more healthy life by: *reducing reproductive cancers *makes the cat less likely to roam *reduces or removes nuisance behaviors *no heat cycles *eliminates unwanted litters
A caretaker then cares for these cats. These cats can now live in their habitats in a more healthy way. No more reproduction and they have been vaccinated to protect against diseases.
