Community Cats

What are Community Cats?

• cats that live outdoors

• may or may not be friendly

• may or may not be aggressive

• may include pets left behind

Osceola County’s problem:

• estimated 50,000 – 60,000 community cats in the county

• unaltered females can have an average of 2-3 litters of 2-3 cats per year, making the problem worse

• stray cats cause noise, odor and other nuisance complaints

• large colonies can spread disease quickly

The solution: TNVR

• 

  T = Trap – the animal is trapped in its habitat

• N = Neuter – the animal is altered so that it cannot reproduce

• V = Vaccinate – rabies & other vaccines are administered

• R = Return – the animal is returned to its habitat

• We help facilitate the humane trapping, spaying/neutering, vaccinating, and ear-tipping of community cats. Ear-tipping is the universal symbol of a spayed or neutered outdoor cat.  Once they recover, cats are returned to their areas, and their numbers are reduced over time.

Proven advantages of spay/neuter:

Just by spaying and neutering community cats, many of the nuisance behaviors that are so annoying will be abated. Behaviors such as fighting, spraying, and random litters of kittens showing up under your house will be greatly reduced. It takes about 3 months for changes in behavior after spay/neuter to occur. Please give it a little time as the change is not immediate.

Also, cats that are spayed/neutered are less likely to stray far away from their primary food source, reducing interactions with people and the potential for causing problems for citizens.

When a cat cannot go back home…

A few years ago, we implemented the Career Cat program.  These outdoor cats are animals that do not tend to like being around people very much. These cats have no desire to be lap cats; they are working felines; career cats who are used to and thrive in an outdoor life.

We have a program that places these hard-working feral cats in situations where they can survive and thrive while helping their owner keep an area free of pests.