TNR Facts

(Trap/Neuter/Release)

The most common complaints about cats include fighting, yowling, and spraying. Spaying and neutering the cats results in reducing these behaviors, usually within about 30 days. The treated cats are normally healthier and the number of cats in the area should stabilize and gradually reduce through attrition. Removing the cats does not work. Typically, this just results in other cats moving into the vacant territory. KittiCo has found that stabilizing the colony through sterilization is the better solution.

Every spayed, or neutered, cat makes a huge difference. In seven years, one female cat, and her offspring, can yield 420,000 cats.

Spayed/Neutered cats do NOT:
Roam......Spray.......Fight.........Breed......Spread Diseases

The ONLY humane, and effective, way of addressing the overpopulation crisis is through spay, and neuter, surgery.

The Alternatives to TNR

Do Nothing: Eventually the problem will reach unmanageable levels and cause untold suffering. One unaltered female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 cats in just seven years.

Trap & Kill: Aside from being inhumane, this approach is not a solution. The problem is everywhere. More cats will simply move in to fill the void and start the cycle over again.

Catch & Tame: With the exception of young kittens, this approach is not realistic. Wild adults cannot be socialized to humans to the point where they are able to find homes as pets. For a small minority that could be tamed, the time and effort that goes into helping just a few cats is prohibitive. Even with very young kittens, taming can take several weeks of intensive socialization work.

Relocation: There is no other place for them to go and studies show that if you remove cats from their original location, others merely move in to take their place. This is known as the vacuum effect.

The vacuum effect

The vacuum effect is a situation arising when feral cats are removed from an environment. Other cats then move in to take advantage of the food source that is available. (Something brought those cats there in the first place, be it rodents available to eat, or human intervention) They will quickly fill the space from which the cats were removed. These new, usually unsterilized cats will breed to the capacity of the site.