Community Cats

A community cat has been raised in the wild (feral cat) or has been abandoned or lost and turned to wild ways in order to survive (stray cat). Community cats are not accustomed to contact with people and are typically too fearful and wild to be handled. Community cats do not easily or may never adapt to living as pets in close contact with people.

However, there are many things you can do to help improve the health and well-being of community cats. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Programs humanely trap community cats in order to vaccinate and spay/neuter the animal. The cat is vaccinated and ear-tipped (for easy identification from a distance) during the same visit. The healthy and altered community cat is now free to live out its natural life with a colony caretaker while not producing more community cats.

Pets Alive charges only $25 to spay or neuter a community cat, which includes:

• Rabies Vaccination
• FVRCP Vaccination
• Dewormer
• Mandatory Eartipping

Eartipping is the universal sign of an altered community cat. While the cat is sedated for the spay or neuter surgery, a quarter of an inch is removed from the tip of the left ear in a straight line cut. The procedure is painless and the cat heals rapidly. This allows community members to easily recognize community cats that have been fixed, which prevents unnecessary trapping.

Pets Alive accepts community cats without appointments, but they must be brought in between 8:00 am – 9:00 am Monday – Wednesday. They will be kept in the clinic overnight to ensure at least one night of recovery indoors. Depending on what time they are dropped off and the number of surgeries that day, they may need to stay two nights.

To ensure their safety, all community cats are required to be in humane live traps. This is for the safety of the cat and our staff. No exceptions will be made. Traps are available to be checked out for a deposit of $50 via check. Once the cat is released and the trap brought back, the deposit check is given back to the owner.

Need help trapping? Pets Alive is proud to partner with Feral Cat Friends, a local non-profit that runs a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program serving Bloomington and the surrounding area! They will help educate you about TNR, feral cats, and even help set up a trap with you! Visit their Facebook page or send them an email to get started.