A community cat (also known as a feral cat) has been raised in the wild or abandoned/lost and turned to wild ways in order to survive. Community cats may not be accustomed to contact with people and are typically too fearful to be handled. Community cats do not easily, or may never, adapt to living as pets in close contact with people. Community cats are at home outdoors.
However, community cats can live full and healthy lives with their feline families (called colonies). There are many things you can do to help improve the well-being of feral cats!
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs humanely trap community cats in order to provide spay/neuter and basic healthcare. Each individual is vaccinated and eartipped (for easy identification from a distance) during the same visit. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs are incredibly effective! The altered feline is now free to live out her/his natural life with a colony caretaker, while not producing more cats.