<<Excerpt from the Humane Society of the U.S.: Managing Community Cats>>

1. TRAP: Community cats are captured with a humane live trap. This is usually done by or with the assistance of the cats’ caretakers. Ideally all the cats in the colony are trapped within a short timeframe.

2. NEUTER: The cats are then transported in their traps to a veterinary clinic. There the cats are spayed (females) or neutered (males) and vaccinated against rabies by licensed veterinarians. They may also receive other veterinary care as needed. While under anesthesia, the tip of one of the cat’s ears is removed. This allows the cat to be identified at a distance as having been sterilized and vaccinated, preventing the cat from being needlessly re-admitted to a TNR program. The ear-tip is the universal symbol of a TNR’d cat.

3. RETURN: Cats recover quickly from surgery and can be returned [within a few days] to the same location where they started out. Colony caretakers and other residents continue to provide food, water and shelter to the cats and monitor the colony for any issues that arise or new cats who show up.

Female cats

There are too many kittens born each year for all of them to find good homes. Female cats in heat are escape artists - you cannot count on a cat being "indoor only" to prevent pregnancy. Spaying also prevents pyometra and certain cancers common in unspayed female cats.

If you wish your children to experience the joy of kittens, apply to be a foster rather than allowing your cat to become pregnant.

Male cats

Unneutered male cats are prone to spraying, fighting, and roaming, in addition to impregnating unspayed female cats. Injuries from fights and diseases spread by fighting, such as HIV, are more common in unneutered males. Neutered male cats tend to be more friendly both to people and other cats.

We have very limited monetary resources and need to focus on our primary mission of spaying and neutering cats without owners. Please click here to see a list of low-cost spay/neuter clinics.

If you are a Fairborn resident we will try our best to help you with the feral and stray cats around your home. We are an organization of a few volunteers so it may be some time before we can get to your location so please be patient with us. If you are able and willing to assist us with trapping and providing a place for them to recover, let us know. (Do not trap cats before you have arranged a surgery date with us or elsewhere - once trapped, they will not be easy to trap a second time.) Please keep in mind that once the cats are trapped and spayed or neutered they will be returned to the locations where they were trapped. At that time, as before, they will depend on someone to feed them and look out for any physical problems they may have.

First and foremost, make sure that Momma cat is not out hunting for food. Watch the kittens for a short while to make sure they are truly "alone". What you should do next largely depends on the age of the kitten. Alley Cat Allies has a great poster/guide about what to do when you have found kittens. Read it here!

Sometimes we can help with injured animals. You can contact us via our Facebook page. If possible, we will provide advice and help. Remember, however, we are all volunteers and are not available 24/7.

There are so many "injured cat" situations that it is difficult provide answers for every scenario. Below is some information for emergency cases.

If the cat is in Greene County, but outside the Fairborn City limits, you can contact Greene County Animal Control https://www.greenecountyohio.gov/112/Animal-Control for assistance.

If the cat is inside the Fairborn city limits, and needs urgent medical care or humane euthanasia, the two 24-hour veterinary emergency centers in the area can provide it. Of course, this assumes that you can safely transport the animal - injured animals can be very dangerous to handle. If the animal is not yours and you do not know who the owner is, you can bring it in as a "good samaritan" case. Be sure to explain that it isn't your cat. Once you turn over the cat, you have no say in the treatment of the cat - they will most-likely euthanize if the injury is serious. If you wish to have a say in the treatment of the cat, you will need to pay for the services up front.

MedVet Dayton

2714 SPRINGBORO WEST

MORAINE, OH 45439

937.293.2714

https://www.medvetforpets.com/location/dayton/

Care Center Dayton

6421 Clyo Road

Centerville, OH 45459

937.428.0911GET DIRE

https://carecentervets.com/contact-locations/dayton-location/

Please contact us through our Facebook page and we will try to assist by working with local rescues and reaching out to the person you believe is "hoarding".

We are neither a cat rescue nor an animal shelter. Please contact local cat rescues. Some local rescues are listed here.

In order to avoid conflict, it is a good idea to check with local guidelines and regulations. Specifically in the Dayton, OH area and Montgomery County, many municipalities not only encourage community members to TNR but they will pay the costs associated with surgeries and vaccinations. Also, take into consideration WHERE you are trapping. If you are trapping or caring for a colony on private property, you should get the permission of the property owner before conducting any type of service.

A humane, live trap should be used for trapping cats. Traps can be purchased at many hardware stores, or if you prefer something sturdier, direct from the manufacturer. Traps can be single door or dual door.

There are also other styles of traps for hard to catch cats. Tomahawk makes a round trap and a drop trap in addition to their traditional cat traps. Check out livetrap.com for more info.

According to Batta Cats: a personal favorite live trap is from TruCatch. They are a quieter close trap which doesn’t scare the cat quite as much as the other traps which slam down. They give the cats more room because the doors are built at a 90° angle and not a 45°. They are also 2 door traps which allows feeding and towel changes to be handled efficiently and easily.