Community Cats
ACCT Philly TNR
Have you been seeing cats outside who don’t appear to have an owner? They may be community cats, free-roaming cats who live outdoors and may be cared for by people in their neighborhood. Some are friendly and may have been abandoned or lost, while others have lived outdoors for generations and are not socialized to live indoors.
One of the most effective ways to help community cats and reduce the number of kittens born outdoors is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). TNR allows healthy community cats to remain in the environments they know while preventing them from reproducing.
ACCT Philly now provides TNR services directly for community cats in Philadelphia. TNR services are available by appointment only, with appointments offered on an ongoing basis. Because appointments are scheduled directly through ACCT Philly, available dates may change as additional appointments are added. Click below to view current availability and schedule a TNR appointment.
Please note: TNR is intended for community cats who will be returned to their outdoor homes. This program is not for owned cats or cats seeking adoption, foster, or rescue placement.
Schedule a TNR Appointment
How TNR Works
1. Schedule your TNR appointment
TNR appointments are available by appointment-only.
Choose an appointment date that gives you enough time to safely trap the cat or cats you are bringing in.
2. Prepare to trap
Once you have selected your appointment date, make a plan to trap the cat before your appointment.
Do not place the trap more than one night before your scheduled appointment, unless you have a safe indoor space where the cat can be temporarily housed.
Need help setting up your trap? Watch this trap-setting video.
3. Bring the cat to ACCT Philly
Once you have safely trapped the cat, bring them to ACCT Philly at your scheduled appointment time.
Please keep the cat in the trap and make sure the trap is secure during transport.
At your appointment, you will complete the required paperwork and ACCT’s team will provide the cat with:
- Spay or neuter surgery
- Vaccinations
- Flea and tick preventative
- A wellness exam
- A left ear tip (A left ear tip makes it easy to identify a community cat who has already been spayed or neutered.)
4. Pick up and return the cat
You will be given instructions for when to pick up the cat and trap from ACCT Philly.
Once the cat is ready to leave, take them back to the same location where they were trapped and safely release them.
Returning cats to their established territory is an important part of TNR.
What Is a Community Cat?
Community cats are free-roaming cats who live outdoors and may be cared for by one or more people in their neighborhood. Some are friendly and comfortable around people, while others have not been socialized to live indoors and may be fearful of human contact.
For many community cats, life outdoors is the environment they know best. They may have established territories, relationships with other cats, and people who provide food and care.
Why TNR (trap-neuter-return)?
TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) is the humane process of trapping community cats, bringing them to a veterinary provider for spay or neuter surgery and other care, and returning them to their outdoor home.
TNR prevents cats from reproducing and helps reduce the number of kittens born outdoors. Spaying and neutering can also reduce behaviors associated with breeding, including spraying, roaming and fighting.
As Philadelphia’s open-intake animal shelter, ACCT Philly does not have the capacity to find adopters for the thousands of cats found living outdoors each year. Many community cats are not candidates for traditional adoption because they are not socialized to live indoors. TNR gives these cats an alternative to entering the shelter while helping reduce the number of homeless cats over time.
TNR is intended for healthy community cats living outdoors. If you find a cat who is sick, injured or in immediate danger, please contact ACCT Philly for information about the appropriate next steps.
Supporting TNR in Philadelphia
TNR is an important tool for helping Philadelphia’s community cats, but unlike many of the services ACCT provides, TNR is not a service ACCT is required through its contract with the city.
Thanks to a generous gift from Cynthia Silber, ACCT launched Fix Philly Felines, a special initiative to help spay and neuter 800 unowned cats in Philadelphia. This support has helped expand access to TNR and strengthen ACCT’s ability to provide this service to the community.
Questions?
Please contact the ACCT Philly Community Cat Coordinator for more information and resources:
215-385-3800 ext. 114
communitycats@acctphilly.org
Cruelty concerns?
Harming community cats is a crime!
To report animal cruelty, neglect or abuse contact:
Pennsylvania SPCA Cruelty Hotline
866-601-7722
cruelty@pspca.org
Low-Cost Spay/Neuter & TNR Assistance Programs for Community Cats
Spayed Club Clinic
484-540-8436 | info@thespayedclub.org
PSPCA Clinic
215-426-6300 | info@pspca.org
PAWS Clinic Grays Ferry Ave
215-298-9680 | gfclinic@phillypaws.org
PAWS Clinic Grant Ave
215-545-9600 | neclinic@phillypaws.org
Project M.E.O.W. TNR Assistance in West Philadelphia
www.projectmeow.org | projectmeow.rfa@gmail.com
Temple Cats TNR Assistance around Temple’s Main Campus
267-579-2287 | Join their Facebook group “Temple Cats”
South Philly TNR Assistance
Join their Facebook Group “South Philly TNR”
Forgotten Cats Low-Cost Clinic and TNR Assistance
215-219-8148 | 302-429-0124 | www.forgottencats.org
The Cat Collaborative
267-452-1080 | 302-429-0124 | info@thecatcollaborative.org
Not all humane traps are created equal. Trap size is important for the safety and comfort of community cats, particularly when cats will be held in traps before or after surgery.
Traps intended for squirrels, rodents, or other small animals are not appropriate for community cats.
Acceptable cat-sized humane traps include:
30″L x 9″W x 11″H — Tomahawk, TruCatch
32″L x 10″W x 12″H — Havahart
Trap dimensions may vary slightly between manufacturers and models. When selecting a trap, please make sure it is larger than 17″L x 5″W x 5″H and provides adequate space for a cat to remain safely and comfortably contained.
Cats must arrive in an appropriate humane trap to be accepted for TNR. Cats brought in carriers or other containers will not be accepted.
A colony manager, or caretaker, is an advocate who is dedicated to maintaining a clean area for community cats, providing food, water, and shelter. Ideally, a colony manager will live on the block they are feeding on.
Having a dedicated Colony Manager on your block will drastically reduce cats digging through trash cans, using gardens as litter boxes, fighting loudly, roaming out of alleyways, giving birth to kittens outside, and reduce the overall number of cats living outside.
Colony Managers and community members can help reduce nuisance complaints together by having peaceful communication about any issues with cats on their block and helping each other implement the proper tools needed to resolve complaints.
If you are a Colony Manager / Caretaker or are interested in becoming one, please contact the ACCT Philly Community Cat Coordinator for more information and resources on helping manage a colony of free-roaming cats on your block:
215-385-3800 ext. 114 I communitycats@acctphilly.org
Set up a feeding station
Please, feed cats at the same location every time, preferably on your own property. Place a large Rubbermaid container on its side, place food and water bowls inside. This will help reduce cats ripping through garbage bags and roaming out in the streets looking for food.
Set up a feeding schedule
Feed the cats at the same time; once or twice every day. Clean up any leftovers within 60 minutes. This will help reduce other wildlife to enter the colony. This also creates a pattern for the cats and they will benefit from a routine.
Outdoor cats can have litter boxes, too
Build a litter box with wood frames, add sand or peat moss, please do not use actual cat litter, which is for indoor use only. Having an outdoor litter box will help reduce cats using lawns or gardens. Place this outdoor litter box in a strategic area, away from neighbors who do not want cats on their property. Be sure to keep these litter boxes and areas clean and change out the contents regularly.
- Cover and tightly secure trash can lids with bungee cords.
- Physically block or seal locations that cats are entering with chicken wire or lattice.
- Cover exposed ground in flower beds with large river rocks to keep cats from digging.
- Purchase a Cat Scat™ mat to keep cats from digging.
- Arrange branches in lattice-type patterns or use actual lattice fencing material over soil, this discourages digging.
- Purchase a car cover if cats are walking on your vehicle.
- Use plastic car carpet, spiked-side up and covered lightly in soil, in gardens, flower beds, and other landscaping.
Electronic and Battery Operated Deterrents
- Hoont™ Motion Activated Electronic Animal Repeller
- CatStop™ Ultrasonic deterrent
- Scarecrow™Motion Activated Sprinkler
*You can purchase these deterrents at a hardware store or www.amazon.com.
Scent Deterrents
To keep cats away from gardens, flower beds, or specific areas of property, scatter fragrant items that don’t appeal to a cat’s sense of smell.
- Fresh orange or lemon peels.
- Organic citrus-scented sprays.
- Sprinkle coffee grounds, vinegar, or pipe tobacco, oil of lavender, lemongrass, citronella, or eucalyptus.
in gardens or landscaping
Killing and relocating will not reduce the outdoor cat population.
Historically, cats are a part of wildlife, they were not brought indoors until the 1950s. Because of their history, all cats are born with an instinct to survive outside, and have adapted quite well to life in the city, where food, water, and shelter are abundant.
Not only can cats survive without human help, they have also been extremely successful reproducing in the city. Cat overpopulation is a community issue, and it is our responsibility to make sure that our tiny friends are spayed, neutered, and returned to their outdoor homes.
If cats are permanently removed from a location, the area will suffer from what is called “The Vacuum Effect” which a new colony of cats will infiltrate the unoccupied area, regardless of whether the cats are being fed by someone. By implementing TNR in Philadelphia, the outdoor cat population will eventually decrease; although this takes time and a great deal of help from people who live in the community!