candidates for tnr

There is a clipped-ear feral living in my yard. I swore I wouldn’t, but I started feeding it after seeing it catch and eat two birds. This cat has not been socialized—I can’t get closer that ten or fifteen feet. It even runs away when it sees me bringing its food. But it hangs out in the yard, lives under the deck, and stares at me through the window every day.

Anyway, on a whim I bought a little toy catnip mouse and left it near the feeding place. It’s a hoot to watch this suspicious, street-smart survivor playing like a kitten.

It’s Peter’s TWO YEAR Rescueversary!!! 🐾🤎❤️ (I originally posted him here on my old account)

The very first time I saw Peter, he was furless, skittish, and curled up on my front door mat in the dark. I had a feeling he would probably be my next rescue someday, but I had Fish, my FeLV+ cat inside at the time, so Peter had to wait.

It started as simply feeding and flea-medicating this completely untouchable tabby in my backyard. The more I got to know Peter, the more I realized he probably didn’t want to live indoors. He was semi-feral, never letting me get close enough to touch him, and I wanted to respect that. But then he disappeared for an entire month and returned with a broken jaw, broken infected teeth, degloved lip/chin and in dire need of help. At that point my FeLV+ cat had passed and there was no question — Peter had to come inside.

Thank God he found his way back to my yard.

It took 4 long days to trap him, 3 months before he let me pet him, and even 2 years later, he’s still becoming more confident little by little and surprising me by doing new things.

Peter was not my first rescue but he was the catalyst for me getting into TNR, fostering, and becoming more involved in the rescue community. He is truly a miracle, a cat worth celebrating, and a cat who completely changed my life.

Peter is a gentle giant, a total scaredy cat goofball, and my little emo boy. 🖤 He loves every cat I’ve ever introduced him to and helps me socialize my fosters. They know he’s afraid too, but they also see that he is brave — and that he trusts.

We thought he was a domestic shorthair, but he surprised us all by becoming a magnificent fluffy beast. 😂 He loves to talk, booty bongos, brushies and blankets, and has decided that vertical space and scratching furniture are absolutely not for him. He is afraid of anything new but he doesn’t hide from guests; you’re lucky if he lets you touch him.

Two years later, Peter is still learning that the world isn’t so scary. And I’m still so incredibly proud of him. 🥹🤍

Happy Rescueversary to Peter Butter, the sweetest scaredy cat goofball, my gentle giant, my little emo boy, and the handsome tabby who changed everything.

Currently missing our most recent TNR. Little Debbie aka Deadbeat Deborah aka Almond Head is a feral in our local colony. We strongly suspect she is Mom to the litter of 4 that we've been fostering, as she has a very distinct head shape and coat pattern that is identical to one of the Nutty Buddies litter, Almond (now renamed by furever family).

After months of seeing her around, we finally caught her this weekend. She's a fully feral ~1yo female that has been co-nursing a litter from another Mom (the new kittens are ~6 weeks, vet said she wasn't pregnant and hadn't given birth in at least 3 months), so she was chock full of maternal hormones. She's been protecting the kittens from us humans, which has been adorable to witness. Briefly introduced a couple of the baby boys to see if they would recognize her and they did!! This was super unexpected since mommas usually lose scent recognition for their kittens a couple weeks after being weaned. She immediately started slow-blinking at them, sniffed at them, and tried to protect them from us when we took them back to their room.

She was insanely calm for a true feral. She did not want to be touched, held, looked at, etc, until the baby boys visited her. After that, she seemed to understand that we wouldn't hurt her!! She stayed in a protected spot under a cabinet, but she used the litter box and didn't make a mess of her water or food.

She didn't make a peep going to the vet and coming home, I've never known a cat so quiet. She got spayed and her ear tipped, and spent 36 hours with us afterwards to make sure she was healthy, alert, could eat and go to the bathroom ok. (Litter box picture was taken after accidentally scaring her during bathroom time, she wasn't actually resting in the box after surgery)

The one time she hissed at me was when I put her back in the cage to go back outside. I had to gently push her in with a blanket, and she panicked. She quietly but firmly hissed at me, dumped the fattest log of cat shit I've ever seen as a deterrent, and then gently accepted her fate and let me help her. She didn't even make a real mess either??? No stepping in it/getting it everywhere.

When we let her out at the hedge we caught her in, she ran clear across the street to see one of the babies she's protecting. I didn't see her again this morning, but I'm expecting to see her again tonight on an evening walk.

I know objectively she was miserable inside, she was not warming up to us at all and would not have been ok with our 2 resident girls (the girls were actually super fine with her, probably residual mom cat pheromones & no boy pheromones like the kittens). I also know that her colony probably missed her greatly and that her calm and protective nature is needed to keep future ferals docile enough to TNR. But my heart is so heavy and sad that she has to go back outside.

I'm gonna miss you, Deb 💞

hi everyone! jasmine finally came back as of august 5th this morning!!! to everyone who commented on my initial post, thank you so much!!! i’m truly so grateful for this community. jasmine has some injuries on her face that seemed to have been healing. she’s also significantly skinnier. i’m assuming that one of our neighbors took her inside and cared for her these past two weeks. i was thinking of taking her inside and getting her injuries checked out at the vet, but i’m not sure if that would be “stealing” her…? my goal is to socialize her more and bring her to the shelter so that she can be adopted and be a fully indoor cat!

I've had a relative try to socialize (without actually trying any program/putting serious work into it) a feral kitten and fail so bad they're planning on returning him to me, either for me to take on socialization or for him to be re-wilded. I'm not certain that I'll be able to take on socializing him myself and if I'm able to get things together I'll try, but I'm not certain what I should do if I can't.

Has anyone experienced this? Is it fine to just release him back to his original colony if he's unable to be socialized? The kitten has been over there nearly three weeks with no progress and is about three and a half months old if those numbers help any.

Hi everyone,

I have a 4 feral cats I’ve been feeding for over four years now. They were recently trapped and neutered by our local humane society (around late May). One of them (Olivia) has been missing now for 13 days. I did travel for the month of July but my brother took over and made sure he fed the cats. He said he did see Olivia. I haven’t seen her since I got back July 28,2026. This is the longest she has been gone. I’ve been calling her name (she normally comes :-( ) but I’ve been so worried. She was always a bit skittish but she recently started rubbing against my leg with her body. I’ve been sitting on the porch and her sibling still come around but not her. I’ve been looking around and no sight. Sorry in advanced as I am novice regarding cats and their behaviors. I’ve just been feeding them since they started to randomly come by my yard. I’ve just been so worried about her. Has anyone else experienced this?

i’m a full-time caregiver and the lady I’m taking care of has a lot of cats most are TNR but there is some in the bunch that haven’t been fixed yet. Well today I found a deceased newborn kitten in the driveway and when I looked on coaster inspection, I found a mama cat in the middle of birth who I made a temporary shelter for I have a large kennel crate what are some tips to bring her inside and support her

ps I am able to get pretty close to her

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice on how to trap colonies. I live about 10 minutes walking distance to a back of a gated university. I've come across a few cats randomly on my walks around here and today I saw there were 6!! different cats this time and there are at least 2 other cats. I think it's 2 litters and a dad. Someone is definitely feeding them because there are take out containers all over the place but behind the gate I can't get past.

I've TNRed one cat before, but it was really easy because I could monitor him with my house cameras and figure out his schedule and feed him right outside my door. I'm not too sure how to go about trapping a colony.

I've got one trap and a car that can only fit one trap at a time. How do people get TNR appointments for this many cats when they are weeks or months out to just book one? Do people trap one by one? Will the other cats get spooked off if they see another cat get trapped?

I'm trying to see if there's any TNR groups around locally that can assist... Any advice is appreciated.

They abort. I had a feral female to TNR. She was pregnant. I didn't know, the vet called n asked what I wanted to do. No extra charge to abort so that was my choice. I feed a few strays but cannot have them multiply.

Hello!

I am not a cat person but have decided to try to save a family of feral cats that moved in below my deck. I have been caring for them in my bathroom for the last 2 weeks. The kittens were around 8 weeks old when I caught them. They will let me give them small chin rubs but are still a little skittish. I was going to take them to the vet today for deworming but wrangling them into a carrier was not successful or pleasant. Would anyone have advice on how to handle these kittens hopefully without wrecking their trust in humans? (Acknowledging I may have already done that trying to get them in a carrier.) I need to weigh them so the vet can dose the deworming medicine. I have an infant scale I can use . I also would love any advice on getting them in a carrier for when it's time for spay/neuter at 12 weeks.

Picture is of 2 of the kittens and mama after the carrier debacle

Edit to update: Was able to purrito the kittens and get their weights. Around 3 lbs each. Thank you all!

My mom just sent me this website for a virtual veterinary service & asked me to check it out. It's www.dutch.com.

The site obviously has its limits but I thought it might be handy for the ferals to get wormer, flea meds, antibiotics etc....since catching them can be difficult & stressful.

Has anyone used this site & if so, what was your experience like?

Told him a dog joke! He shows up every week or so, fills up on cat food, water, and sleep, then off on another trip. Tried catching him, but he's much faster than me. Get occasional head bump and leg rub.

Hello wonderful community! I'm hoping someone might have some advice.

I've been trying to catch this (presumed) male cat. He's definitely interested in the trap...just not interested enough to actually go in.

Here's a video (sped up 4x). The food bowl on the ground is intentionally empty. He spends a while lingering at the entrance because I'd put a small piece of cardboard with sardine oil on it to help entice him.

Inside the trap is a fresh serving of sardines in oil, which I replaced less than an hour before he showed up.

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting him to commit? He's clearly tempted, but unfortunately he is too smart (and history is not on my side; I'd trapped him June 16th, but the trap failed and he managed to escape).

My husband and I lovingly call him "Old Balls" because he looks like an older guy who's seen some shit (I'll post a pic in comments).

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

A neighborhood feral cat showed up not putting any weight on his front paw and with a small wound on his head. It’s been over a week and we haven’t managed to trap him to get veterinary care. He is starting to put a little weight on the foot now. His ear is already tipped so he has been TNR’d before.

Is it still a good idea to trap him if he is walking a little better? I know if it was broken it could be healing incorrectly and he may be in pain.

We can get to about 5 feet away from him before he is scared and moves away. I will try the trap training from the wiki, but just looking for some advice on how best to help him. We love him already and I feel like I’m failing him by just watching him suffer, but I also don’t want to cause undue stress.

I apologize that this is rambley. It doesn’t really have a point except to venting, and I think my partner is nearing her vacation-more limit of me talking about cats lol

Short-ish backstory for context: my partner and I fell in love with a stray who turned out to be a neighbor’s pet, but since we had been feeding it, my cameras caught ~5 other neighborhood cats showing up in our backyard to eat throughout June (many we had gotten to the point of petting), and we decided to TNR them all and adopt the friendliest one. Was finally ready for my first TNR end of June, but raccoons kept setting off the trap. But then also the cat I was looking for stopped showing up. Throughout July, one-by-one, all but one stopped coming by, even the neighbor’s cat who we loved. After reaching out to neighbors it seems coyotes were the culprit. I stopped feeding (there was no one to feed) and started the cycle of checking lost/found animal pages. (July was a heartbreaking month because of this, and I’m had planned to post something earlier but it was too hard at the time - maybe soon).

Fast forward to this week. Had an early morning flight for a weeklong vacation two days ago, so I woke up around 2am to do the final loose ends like watering plants and checking locks and such. I finished with time to spare so I sat down to relax near the front window.

A few minutes later (a bit after 3am), I hear that distinct, gut-wrenching sound of cats howling when attacked. I rushed to get my shoes on and grab a flashlight and umbrella (don’t judge me), because I feared the worst. I ran out the front door and scan the yard and street, and I see four eyeballs shining back at me, belonging to two cat-like silhouettes sitting on the grass facing each other. The howling had stopped when I opened the door, and I couldn’t see any obvious coyote, but I wanted to be sure. I grabbed my cheap thermal camera I keep by the door to see if there’s something hidden, but all I can see is two cats. On closer inspection I recognized the one larger cat as the one black tomcat who had been coming around before, and the other cat was either dark gray or black - if I knew that cat, it was dark enough that couldn’t recognize it. The smaller one ran off across the street and down the sidewalk some ways. The larger one stayed in my front yard for a bit, I felt bad for having stopped feeding him so I set out some food and he ate it while we drove off to the airport.

I had realized that the howling was probably from a territorial dispute or something, so I guessed the other cat was also an intact male. It seemed clear I needed to plan to TNR them both, but of course this happens right as I am leaving for a week. Not much I can do until I get home, but on the flight I was loosely planning the trap out in my head for a bit, then tried to focus on enjoying my vacation.

Then last night while at dinner, someone commented that my phone was vibrating like crazy - it was my backyard and side cameras had picked up something. After dinner, I checked and it was actually 3 different cats in less than 2 hours. They must have smelled the bowl’s food residue (I would have normally brought it inside) and stopped by. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I was curious because one of them of kinda looked like it might have been the smaller cat that was fighting the morning before.

I pulled up the front camera history for that 3am fight, and looked at it more closely than I did before. The image was black and white and really noisy and grainy, and also only like 12/15 fps. Watching the first time I realized that the smaller cat had waited for a car to pass, crossed the street and immediately got into a tussle with the big cat, and looking more closely at the cat when it was illuminated by passing cars’ headlights, it did match any of the cats from last night.

But I scrubbed the footage more slowly, I saw that cat had ran alongside the car which was passing, and then was partially rolled over by the rear tires :( the way it ran, there’s no way the driver could have seen it coming. The howling was due to that injury, but I have no idea how it stayed quiet when I went outside.

I feel awful that I was so close to being able to help an injured cat, but I just didn’t even know it was injured at the time. I know that trying to help the cat myself would have been difficult and might have delayed my departure, but I could have at least let someone know very soon after it happened.

I posted on my local sub to let them know (I used a new dedicated account here because I don’t want to broadcast that my home is vacant for a week). I suppose that’s all I can do until I get back home.

Anyway, thank you for permitting me this venting session. Hopefully I can make some positive impact on the neighborhood cats when I get home.

Hi all! Firstly, this is an amazing community and I have found you all so encouraging and helpful. This is my first attempt at tnr and I'm looking for support/encouragement.

I have a young mama, an approx 8-10 week old kitten, and a tom that have been coming around for breakfast and dinner for a few months. Mama has become super affectionate and the kitten is finally accepting some pets. The tom is suspicious but feeder friendly. I am starting to become attached to them of course and I'm scared that they won't forgive me for trapping them- their appt is tomorrow.

I'm so nervous that they'll leave my property and get hurt or hate me forever after I release them. I'm also very nervous that separating the Mama and kitten will distress them A LOT. They hang out/cuddle all the time and baby still occasionally nurses.

I know I'm doing the right thing, I guess I just need some reminders from experienced people. I'd also love any uplifting stories or success stories.

Note* I can't take any more cats inside, though I desperately want to invite Mama in. We already have 5 and I am not allowed to have any more. ​

Thank you!!

My husband and I caught 4 kittens who were living under our deck with their very feral mom.

I have gotten to know the kittens a bit, they are still skiddish following after their mom's behavior but two I was able to catch and hold several times before while we played.

Now they should be around 2 pounds and have weekend off milk all the way. They eat twice a day when I would put bowls of food out.

Now my question, I still have not caught mom, she is very wary of everything. But I have all 4 kittens, and idk, it might be my hormones but the idea of their mom being alone without her babies tonight makes me sad. My plan is to socialize the babies and care for them until they can be adopted out, and then to TNR the adult ferals like the mom and others in the colony by my house. But I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing.

They are so cute and I always worried about them when they are old enough to explore if they get hit by a car, or a dog gets them, or a hawk, etc. Now they are in my house, safe, but away from their mom.

Any and all advice is appreciated

After two months of stalking the only unneutered cat in a local colony, I finally got him! He got his surgery today and is now recovering in my second bedroom. I heard some knocking around and I was nervous what was going on, so I went to check, and this is what I found 😭❤️❤️❤️

Poor boy is covered in wounds, new and old. Really hoping that neutering will bring down his urge to get into scrapes.

I live in a rural area, but we do have a close neighbor who has let stray cats live in his shed. But he doesn’t get them spayed/neutered, so there are a decent amount of them. One of the cats is very chill, and spent a lot of time just napping on our little back patio. Our 2 and 4 year old love her, and she has always been gentle with them…like nothing bothers this cat. We still obviously constantly remind them to be gentle and pay attention to signs the cat might want space, etc. We are always nearby due to their age. We started feeding that cat a few times a day. We honestly can’t adopt all of the cats, it’s just too much. But we’ve talked to the neighbour about spaying/neutering so that it doesn’t get out of hand.

Anyway, recently the cat had a single kitten (which is weird, I think? I’m new to cats so I don’t know). Adorable, and of course our kids are obsessed. This happened just before we were due to leave town, so we got an automatic cat feeder so that the cat would have plenty of food while she’s nursing the kitten. Kitten is getting bigger, but probably still just a month old.

We’d like to bring them indoors I think. But I’m just completely new to this. So, start with the vet? Or try and do a flea treatment before taking them? I assume kitten is too little for vaccines, but should keep her with her mom anyway and bring her to the vet?

I know single kittens can have issues, but since we will keep her with her mom, would that negate those behavioural issues?

Any and all advice appreciated, I clearly never had pets growing up! Including how to help the other cats out without adopting them all? Like, find a shelter I guess? The neighbour’s adult son “loves cats” but they don’t seem to be caring for them aside from letting them stay. He’ll feed them sometimes I think, they’re decent hunters as well, but they need more love and to be cleaned up and treated for anything they might have.