Community Cats/Stray Cat Program – This program will pay most, if not all, the spay/neuter cost of neighborhood strays (community cats, as we call them.) We also pay for a rabies shot at the time of surgery. 

We’ll loan you a trap and provide instructions on how to capture the cat safely. Once you have chosen the veterinary office and obtain an appointment, we will send your vet a voucher pledging the amount we will pay.  

After surgery and an overnight recovery period, the cat can be released back into its colony and live out its life. 

Stray neighborhood cats are generally known as ferals. However, we find most cats are not truly feral (wild) but just leery of humans due to a lack of positive contact consistently. Some of the cats have been abandoned, and some are “dropped off” to be someone else’s responsibility.

We choose to call them “community cats” because the cats have not chosen to be homeless, and the existence of colonies is a community issue – not “someone else’s problem.” The average life span of a community cat is about five years.

Central Coast Humane Society (CCHS) uses the proven method of TNR (trap, neuter, return) to control populations and reduce the number of colonies in our county. Other methods such as trapping and killing all the cats do not work because when a void is created, other cats move in, and the cycle continues.

Once the colony is stabilized and not reproducing, residents no longer have to listen to catfights and yowling during mating season, nor experience the unpleasantness of cat “spraying.” TNR is proven nationally and locally to be the only effective method of controlling this population. For large colonies, CCHS helps with food.

For help, complete the Request for Assistance Form. If you do not have access to a computer, please call (541) 265-3719.

Click here for Trapping Instructions.