Community Cats are semi-social or unsocial cats, sometimes feral cats, that are not suitable for adoption into homes, and are considered free-roaming. Some of our residents choose to feed the community cats near them, they are known as Community Cat Caretakers. 

Need to talk to someone about community cats near you? Every community cat situation is unique. Join this Facebook group to get access to a wealth of community cats knowledge.

Bay Area Cats Facebook - Community Cat Resources

You might also find this podcast dedicated to community cats to have useful information.  

Community Cats can be humanly trapped, spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, have their ear tip clipped to show they have been sterilized, and returned to their colony, this method is known as Trap-Neuter-Release. TNR breaks the breeding cycle while allowing the cat to live out its natural life in its territory without leaving an empty space for another breeding cat to occupy.

Need more resources? 

Check out some of our rescue partners dedicated to the care of community cats: 

Bay Area Cats
Pink Paws for the Cause
Gatos de la Noche
Town Cats
Meow Haven
Dancing Cat

• If you choose to get involved in the care of community cats near you, you can also take some steps toward finding the colony veterinary care. We hope these low-cost and local options helpful: 

  Humane Society of Silicon Valley - Community Cat Spay & Neuter Program hssv.org
  
  Nine Lives Foundation ninelivesfoundation.org
  
  PAWS for SJACS paws4sjacs.org
  
  SNIPBUS snipbus.org
  
  Thank you for any efforts you can make to help control the population of pets in our community. Even sponsoring the cost of one spay or neuter surgery makes a difference. 

• You can work with any of the rescue groups listed above to arrange TNR to have community cats near you brought to our center. We will sterilize, vaccinate, and microchip before you return them to your community.
• We don't recommend feeding community cats, but if you have already created a habit, please follow these steps: 1) ensure that feeding doesn’t attract wildlife, 2) allow food to be available for no more than 30-60 minutes one time a day in an amount no more than ½ cup of food per cat, and most important, 3) remove uneaten food so as not to attract racoons, mice, rats, skunks, and possums. 
• Do not feed in a manner that makes community cats solely dependent on you for food. 
• Ensure each adult cat is identifiable by an ear tip.

If you notice community cats in your area without an ear tip clipped, or you continue to see litters of kittens in your area, you can take action to help get the cat sterilized.

Low-Cost Spay and Neuter Services in the Area

Find resources here to help the cats in your community get spay and neuter services. 

What Do We Offer? 

We provide limited no-cost spay/neuter services for community (feral) cats trapped in our service jurisdiction (San José, Saratoga, Cupertino, and Milpitas) — owned cats are not accepted.

As of Nov. 1, 2024, we have now booked all of our surgery appointments to the end of the year. Thank you to everyone who submitted a request. We will re-open the request form in January 2025. In the meantime, please make use of these low-cost spay and neuter options. 

As an alternative, we also recommend reaching out to a rescue partner to arrange TNR or make your own arrangements with your vet. 

Please Note: Cats must be held post-surgery for 12 to 24 hours before returning to their colony. In some cases, females may require 48 hours to recover. 

TRAPPING GUIDELINES courtesy of Bay Area Cats

NEVER LEAVE A TRAP UNATTENDED. Traps can be stolen, cats can be taken or harmed or may harm themselves, or you may trap wildlife.

DO NOT set the trap unless you have a TNR appointment.

When you catch a cat, cover the trap immediately with a large towel, fully covering the trap, and move the trap to a quiet area. Use pee pads under the trap during car transport and holding.

Withhold food. Remove all food sources 24-36 hours before trapping to ensure cats are hungry enough to enter traps. DO NOT feed immediately after trapping or cats learn avoiding traps means food.

Trap training. When cats see other cats get trapped, they start getting trap smart. Therefore, if you have access to traps and are waiting for an appointment, zip tie open the trap (so it won't catch a cat) and only put the food inside the trap when feeding. 

Base: traps must be lined with newspaper or pee pads. If windy, secure with masking tape.

Bait: tuna, sardines, Fancy Feast flaked fish & shrimp, and Friskies are all good options.

• Put 2-3 very small PEA-SIZED piles of bait leading towards the trip plat.
• The main bait (1 Tbsp) is placed at the very back of the tray.
• Make a juice trail leading to the front of the trap (no food outside the trap)

Placement: place the trap flush against a wall, plant, fence, or other objects. The best spot for the trap is where the cats are used to eating.

Do not stand near the trap. Watch from your car or inside the house.

• Do not open the trap. The cat can escape, or you can get injured.
• Do not transfer the cat. The trap is fine to hold overnight.
• Use puppy pee pads under the trap in the car for transport and in your holding area.

Are you too close to the trap? Stay indoors or in your car with a window cracked and

listen for the trap. Do not stand too close or the cat won’t go in the trap.

Use tuna juice or bait trail. No food on the trip plate or outside the trap.

Is the trap against a bush, wall, or fence instead of the middle of the porch/yard?

How long have you tried waiting? It may take 3-4 hours waiting over multiple days to trap a difficult cat.

Are you trapping early morning and night? Cats are most active morning & after dark.

Try trap training. Zip-tie opens the trap overnight (so it won’t catch a cat) and feed the cats only out of the trap for several days. You may have to start the food bowl slightly outside of the trap and move it further inside each day.

Selective trapping

• Open the trap front door and prop a corner on a full large water bottle. Tie one end
• of a long piece of string or rope around the bottle's base.
• Hold the other end of the string through a car window, inside a house, or over a
• fence. Put enough food at the back that the non-target cats can eat and leave.
• Wait for the cat to go all the way in the trap, then pull the string, pulling the bottle
• away quickly and shutting the door.

Tomahawk Gravity GT606. Tomahawk's latest trap is similar to Tru Catch but with a door-locking mechanism so cats can’t escape (discount code DCNC23).

Tru Catch 30LTD. Quiet door closing. The door needs to be secured with a zip tie after the trap. This is the lightest of the traps.

• Bay Area Cats Trapping Guidelines (PDF)
• Bay Area Cats Trapping In Area Flyer (English PDF) (Espaniol PDF)
• Bay Area Cats TNR workshop slide deck: bayareacats.org/resources
• Bay Area Cats Request for Assistance

We will loan cat traps to the general public to support our Community Cat TNR Program. Once a cat has been trapped, you can make a Community Cat TNR appointment to have the cat sterilized before returning it to its colony. You can borrow a trap from us during regular business hours. We do request a refundable cash deposit of $50 for a small trap and a cash deposit of $75 for a large trap. 

Find more information here about how to proceed when you find kittens in your neighborhood.

Alley Cat Allies and Bay Area Cats have great resources to help you support your local community cat colony. The Kitten Lady has videos, webinars, and other resources to answer all your kitten care and fostering questions.