Trap - Neuter - Vaccinate - Release (TNVR)

Community cats are humanely trapped (with box traps), brought to Petfix Savannah to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, ear tipped (the universal sign that a community cat has been neutered and vaccinated), and then returned to their outdoor home.

An ear tip is a painless procedure done during the spay/neuter surgery. It is the universal symbol for a Community Cat that has been spayed or neutered. Ear-tipping allows people to tell from a distance whether or not a Community Cat has been spayed or neutered. That tipped ear saves the cat the stress of being trapped and anesthetized a second time. It does not affect their hearing.

• Ends nuisance behaviors from Community Cats such as fighting, spraying, and howling • Prevents repeated unwanted litters of kittens • Saves thousands of taxpayer dollars by keeping these cats out of county shelters • Rids neighborhoods and businesses of rodents and snakes organically. With a Community Cat on the premises, you will finally be able to do away with rat poisons, mouse traps, and dirty rodent droppings. • Studies prove that spaying and neutering Community Cats improves their overall health • TNR balances the needs and concerns of the human communities in which many Community Cats live. People don’t want cats rounded up and killed. TNR is the only humane option to reduce and stabilize the large populations of Community Cats.   Removing Community Cats from their home is counter productive. Each colony of cats has a territory that they defend from other colonies of cats. If cats are removed, it leaves an open territory where more unaltered cats will move in and start the breeding cycle all over again.   If taken to a shelter, unsocialized Community Cats “feral cats” are not considered adoptable and, unfortunately, are often euthanized.   Additionally, relocating cats to a different area is animal abandonment, which falls under animal cruelty crimes in the state of Georgia. Less than 50% of relocated cats survive because they don’t know the dangers in the area and succumb to predators, car tires, starvation, etc.

• Fill out the application for this program.  Located in the “Forms & Applications” section of our website. • Pay the fee $50 for us to come out once to trap. • Coordinate with a Pooler Paws volunteer to set up a date for trapping. • Stop feeding the cats at least 24 hours prior to trapping. Traps are baited with food, so you’ll need them to be hungry! Identify any neighbors who feed the cats, and ask them to remove food as well. • Keep cats in traps overnight. • Take them to Petfix at 9am the next morning • Pick them up at 7am the next day. • Males can be released that day, Females need to stay one more night in the trap to heal. This is also a good opportunity to have your neighbors bring any outside pet cats indoors so they don’t end up in the traps.

• We will contact you with information and work with you to schedule a date for trapping • We will come to your location with humane traps • Set up traps and attempt to catch the cats  listed in the application • Provide other items needed for the trapping, food, towels to cover traps, etc • Pick up traps.

It is a $50 donation to Pooler Paws for us to help you with the trapping.  This covers one attempt at trapping.  If we are unable to get cats or can’t trap them all, you will need to pay for an additional day for us to come out to trap again.

We can often get vouchers from Chatham County Animal Control to get them fixed for free.  If we have vouchers available, there will be no cost.  If we are unable to get vouchers or they stop giving them out, it will be an additional $50 fee per cat.

We offer a Rehome Program that can help find homes for the cats.  Please see the FAQ on that program or fill out the form to get the process started.