What Helps TNVR Work?
Fewer Cats on Our Streets
The City of Peekskill has embraced its TNVR program for many years, and the numbers speak to its success:
City of Peekskill TNVR Program, 2013-2022
What Helps TNVR Work?
Many municipalities already have a solid foundation for a community TNVR program. The Cat Protection Council of Westchester can help bring all of the elements together to create a robust and cost-effective program for your municipality. There are four key components to a successful TNVR program:
Education:
Educating residents about the importance of spay/neuter for their pets.
Ensuring that residents have easy access to affordable spay/neuter services for their pets.
Educating and consulting residents about Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return so they understand the program and its purpose.
Making residents aware of the municipality's TNVR program and who to contact if they see free-roaming cats. Quickly responding to these calls is vital!
Collaboration:
Local shelters, animal welfare organizations, rescue groups, veterinarians, and colony caregivers must coordinate their efforts.
Municipal employees and leaders, including animal control officers, public health officials, and municipal leaders, must work in partnership.
Municipalities must collaborate with their trappers and community cat caregivers. These compassionate volunteers are uniquely positioned to listen to neighbors’ concerns about the cats and help resolve any issues, including providing deterrents to keep cats out of neighbors’ yards or constructing discreet feeding stations and litter areas to gradually move cats out of areas where they are not wanted.
Volunteers:
Volunteers do the trapping, transport, and pre- and post-surgery care for the cats, providing FREE animal control labor in their communities.
Typically at their own expense, caregivers ensure that the cats remain healthy through daily feeding and by providing the cats with outdoor shelters, both of which limit roaming and prevent other nuisance behaviors like dumpster diving and seeking shelter in car engines, under porches, and in sheds.
Caregivers also monitor the sites for new cats that may need rescue or TNVR.
Targeted TNVR:
TNVR programs must operate consistently and at a high level to prevent population explosions.
Trappers should practice targeted TNVR, meaning all cats at one site are TNVR’d before moving on to the next site. Studies have found targeted TNVR to be the only way to reduce community cat populations.