Coastal Cats Rescue Group

We realize there are feral cats on the Coastside and when a colony is discovered we want to assist.

We will work together with Caregivers to provide Colony Management.

The cornerstone of colony management is TNR (Trap, Neuter & Return).

All cats in a colony should be neutered and vaccinated, and if possible have someone regularly looking out for newcomers and problems. Feral cats find shelter and a food source because they are opportunists. Feeding and providing shelter for feral cats allows them to peacefully co-habitate in an area. Even if well fed by a caretaker they will continue to provide rodent control. However providing nutritious food keeps them both from roaming in search of other food sources and also less susceptible to disease and parasites.

Caregivers, provide food and water regularly and sometimes create shelters depending on the environment and if extreme winters or summers require additional protection for the cats. The caregivers provide something else that is critical: They give the cats a voice by educating neighbors and people who work in or near the colony’s territory. Education and in some cases, mediation, is an essential aspect of Trap-Neuter-Return and colony care.

Basic care for feral cats can involve the following:

1.Conducting ongoing Trap-Neuter-Return as needed

2.Providing food and water

3.Providing shelter

4.Monitoring members of the colony and provide ongoing health care

5.Helping cats and people co-exist –advocacy

6.Planning for back-up colony care

7.Rehoming kittens if possible

Trap-Neuter-Return, or TNR, is cornerstone of Colony Management and the only successful long term strategy for humanely controlling the population of feral or free roaming cats. A sterilized colony of feral cats will stabilize, and eventually decline in numbers through illness, accidents and old age. A sterilized colony often act to keep new, unsterilized cats away from their colony.

If you want to reduce the amount of free-roaming cats in your neighborhood, the solution is to maintain a neutered, managed colony. Trap-and-kill programs do not work. Because of the territorial nature of feral cats, when all the resident cats are removed from an area a “vacuum” is created, and un-neutered cats from nearby neighborhoods will move into this new unclaimed territory.

The County of San Mateo endorses the use of TNR to control the population of free-roaming cats in their jurisdictions.

More information about TNR:

◾Trapping 1-2-3

◾Trapping & Care Guide

◾Things to Avoid

◾Borrowing Humane Traps

◾Special Equipment

◾Hard to Trap Cats- Tips & Tricks

◾Recovery Tips & Tricks

◾What to do if you trap wildlife

◾Relocating Cats

◾OMG Kittens!