COMMUNITY CATS
Healthy, Happy, & Cared For
A community cat is a cat that has access to the outside. Many cats - owned or "unowned" live as indoor/outdoor cats. Most outside (or inside/outside) cats are fed by more than one person/family and have several caretakers.
Cats living outdoors is nothing new. It wasn’t until kitty litter was invented in the late 1940s that some cats began living strictly indoors. But community cats truly thrive in their outdoor homes, and even those that seem friendly would rather live outside. Leave them there!
Please remember: Do not take healthy community cats to animal shelters or try to rehome them yourself - that cat already has a home!
Instead, email DBCHS at karikuh@dbchs.org
and we can schedule spay/neuter surgery at no cost to you. Community cats should be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and returned to their original home (TNVR). Help us reach beyond shelter walls to save more lives!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Please watch this video from our friends at Million Cat Challenge here:
Dive into the research here:
Community cats and public policy
Read the National Animal Care and Control Association statement on community cats here.
Ear-tipping is the universally accepted way to tell whether an outdoor cat has been neutered or spayed. This is typically performed as part of a Community Cat/TNVR program. This procedure also includes vaccinating the cats and returning them to their original home location.
