St. Francis Society proudly operates one of the most comprehensive TNVR programs in Tampa Bay. We respond directly to requests from the public, extending the reach of local shelters and clinics in their TNVR efforts.
Each year we TNVR over 3,500 cats, and find homes for an additional 700 kittens and friendly colony cats found by our trappers and feeders.
Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return is a humane, evidence-based method for managing community cat populations. Cats are humanely trapped, surgically sterilized, vaccinated against diseases, and returned to their outdoor colony. Because they don’t reproduce, the colony size naturally reduces over time.
With our warm weather, cats can breed year-round. An unspayed female cat and her offspring can produce over 50 kittens in a year, and those female kittens can result in more than 1400 kittens the following year! TNVR cats are also healthier and less likely to spray or fight which keeps our neighborhoods safer.
Vaccinating and sterilizing cats keeps them healthier reduces the spread of disease. TNVR cats are also less likely to roam, fight, yowl or spray making the them and their people neighbors both happier.
An ear tip is the universal symbol that a community cat has been through a TNVR program. The tip of the cat's left ear is surgically removed while the cat is sedated as part of the TNVR medical procedure.
Only TNVR has been recognized globally as the most effective and humane approach to community cat management. The traditional method of controlling feral cats by catching and killing them has been proven ineffective, counterproductive, and costly.
Yes, TNVR programs reduce shelter admissions and operating costs. Fewer community cats in shelters increases adoption rates because more space opens up in shelters for adoptable cats. We work in conjunction county shelters and humane societies to augment their programs and reach more cats.
Once they are returned, Good Samaritans as well as our volunteers serve as caregivers for the colony cats, providing daily food and water. They monitor their cats for illness or injury and keep an eye out for new cats who need to be sterilized.
Read more about our Community Cat Care efforts here.
Anyone can TNVR, and there are many public resources to help.
Click the buttons below for more information.
Follow Nadia, one of our dedicated trappers and fosters, as she helps cats in Tampa Bay. Ride along on her journey and meet others who are helping to reduce the stray cat popultion in Tampa through TNVR.
Video courtesy of IFilmHeros.com
