Providing Positive Outcomes for Community Cats
Preventing Births, While Supporting Those Already Born
When we began Thundering Paws almost 23 years ago, our goal was to get all cats spayed/neutered and find them a place to simply be!
We’ve since learned that community cats have figured out for themselves where to be. They have a territory, a home place, el hogar. They have a family, neighbors, food and water sources, some humans they don’t mind being around and others they know to avoid.
They know the locations of unconfined dogs, easily climbed trees, dry spots to hunker down in the rain, sunny spots in the cold, and patches that stay shady all day long in the summer.
They neither want nor need to be relocated. So we don’t do it. Where there is friction between people and community cats, it’s the people who have moved into the cats’ territory, not vice versa.
Most people are happy to let community cats grace their yard. They give us excellent rodent and snake control. They’re comforting, peaceful, and beautiful. Most people are distressed only by the constant litters of kittens.
That distresses us, too. Our Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Return/Manage (TNVRM) program was born out of our desire to stop the endless litters of kittens born in community cat colonies. We are a long way from done but we are making progress. We have trapped over 347 cats since the program was formalized in 2021 and we support 3 managed colonies and help several others who are working towards being managed in one way or another.
We define a community cat as any cat outside. A colony of community cats is deemed “managed” when reproduction has stopped, and the cats are fed and cared for.
Management is an ongoing effort, as new cats move in or kittens are born before we can spay their moms and neuter their dads. Our current goal is for Dripping Springs to boast only managed community cat colonies.
If necessary, Thundering Paws will supply food to community cat colonies. We’ll also provide trapping, spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations. We’ll provide vet care when a sick or injured colony cat can be re-trapped.
To read more of our story and our plan to manage feral cat colonies, visit our Amplify page!