Thundering Paws

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Tomlinson’s Adoption Centers

We’re Growing! Meet Our Adoptable Cats at Tomlinson’s

We’re excited to share that you can now find Thundering Paws adoptable cats at four Tomlinson’s Pet Food & Supply locations!

This is a wonderful way to meet our kitties in person if you’d prefer to get to know them before filling out an adoption application. Each store has a few of our current adoptables who love greeting new friends.

Here’s where you can visit them:

Tomlinson’s Belterra – 164 Belterra Vlg Wy Ste Y400, Austin, TX 78737
Tomlinson’s Lakeway – 2009 Main St Suite 110, Lakeway, TX 78734
Tomlinson’s South Lamar – 4211 S Lamar Blvd Ste A23, Austin, TX 78704
Tomlinson’s Allandale – 5716 Burnet Rd, Austin, TX 78756

Please remember that cats move quickly through adoption, so we recommend checking our Adoptables page before heading out to be sure the cats you’re interested in are still available.

We’re so grateful to Tomlinson’s for partnering with us and giving our cats a place to shine while they wait for their forever families. Stop by, say hello, and maybe meet your new best friend!

Giving Tuesday Dec. 3

Thundering Paws is a private non-profit rescue  helping  cats who are homeless, neglected, injured, or abused. We offer each kitty who comes to us a safe haven and a bright future.

Giving Tuesday is one of our largest fundraisers of the year and receives donations from donors far and wide, on Facebook and off. We appreciate any donation you can make towards the care of our rescued cats. 

Begun in the home of our founder, Thundering Paws has now purchased, renovated, and moved into its own space. Our mission can now continue until the day when there are no more cats who need us.

We operate an on-site sanctuary and hospice; a trap/neuter/vaccinate/return/manage  (TNVRM) program for community cats; intake, vetting, fostering, and adopting out of tame kittens and cats from a network of foster homes and adoption centers; and help the public  address issues with any cat, owned or rescued via email support.

This effort takes a tremendous amount of time and resources. Donations, volunteers, fosters, and adopters are always needed.

Your contribution will make an impact, whether you donate $5 or $500. Every little bit helps. Thank you for everything you do for cats! (and other animals, too)

We are a 501(c)(3) organization.

Amplify Austin 2024 – March 6-7

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!