TCAR rescues cats who are suffering, struggling to survive outdoors, or facing neglect, homelessness, or euthanasia. Rescues are placed in loving foster homes while they receive rehabilitative medical care and/or socialization before we work to match them with their forever family.

Rescue: TCAR’s rescue targets include cats who are injured or in medical distress, cats who are rejected from their colony, cats who lack reliable access to food, cats who are in difficult circumstances, and cats who face abandonment or surrender to shelters.

Rehabilitate: Upon intake, TCAR cats are evaluated for medical care and socialization needs. We allocate a decompression period to each cat so we can determine their level of socialization. When necessary, if we believe a semi-socialized cat cannot thrive outdoors, we dedicate time to gentle socialization so that formerly fearful cats can adapt to life indoors. This stage is about the cats healing both physically and emotionally.

Rehome: Once healthy and ready for adoption, we carefully place our cats in loving forever homes. We take the time to get to know each applicant and cat to create a lasting match!

TCAR proactively engages with the community with hands-on support when no other rescue can respond. We work compassionately to prevent abandonment by connecting pet owners in need with low-cost services. You may see our team respond to pleas for help with both pet cats and homeless cats on social media—something we are increasingly able to do with our growing foster network and donor base. 

We hope to continue to work to fill the gaps in current shelter and rescue resources. Despite a robust animal welfare community, the cat distribution system still outpaces capacity. Too often those who step up and shoulder the burden of helping animals are our community members who have the least.

To add capacity, we proactively respond to pleas for help both online and in the community. By connecting to existing services as well as leveraging TCAR resources, we assist with requests to rehome cats, support overwhelmed cat caregivers, and address emergency needs. By helping caregivers navigate available resources along with hands-on education, we can work together to stabilize and improve the lives of vulnerable cats.

Trap-Neuter/Spay-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) is the only humane and effective way to save the lives of feral cats and manage community cat populations.

TCAR humanely traps community cats, facilitates neuter/spay surgeries and vaccinations, then returns healthy adult cats to their outdoor homes. During trapping, we behaviorally assess adult cats—friendly strays and struggling semi-feral cats are placed in loving homes instead of returned to their outdoor homes when possible.

This approach not only improves the health of outdoor cats, but by breaking the reproductive cycle, TNVR gradually reduces and stabilizes outdoor populations, prevents suffering, and relieves pressure on overcrowded shelters so resources can be effectively allocated to cats in need.

TNVR is a lifesaving alternative to “catch and kill” programs or sending feral cats to shelters, where they are often the first to be euthanized. Without TNVR, outdoor cat numbers would continue to grow—leading to more suffering, more at-risk kittens, and more cats entering shelters where many may not survive. 

TCAR provides ongoing support to community cats in underserved neighborhoods by feeding and placing insulated outdoor shelters, monitoring for illness and injuries and providing medical care, and offering guidance on available resources for community cats and how to safely care for neighborhood cat colonies.

TNVR is a critical first step, but it’s not the end of the journey. Community cats still face harsh weather, food insecurity, and health risks even after they’ve been altered. Continued care strengthens the long-term success of TNVR by keeping colonies stable and reducing nuisance behaviors that can arise when basic needs go unmet.

Ongoing care also allows us to spot new arrivals who are unfamiliar or whose behavior or appearance suggests they may be lost or abandoned pets, friendly strays, or displaced house cats in need of rescue.