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El Monte Outdoor Community Cat Spay/Neuter Services
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The ASPCA partners with Stray Paws Animal Haven to provide spay/neuter services for unowned, outdoor community cats in El Monte via Trap-Neuter-Return-Monitor (TNRM). If you feed, care for, or know of outdoor community cats in your neighborhood, and you want more information about how to help them with spay/neuter services, please contact us.
A high number of cats enter animal shelters from El Monte, indicating that there is a need for strategic spay/neuter services in this area to reduce the number of unowned cats and unwanted behaviors (fighting, smells and excessive noise like yowling). Spaying and neutering also improves the welfare of El Monte’s outdoor cats!
FAQ
What should I do if I find kittens outside?
Follow this found kitten chart to decide the best course of action you can take for the kittens.
Who are Community Cats?
"Community Cats" are outdoor, unowned, free-roaming cats. These cats (adults or kittens) can be friendly or feral (not friendly to people) and either altered or unaltered (via spay/neuter). Often these cats will live together in a group.
Community cats, present in most neighborhoods, can start having kittens as early as 4 months old and will often birth multiple litters a year causing overpopulation concerns. These cats often end up in animal shelters, which make up a large percentage of cats euthanized every year.
What is Trap-Neuter-Return-Monitor (TNRM)?
Research shows that by ensuring 75% of the community cat population in an area is altered* (also known as high-intensity and strategic TNRM), there will be a more stable and eventually lower population of community cats in that area.
*Due to the possibility of new cats coming into the area, 75% alteration status for the group of cats should be confirmed at least every 6 months.
- TRAP: Community cats are humanely trapped in their location by trained volunteers or caretakers.
- NEUTER: In their traps, they are brought to a veterinary clinic to receive a spay (female) or neuter (male) surgery as well as other medical services such as a rabies vaccination and an ear tip*.
- RETURN: After recovering from surgery, the cats are returned to their location to live out their lives without contributing further to the population and reproducing more litters.
- MONITOR: The cats’ caretaker will continue to monitor the cats’ well-being and provide food, shelter, and identify if any new cats come into the area that need to be altered.
*Ear-tipping is a widely accepted and safe means of marking a community cat who has been spayed or neutered. Ear-tipping is the humane, safe surgical removal of the top quarter inch of the cat’s ear snipped during alteration surgery. This is a painless and risk-free procedure that helps rescuers, community cat caretakers and volunteers visually identify an already-altered cat to prevent the stress of re-trapping for a cat and an unnecessary surgery.
What are the benefits of Trap-Neuter-Return-Monitor (TNRM)?
Most community cats are not adoptable and those who live in a managed group—a group with a dedicated caretaker who provides spay/neuter services, regular feedings, and proper shelter—can live healthy and happy lives outdoors.
After being spayed or neutered, cats live healthier lives. They no longer have the stress of mating, fighting, and giving birth. Altering cats not only prevents births of unwanted litters but also largely eliminates “nuisance” behaviors for community members including spraying, excessive noisemaking and fighting —which makes them better neighbors!
More Ways to Help Cats in El Monte
There are several ways you can help cats in the El Monte area:
- If you feed, care for, or know of community cats in your neighborhood, and you want more information about how to help them with TNRM, please contact us.
- Become a kitten foster volunteer! Kitten fosters provide temporary care and support to kittens until they are old enough to be adopted.
- Adopt a cat or kitten. In the Los Angeles area, we have an incredible need for loving adopters.