About

What We Do

We exist to protect Cleveland’s community cats – one trap, one foster, one neighborhood at a time. Our goal is simple: to replace neglect and chaos with compassion and coordinated care.

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)

We identify community cats through volunteers’ and community cat advocates’ reports. For feral cats who are not sterilized (ear-tipped), we humanely trap them, transport them for spay/neuter, vaccinations, and veterinary care if needed, then return them to their territory once they are recovered.

Colony Caretaking

We monitor and evaluate our activities and impact by collecting data on cat colonies, local cat populations, and individual cats, including prevalence of infectious diseases. By maintaining the local cat colonies through regular feeding and watering, we can more easily identify new cats who should be trapped, and cats who are injured or sick.

Rescue

Some community cats are friendly strays or young kittens who can be socialized. Friendly cats and kittens who are not thriving outdoors should be rescued if possible. We assist with fostering, socializing and adopting out community cats as our capacity allows. We can also connect community cats and their advocates with local resources, including other rescue groups and shelters.

Why We Do It

Cleveland Community Cat Project exists because community cats are suffering. We are one of the only organizations that does targeted TNR, community cat veterinary care, and rescue in Cleveland, and we do so on a massive scale. We concentrate our efforts in specific neighborhoods with high numbers of vulnerable community cats. Targeted TNR and rescue allow us to create measurable welfare improvements in defined areas instead of scattered, incomplete intervention.

Outdoor, unsterilized cats experience:

  • Repeated pregnancies that tax the body

  • High kitten mortality

  • Territorial fighting and traumatic injuries

  • Untreated infections

  • Exposure to extreme weather

  • Parasite burden

  • Chronic stress

Our work is about reducing suffering and improving welfare. Population numbers are secondary. Welfare is primary.