This feature comes from our Fall 2014 Alley Cat Action newsletter. Receive a print version, delivered to your home on a quarterly basis, when you donate $20 or more.

Thanks to mainstream support of TNR, Rufus is happy and healthy in his outdoor home.

Thanks to mainstream support of TNR, Rufus is happy and healthy in his outdoor home.

Rufus, an unneutered adolescent brown tabby, was enjoying life outdoors with his family when Hannah Shaw met him. Hannah reached out to her local shelter, which was helpful and responsivethis shelter has fully embraced Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). They lent Hannah traps and even neutered Rufus at no cost. Fortunately for Rufus, TNR has become the mainstream approach for caring for outdoor cats in communities nationwide. Hannah still visits Rufus regularly; and since discovering him, she has joined our team here at Alley Cat Allies as the campaigns managerhelping cats from coast to coast!

We celebrate helping cats every day of the year, and one day in particular, we shout our triumphs from the rooftops. This October 16 marked our 14th National Feral Cat Day®, and we had a lot to be proud of! We are overwhelmed by the success of the movement over the past two decades. Caregivers across the country are helping more and more cats live healthy lives outside, and shelters everywhere are stepping up to adopt positive community cat policies. More cats are free to enjoy life outdoors, like Rufus. Together, we truly are achieving a better world for cats.
There’s no questionTNR is now the mainstream approach to caring for community cats. We hear this from our ever-growing network of Feral Friend Network members, see it in local governments throughout the United States, and feel it from the support of compassionate people like you. And so that was our inspiration for this year’s National Feral Cat Day® themeTNR: From the Alley…to Main Street. The incredible expansion of TNR couldn’t have happened without the generous, unwavering backing of our supporters, and it truly is reason to celebrate!

Event Highlights

So many great events took place this year! More than 500 in total, with at least one in every state, including Washington, D.C. From food drives to free spay and neuter days to fundraising dinners, cat lovers brought their A game.

One very special Alley Cat Ally pledged his support to community cats for National Feral Cat Day®the Cat Daddy himself, Jackson Galaxy! Jackson has a huge following of cat lovers, and he used his influence to spread the word that every single cat deserves protection and care through a Public Service Announcement made especially for Alley Cat Allies. And throughout the country, supporters like you did their part to strengthen the conversation on community cats. Great events took place everywhere, including a feral food drive in Albuquerque, New Mexico, an art show in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a TNR workshop in Phoenix, Arizona, and a spay day in Raleigh, North Carolina. And so many, many more!

It’s this strength of all the cat advocates together that allows Alley Cat Allies to make enormous improvements for cats everywhere. Thank you to all who participated!

On the Map

news_NFCD2014MapWe are inspired by the hundreds of towns and cities that are now embracing TNR. To demonstrate how our country is becoming more and more compassionate toward kitties, we created a map detailing communities that are creating safe places for cats. Each point on the map represents either a nonprofit that conducts TNR, a Humane Alliance High-Volume Spay/Neuter clinic, a municipality with a TNR ordinance or policy, or Feral Friends Network members, all across the country!

Now that 2014 National Feral Cat Day® is on the books, we’re looking forward to continuing to fill the map throughout the next year. We are going to continue working with shelters, local governments, and communities not yet on our “map of cat protection,” to persuade them to adopt lifesaving practices and create a better landscape for cats everywhere.