The POUNCE Alliance

TRAP

Unowned cats are humanely trapped in the community. This can occur by individuals or through organizations, such as the POUNCE Alliance. POUNCE is prepared to provide traps to local partners and teach proper procedure on how to humanly trap a feline in need. Records are kept as to where each cat was trapped to ensure it is placed back in the proper location.

NEUTER (SPAY)

The unowned community cats are brought to our on-call veterinary partners. Our team of volunteers examines each cat for identification, health, age, and claw status prior to surgery. The community cats are then spayed (for female cats) or neutered (for male cats). This stops them from being able to reproduce. We vaccinate, treat for fleas, spay or neuter, provide wound care if warranted, and ear tip each cat. An ear tip is when the ¼-inch tip is removed from the cat’s left ear during surgery. Ear tipping is a universal sign of a community cat that has been spayed or neutered. By ear tipping a cat, it helps others identify this animal in the community, and if it ever gets trapped again, it can be released immediately. 

RETURN

Community or free-roaming cats who are healthy and have a clear food source will be returned to the location where they were caught. We look at many factors to ensure each cat is healthy before placing it back out into the community, including: 

• They have claws.

• They are not kittens at socialization age.

• They are not injured or sick.

• They are not senior cats who may struggle to survive.

• They are healthy and have a body mass, indicating that they have a regular food source.
  

ADOPTION

Friendly, healthy cats and kittens may be eligible for our adoption program if space allows. We DO NOT euthanize stray, healthy, unidentified cats when our adoption program is full.