19/02/2026
Unfortunately, thousands of cats across the country are abandoned or stray each year, and rely on charities like Cats Protection for help. One stray unneutered cat can quickly become a colony of feral cats, which become difficult to socialise and therefore difficult to help and rehome. This is where Trap, Neuter, and Return programmes (TNR) can help reduce the number of feral cat colonies. Feral cats are often so feral that it would be difficult to socialise them all. That is where TNR helps. TNR works by humanely trapping feral cats, neutering them, and returning them to their territory, where they will be less stressed. We can significantly reduce the feral cat population by stopping the number of feral cats born on the streets.
Sadly, many charities are overwhelmed by the number of cats in need of help and don’t have space to take them in, so TNR is sometimes the best course of action to help stop the overpopulation of stray and feral cats. This is especially the case in London. One member of the public (for clarity’s sake, we’ll call them Sandra) recalls visiting their partner in their London home, where there seemed to be a small colony of cats in the area, all unneutered and unmicrochipped. Although it was not unusual for this to be the case in that area, and they seemed to look well-kept, Sandra assumed they had a home but kept an eye on them. Over the course of Six Months, they saw a few of these cats become pregnant, but she never saw any kittens, and when the cat was due to give birth, the queen would disappear, which made Sandra think they had an owner who was keeping them inside whilst she nursed. However, as time went on, it became increasingly apparent that perhaps they were a colony of strays. Near the end of Sandra’s long observation, two cats she had been looking after got pregnant, one of which was Nadja, a cat mentioned in a previous post, and so she got in contact with all the charities that covered her area, but none of the charities had space for these cats. Instead, they offered TNR, but due to the volume of cats needing this service, they weren’t able to help in time. One morning, Sandra got a call from her partner as he headed into work to say that one of the cats, Mia, had given birth in the garden. Sandra rushed over as quickly as she could to ensure that Mia and her kittens were healthy and to take further action. When she arrived on that cold April morning, she found Mia nursing two of her kittens under a chair, whilst three more were lying nearby. When she went to check on them, they were extremely cold, and so she called the nearby vets and took them all in. The vets looked after Mia and her kittens for eight weeks, as many of the kittens were unwell and needed to be under observation, before Sandra decided to adopt Mia and bring her to her Kent home, her only surviving kitten being adopted by a friend of the vets.
Luckily for Mia and Nadja, they were able to get the help they needed from a member of the public, but sadly, this isn’t the case for many cats across the country. Many stray cats give birth without anyone knowing and their kittens grow up to be feral cats who create even more feral cats. Fortunately, Sandra found that charities in Kent didn’t seem to have the same high demand, which is how she managed to get Nadja the help she needed; however, TNR volunteers are still an extremely important part of managing this demand. If you’re interested in becoming a TNR volunteer, do reach out to find out more, or any donations made to Cats Protection go towards funding this vital programme.
