The Spay Neuter Project

05/24/2026

🐾 20 Cats TNR'd: Stopping the Cycle in Jefferson County TN! 🐾

Whew, what a week! We successfully trapped, neutered, and returned (TNR) 20 community cats across three different locations in White Pine and New Market, TN.

Thanks to dedicated local caretakers, every single one of these cats has a safe place to call home, with regular food and warm shelter. Even though these kitties aren't socialized to be indoor pets, they are deeply loved by the people who look after them every day.

Why this matters:

By ensuring 100% of the cats in these colonies were TNR'd, we have officially stopped the cycle of reproduction. No more future kittens will be born into the harsh outdoor elements here. Over time, these managed colonies will naturally stabilize and decrease in size, leading to healthier cats and happier neighborhoods.

A massive thank you to our donors, clinic staff, and the kind colony caretakers who make this lifesaving work possible! Together, we are making Jefferson County a better place for community cats. 🐱

05/18/2026

Last week, we helped TNR six cats at a Jefferson County residence (five were female), and we rescued six kittens who are now in foster care. All the babies are now thriving and will be adopted into indoor, forever homes as soon as they are big enough.

Our TNR Efforts:
Cats TNR'd this year: 137
Total TNR'd since Oct 2018: 3,604

*A Friendly Reminder to Caretakers *

Requests for help far exceed what our two-person volunteer team can manage. If you feed outside cats, you must take responsibility for getting them fixed—preferably before two or three cats turn into 15.

If we are able to help, we require your active assistance, availability, and commitment to following trapping protocols and transporting cats when possible. To ensure we can help as many community cats as possible, we rely on the person requesting assistance to be our partner on the ground. Because our resources are limited, we cannot respond to every call, but we will help guide you through the process.

Low-Cost TNR Resources (the following clinics offer affordable options for TNR cats):

The CARE Shelter: Facilitates one monthly clinic for TNR cats.

Kindness Counts: Located in Sevierville Kindness Counts Spay Neuter Clinic.

Claws & Paws: Located on Asheville Highway in Knoxville Claws and Paws 4 a Cause.

05/14/2026

Companion Animal Rescue & Education -CARE, the Jefferson County animal shelter, is providing low-cost clinics for community cats and household pets, with grant pricing available for Jefferson County residents.

This clinic is for outside community cats.
Grant pricing is available for Jefferson County residents only, but we also offer our regular low‑cost pricing for anyone outside the county.

The clinic for household pets was posted separately.

05/02/2026

Mission Accomplished in Jefferson County, TN! 🐾

We recently completed a TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) project for some local homeowners who wanted the best for their outdoor cat colony.

By trapping three females and one male, we’ve prevented 10+ kittens from being born this spring! Beyond population control, TNR creates a more peaceful environment by reducing fighting and yowling. Healthy cats, happy neighbors, and a stable colony. That’s a win-win!

05/01/2026

Preventing a 'cat-astrophe'! 🐈‍⬛

TNR just in time to keep this colony manageable and healthy! When caretakers look out for community cats, they know the best thing they can provide—besides food and shelter—is TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return). TNR not only prevents the colony from growing, but it also improves the cats' health and makes them better neighbors by eliminating hormonal spraying and the loud noises of mating and fighting.

We were so happy to help this group in Jefferson County, TN! Since seven of the cats were female, we’ve prevented a huge number of unwanted kittens from arriving this spring.

These are very kind folks doing the right thing, and we were glad to be able to help. They truly love the cats, even if they will never be able to cuddle them. They are so relieved the colony is stabalized and there will be no growth this spring with new kittens!

04/30/2026

Excellent post from Stray Cat TNR. Volunteers are asked so often why they cannot take the cats in to socialize. While most end up with way more foster cats and kittens than we should, it is just not feasible. There aren't enough homes for all the cats which is why TNR is so important. We have fixed 3,600 cats in our community through TNR.

We are in a world 🌎 where there simply aren’t enough homes for the number of cats being born. While people spend months or even years trying to turn one truly feral cat into an indoor pet, there are countless friendly, adoptable cats and kittens running out of time ⌚️ in shelters or suffering outside, waiting for help that may never come.

Some cats 𝘤𝘢𝘯 adjust to indoors and if individuals have the time to assess temperament and take on the responsibility, that is a wonderful gift to the kitty! 😘 But, for the feral cat who isn't able to adjust, it’s not humane. 😢 It can mean fear, stress, and a life spent trying to escape something they don’t understand. 🚫

That means we have to make hard, thoughtful decisions based on what helps the most cats and what gives each individual cat the best quality of life. TNR does just that.

It prevents suffering before it starts. It stabilizes populations. It allows cats who are thriving outdoors to continue living in the environment they know without contributing to more kittens being born into the same cycle.

There are times when a cat can’t be returned-medical issues, unsafe locations, or other circumstances. Those cats deserve careful evaluation for the most humane path forward, whether that’s placement, sanctuary, or, in some cases, euthanasia.

But for the majority of truly feral cats, forcing indoor life isn’t rescue. It’s asking them to become something they’re not.

This isn’t about giving up on cats.
It’s about meeting them where they are and doing the most good, for the most lives, with the reality we’ve been given. ❤️‍🩹

04/30/2026

TNR doesn’t always go as planned! 🐾

One of the cats we recently trapped in Jefferson County, TN, turned out to be very pregnant—so pregnant, in fact, that she started delivering her kittens right in the trap!

We immediately moved her to a quiet bathroom with a cozy birthing box in the linen closet so she could feel safe. We watched via camera as she delivered a total of six healthy babies. We are so relieved these little ones were born somewhere safe and warm.

Mom is doing a great job taking care of them! While she’s tolerating us for food and litter scooping, she isn't socialized. Once the kittens are weaned and ready for forever homes, Mom will be TNR’d back to her colony where she is loved and looked after. Welcome to the world, little ones! ❤️

04/29/2026

Teamwork makes the TNR dream work! 🐾

We recently assisted a kind family in Jefferson County with a colony of six cats. With only one trapper covering the whole county, the caretaker stepped up to trap and transport—help that allowed us to get 17 cats to surgery last Wednesday!

One mama is still out there with a hidden litter of kittens. We’ll be back in a few weeks to get her fixed and move those babies into foster care for indoor homes. Together, we’re stopping the cycle! 🧡

04/29/2026

Basement stowaways! 🐾

A few weeks ago, we got a surprise call for help! A stray cat had followed some resident indoor/outdoor cats through a pet door and into a basement—where she promptly gave birth to four kittens.

We originally hoped to TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) the unsocialized mom and move the kittens straight into foster care. However, the babies weren't quite weaned yet. To give them the best start, we kept the family together for two more weeks, which made a huge difference in their development!
The kittens are now in foster care and will be fixed, vaccinated, and microchipped as they get ready for their forever homes. Mama has been spayed and returned to her original spot. The homeowners even welcomed her back, and she’s already returning to the basement to eat with her feline friends!

04/09/2026

We hope that studies like this bring necessary awareness to the critical importance of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) for reducing the number of kittens born homeless and bettering the lives of those TNR'd. It was our privilege to play a small part in the creation of this survey.
Since January of this year, our volunteer trapper has TNR'd over 100 cats in Jefferson County, TN, bringing our total to 3,565 cats successfully spayed, neutered, and vaccinated since we began in October 2018. Through these efforts, we are not just managing the population—we are fostering a more compassionate, healthier, and stable community.
Survey data confirms what we live every day: critical TNR work is often carried out by solitary volunteers operating with minimal funding and resources. Yet, we felt the need to manage the local cat population was far too important to stop.
Unfortunately, as a couple performing every single role—from trapping and transportation to recovery care and fostering in our home—calls for help often exceed our capacity. Despite our best efforts, when the volume of requests surpasses our capacity, we need caretakers to take the initiative. We’re lucky to have local resources available for those willing to take the lead.
If you’re caring for community cats, you don't have to handle the financial burden alone. The CARE shelter provides affordable spay/neuter services specifically for outdoor cats, while Kindness Counts in Sevierville offers a dedicated TNR rate to keep costs manageable. Taking action now is essential—if the cats in your colony aren't fixed, their population will inevitably grow, making the situation much harder to manage down the road.