Cacapon TNR

06/10/2026

The June 7th CTNR clinic was absolute chaos from start to finish…and somehow, everything still came together.

We had 4 new volunteers step up to help us this weekend (welcome Amanda, Barbara, and wife/husband team Emily and Dion)! But then our transport van broke down. And the replacement van was rented for the wrong day. Although it seemed our appointments might be in jeopardy, thanks to Emily and Dion's generosity, we were still able to transport the cats to Mt. Airy on Sunday with their kick-ass mini-van. It was also a rollercoaster weekend in terms of trapping, but in the end, we were victorious and 29 cats had their lives changed for the better (we took 30 cats, but one was found to already be spayed)!

We routinely take cats that we find are in need of additional surgeries and treatments. Some TNR clinics are worse than others, and this is one of the worst ones. Two of our cats need dentals, one needs an enucleation, and one needs double entropian surgery. Additionally, one of the cats we helped in May needs a dental, as well, so that's THREE dentals! So we must ask for your help in raising these funds, as their appointments are scheduled and coming up quickly:

• Bandit and Yellow-Tail from Green Spring both were found to have severe dental disease requiring surgical extraction of broken and rotten teeth. Their dentals are scheduled for 8/31/2026, and they average around $500 each.
• Tiger from Capon Bridge has entropion in both eyes - the painful condition where their eyelids, lashes and fur rolls inwards scraping against the eyeballs causing corneal abrasions and infection. His double entropion surgery is scheduled for 6/24/2026 and these surgeries average about $115 per eye. We need to raise $230 to relieve his suffering.
• Nuncie, the kitten from Berkeley Springs, has a ruptured left eyeball that requires enucleation. This is likely a result of a URI contracted as a baby (that he still has!) that went untreated. His eye surgery is scheduled for 6/24 and expected to cost around $400.
• Lastly, Baby Girl from Romney, trapped for our May TNR clinic, was found to be already spayed, microchipped, front-declawed, and in need of dental surgery. Through her microchip, we found that her elderly owner developed memory loss and gave Baby Girl to her grandson when she had to move out of state to be with family who could care for her. Her grandson then became incarcerated and Baby Girl was left behind. She is tentatively scheduled for dental surgery on 7/13, and her dental is expected to cost around $500.

All together that’s $2,130 we need to raise to stop the pain for these fur babies by getting them the treatments they need and deserve. We keep saying it because it is SO true - even $1 TRULY makes a difference!!

WAYS TO DONATE:

Facebook: donate by clicking the Donate button on this post 👇

Zeffy: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/help-baby-girl-bandit-nuncie-tiger-and-yellow-tail-get-the-surgeries-they-need-to-live-their-best-lives

PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/4483171

Venmo: https://www.venmo.com/u/cacapontnr

Cash App: https://cash.app/$cacapontnr

Zelle: most banks allow bank to bank transfers through Zelle, which is free to you and to Cacapon TNR! You can find us on Zelle by searching [email protected] 🏦

PLEASE Share – This is HUGE. The more people who share our plea for help, the better our chances of successfully raising the funds to cover all of these extra expenses.

**We will be looking for a rescue or adoption center that might be able to take Baby Girl once she is healed from her dental surgery. No declawed cat should be living outside and defenseless!

05/26/2026

🆘TRAPPERS NEEDED🆘
Our next larger 30-Cat TNR clinic is June 7th! If you have some time the evening of June 5th and/or morning-afternoon June 6th PLEASE send us a message so we can discuss adding you to the crew to help Cacapon TNR stay in operation and keep saving lives in Hampshire & Morgan County, WV. We seriously cannot continue without more help in the field.

05/19/2026

This weekend, Cacapon TNR trapped and transported THIRTY cats all the way to Mount Airy, Maryland for lifesaving TNR care.

For many people in our area, doing the “right thing” for outdoor cats is not as simple as scheduling a vet appointment. We live in a low-income rural community, and even caregivers feeding just one or two stray cats often cannot afford the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars it would cost to fully sterilize a colony through private veterinary care.

That’s why Cacapon TNR exists.

We volunteer our own time to teach caretakers how to safely self-trap, and for larger colonies we do the trapping ourselves. We transport cats for hours to clinic appointments, and through grants and fundraising we help subsidize medical care for low-income caregivers who truly want to help the cats depending on them.

This clinic weekend reminded us once again that TNR is about so much more than population control.

Be aware this post will be long, as we had quite a few notable events.

Saturday morning in Savilla Vale, Romney:

**We trapped young Mary - pregnant, scared, and living outdoors. Without TNR, Mary would have been forced to endure pregnancy and birth outside, only to watch most of her kittens suffer from illness, exposure, starvation, parasites, predators, or injury. Studies estimate that the majority of kittens born outdoors do not survive their first months of life. TNR stopped the cycle of suffering before it began.

At this same location, we trapped two other cats - both turned out to be already altered.

**”Baby Girl” is a sweet, tame middle aged panther who was not only spayed, but microchipped and (very unfortunately) front declawed. After investigating, it turns out her previous owner was the elderly former neighbor of our caretaker. Her owner suffered memory loss and moved to another state, leaving Baby Girl in the care of her grandson, who has apparently been incarcerated since 2023. Baby Girl has been outside, declawed, likely suffering from the absence of her family, and definitely going to need a dental in her future. We are in the process of deciding the best course of action for Baby Girl.

**The 2nd Savilla Vale cat that was already neutered was a tame & very vocal long haired tabby. He didn’t have a microchip, so we chipped him, tipped him, vaccinated him, and administered Revolution for parasites. Now that he’s tipped, he won’t be unnecessarily trapped again. PSA to owners who have indoor/outdoor cats, consider ear tipping them so they can avoid an excursion with well-intentioned trappers!

From Green Spring we took 7 cats, including Tiger Lily, who turned out to be an already neutered male. His caretaker had concerns regarding his claws growing into his feet. In addition to a claw wrapping around and growing into the flesh between 2 toes (which you can see in his picture), Dr. K found he had two dew claws instead of one on both front paws. He will need ongoing care to keep his nails clipped so he doesn’t develop painful infections. We educated his caretaker about how best to do that considering he’s semi-feral. They will have to put in effort and time to socialize Tiger Lily enough that he allows them to contain him for nail clipping. I see a lot of Churu squeeze treats in his future

Then there was Snowball, from a Berkeley Springs trailer park. During her exam, our veterinarian discovered that Snowball had painful cancer affecting both of her back feet. Her caretaker made the heartbreaking but compassionate decision to help Snowball cross the rainbow bridge peacefully instead of continuing to suffer in pain outdoors. Because of TNR, Snowball was finally seen by a veterinarian and given dignity, comfort, and mercy.

**Sadly, Snowball was not the only humane euthanasia this clinic. Tiny Eloise was only about 6 months old but weighed closer to what a healthy 3-month-old kitten should weigh. During surgery prep, the veterinarian discovered she had a severe cleft palate - a birth defect where there is an opening in the roof of the mouth connecting the mouth and nasal cavity. In cats, this can cause food and liquid to enter the nose and lungs, leading to chronic infections, difficulty eating, aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition, and ongoing suffering.

For a colony cat living outdoors, especially one already dangerously underweight, there was no realistic path to recovery or long-term management. The kindest and most humane option was to let Eloise go peacefully before her condition caused even more pain and distress. Eloise was *literally* the 100th cat trapped in this neighborhood.

We also want to mention a cat that went through TNR at Metro Ferals while our Director was there volunteering prepping cats for surgery. This white & brown tabby male cat was in such bad shape with deep infected lacerations on his neck and paws, his belly matted with pus. This is a big reason we are so adamant that neutering the males is just as important as the females. Thankfully he was treated and should heal, and now that he’s neutered he won’t fight and roam and end up in situations that lead to such severe injuries.

We also encountered numerous other pregnancies, wounds, infections, definite future dentals and injuries requiring treatment — expenses we help cover for caregivers who simply cannot afford emergency veterinary bills on their own.

Because TNR is not just about preventing more kittens.

It is about ending suffering.
It is about giving outdoor cats a chance at healthier, safer lives.
It is about helping the people in our community who care deeply but cannot do this alone.

If you would like to help support transport costs, surgeries, medical treatments, recovery supplies, and emergency care for colony cats like Mary, Snowball, Eloise, Baby Girl, and Tiger Lily please consider donating to Cacapon TNR.

Every dollar helps us continue this work in our rural communities — one cat at a time. ❤️🐾

05/15/2026

Wonderful update on Toby- the cat that had full-mouth extractions and specialty dental surgery on April 25, 2026

Her caretaker, Sandy, reports that Toby is doing amazingly well! She’s eating normally and finally active and playing like she hasn’t in a very long time. We are so happy, and grateful to everyone that donated to make her surgery procedure possible, and our volunteers who coordinated the various appointments, cared for her in “medical foster” and transported to/from Mount Airy, MD where her treatment took place.

Congratulations on a successful recovery, Toby! ❤️ 🐈

05/10/2026

Mother’s Day 2026 💐(Tap➡️ “see more” to read)

To celebrate Mother’s Day, Cacapon TNR wants to talk about the importance of neutering the MALES, too.

That may sound more like a Father’s Day topic - but if you have ever witnessed cats mating, seen males chasing females half their size, or watched a group of tomcats gather beneath a tree waiting for a terrified female in heat trying to hide among the branches… then you understand exactly why this IS a Mother’s Day topic.

The females do NOT want to be mothers.

We are in a severe overpopulation crisis. There are countless reasons for aggressive spay/neuter efforts, but for the sake of space and attention spans, we want to explain why we have a policy that we must Trap-Neuter-Return EVERY cat on a property - not just the females.

One of our biggest challenges is getting those last holdout cats in a colony, which are usually male (as females are understandably prioritized first). Caretakers become exhausted and burned out because the larger the colony gets, the longer the process takes, the more creative trapping becomes, and the more coordination is involved.

But leaving intact males behind undoes progress quickly.

One intact male cat can impregnate countless females across a huge territory. Unneutered males have been documented traveling several miles searching for mates. That means the tomcat someone is casually feeding “once in a while” may be contributing to litters all across the county.

Every intact male left outside directly fuels the overpopulation crisis.

And neutering males doesn’t just help prevent kittens - it protects the females, too.

Female cats in heat are relentlessly pursued, mounted repeatedly, injured in fights between males, injured by contracting FIV through a deep bite wound while being held by the back of the neck, and forced into exhausting back-to-back pregnancies. Outdoor female cats often spend their lives pregnant, nursing, or trying to survive while raising kittens.

Neutering males reduces mating pressure, aggression, roaming, fighting, and the endless cycle of reproduction that keeps females trapped in survival mode.

But population control is only ONE of the reasons we make sure every male gets neutered, too.

🐾 LESS ROAMING
Intact males are driven by hormones to wander far from their colony or feeding area looking for females. Roaming puts them at much higher risk of:
• being hit by cars
• predator attacks
• getting lost
• exposure to disease
• starvation and dehydration
• injuries from territorial fights

Neutered males are far more likely to stay close to home and live safer, healthier lives.

🐾 LESS FIGHTING
Tomcats fight over territory and females. Those fights are brutal and often lead to:
• abscesses
• torn ears and eye injuries
• infected bite wounds
• broken teeth
• transmission of FIV and FeLV

Neutering dramatically reduces hormone-driven aggression and territorial fighting.

🐾 LESS SPRAYING
Male cats spray to mark territory and advertise themselves to females.

If neutered early enough, many males never begin spraying at all.

If spraying behavior is already ingrained before neutering, they may still spray occasionally afterward- but the odor is usually MUCH less potent because testosterone levels drop significantly.

🐾 HEALTHIER, LESS STRESSED CATS
Intact male cats live in a constant hormonal state of stress and competition. Neutering reduces that constant drive to fight, roam, mate, and defend territory.

Many neutered males become calmer, healthier, and better able to peacefully coexist within their colonies.

!!ENTROPION: A PAINFUL CONDITION COMMON IN BIG TOMCATS
One issue we see far too often in intact males is entropion.

Entropion is a painful condition where the eyelid rolls inward, causing fur and eyelashes to scrape directly against the surface of the eye with every blink.

Imagine having eyelashes constantly scratching your eyeball all day long.

This can cause:
• severe irritation and pain
• excessive tearing
• squinting
• eye ulcers
• infections
• permanent eye damage and blindness if untreated

Large intact tomcats with huge “stud cheeks” are especially susceptible. Those thick cheeks can physically push the skin and fur upward into the eyes, worsening the inward rolling and irritation.

Many people think these cats just “have runny eyes,” when in reality they are suffering every single day.

Neutering early helps prevent the exaggerated tomcat facial structure that contributes to this condition.

TNR is not just about preventing kittens.

It is about preventing suffering.

Every cat altered through TNR is one less cat fighting, roaming, reproducing, spraying, suffering painful hormone-driven conditions, or producing more homeless kittens.

This Mother’s Day, support humane population control through Trap-Neuter-Return. Celebrate with FEWER kittens being born into homelessness, fewer cats becoming deadbeat dads, and fewer females forced to become exhausted, dehydrated, overbred mothers.

Spay and neuter ALL cats everywhere. Pregnant, not-yet-pregnant, and every male, too. Always.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all moms:
moms to humans and moms to animals ♥️

05/04/2026

🚨 Volunteers Desperately Needed *ESPECIALLY TRAPPERS*- Help Us Help Community Cats! 🐾

Cacapon TNR is looking for dedicated volunteers to assist with trapping and transporting cats (from and back to their colonies) for our monthly clinics. We typically need help one weekend per month, likely Friday evening and Saturday.

We’re also seeking volunteers to:
• Distribute trapping materials ahead of clinic dates
• Educate and guide community members who will be doing their own trapping
• Support overall coordination efforts in Hampshire and Morgan County

Any vehicle will work, but if you have an SUV or minivan, that’s a huge bonus!

💡 Why volunteer with us?
Cacapon TNR is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and volunteering with us can:
• Help satisfy WV Works mandatory work hour requirements
“Beginning January 1, 2027, some Medicaid members (age 19-64) must meet Community Engagement requirements, unless exempt… To meet these requirements, some Medicaid members must complete at least 80 hours of work or approved community activities per month.” (From the WV DHHS Bureau for Medical Services website)
• Provide meaningful community service experience
• Build connections with others who care about animal welfare
• Make a direct, visible impact in reducing stray and feral cat populations
• Be incredibly rewarding!

If you’re interested in donating some of your time to help the cats of Hampshire and Morgan County, please DM our FB page and ask for Susie!

Together, we can make a real difference. ❤️

04/27/2026

Update on Toby’s Full-Mouth Extraction/Specialty Dental

We are excited to report that Toby’s extensive dental surgery went well yesterday! She is recovering comfortably under the care of CTNR volunteer, Leslie, who snapped this adorable photo today. She does have a full mouth of dissolvable sutures and still somewhat under the effects of anesthesia which is probably why she’s sticking her tongue out. She is eating her pate well and will be on soft food for the next two weeks, and the vet noted it’s ideal she remain on soft food indefinitely. She has no remaining teeth.

She desperately needed this help!
Toby’s Procedure Summary reads: “19 teeth and 10 root remnants extracted (severe ulcerative gingivitis in addition to mobility, fractures,
pulp exposure, resorptive lesions, bone loss, gingival recession, furcation and periodontal pockets)”.
We can’t even imagine the pain she was experiencing and are celebrating the end of that suffering!
Thanks again to each and every one of you who made this happen ❤️ 🐾

04/25/2026

Today is the big day! Toby is in Mount Airy getting her specialty dental surgery, which includes full-mouth extractions and complex root removals. We are so very happy she will finally get some relief from the severe pain of stomatitis and broken teeth. Huge thanks to everyone that made this possible- from her caregiver, Sandy, who reached out for help when she noticed something was wrong, to our partners in animal welfare who started the process to get her vet care, to our loyal supporters who shared our post and incredible donors that saw the need and couldn’t turn away. This is a major group effort, and it wouldn’t be possible without every one of you 🙏♥️😻

Once Toby is out of surgery and we have new info to share, we will do that. So stay tuned while we continue to follow Toby’s successful journey back towards living her best life, pain free!

04/11/2026

We need to normalize spay/abort! It can be shocking to hear the first time, but there are countless reasons it is better to spay a cat before she gives birth than to let her have the kittens. This is one of the best graphics we've seen that spells out all of the reasons spay/aborts are critical. If you see someone arguing against this practice, you can bet they aren't out in the field TNRing or saving cats through a rescue. For those of us that are, we are drowning in cats that need help and we can't help them all!

This is a controversial topic among those who TNR. It would be ideal if every kitten could be found and trapped early enough to be socialized and then be adopted into a wonderful home. If you are involved in feline rescue in any way, then you know this is not the reality they face. There are just way more cats and kittens than families looking to adopt.

Below is some good information that hopefully will make spaying a pregnant cat easier. If you have opinions on this topic, we encourage you to share your thoughts/feelings in the comments.

04/08/2026

UPDATE: thank you to EVERYONE WHO DONATED, we now have enough funds to pay for Toby's full mouth extraction!!! Any funds in excess of this need will go towards future surgeries, of which we have 2 dentals, 1 enucleation, and 1 hernia repair scheduled on 4/22 😻

❤️🙏Urgent Request For Donations 🙏❤️

Meet Toby - and read on to see how you can help…

Toby is a sweet cat we trapped, neutered, and returned back in 2023. Recently, his caretaker reached out for help on a local Facebook cat rescue/help page after noticing something was very wrong- his mouth was severely red & inflamed, and he was having a really hard time eating.

Local volunteers commenting on the post thought she should be able to get dental surgery for $1000, but that was still too much for Sandy to afford. At Cacapon TNR, our TNR cats have received dentals that cost between $500 and $700, so we started working behind the scenes to see if we could get him seen by our TNR vet.

In the meantime, a local nonprofit had worked to raise some funds to help Toby and got him seen by a vet in Wi******er for palliative care. Unfortunately that vet didn’t end up providing any pain management or antibiotics, only a rabies shot.

We were able to get him seen by our TNR vet in Mount Airy, where Dr. K found that Toby is suffering from severe stomatitis, a painful condition that makes his mouth feel like it’s constantly burning. Eating becomes agony. Living becomes agony. He also has several teeth broken at the gumline. Toby is going to need specialty surgery as it is going to be a full mouth extraction, along with complex root removals - the only way to relieve his pain.

Toby’s dental surgery is beyond what Dr. K is able to do, so she will be bringing in a partner surgeon who is skilled in these specialty full-mouth extractions. He is scheduled for April 25th and the estimate is between $1200 and $1500. He did receive a long lasting antibiotic shot and steroid shot to help him feel better in the meantime until he can have his surgery.

He’s finally able to eat a little - mostly soft baby food - but this is only temporary relief.

Without surgery, the pain will come back and he will start to shut down.

📅 Surgery date: April 25, 2026
💲 Estimated cost: $1,200–$1,500

❤️‍🩹 We couldn’t turn away…
When you look at his mouth, you can see the suffering.
No animal deserves to live like this.

But we are a very small, volunteer-run rescue, and cases like Toby’s are beyond what Cacapon TNR can cover.

We cannot do this without you.

😻How you can help Toby

💵 Donate – Even $1 TRULY makes a difference

WAYS TO DONATE:
•Donate by clicking the Donate button on this post 👇

•PayPal, Venmo or Cash App: search “Cacapon TNR”. If you want to use any of those platforms and have any questions or concerns please just send us a DM here on Facebook so we can help you 🙏

•Zelle: most banks allow bank to bank transfers through Zelle, which is free to you and to Cacapon TNR! You can find us on Zelle by searching [email protected] 🏦

•Zeffy: this a no-fee donation platform for nonprofits. Donors are able to add a “tip” when checking out, which is how Zeffy keeps their platform free for nonprofits to use for donations- but you DO NOT have to leave a tip in addition to your donation. Zeffy is a great place to donate because it allows us to keep 100% of donations and is straightforward using the link:

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/help-toby-get-dental-surgery-2

📢 Share – This is HUGE. The more people who see Toby, the better his chances to receive the surgery he desperately needs.

🤝 Volunteer – We need trappers & transporters! Message us if you can help.

❤️ Every dollar gets Toby closer to a pain-free life. Every share gives him a voice

Please help us give Toby the chance to eat, live, and be comfortable again.

Thank you for standing with us, and with Toby!