Some cats have been out in the wild so long (or born in the wild into feral colonies) that they cannot accommodate themselves to people. Yet, these cats can lead useful rewarding lives helping their human guardians by doing what they do naturally: hunting. Sunshine's Friends vets and places appropriate cats on to farms and other locations where they can live out their lives in barns catching vermin.

Sunshine's Friends firmly believes that the most important health benefit you can give your cat or dog is to spay or neuter them. Without performing this relatively simple surgery, the population of strays and abandoned animals explodes and the animals begin to suffer from diseases and starvation.

Boo (M) - Rescued from a vacant lot fending for himself; rehabilitated for injuries to his leg and tail. Now he's the sanctuary's Mr. Personality.

According to Alley Cat Allies, 

"Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), the humane approach to addressing community cat populations, works. It saves cats’ lives and is effective. TNR improves the lives of cats, addresses community concerns, reduces complaints about cats, and stops the breeding cycle. TNR improves the co-existence between outdoor cats and humans in our shared environment. This is why so many cities are adopting it.

Scientific studies and communities with TNR programs are proof that TNR reduces and stabilizes populations of community cats. Alley Cat Allies was formed in 1990 to bring TNR—which was already successful in the UK—to the U.S. We launched a national movement with our educational materials, regional workshops, mobilization of advocates, and re-writing of laws."

Without this effort to spay/neuter community cats, this video gives a good illustration of the over-population and its effect on the environment and cats.

Although Sunshine's Friends does not directly contract to perform trap, neuter and return services, we do go out with our TNR partners to support their efforts in locating, identifying adoptable cats, intake of pregnant cats along with spaying of the mothers after she weans her kittens, placing the kittens up for adoption via either our own Adoption open houses or through our partner PetSmart Store programs. We also help trained TNR technicians through population studies of feral cat colonies and identifying potential areas of the areas of Ann Arundel, Baltimore and Howard Counties where feral colonies might be located. 

Sunshine's Friends participates in TN in the Baltimore area. 

Working With Alley Cat Allies

Alley Cat Alliesis a network of specialists in feral cat behavior as well as the process of trapping, neutering and returning cats to their wild communities. Each year they hold a special day of awareness of the problems of maintaining healthy feral cat colonies and the importance of TNR to ensure that these wild creatures can continue to thrive but not overpopulate their environments. October 16, 2018 is Global Cat Day. Please sign the pledge to participate in your community's Global Cat Day through your donations, attendance at community awareness activities and lobbying efforts in support of TNR.

I got my first glimpse of Sunshine at the edge of our yard about a year after we moved to our new home in Jessup. I had never seen such a sad animal. He was so thin and looked so hungry and sick. I approached him with some of my cat’s food as gently as I could. I watched him wander back into the woods and he must have watched me put the food down. That was the beginning of our relationship - one that was as rewarding for me as it was for Sunshine. One morning about a week after the first encounter, I saw him on the deck licking grease that had dripped from our barbecue grill. I started putting food there for him twice a day. Soon every day when the sun came up my new friend was there to greet me - he was my Sunshine.

Nearly 75% of cats entering shelters each year are killed. Many of them are community cats ("stray" or "feral" cats). If these cats have a community cat caregiver, a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program gets them to a vet where they are spayed/neutered and vaccinated and then returned to the colony. Once TNR is complete, these free-roaming cats are able to stay out of the shelter system and live happy, healthy lives.

Learn more about TNR:

• Alley Cat Allies - TNR information