Sunshine’s Friends Cat and Dog Rescue (SFCDR) has been involved with helping animals in need since 2003. We incorporated and became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in October 2014. The number of animals we have rescued or aided has grown every year since then. We were first established under the name “Sunshine’s Friends Cat Rescue and Sanctuary”. The name and mission have changed to include dogs due to a growing need to provide most of the same help for dogs as we do for cats. Our non-profit public title is thus called “Sunshine’s Friends Cat and Dog Rescue.”

Sunshine’s Friends’ mission (the 5 R's) is:

• To RESCUEabandoned community cats and dogs in desperate situations;
• To REHABILITATE the sick, the injured, and the abused;
• To REHOME cats, kittens, dogs, and puppies ready for permanent placement with a suitable guardian;
• To provide a loving REFUGE for cats and dogs that are not adopted; and
• To REDUCE local shelter intake by promoting spaying and neutering.

We are an all-volunteer organization dedicated to serving helpless animals. Our goal is to stop the unnecessary euthanasia of all cats and dogs and to give them a second chance to live a good life with a loving family or companion.

We strongly believe in spaying or neutering pets to prevent overpopulation and vaccinating them to prevent diseases. These programs are aimed at providing assistance and funding to enable people to help the animals in their lives.

• Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) — we provide TNR education, loaner traps, and trapping help for large community cat projects and special situations. Cats are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and then returned to their original location where they will be fed and monitored under the watchful eye of a caregiver.
• Spay/Neuter — we offer low-cost/ no-cost spray/neuter options through partnerships with local vets to cat and dog owners who are unable to afford the surgery and required vaccines.
• Resource & Referral — for people who need help but who are outside our service area, we provide counseling and referrals to nearby animal welfare organizations, vets, and other public and private resources.

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

There are several veterinary practices in the area that offer low-cost spay/neuter services. They are able to do so because they focus on spaying, neutering, and vaccinating a high volume of pets and feral cats. The vets are high quality, but they do not offer the range of pet wellness or specialty services that their full-service vet counterparts do.

Sunshine's Friends uses the following vets for low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter:

• Spay Now Animal Surgery Clinic - Laurel, MD
• Metro Ferals - Sykesville, MD
• Spay Spa & Neuter Nook - Davidsonville, MD