10/12/2026
LET'S TALK ABOUT TRAP-NEUTER-VACCINATE-RETURN (TNVR)
We were excited to hear many of the Danville City Council candidates discuss the many positives of TNVR at last week's forum.
We appreciate those who have taken the time to gather the facts on TNVR and acknowledge the many, many cats that have benefited from our TNVR events in Danville - a whopping 933 cats have been sterilized, vaccinated & microchipped in Danville by Homeward Trails Danville. YAY!
We were also thrilled to hear suggestions that Homeward Trails Danville and the City of Danville work together an on ongoing program to continue providing TNVR. We would welcome a partnership with the City and the shelter around TNVR - partnerships work! We're ready to talk details!
Just this week, Homeward Homeward Trails Animal Rescue is finalizing an exciting partnership with a city in Virginia whose City Council approached us to bring our TNVR program to them - offering us a city building from which to work that week AND funding for the effort. We hope this is the start of a successful public-private partnership that will humanely decrease the outdoor cat population in this City while simultaneously bringing support to the cat caregivers who desperately need these services ongoing.
Please take a moment and read through this information on TNVR - what it is, why it works and read about some impressive statistics provided by another Virginia jurisdiction who implemented county-wide TNVR a decade ago and has the data to prove just how effective it can be (82% decrease in cat euthanasia!!!).
We thank our amazing individual donors, the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, Best Friends Animal Society, the National Kitten College and other local and regional foundations and businesses who support our TNVR work in Danville and beyond. We also thank our TNVR partners Angels of Assisi, Spay Neuter RoCo and Lynchburg Humane Society for making it possible! And we thank Danville citizens who have been a part of this program - together we are saving lives!
******************
Let’s Talk About TNVR
What is TNVR:
TNVR stands for Trap–Neuter–Vaccinate–Return. It is a humane, proactive, and evidence-based approach to managing populations of outdoor free-roaming community cats.
• T for Trap: Cats are humanely captured using humane traps.
• N for Neuter: Cats are spayed/neutered. Cats are ear-tipped while under anesthesia, providing an easy and visible way to determine if cat has been sterilized.
• V for Vaccinate: Cats receive rabies vaccinations and sometimes other vaccines, which help protect the cats, as well as other animals and humans. *Note that Homeward Trails also provides microchips for each cat, helping to reunite cats that may end up in shelters.
• R for Return: Cats are returned to their caregivers.
Why Is the Killing of Outdoor Cats Not an Effective Solution?
• There is no community-wide support for rounding up outdoor cats and killing them. Community members want a humane solution to managing outdoor cats.
• There is no mechanism in place (manpower, supplies, time, strategy) that would make possible the mass round-up of cats for the purpose of killing them.
• There is no funding for the mass round-up and killing of outdoor cats. Municipalities would have to commit millions of dollars to such an effort.
Why Does TNVR Work?
• A single unspayed female cat can produce dozens of kittens each year who then produce dozens more, creating a prolific cycle of reproduction that cannot be addressed by adoption.
• Systemic and organized TNVR decreases the community cat population gradually by eliminating reproduction. As well, as cats get older, their population decreases naturally.
• TNVR utilizes a network of caregivers who manage and provide vital care and oversight to colonies, thus identifying when/if new cats arrive and when cats need sterilization, medical attention, as well as providing food and housing when appropriate.
• Fewer outdoor cats enter shelters.
• When fewer outdoor cats are brough to shelters to be held and euthanized, more cage space is available for indoor owned cats who are surrendered to get the time and opportunity they need to find adoptable homes.
• TNVR allows for injured and sick cats to be more easily identified and given medical care and/or euthanasia when necessary to alleviate suffering.
• TNVR helps identify and remove young kittens from colonies, placing them into adoptive homes.
• Sterilized cats exhibit less nuisance behaviors including fighting, spraying, and digging.
• FACT: Few cat caregivers can afford the cost of spay/neuter for a colony, but want a humane way of managing and decreasing colony size. However, if a loving cat caregiver is faced with having to choose between a cat/colony being rounded up and killed or doing nothing but simply continuing to feed the cats, most caregivers will do the latter. Thus, without humane solutions, cat colonies increase in size rapidly. This is not a decision that any caregiver should have to face.
Myths & Untruths About TNVR
- "TNVR contributes to animal suffering." In fact, the opposite is true. TNVR programs provide resources and tools to identify and capture sick and injured cats, allowing them to receive medical treatment or humane euthanasia when appropriate. Additionally, animals that are sterilized and vaccinated stay healthier. Fewer outdoor cats mean smaller colonies, fewer vulnerable kittens and better health for all.
- "Outdoor cat populations will decrease simply by not feeding them." Cats are resourceful and resilient and while not feeding cats on one property may result in them moving to another, they will find other food sources. Only sterilization guarantees a decrease in cat populations.
- "TNVR contributes to the killing of wildlife by cats." No one debates the fact that some outdoor cats kill wildlife. However, decreasing the population of outdoor cats directly results in less wildlife being killed. Cats that are sterilized and fed often hunt less. Doing nothing to decrease outdoor cat populations directly contributes to larger colonies. Protecting outdoor cats and wildlife can and should happen simultaneously. **We ask: If not TNVR then what? Doing nothing is not a solution. We've never gotten an alternative, effective solution offered. :(
An Example of a Community TNVR Program’s Success:
By Chief Animal Control Office, Jennifer Toussaint with the Animal Welfare League of Arlington shares
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington (AWLA) launched a formal TNVR program in 2011 after many years of responding to a significant population of community cats through more traditional animal control practices. At the time, AWLA was regularly receiving complaints about roaming and nuisance cats, bringing large numbers of cats and kittens into the shelter, and euthanizing adult feral cats who could not be placed. Despite those efforts, they did not see a meaningful or measurable reduction in the number of outdoor cats in the community.
TNVR fundamentally changed that trajectory. AWLA worked closely with community cat caretakers to identify colonies and systematically trap cats for spay/neuter, vaccination, and ear tipping before returning them to their communities. The program had broad support from community members as well as representatives from Arlington County governmental leadership and the local health department.
By approximately ten years into the program, AWLA had documented really significant outcomes:
• A 70% decrease in feral colony size
• An 82% decrease in cat euthanasia
• A substantial reduction in community complaints related to outdoor cats
• Fewer stray cats and kittens entering the shelter
Beyond the numbers, one of the greatest benefits was the change AWLA saw at the neighborhood level. Areas that had previously experienced ongoing concerns about growing populations of outdoor cats saw those populations steadily decline. It also allowed Animal Control to build stronger relationships with colony caretakers and community members rather than repeatedly responding to the same concerns without addressing the underlying population.
For Arlington, TNVR demonstrated that a collaborative, population-based approach could accomplish what years of impoundment and euthanasia had not: a sustained reduction in the number of community cats while also reducing shelter intake and euthanasia.
AWLA continues to innovate our programs around cats including a newly launched Phone Home Program (you can see more about that here: https://www.awla.org/services/for-you/lost-found/) that helps keep cats in communities while working to locate owners through innovative pathway solutions.
