Community Cats Coalition

01/09/2026

The first cat spayed at our new clinic! Today we asked one of our great rescue partners to bring 20 cats for spay/neuter survey, to test drive the new location!

We will be reopening to the public on Monday, January 12th - and don’t forget, our new address is:

Spay Spa & Neuter Nook
1656 Village Green
Crofton, MD 21114.

More info in comments!

01/09/2026

📖𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒: 𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐬. 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 between a feral cat and a stray cat? 🤔

👉 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. These cats are fearful and want nothing to do with humans. They are not suited to be indoor pets and are considered unadoptable. There are varying degrees of feral, so "once a feral, always a feral" is not the rule. Some ferals can be socialized over time; it depends on the cat and the person working with the animal. 𝗧𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 "𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹" 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀.

👉 𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬. This cat may have once had an indoor home but now finds itself outside, perhaps abandoned or lost. Or, it could be a cat born outside with a feeder whom it trusts. Strays are more open to relationships with humans whereas ferals are not. When one describes a cat as a stray, it is implied that the cat is friendly to some degree.

💡 "Community cat" is an all-encompassing term to include all unowned outdoor cats, regardless of whether they are stray or feral.
Knowing whether a cat is feral or stray is important as the answer will determine your course of action. All cats should be spayed or neutered. A feral cat should go through the TNR process whereas a stray cat might go into foster care after vetting in search of an indoor forever home. Generally, strays are candidates for adoption; ferals are generally not.

👉How can you tell if a cat is feral or stray?
➡ A feral cat won't come close. A stray will come close and might let you pet it.
➡A feral will assume a crouched, tense body position and not make eye contact. A stray will act more like a house cat: standing, tail up, making eye contact.
➡A feral will not make a sound. A stray might purr or meow.
➡Ferals are more active at night. Strays are active during the day.
➡Ferals tend to be well-groomed; strays might be disheveled.
➡When trapped, ferals move to the back of the trap. Strays come to the front.
➡A scared feral will lash out; a scared stray may simply hiss.
➡A feral won't recognize or play with a toy. A stray probably will.

Original content provided by Stray Cat Project.

01/09/2026

Time, love + patience....

01/09/2026

It is January and that means- the Community Cats Central Sentiment Survey... if you can take 15 seconds(yes just seconds) to fill this out that would be great. https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/resources/community-cats-podcast-annual-sentiment-survey/

01/09/2026

01/09/2026

Apparently this still needs to be said…

Ear-tipping is not cosmetic. It’s not optional. And it’s not a “personal preference.”

An ear tip is the universal, instant, from-across-the-parking-lot signal 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱/𝗻𝗲𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱.

No ear tip = no proof 🤷‍♀️.

And yes we know.
“But we keep records.”
Cool. Love that for you.

The cat doesn’t carry your paperwork.
Neighbors don’t have your spreadsheet.

What they do have is eyesight 👀.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱:
🙀𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻
🙀𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻
🙀𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘀
🙀𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀

All because someone decided a tiny, painless, medically performed ear tip was somehow worse than all of that.

What ear-tipping actually does:
✅ Prevents repeat trapping
✅ Protects cats from unnecessary procedures
✅ Keeps shelters from filling up
✅ Saves trappers countless wasted hours
✅ Stretches limited funds
✅ Saves lives

This isn’t about looks.
This isn’t about aesthetics.
This is about functional TNVR.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘅𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗱𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀.

Ear tips are the difference between order and chaos.
Between progress and spinning our wheels.

Fix the cats.
Tip the ears.
Move the needle. 🐾

01/09/2026

Amen.....

Is it really “rescue” if we grab the easy ones… and leave the rest behind?

It feels amazing to scoop up kittens- the friendly ones, the tiny ones, the ones who are easy to catch. And yes, saving any life is something to be proud of. If you save 19 kittens, those 19 will be fixed, vaccinated, and find wonderful homes. That is absolutely a success.

But if the moms are still out there, unfixed… do you know how fast you’ll be right back to 20+ again?
Sometimes in as little as a few months.

That’s the part people don’t always see.
It’s a vicious cycle for the mom cats who are left behind. While the cute babies get adopted, mom goes right back into heat. Pregnant again within weeks. Starving again. Hiding again. Nursing again. Losing babies again. Over and over.

If we want the cycle to stop, we have to finish a site.
Not halfway… not just the easy ones.
All of them- especially the breeding adults.

The shy cats who probably won’t be adoptable still need to be fixed.
The adults you don’t have space to take in still need to be fixed- even if they’re returned afterward. Because a fixed cat is no longer creating an endless stream of kittens who also need rescuing.

And honestly? It feels way better knowing you ended the cycle for an entire colony than grabbing the cute babies and calling it a day. Anyone can be the hero who takes the kittens. The real impact- and the real rescue work- is making sure no more kittens are born there again.

Fix them, finish the job, and you save dozens more lives than you’ll ever physically hold in your arms.

01/08/2026

Your unaltered female is about to go into heat and try to escape. If she gets out, the neighborhood strays will be waiting for her. She will be cornered and usually mated with by numerous males. They will also be sharing their diseases with each other because unfixed cats are almost always unvaccinated.

She may or may not find her way back home. Either way, she will be pregnant. If she doesn’t find her way home and manages to navigate the outside world, she is now just another stray cat.

➡️ THIS CAN HAPPEN AT JUST 4-5 MONTHS OLD.

PLEASE protect your pets from this. Ask for help if you need it. If you ask for our help, please be prepared to get all cats fixed, not just 1 or 2 and leave others unaltered. We are here to do thorough work helping cats.

Post specific to males coming soon 🩵

01/08/2026

The 25 lb bag of Purina Cat Chow is now on sale at Sam's for $22.98! Hugh savings for us! Limit 8 per membership. We go through 4 bags per day feeding 180 cats on a daily basis!

01/08/2026

01/08/2026