TNR Scenarios: How to Help Sick or Injured Cats
This information is not intended to act as veterinary or other license medical advice for animals/cats, or to be a substitute for the advice of a licensed veterinarian or other animal medical professional. As always, a licensed veterinarian should be consulted for any health issues related to a cat.
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) improves community cats’ lives, but there might be a time when you have to help a cat beyond getting her spayed. If you come across a community cat who looks sick or injured, she may need immediate veterinary attention. It’s important to have an action plan in place to provide the best care and make the right decisions.
What to Do if You Find a Sick or Injured Cat
1. Consult a trusted veterinarian with community cat experience.
A veterinary professional can evaluate whether a cat needs to be brought to the clinic right away for an illness or injury. Prior to taking any action, contact your chosen veterinarian and describe the cat’s condition. If you can, share photos or videos of the cat. For community cats with mild issues, it may be best to allow them to heal in their outdoor home rather than trapping them.
Remember that trapping is stressful for community cats and should only be done out of necessity, such as for spay and neuter or to treat more serious injuries or illnesses.
Find local veterinary resources with the Alley Cat Allies Community Resource Tool.
2. Consider options for long-term care.
Based on the severity of illness or injury, a cat might need to be placed in a long-term holding area for recovery. Whether that recovery is done in your home or the veterinary clinic, plan beforehand so you don’t have to scramble at the last minute.
Connect with your veterinarian and ask if they would be willing to house the cat during recovery, or for advice on how to create the best possible recovery space in your home. See our information on in-trap care and setting up a holding/recovery area.
3. Plan to fund any needed care.
As a community cat advocate, it’s always wise to plan ahead for how you’ll pay for veterinary bills, including any beyond the usual spay and neuter, vaccination, and eartip. Use our tips on developing resources for cat care to help create an emergency medical fund, or for ideas on how to negotiate a payment plan with your veterinarian.
You can also find financial resources at alleycat.org/Economy.
Where to Take a Sick or Injured Community Cat
If you do not already have a trusted community cat-friendly veterinarian or clinic, we have some advice on finding the right veterinary professional for your needs. Your partner veterinarian should be able to aid you not only in treating sick or injured community cats, but also in every aspect of your TNR work.
Find a full-service veterinary clinic or hospital.
Get to know the veterinarians and animal hospitals in your area, especially those familiar with caring for community cats. If you already have a trusted veterinarian and veterinary team but they are not fully familiar with the protocol for TNR or community cats, direct them to our resources at alleycat.org/Veterinarian. If you know a TNR advocate or group in your area, consult with them. They may have recommendations for veterinarians who are experienced with TNR.
You may be able to find low-cost veterinarians near you through the Alley Cat Allies Community Resource Tool.
Ask about the animal hospital, clinic, or veterinarian’s euthanasia policy.
Alley Cat Allies advocates euthanasia only for a terminal illness or untreatable injury. Unfortunately, some veterinarians who haven’t been trained to work with community cats believe in “euthanizing” (i.e. killing) community cats rather than treating them.
Be sure the best decisions will be made for cats by asking questions and being aware of your veterinarian’s community cat policies.
Make sure your veterinarian is prepared.
When doing TNR, it’s important to let your veterinarian know ahead of time that you might bring in sick or injured cats for treatment. At this point, the veterinarian should be knowledgeable about TNR and community cats and understand that the cats will need to be returned to their original outdoor home once they recover from treatment.
Be creative with trapping
Sick or injured cats may be more wary of humane traps. Our Tips for Hard to Trap Cats provide insights on methods to trap skeptical community cats.
Add comfort padding in a cat’s trap or carrier if needed.
Consider the condition of the cat and if she will need extra padding to be more comfortable. A cat with an injury may experience discomfort or soil a vehicle or the ground without a towel or blanket covering the bottom of the trap or carrier.
Apply the padding of your choice BEFORE the cat is trapped. Do NOT open the humane trap or carrier under any circumstances; your veterinarian should be the next person opening the door.
Get to the veterinarian right away.
This is why having a partner with you to trap is so important! If you are on a larger trapping effort, one of you can take the ill or injured cat to the veterinarian immediately while the other can continue the trapping effort.