We often need to rehome cats that either prefer an outdoors-only lifestyle or came from an outside cat colony. Our working cats can provide great rodent control to your farm/outdoor buildings/home. The working cat adoptions are completed on an “as needed” basis when the shelter needs to safely relocate feral, semi-feral, and “friendly, but prefers to be outside” cats.
All working cats are spayed or neutered, tested for FELV/FIV, and vaccinated against rabies. Please contact us if you have room in your heart and buildings for any experienced mousers. Working cats are great pest control for private businesses and warehouses! We operate off a waiting list, so please fill out an adoption application so we can pair you up with the PURRfect cat when we have one.
Trap Neuter Return (TNR)
TNR is a humane and effective approach for managing stray and federal cats. It is a successful practice that involves the humane trapping of a cat, transported to a veterinarian to be spayed/neutered, and vaccinated for rabies. After recovery, the cat is returned and released to its outdoor colony. TNR stops the breeding cycle of cats and improves their lives while preventing reproduction. Over time, the population slowly declines, reducing their impact on the environment and improving their lives. Simply removing the feral cats does not work. New cats will replace the old ones and nothing changes in terms of numbers or nuisance behavior.
The HSDC can loan property owners a live trap and offers steeply discounted spay/neuter ($45.00) and a rabies vaccine ($10.00) per cat. Please call to ensure we have surgery space before trapping. Drop off by 9 am, pick-up by 4:45 pm. All TNR cats must be contained in a live trap for everyone’s safety. Please call to ensure a veterinarian will be available for surgery on the day you wish to trap. The shelter phone number is 740-369-7387.
If you need guidance with a feral cat population in your neighborhood, please contact Hannah Esker at hannah.esker@hsdcohio.org or Darlene Burks at darlene.burks@hsdcohio.org
If you have outdoor cats you are hoping to rehome through our working cat program, please email hannah.esker@hsdcohio.org.