The Community Cat Challenge

The number of cats killed in shelters decreased by 72.5% in 2024, compared to 2016, driven in large part by successful lifesaving programs for cats, like changing policies around intake of community cats and TNVR. These results make it clear that implementing RTF/SNR and TNVR programming is the best choice for communities to save more cat lives.  

The Community Cats Challenge is a unique opportunity for shelters to increase their cat lifesaving through implementation or expansion of SNR/RTF, or by ending trap and kill practices and implementing TNVR. This challenge runs from July 1-31, 2025, and is invite-only to selected shelters. 

• Return-to-field (RTF) or shelter-neuter-return (SNR) can look slightly different from community to community, but it is when healthy free-roaming cats who lack identification and enter a shelter are evaluated for eligibility, sterilized, vaccinated, ear-tipped, and returned to the location where they were found.  
• In trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) programs, community cats are humanely trapped, evaluated and sterilized, vaccinated against rabies and distemper, and then returned to their original habitat.  

Let’s save more cats, together.

Challenge materials:  

• Community Cat Creative Materials & Templates
• Community Cat Challenge Press Release Template
• Communicating About Cats: Research Underscores Need to Use Broadly Understood Language
• Community Cat Programs Training Playbook
• Community Cat Programs: Public Policy and Legal Considerations
• Community Cat Complaint Mitigation Webinar
• Expanding Shelter-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return Eligibility for Cats Webinar
• Determining Eligibility for Cats in RTF and TNR Programs Webinar 

Challenge grants and opportunities: 

• Participating organizations that meet the challenge requirements will receive a $2,500 grant
• One top performing organization with the greatest year-over-year decrease in cat killing will receive a $10,000 grant instead of the $2,500 grant
• The top five performing organizations with the greatest year-over-year decrease in cat killing will receive:
  • A $500 gift certificate to Tomahawk Live Trap 

Challenge requirements: 

To receive a $2,500 guaranteed grant and be considered for the additional bonuses, organizations must complete the following:  

📝 Application and Reporting

• Confirm challenge participation by May 30, 2025 at 11:59pm ET
• Join Shelter Pet Data Alliance (SPDA) and provide monthly 2024 and 2025 data through July 2025 by August 13, 2025
• Fill out report form no later than August 13, 2025 

🐈 Operational Changes 

• Decrease the killing of healthy cats in July 2025 compared to July 2024 through either:
  • Return-to-field (RTF) or shelter-neuter-return (SNR)
  • Ending trap-and-kill and implementing TNVR 

📱 Social Media & Website Promotions 

• Post at least twice in July 2025 about your community cat efforts and participation in the challenge
• Post at least twice in July 2025 about community education on community cats in both English and Spanish (or another common language in your community)

Have questions or need support? We’re here to help!

If you have any questions, please reach out to our team.