The City of Centerville partners with SICSA Pet Adoption Center on a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Program. 

TNR is the most humane and effective method known for managing feral or community cat populations. Spaying and neutering eliminates reproduction, greatly reduces nuisance behavior including unaltered males spraying to mark territory, roaming and fighting and yowling and other noises associated with mating. The cats themselves are healthier and less likely to spread feline disease. 

TNR appointments are expressly for those working on reducing the cat population in their community. TNR appointments are not for owned cats. All cats that are brought for a TNR appointment will be

• spayed or neutered
• ear tipped for easy identification in the community. The ear tip lets others know this cat has been altered. Note: There will be no exceptions to the ear tip being done for TNR cats.
• vaccinated for Rabies

Call 937-433-7151 to learn more about getting involved in the City’s TNR program. 

What are Community Cats? 
By SICSA Pet Adoption Center

In over 45 years of being in the “cat business”, SICSA has come to realize that a large majority of calls we receive for cat intakes are not suited for our adoption program. Many of them are what we call Community Cats. Community Cats do not have an “owner”. They may be feral or friendly, and could have several people who care for them in some way (food, water and even shelter during inclement weather). Community Cats are often not adoption candidates because they would not prefer to live 100% indoors. They prefer the freedom they have in the neighborhoods in which they have been living. They have established a network, have a defined territory, and access to the basic necessities to survive.

Because requests for cat intakes outnumber the available homes, SICSA uses a hierarchy of needs model for bringing cats into SICSA. Cats less likely to survive on their own are given priority. Those most at need include kittens aged 6 months and younger, and adult cats which have only lived their lives to date completely indoors. Which means, no matter how friendly the adult community cat, intake into our program is rare. What it also means, however, is that often these Community Cats are not spayed and neutered. As a result, they multiply quickly and can become a nuisance to you and your neighbors.
There is a solution to controlling and even reducing the community cat population and decreasing associated neighborhoods safely and humanely. Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is a world-wide practice which has proven results in communities which apply the practice actively and liberally. TNR is a process where Community Cats are trapped humanely by concerned neighbors, neutered through a veterinary clinic, and then returned back to their neighborhood/territory. Many TNR programs also vaccinate the cats for rabies and microchip them to the neighborhood and/or community caregiver. In this way, the cats can be easily tracked and managed.

Community Cat TNR programs have proven to be effective in not only decreasing the cat population, but also in decreasing neighborhood nuisance problems such as roaming, fighting, spraying, and howling. Most importantly, it can eliminate the unnecessary euthanasia of thousands of cats annually.

More information on the Community Cat Initiative

SICSA Website

SICSA's TNR Program

Watch this video to learn more about SICSA’s Community Cat program: