Thank you for caring about the homeless cats and kittens in  your neighborhood. There are many cats in need right now. Regular people like you are key to helping them get spayed/neutered and find safe homes.

The intent of this page is to advise regarding common situations that our community members find themselves in. This information is mainly relevant to residents of the South Bay. Note that The Dancing Cat is not able to take in kittens or cats as we are working very hard to get cats out of the San Jose shelter, which is quite impacted by the current kitten season.

Thank you again for working towards a better life for these cats.

Click on the lines below if you:

To borrow a trap, select a time for pickup on our TNR Calendar here.

Found an unfixed stray cat

If the cat is social/friendly, take him in a carrier to a low-cost vet to have him fixed. Release him back to his neighborhood.

If the cat is feral, trap train him, then take him for a TNR appointment in a trap or a transfer cage when one is available.

Found a feral mom and kittens

First, determine the age of the kittens. If the kittens are under 4 weeks, leave them with mom, Feed her on a schedule so that you know when she’ll be there; make sure she has plenty of food so that her kittens are healthy.

If the kittens are over 4 weeks old, trap train the mom. When you have an appointment, trap her and remove the kittens. Foster the kittens, seek out a rescue that can help, or take the kittens in to the shelter that serves your city if that shelter has capacity.

We have some information about trapping on our website.

Found older kittens and want to rehome them

We can advise on questions to ask potential adopters in order to be sure your kittens will be well cared for. Post on the following sites:

The Dancing Cat can post a limited number of kittens and cats for adoption on our website as courtesy posts. Please fill out our Courtesy Post Submission Form and send us high-resolution photos of your kittens for consideration.

If the kittens are between 5-8 weeks old, HSSV may take them. Email intake@hssv.org.

Please take the kittens for spay/neuter along with the mom cat prior to posting them for adoption.

Found a friendly cat that appears lost

Many cats might appear to be lost but are in fact simply spending time outdoors. It’s important to attempt to find the cat’s owner before taking the cat in to your home and/or seeking to find an adopter.

If possible, get the cat scanned for a chip. There is no charge for this at any vet or shelter. If you are unable to bring it to a vet or to a shelter, rescue organizations have chip scanners and may be able to help.  If there is a chip, this lookup tool can possibly help identify which chip registry to contact in order to have them notify the owner:

Check the Nextdoor Pet Directory in case the owner is one of your neighbors.

The best way to reunite a lost cat with its owner, or to find a lost cat, is to print a colorful flyer and tape it to the doorknobs of houses within a 3-block radius of where the cat was found.

You may also wish to post to one or more of the following Facebook Groups:

Found an injured community cat and can’t afford to have him treated

Peninsula Cat Works offers financial assistance for injured strays.

Other national, state, and local resources are listed here.

Your own cats need to be spayed or neutered

Thank you for being a responsible pet owner and seeking spay/neuter for your cat! We can recommend the following low-cost options:

We can also contribute towards the cost of a spay/neuter appointment, and occasionally have appointments at our vets to share.

What are community cats?

Community cats—also referred to as feral cats—are cats who have either never had any contact with people or their contact with people has diminished over time. They do not have an owner and are cared for and often dearly loved by members of the community. They survive outdoors on their own or in family groups called colonies. Most community cats are not likely to enjoy living indoors.

What is TNR?

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is a humane and effective approach to controlling populations of community cats.

In TNR, cats/kittens are trapped and taken to a local shelter or veterinarian to be neutered, vaccinated & microchipped. After recovery, feral cats that are not socialized to people are returned to the outdoor location where they were trapped..

Many communities tip the left ears of males and the right ears of females.

local resources

San Jose Animal Care and Services — For residents of San Jose/Cupertino/Los Gatos/Milpitas/Saratoga

  • Note that the shelter website is not always up-to-date; when in doubt, go to the shelter to talk to the staff there for more information.

Humane Society of Silicon Valley — Make an appointment here (as of 4/25/2021) via this link.

Silicon Valley Animal Care Authority — For residents of Santa Clara, Campbell, Monte Sereno & Mountain View

Santa Clara County Spay/Neuter Program — For residents living in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Martin, Stanford and all other unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. 

Nine Lives Foundation — Low cost spay/neuter

Other helpful resources