CONNECTING COMPASSIONATE HEARTS
TO SAVE COMMUNITY CATS
Who We Are
Feral Affairs Network (FAN) is a team of feline champions working to create a community that supports and cares for their feral cat populations in the Hampton Roads region of Southeastern Virginia.
What We Do
Our primary mission is to trap, neuter and return (TNR) feral cats to their home communities. We maintain a robust foster and adoption program for kittens and friendly adults, working with Norfolk VA’s Catnip Cat Cafe. We also promote “career cat” options for semi-friendly kitties.
How You Can Help
Discover how YOU can become a champion for your community cats on our Volunteer and Donate pages. Learn about Adopting from FAN and check out our adoptable cats and kittens using PETFINDER. We’re delighted you’re here!
Adopt
Considering adoption? Peek at some of our precious —and much-loved— adoptable cats. And see some lucky adopted felines with their new families!
Volunteer
Are you a FAN yet? Fostering, trapping, transporting; admininstration and graphic design; event planning and fundraising. All are ways you can help!
DONATE
People like YOU make a difference every day by supporting FAN. Your tax-deductible gifts help your community cats live the lives they deserve.
News
Where there are cats, there are tales to be told! Read the latest news about our volunteers, success stories, and current FAN projects.
How to HELP a Stray Cat
Have you come across a stray cat in your community? Wanting to help out your neighborhood felines is always wonderful. And these tips will get you started on the right foot:
1. Put out food and water in a sheltered spot every day
2. Provide shelter from inclement weather
3. Contact the professionals (such as FAN) to arrange Trap—Neuter—Return
You can also ensure the wayward cat isn’t a LOST CAT. (TIPS: Search for a possible owner; Check lost & founds on NextDoor and Facebook; Scan the cat for a microchip; and Post flyers in the neighborhood where you found them)
HAVE YOU SEEN CATS WHO ARE “EAR-TIPPED” OR “EAR-NOTCHED”?
EAR-TIPPING is the universal sign of a free-living cat who’s been spayed (female) or neutered (male) as part of a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program.
Please don’t report ear-tipped cats nor re-trap and take them to a shelter, unless they’re sick. Leave them in their familiar community. They provide crucial pest and population control (Since they’re “fixed,” they won’t produce any more kittens!).
If you want to help, find out if someone provides shelter and food to the colony. Or you can take on the rewarding task yourself. Feral cats will return to the same spot every evening, especially if they know a good meal is in store. Place the food down, walk away, and watch them gather for the feast. And don’t forget the importance of clean water and shelters during cold or rainy weather.
What Is TNR?
Nearly 75% of the cats who enter U.S. animal shelters each year end up euthanized. Most of those felines are free-roaming, stray or feral, also known as community cats. Although some are perfectly adoptable into indoor homes, many are not. Their lives belong outside in their neighborhood territories.
TNR SAVES LIVES
Trap, neuter, and return (TNR) entails trapping, neutering (or spaying) plus vaccinating, and then returning community cats to their original outdoor locations. Studies show it’s the most humane and cost-effective method of preventing cats from entering the often-fatal shelter system.
TNR ENSURES CAT HEALTH & WELFARE
Once cats are sterilized and vaccinated, they go on to live healthy, happy lives in their neighborhoods. Caring residents look out for them, providing shelter and food. This is a vast improvement over the failed trap-and-kill approach that’s been implemented in the past. TNR improves feral cats’ relationships with the people who live near them, decreasing colony size over time.
HOW DOES FERAL AFFAIRS NETWORK HELP?
FAN organizes and facilitates trapping, low-cost spaying / neutering, vaccinating and returning of community cats all over the Hampton Roads region of Southeastern Virginia. FAN helps prevent thousands of extra kitten births through TNR. We also work with local municipal and private shelters to find the best homes for our adoptable cats, offering successful alternatives to euthanasia.
FAN IS VEGAN
In compassionate allegiance with all animals, and with our many friends in animal rescue, FAN supports the Food for Thought Campaign. We do not use or serve animal-derived products at our functions or events.