What is a "Cat Colony?"

Here are a few pictures of different "managed colonies" I help care for in my neighborhood. Tree House Humane Society volunteers help each other feed and shelter feral cats who have been "TNRed" (trap-neuter-return). Tree House assists us with free dry food (and wet food when they have it), shelters, and other supplies and we in turn provide Tree House with annual reports of who is in the colonies and their status (health, description, spay/neuter status, if any have been homed or left etc). Tree House volunteers were also responsible for what I like to call "trapping gangs", groups of people who come out together and trap large numbers of cats at one time. 

This is a pretty kitty who lives in an abandoned house. She pokes her head out when we arrive but won't come out to eat until we leave!!

You can see the hole here where she pokes her head out. The boxes are feral cat shelters stuffed with straw. This is in the back basement area - outside. 

Here are a bunch of kitties enjoying breakfast in an alley. There is actually a small area between two garages on the right that is covered with a tarp where we feed them in bad weather, with 2 cat shelters inside.

This is a large wooden shelter a neighbor built, that Tree House volunteers spent hours sanitizing and rehabbing last month. It is completely insulated with foam board insulation, it has a raised floor, and is stuffed to the gills with straw, which repels moisture and is snug and warm for the kitties. We cover the food in bad weather. 

Volunteers took time to talk to neighbors to make sure they were all ok with us feeding cats on their properties, and letting them know the cats were fixed. It also helps to post a note in the feeding/shelter areas to inform neighbors that the areas are being maintained by shelter volunteers. Tree House has many great examples on their website of letters for neighbors to hand out or post. We make sure to take our cat can garbage with us and keep the areas clean and neat.