05/13/2026
Yesterday, an incident occurred involving a friendly cat that was trapped and spayed through our TNR program. We want to address the situation directly and clarify what happened.
At the time the cat was trapped, we were told the cat had been abandoned and was actively in heat. Based on that information, the decision was made to move forward with spay surgery in order to prevent more kittens from being born into the community. It has since been confirmed that this cat does in fact have a home, and she has now been safely reunited with her family.
As part of our normal TNR process, cats are held for approximately 24 hours after surgery to safely recover from anesthesia before being returned. However, when a friendly cat’s owner comes forward, our policy is to reunite that cat with its family. In this case, that did not happen in the way it should have, and we acknowledge that mistake.
We also want to address comments and messages that were made from this page by a volunteer while emotions were high. Those statements do not reflect the policies or values of Cheney Feral Cats Alliance. We sincerely apologize for the negative comments, messages, and interactions that occurred during this situation. We understand how upsetting they were, and we take full responsibility for the way this situation was handled publicly.
We do not require payment for TNR services. We operate entirely on donations, our mission has always been to reduce the community cat population through humane spay and neuter efforts.
This entire situation was a misunderstanding, not an attempt to take or displace someone’s pet. Rescue work can be emotionally exhausting, and our volunteers care deeply about animals and preventing suffering. That does not excuse mistakes, but we do want to acknowledge that emotions were high and things became misconstrued very quickly.
Moving forward, we will no longer TNR friendly cats or cats that appear tame in order to avoid situations like this in the future. We understand there were hurt feelings, frustration, and negative perceptions created from this incident, and we sincerely regret that.
Our mission remains the same: to humanely reduce the community cat population, prevent suffering, and help cats in need, never to separate beloved pets from their families. We will learn from this experience and continue working to improve our communication and processes moving forward. 🐾
