PawsWatch Community Cat Help Request Form

Thank you for caring about Rhode Island’s feral cats and contacting PawsWatch, RI’s Volunteer TNRM Network for feral cats. We are a 100% volunteer organization with no paid staff or employees. We rely on the generosity of our financial supporters in the community and caring individuals like you to continue our mission of humanely addressing Rhode Island’s feral cat overpopulation challenge. PawsWatch advocates and practices the internationally recognized Trap-Neuter-Release-Monitor protocol as the only humane solution to the state’s feral cat challenge.

Spay/neutering of feral cats is obviously a critical step in reducing feral cat overpopulation and its attendant suffering, but it also brings significant benefits to each individual cat sterilized;

Spay/neutered cats roam much less, reducing their risk of being hit by a car, predation, being viewed as a nuisance by neighbors, picked up by animal control, etc. Because they are sterilized, cats will not fight over mating – a major cause of injury and disease transmission, and females will not suffer the potentially fatal health problems associated with bearing multiple litters.

We would sincerely like to assist you with your feral cat problem, but there are limitations to the services that we are able to offer;

1. We are not a shelter and cannot accept surrendered animals
2. We cannot remove or relocate animals
3. We do not have the resources to rescue sick or injured animals
4. PawsWatch is not a 24×7 rescue organization. Unfortunately, our volunteer resources are very limited, so in most cases, we are only able to provide our services on a monthly basis according to our volunteers’ availability and schedules.
5. All requests are added to our queue and dealt with on a first-come, first-serve basis unless special circumstances warrant more immediate attention (kittens, pregnant females, etc.). We thank you in advance for your patience!

PawsWatch consists of a surprisingly small number of dedicated individuals and attempts to cover 75% of the states 38 cities and towns. With an estimated 75,000 feral cats in RI, we receive far more calls for assistance than we could ever hope to respond to directly (more than 50 per month in 2013).

For us to carry out our mission most effectively, we must teach concerned individuals like you how to conduct TNRM for your feral cats, as opposed to performing the whole TNRM function ourselves. Thus, you will be expected to work in collaboration with a PawsWatch volunteer or in some cases by yourself with training, equipment and, in cases of need, limited financial support from PawsWatch.

Depending on the PawsWatch resources available in your area, we may be able to provide assistance on one of three levels;

1. Direct assistance by a PawsWatch volunteer in conducting TNRM
2. Direct assistance by a PawsWatch volunteer to help you conduct TNRM yourself
3. Classroom training and equipment loans on conducting TNRM yourself

Please fill out the following form as completely as you can so that we can determine how best we might assist you.

PawsWatch is a 501(c) public charity. All information provided is confidential, and will not be released to any organization, government or private individual without the requester’s approval.

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