In the summer of 2024, our Cornell’s Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program (MSMP) team launched a pilot project: Help a local neighborhood overwhelmed by free-roaming cats.

For years, this area had been one of the largest sources of cat and kitten intakes at the local animal shelter – many of them arriving sick, injured, or too young to survive. The residents cared for the cats: they fed them, gave them names and wanted to help. But the problem required a more comprehensive solution, and neither the local shelter, nor the residents have the resources to manage the cost or complexity of a large-scale trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) effort.

Thanks to donor support, we stepped in to fill the gap.

Over the course of six weeks, our faculty, community volunteers, and Cornell veterinary students came together to humanely trap, transport, and provide care for these vulnerable animals. Under expert supervision, veterinary students performed 143 spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations, directly reducing the number of kittens born into a cycle of illness and homelessness. An additional 15 young kittens were brought into the shelter, where they received medical care and found loving homes.

Smaller-scale TNVR efforts continued throughout the year, creating lasting change in the community. By the following spring, shelter staff reported a visible difference: fewer kittens were coming in, and those who did were healthier than ever before.

This project didn’t just improve the lives of individual cats, it brought relief to an entire neighborhood, reduced shelter burden and gave future veterinarians invaluable real-world experience in population-level care.

Because of you, we can respond to community needs, reduce suffering and invest in the next generation of shelter medicine professionals.

Together, we’re creating healthier communities – one cat, one student and one neighborhood at a time.