What We Do

The Feral Cat Coalition is a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the overpopulation of feral and abandoned cats through free, humane Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR). We believe it is our responsibility, as a community, to care for cats that have been forced, through human abandonment or failure to spay and neuter, to live outdoors.

When appropriate, we lend humane traps, with instructions, for the purpose of trapping, neutering, and returning feral cats to their outdoor homes, where they are monitored by caretakers. Our staff will walk you through the TNR process and answer any questions when scheduling.

Since 1992, we have spayed or neutered more than 80,000 community cats. Licensed veterinarians perform spay/neuter surgeries at our facility in La Mesa, CA, just outside of San Diego, CA.

The Feral Cat Coalition is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax-deductible and go toward providing free care to community cats in San Diego and beyond.

Our History

FCC was also the first organization in San Diego dedicated exclusively to providing hands-on spay and neuter services to the community.

For more than three decades, FCC has been at the forefront of the community cat movement. The organization pioneered the high-volume, assembly-line-style (“MASH”) spay/neuter clinic model specifically for feral cats—a model that has since been widely replicated throughout the United States and has helped transform the way communities address cat overpopulation.

In the early years, FCC operated entirely through volunteers. Local veterinary hospitals generously allowed FCC to use their facilities on Sundays when they were normally closed. Volunteer veterinarians, veterinary support teams, phone screeners, and trap-depot hosts came together to provide free spay and neuter services to members of the community. The response was immediate and overwhelming. As demand grew, so did the clinics. More veterinarians and volunteers joined, donations increased, and FCC developed an efficient, high-volume system capable of helping more than 200 cats in a single clinic day. What began with 20 cats became a sustainable model for providing high-quality veterinary care at a scale that traditional veterinary practices could not.

And importantly, the program has remained free for community cats from the very beginning.

The impact of this work became measurable early on. By 2001, just nine years after FCC’s founding, the San Diego Department of Animal Services credited Feral Cat Coalition with a more than 40% decrease in cat euthanasia compared with 1992, the year FCC was founded.

FCC’s first brick-and-mortar facility, which opened in 2012, was the first of its kind in San Diego County. With the idea that FCC would begin assisting local rescuers with very low-cost services for adoptable felines, FCC opened the “Feral Cat Coalition’s Feral and Friends Spay/Neuter Clinic.”

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic created a devastating blow to the animal welfare community. Spay/neuter became a “non-essential” service, and clinics halted operations. FCC understood the setback this would create after years of progress and put its heads together. With ample PPE, FCC created a special method to maintain social distancing while continuing to bring in cats who were visibly pregnant or injured. For several months, FCC was the only organization in Southern California still offering spay/neuter services to the community.

This was when FCC realized that owned pets needed to be incorporated into its services. After all, owned pets are the originators of feral cats. Since 2020, FCC has offered low-cost surgery to many families in need.

As Feral Cat Coalition approaches its 35th anniversary, its mission remains a crucial part of the community in San Diego and beyond.

Current Feral Cat Coalition Board Members:

Amber Millen

Audrey Stratton

Dori Caccamise

Jim Hutzelman

Sheri Randle

Vanessa Hart-Watson