Best Friends Catnippers Caregiver Information
If you are new to Best Friends Catnippers, please take a moment to review our detailed Program Elements page and read our Open Letter to Caregivers.
Download forms, application, and other resources
Best Friends Catnippers is engaged in an on-going community effort to access feral cat caregivers and to promote the availability of our free TNR services among this group of caring individuals. Toward this end, we serve as an information resource for individuals and companies interested in implementing a TNR program, and in trapping and transporting feral cats to our clinics. We are knowledgeable about other spay-neuter services for feral cats, and, because our resources are limited, we often refer caregivers to one of these alternatives. We are also very active in providing our services to large corporations, college campuses and similar institutional sites, and regularly make presentations to such organizations concerning the advantages and benefits of TNR.
Application Procedure
Due to the volume of inquiries we receive, the amount of information we need to disseminate, and the limited nature of our personnel resources as an all-volunteer organization, Catnippers has instituted an application and review procedure to streamline the process of evaluating qualification and setting a caregiver up for either a high-volume clinic or participation in one of our other "paid for" spay-neuter programs. Each new, first-time applicant and all returning caregivers are required to complete and submit a written Application, which you can download below, or which can be obtained by sending an e-mail request to
catnippers@bestfriends.org. We will e-mail you the Application as a Microsoft Word document. After completion, your application should be faxed to Catnippers at (818) 340-9551, or mailed it to Best Friends Catnippers, P.O. Box 26, Woodland Hills, CA 91365. Naturally, submission by e-mail or fax will be much faster.
TNR Information
Best Friends Catnipers provides free or assisted spay/neuter services for "managed colonies," which means food, water and shelter is provided to the cats on a daily basis. Best Friends Catnippers does not remove, relocate or exterminate homeless cats, nor do we find homes for cats or kittens. We do not sterilize owned pets or friendly strays that will be adopted by the finder or placed in an adoption agency. At our clinics and under the Catnippers Coupon program, the medical services we provide are limited to sterilization surgery, except that at clinics we also administer certain post-operative treatments, vaccinations and medications. We will not pay for or cover any additional medical needs of feral cats.
If you are new to our program, we ask that you download and review each of the information pieces we have developed to help you implement TNR in the most humane and safe way. These include:
- Humane Trapping Information
- Post-Surgery Instructions
- Drop-Off and Pick-Up Instructions for Clinics and Vet Offices
- Alternative Trapping Tricks
Before we can approve an Application, you must certify in writing that you have read each of these.
Costs and Needs
Our complete range of services is made available at no or minimal cost to caregivers of feral cats, thanks in part to the clinics, veterinarians, technicians and other volunteers who generously contribute their time and resources. However, clinic supplies are expensive, and our Coupon Program is entirely dependent upon available cash. To satisfy these needs, we depend upon donations from organizations and the public. All contributions are fully tax-deductible.
Other Feral Cat Resources
If Best Friends Catnippers is not able to handle your immediate needs, we recommend you explore
our list of spay-neuter and related programs offered by other organizations.
Note about online forms: We recommend that you use
Adobe Acrobat Reader,
Standard or
Professional to complete .pdf forms online. Using
Adobe Acrobat Standard or
Professional will enable you to
save the filled in form locally and
e-mail the completed form directly to us. If you don't have
Adobe Acrobat and need to install it,
Adobe Acrobat Readeris free and available from the
Adobe Systems website.
