I need help!
We can help the community in the following ways:
- We can provide you with information on making appointments for TNR vet work like neuters/spays and vaccinations
- We can provide advice on how to trap a cat with a good chance of success
- If you don't think you can do it yourself, we have trappers who can help with trapping and setup appointments for the vet work.
- we can answer questions on how TNR can help reduce the number of community cats. Iowa is home to multiple success stories with smaller towns, Ankeny could be a success story for a larger city.
- If you have a mom with kittens, we can provide advice or help with trapping the family and surrendering the kittens for adoption.
What we can't do:
- Trap cats and release them somewhere else.
- Harm cats
- Give out kittens, we only surrender kittens to shelters who have a legal obligation to spay/neuter before adoption
If you need any help with the things we can do, find out ways to contact us here.
If you want to donate, you can find ways to do that here
We're a small group of trappers and we're very reliant on veterinary appointments through third parties. Our ability to get those appointments directly affects our ability to trap small and large colonies
Information
The Information Tab will take you to a series of guides and other information to help you with any cat related issue you're trying to solve.
Cats We've Helped
If you want to see quantifiable proof that we're out there trying to make a difference in Ankeny, you'll see it in the Cats tab. At a glance, we've had a serious impact in Ankeny since we've been founded.
| Year | Trapped | Returned to Colony | Kittens sent to Adoption | Adults sent to Adoption | Reunited Owner | Spay Assistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 62 | 42 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 148 | 58 | 70 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
- Ankeny Villas
- Ashland Ridge Elementary
- Autumn Ridge
- Country Crossing
- Creekside Park
- Dunaway Pond
- Glenbrooke Park
- Mel Ray
- South East Elementary
- Uptown
- Village Park
- Kitten Placements
- Spay Assistance
Our History
The Ankeny TNR group was founded shortly after the Iowa Animal Rescue League dissolved their contract with the city of Ankeny. The Animal Rescue League got numerous people already doing Trap/Neuter/Release in Ankeny together to talk about the situation and what to do next.
Since April 2024, we've advocated for minor changes to the city code, talked to the City Manager's office about how to approach TNR realistically, and trapped a lot of cats.
In April 2025 we incorporated and applied to the IRS for 501(c)3 status. It was granted and we can accept tax deductible donations. You'll find ways to do that on our Donations page.
Blogs
The Blogs tab has blogs written by members concerning thoughts or trapping operations they undertook. Maybe some happy endings with kittens getting adopted.