Last updated on February 7th, 2026
Scrolling through Sun Valley’s Facebook and Nextdoor groups often shows that many kind-hearted people here in Sun Valley, NV care for feral cats and ‘neighborhood’ pets—animals without pet parents, homes, or a reliable source of food.
As these animals reproduce, the problem compounds—ultimately leaving even more animals in the same dire situation, and increasing the financial burden on folks who may not have even more money to spend on caring for strays.
Nevada Humane Society’s Solution
Dr. Jennifer Fitzpatrick (“Dr. Fitz”) and Director James Rehm from the Nevada Humane Society (NHS) visited a recent Sun Valley CAB meeting to speak about dog and cat overpopulation issues in Washoe County, and how Sun Valley, NV residents can help.
In 2025, the NHS performed over 6,000 spay and neuter surgeries for owned pets in Washoe County. Of these, only 208 of them were from Sun Valley, which is only 4%.
In the past, barriers to accessing these vital pet care services included financial cost, transportation, and educational resources. But, thankfully, NHS has nearly eliminated these hindrances.
NHS provides reduced-cost surgeries every day for owned pets, and has a mobile surgery van that can come to Sun Valley and help fix this issue in our little slice of heaven. They can provide services 7 days per week, and they also speak to various community groups to bring awareness and outreach to people who may be unaware of their services, including their Trap-Neuter-Release Program (TNR) for outdoor, community (non-owned) cats.
For more information, or to schedule an appointment, please visit NHS Veterinary Services.
Community Cats of Reno’s Solution
Do you see cats roaming your neighborhood? You can help prevent outdoor cats from multiplying. Community Cats of Reno is a 501(c)(3) non-profit local volunteer organization serving Northern Nevada for 26 years. They help with cats all over Washoe County, but approximately 40% of the cats they help are from Sun Valley. Community Cats aided 1,782 cats and kittens during 2025, more than double their total of 849 in 2024!
If you are currently feeding stray cats, or if you know where they are being fed, please call 775-360-8053 and leave a message. Tell Community Cats where you see outdoor cats and they can help prevent the birth of kittens and reduce nuisance behaviors.
Community Cats is a partner in the Washoe County TNR program and with NHS. Community Cats is dedicated to supporting spay/neuter of cats, focusing on clinics for free-roaming, unsocialized cats. Community Cats also offers resources, support and information to assist those who care for under-socialized and free-roaming cats in Northern Nevada.
What is TNR?
Trap, Neuter, Return is a global solution to responsibly manage free-roaming cat populations, through sterilization, vaccination, and ear-tipping cats that have gone through the program (for visual identification, to prevent subsequent trappings).
Community Cats of Reno assists outdoor cats by delivering free traps to your location, and providing training on how to use them and explaining the TNR process. Cats can be trapped, and provided medical care, provided spaying/neutering and temporary shelter, and then safely returned to their colony.
For more information, please help Community Cats help you.
Options Veterinary Care’s Solution
Options Veterinary Care is offering free spay and neuter appointments for cats for a limited time, providing critical support to cats and caregivers across Washoe County during Spay/Neuter Awareness Month during February 2026.
For details, please see our prior article on their services.
Photo credit: Top photo by Berat BAKI from Pexels.
I live in Spanish springs, Kiley ranch, there’s a mama cat and 4 kittens since around Halloween. We feed and water them but do not know if they belong to a neighbor or have a chip or are spayed/neutered.