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Charles River Alleycats (CRA) is a volunteer-powered rescue and TNR organization serving outdoor and unowned cats across Eastern Massachusetts. When a cat needs help and there is nowhere else to turn, CRA steps in to coordinate a safe, humane response.
Since 2002, CRA has helped more than 22,000 cats live healthier, safer lives.
What We Do
Our work focuses on community cats: typically unowned, free-roaming cats who live outdoors and often fall outside the traditional animal welfare system.
Some are feral and avoid human contact. Others are friendly strays who were lost or abandoned. And come springtime, many are new kittens recently born outside.
Across Massachusetts, an estimated 700,000+ community cats live outdoors, and many lack consistent access to shelter, food, and veterinary care. CRA is the only organization in Massachusetts dedicated exclusively to supporting this often-overlooked population.
When an outdoor cat is sick, injured, abandoned, or otherwise at risk, our volunteer team mobilizes to respond in close coordination with local caretakers and our clinic and shelter partners.
We will typically:
Assess the situation and make a plan with the people on the ground to get the cat out of danger.
Humanely trap when needed, using trained volunteers and proven protocols to minimize stress.
Arrange veterinary care, from spay and neuter and vaccinations to urgent medical treatment.
Support recovery and socialization when a cat needs time, care, or evaluation before its next step.
The right outcome depends on the cat, but our focus is always what is safest and most humane.
Feral cats are typically spayed or neutered, vaccinated, eartipped, and returned to their familiar outdoor homes through trap-neuter-return (TNR), with guidance and support for ongoing care.
Friendly cats and kittens may be brought indoors for evaluation, recovery, and socialization before transitioning to one of our shelter partners for adoption.
By helping the cat in front of us while also preventing future litters, CRA reduces suffering now and creates lasting change for cats and the communities where they live.
Our Impact
22,000+
cats helped since 2002
Since our founding, we've humanely trapped, treated, and/or rehomed more than 20,000 cats across Eastern Massachusetts.
15+
active partnerships
We work with a trusted network of shelters and veterinary clinics to ensure cats get the support they need.
75%+
of kittens born outside don't survive without human intervention
That’s why TNR and rescue efforts are so critical, especially during kitten season.
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