Brianne Tushaus has trapped 150 to 200 feral and outdoor cats in the past year, taking them to the Animal Humane Society to be spayed or neutered for free and returning them to her south Minneapolis neighborhood to live out their lives.

But now she’s unsure if she can continue, after the humane society began charging $75 to sterilize such cats July 1.

“It’s going to be a significant reduction in the number of cats I can help year over year,” Tushaus said. “It’s an unseen problem that’s about to become more visible.”

And it’s a concern now shared by others doing the same work: trapping, neutering and returning cats to local colonies, a process known as TNR. They say the number of stray or abandoned cats has already skyrocketed in recent years because people can’t afford them or don’t want them post-pandemic, adding to the problem.

Officials at the Animal Humane Society, among Minnesota’s largest animal-focused nonprofits, say they still support TNR efforts but can’t afford to fix cats for free anymore.

“Ideally we’d like to do as much as we can for free, or as low of a cost as we can,” said Dr. Graham Brayshaw, the humane society’s chief medical officer. “We had to take a hard look everywhere for, what are we charging?”

Brayshaw said the costs of other humane society activities, from pet adoption fees to kids’ summer camps, have also risen. Charging $75 to fix a cat, which includes vaccinations, doesn’t cover the cost of surgery.

Maia Rumpho, who runs Pet Project Rescue, a north Minneapolis-based nonprofit that sterilizes about 500 Minnesota cats annually, said the change will cause an explosion in the Twin Cities’ cat population and put pressure on smaller nonprofits. She said people in low-income communities caring for cat colonies already face hurdles in getting them fixed, such as transportation.

“My big stance on it is about equity and breaking down barriers to vet care,” Rumpho said. “It is now entirely out of grasp.”

The practice of trapping, fixing and returning cats began to gain acceptance in the 1990s as a humane way to control the population of “community cats” — stray, feral or unowned cats that live outdoors, often in colonies. It’s an alternative to euthanizing strays, which advocates say doesn’t reduce cat numbers anyway.

“We can’t adopt our way out of the cat overpopulation crisis,” said Jacky Wilson, director of TNR and community outreach for Bitty Kitty Brigade, a Twin Cities-based rescue focused on saving neonatal kittens.

In the Twin Cities there are just a few places to get community cats fixed, and none are free. The Minnesota Spay/Neuter Assistance Program (MNSNAP) in Minneapolis charges $100 for males and $120 for females, which includes a rabies vaccination, according to its website. Another option is Purple Cat, a vet clinic in Baldwin, Wis., that charges $70 to sterilize a community cat, according to its website.

Minneapolis Animal Care and Control (MACC) provides sterilization to community cats for one local nonprofit on a “rare and limited basis” but doesn’t have capacity to do more, said Anthony Schendel, MACC’s director. St. Paul Animal Control has no in-house veterinary facilities and calls local rescues for help with altering pets, said Casey Rodriguez, a St. Paul spokesperson.

The Bitty Kitty Brigade recently had a meeting to discuss whether to continue its TNR program and decided to carry on. But staffers are trying to figure out how to fund the surgeries.

Many other cat rescuers said they will continue providing the work, despite the cost. Some hoped local governments would step up, while others wished the Animal Humane Society would provide a way for people to donate specifically to TNR efforts.

Alecia Larsen, an independent cat rescuer in Eden Prairie, recently sterilized and returned 47 cats to a colony in Jordan. Larsen, who has a heated and air-conditioned garage for the cats, got 70 cats in Otsego fixed last summer.

“I have a good job. But $75 times 70 cats — who can afford that?” Larsen said as she picked up two newly altered cats from MNSNAP before work. “I’m going to try to get out if I can.”

In recent weeks, cat rescuers have been posting on social media about the new cost. They worry about more cats getting hit by cars, more kittens eating out of Dumpsters, and more baby birds, rabbits and squirrels being dismembered.

Dramatic change isn’t impossible, but it’s not likely, said Brayshaw, who helped start the humane society’s TNR program.

In fact, he said, the number of kittens taken in by SPAC, MACC and the humane society has declined over time, likely due to the “really engaged, wonderful trapper community” that has made real progress. In 2024, the Animal Humane Society took in 2,080 kittens, half as many as it did in 2013, the year before it began the TNR program.

Brittany Baumann, a spokesperson for the humane society, said the nonprofit has experienced ongoing financial challenges that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a $3.5 million deficit in its 2025 budget, it has already eliminated 24 staff positions, trimmed expenses and expanded fundraising.

Veterinary care has become more expensive, Brayshaw said, with the cost of supplies like anesthetics and pain medicine increasing. A shortage of vets and vet techs means the humane society has to pay its staff more.

Kerrie Seigler, an independent cat trapper in St. Paul Park, said she and her peers were already spending thousands of dollars on traps, outdoor cameras, and medicine like antibiotics and dewormers.

“We really put our hearts and souls into helping the strays and ferals,” she said. “If you only knew how much sickness and injury were out there — it’s devastating.”