What is a Feral Cat?
By Tracey Eakin
Animal Friends
vaccines, rabies, abuse, adoption, working dog, zoo, claws, pet loss, agility training, multiple pets, playing, scratching, puppies, shelters, fear, spay/neuter, poop, foster care, education, chewing, cats, bunnies, pit bulls, rabbits, dogs, pet therapy, neuter, kittens, grief, pet-friendly housing, pet health, WQED pets, chihuahua, habitat, aggression, noises, safety, play therapy, diet, behavior, digging, training, feral, anxiety, fitness, walking, litter, grooming, calming influence, stray, mature pets, massage, All right, so they’ve woken you up again. It’s three a.m. and you have to go to work tomorrow. You know who they are. It’s an elusive orange tom cat and an equally shy little calico that you’ve caught scampering through your yard. Being the cat lover that you are, you know what they’re doing. They’re not fighting. They’re mating. But what can you do? You’ve tried to get close to them. Walking ever so slowly, softly whispering to them, with treats in your hands. But they’ve only let you get so close and then they take off. It’s frustrating. And you don’t need any kittens running around in your neighborhood.
Well, what you’re witnessing is an all-too-common, but little-known fact of life in every part of our country, and virtually every part of our world: feral cats.
Feral cats are elusive and extremely fearful of humans. They are either born in the wild, which could be as close as your back yard, and have never been touched by a human hand, or they may have reverted back to some degree of a wild state to survive. Feral cats can be found in rural areas as well as in densely populated urban settings. These highly adaptable creatures can take up residence just about anywhere as long as they can find adequate food, water and shelter.
There have been two main methods employed to try to gain control over the feral cat population. The first method has failed miserably. It involves the trapping and killing of the animals. It is a costly procedure that generally requires the use of paid trappers for a time-intensive process and since it is virtually impossible to remove the food source that lured the cats there in the first place, the habitat is soon filled with feral cats from nearby areas. This well-documented phenomenon is known as the “vacuum effect.”
The second method was developed in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and has come to be known as the Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) method. The feral cats are trapped using humane box traps. The cats are then veterinarian-checked, spayed or neutered, inoculated against rabies, and usually treated for fleas, ear mites, worms, minor bacterial infections and dehydration. Kittens and tame cats are adopted into good homes. Healthy cats too feral to be adopted are returned to their familiar surroundings under the ongoing care of a responsible caretaker. Cats that are ill or injured beyond recovery are not returned to their environment.
TNR has been found to be far more successful than trap-and-kill programs for many reasons:
- It immediately halts the population growth in the colony that has formed around the food source.
- The population of that colony stabilizes, as the sterilized animals prevent the addition of new animals and eventually the colony size decreases over time as the cats die off naturally.
- The nuisance behaviors commonly exhibited by animals that haven’t been spayed or neutered are eliminated when the animals are sterilized.
- Since the end result of TNR programs is not the death of the cats, they are usually carried out by unpaid volunteers, often the cats’ caretakers, and the surgeries are most often performed at no expense to taxpayers. TNR programs are the most cost-effective alternative as well.
So with some patience and persistence, you can safely trap, sterilize and care for the two darling felines that have taken up residence in your backyard and prevent two cats from becoming 25!
Raccoon-sized humane box traps can be purchased online, at feed stores or garden centers. Call Animal Friends’ Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program for low-cost sterilization options at 1-800-SPAY.PGH or visit www.ThinkingOutsideTheCage.org.
