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Feral Cats
Feral cats include lost or abandoned pets and their offspring who have never lived with or had contact with humans. In most cases, once they reach adulthood, these cats cannot be tamed. In contrast, a stray cat, usually a lost or abandoned companion animal, can usually be re-socialized and placed in a home with a human caretaker. Feral cats usually live in colonies, groups of cats that roam together in a specific geographic area. They tend to share a common food source, often scavenging for food from garbage or depending on the kindness of volunteers who put food out for them. The problem with feral colonies is overpopulation as they continue to breed, producing dozens of kittens that are at great risk of starvation, inadequate shelter from the elements or attacks by predators. To reduce the feral population, many volunteer organizations participate in a program known as TNR (trap-neuter-return). The idea behind this program is to neuter or spay cats living in feral colonies and then return them to the outdoors. The practice began in Europe in the 1980’s and has become more and more popular in the United States, with organizations like
Alley Cat Allies
at the forefront of TNR efforts in America. Alley Cat Allies and other organizations like it distribute information and provide assistance to people who want to
care for feral cats.
Volunteers are trained to trap cats humanely, have them neutered, and then return them to the outdoors. The practice of TNR is widely believed to be the most cost effective and humane way of controlling the feral population, as well as the best way to protect public health. As part of the practice of neutering cats, veterinarians usually clip the tip of a cat’s ear to indicate that the cat has been neutered and can now be left alone in its feral environment.
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