How do I tell the difference between stray and feral cats?
This is can be difficult to determine. An easy place to start is to determine of you can pet the cat. If you can, she is not feral. But the opposite is not always true. A cat that does not allow human contact is not necessarily feral. She may be feral. She may also be a frightened domesticated cat that has recently become lost. Again, Alley Cat Allies addresses this issue on their FAQ page.
There is absolutely NO difference between a stray and a feral cat. BOTH are INVASIVE-SPECIES that are destroying all the native wildlife (native prey becomes tortured cats’ playtoys, native predators starve to death from INVASIVE-SPECIES cats destroying their ONLY food source). BOTH are spreading many deadly diseases (including even the plague today) to all other animals and humans. BOTH are illegally trespassing on others’ property.
Perhaps cat-owners should learn the distinction between being a responsible pet-owner and a criminally irresponsible one. If not, too bad. The rest of the world is not your pet’s baby-sitter. A highly destructive INVASIVE-SPECIES pet at that. That’s YOUR job to keep them from harm lest you be held criminally responsible for animal-abandonment, animal-endangerment, and animal-cruelty laws.
Would you care to watch out for the safety and well-being of about 150,000,000 pet piranha released into all your waterways, lakes, swimming areas, and backyard pools? It’s the EXACT same thing that cat-owners would be requesting by having everyone treat their stray cats differently from feral cats.
