What exactly is a feral cat?
A feral cat is an un-owned, free-roaming, “semi-wild” cat who is the offspring of a domestic cat. The parent cat may have been lost or abandoned, but if she was not fixed, then she became pregnant and raised her kittens in the wild. These outdoor kittens have little, if any, human contact, so they’re not necessarily the cute kittens you find for adoption at the Waco Humane Society. These un-owned kittens grow up to be feral cats and are sometimes known as alley cats or street cats. However, these street cats are NOT completely wild, so they still rely on humans to feed them and help shelter them. What is TNR? Trap-Neuter-Return is a compassionate, non-lethal alternative to feral cat control and maintenance. Basically, we humanely trap the feral cats, take them in to be fixed, where they also get scanned for a microchip. They’re given a rabies vaccination and a general check-up by the vet, and their left ear is clipped for tracking and identification.
Feral cats are ‘wild’ offspring of domestic cats and result from pet owners abandoning and/or failing to sterilize their pets, allowing them to breed uncontrollably. Feral cats are unsocialized, unowned free-roaming cats. They generally do not allow handling by humans and must be trapped in order to be presented for veterinary care. They, however, are NOT a wildlife species and can not fully fend for themselves. Unattended, they survive, but do not thrive, breed prolifically, and lead meager lives shortened by malnutrition, disease, trauma, and high kitten mortality. They can become public nuisances and make up a large portion of the cats euthanized at animal shelters. Just one pair of breeding cats can produce two or more litters per year can exponentially produce 420,000 offspring over a seven year period.
A feral cat is a non-adoptable cat that has not been handled by humans or does not exhibit pet-like behavior. Unlike wild cats, the feral cat is descended from the domesticated cat, and so potentially could have been someone’s abandoned pet. Feral cats are frequently mistaken for stray cats/alley cats (which have been used interchangeably), but in fact stray cats are more pet-like than feral cats. Feral cats and some strays can frequently be associated with a cat colony (a sign is a cat bite in the side ear).
