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Two stray cats, producing two litters per year, can wind up
with 420,000 offspring after seven years. Ever wonder where that stray cat came
from? It was likely lost, abandoned (when its family's home was foreclosed on,
for example), or ran away from an abusive situation. Feral cats are usually the
descendants of stray cats and are not spayed or neutered.
Feral Cat Facts
While domestic housecats live to be about 12 to 16 years of
age, feral cats usually only live to around 2 years old (remember, they are not
vaccinated, fed, or taken to the vet when they're sick). In addition to dealing
with extreme heat and cold, they are vulnerable to predators like dogs, foxes,
and coyotes. They often live in feral colonies - large groups of cats running
wild.
A strategy known as "Trap-Neuter-Return" (TNR) is employed
to capture, spay or neuter, vaccinate against rabies, ear-tip, and return feral
cats to the wild. It makes the cats safer for themselves, other feral cats, and
housecats they may encounter.
The TNR policy is recommended by the Humane Society of the
United States (HSUS) -rather than bringing feral cats into animal shelters for
adoption. The numbers of stray cats that would make good pets or could find
their former owners is already too high; feral cats are less viable as pets and
are more likely to be euthanized.
Not everyone treats feral cats like wild animals, though. Dorothy
Burstein, a volunteer at Cal State Long Beach, is trying to remove the 150-member
feral cat population from the campus, because it is attracting coyotes. Although
the cats still do not approach humans, they are fed at specific locations
during daylight hours. Traps are set to catch cats, and those that can be
domesticated are sterilized and offered up for adoption.
Another Idea – Population Ecology Models
A study published in the Journal
of the American Veterinary Medical Association suggests that "feral cats
are territorial and are likely to reproduce most quickly when their population
is low. Feral colonies tend to expand their numbers until the 'carrying
capacity'…is reached". So is TRN, the policy of spay/neuter for feral cats, ideal
if the cats that haven't been sterilized will just bring the population back to
its "optimal" size on their own?
Yes and no. No, because
there is such a high "turnover" of cats, since feral cats have short life spans.
Yes for a similar reason – the high turnover rate of cats. Cats can produce two
litters a year, so if two cats (one male, one female) are unable to breed,
that's as many as 30 less cats produced in a year!
On a Personal Level
 A small, skinny black-and-white stray made daily visits to
our house last summer. One day a guest made the mistake of feeding him. After
that, he was ours. "Frisky" was friendly from the start, following us
everywhere and quite vocal about telling us he was glad to be a member of the
family. He gradually gained weight and filled out to look normal. The vet's
best guess is that he was about a year old (he was not neutered and needed
de-worming and shots). We later found out he was left behind when a family
moved and abandoned their three cats.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_cat
http://www.feralcat.com/
http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/feral_cats/
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-cats4-2008nov04,0,1322421.story
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Re: Feral Cats: Feline Foes vs. Family
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