Most feral kittens have little chance of surving more than a few months and are vulnerable to starvation, predators, disease and even flea-induced anemia.

A feral cat is a cat in a feral or wild state. They are distinguished from wild cats since they are domestic cats that live without human care as opposed to being truly wild. Feral cats are generally cats that grow up without direct human interaction and usually cannot be tamed. Feral kittens, however, can be socialized to live with humans if they are taken from a feral colony before they are about fourteen weeks old.

Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large groups called feral colonies with communal nurseries, depending on resource availability. Many abandoned pet cats join these colonies out of desperation; these cats can usually be readopted into a new home. The average lifespan of a feral cat that survives beyond kittenhood is usually less than two years while a domestic housecat lives an average of sixteen years or more.

National Feral Cat Day is October 16.

In the United States

Cityscapes and North America are not native environments to the cat; the domestic cat comes from temperate or hot, often dry, climates and was distributed throughout the world by humans. Although cats are somewhat adaptable, feral felines are unable to survive in extreme cold and heat, and with a need for a diet of 90% protein, few cats find adequate nutrition on their own. In addition, they have no defense or understanding of such predators as dogs, coyotes and even automobiles.

However, throughout the United States, there are thousands of volunteers and organizations that trap these unadoptable feral felines, spay or neuter them, inoculate the cats against rabies and feline leukemia and treat them with long-lasting flea products. Before release back into their feral colonies, the attending veterinarian nips the tip off one ear to mark the feral as spayed/neutered and inoculated, as these cats will more than likely find themselves trapped again.

Volunteers continue to feed and give care to these cats throughout their lives, and not only is their lifespan greatly increased, behavior and nuisance problems due to competition for food are greatly reduced. In time, if the entire colony is successfully spayed and neutered, no additional kittens are born and the feral colony disappears.

In Australia

Feral cats have been present in Australia since European settlement, and may have arrived with Dutch shipwrecks in the 17th century. Intentional releases were made in the late 19th century in the hope that cats would control mice, rabbits and rats.

The feral cat has been an ecological disaster in Australia, inhabiting most ecosystems except dense rainforest, and being implicated in the extinction of several marsupial and bird species.

Control programs are difficult to devise due to the nocturnal and solitary nature of the cat, broad distribution in the landscape and continuous additions to the population from abandoned domestic cats. Due to the danger posed to human handling the animal, captured feral cats are almost always terminated. No program for spaying and neutering, akin to that in the United States exists in Australia.

In Rome

Rome, Italy is perhaps the place with most feral cats, the total number being estimated between 250,000 and 350,000, organized in about 2,000 colonies, some of them living in famous ancient places such as the Colosseum.

Kerguelen

Feral cats, along with rabbits and some sea birds, are the entire animal population of the Kerguelen Islands

Activism

Unlike novelty pets which are often discarded upon reaching adulthood, most feral cats are discarded as kittens. This is because cats breed rapidly and have large litters, and often their owners do not have the capacity to care for a large number of cats.

Feral cats live in terrible conditions. Often they subsist on garbage, and many suffer from parasites and health problems. Most often, they have difficulty walking, as cats develop hip problems in poor conditions. There is also a small risk that they will develop rabies and pose a threat to human health.

Because of these dangers presented by a large population of feral cats, and also out of compassion toward the animals, many celebrities campaign to encourage people to spay and neuter their pets, including Bob Barker.

External links

• List of US spay & neuter programs (http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html)
• Australian Department of Environment and Heritage fact sheet on feral cats (http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/ferals/cat/)
• Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats, prepared by the Aust Dept of Environment and Heritage (http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/tap/cats/index.html)
• About.com: Rome cats (http://goeurope.about.com/cs/rome/a/rome_cats.htm)