Farmyard haven Although they will never be family pets, feral barn cats depend on shelter and human concern for their welfare. The provision of basic care encourages them to stay and help control rodents.
Neutering program While a sedated feral cat is prepared for surgery, a vet shaves an ear ready to cut a small notch that identifies the animal as neutered. On recovery, the cat will be taken back to its home colony.
FERAL CATS
to fight off marauding toms, which are a constant peril with their desire to kill off kittens and so bring the females back into season for further matings. As a feral colony expands, the dynamic within it changes, with stronger toms ousting weaker rivals that then either hang around the periphery of the group or strike out on their own to find more congenial territory. Occasionally, males born within a colony do become accepted by the senior members simply because of their familiarity, but a strange tom attempting to infiltrate the group is usually rejected vigorously.
CONTROL OF COLONIES Life in a feral cat colony is hard and tends to be short. While well-cared-for pet cats often live into their teens, a feral cat is lucky to survive beyond about three or four years. Diseases are common and spread rapidly. Nutrition is often inadequate, and as the colony grows there is less food for everyone.
Females weakened by continual breeding are particularly vulnerable and may die, leaving sick and abandoned kittens. Traffic accidents and fighting among rival toms lead to injuries and infections (see pp. 304–05) that never receive treatment. Most countries now have a policy of managing feral cat colonies, both for humane reasons and to prevent them from becoming an environmental problem. As a more acceptable alternative to wholesale eradication, many cat rescue organizations or animal welfare societies have put a three-part program into practice. This involves trapping the cats without causing injury, neutering them (and ear-tagging them for future identification), and returning them to the colony. Unfortunately, this often proves to be a temporary solution. The numbers of feral cats may fall for a time, but eventually unneutered cats will join the community and even a single breeding pair can restock the colony within a year.
BARN CATS In rural areas, feral cats are sometimes welcomed by farmers and other landowners as low-maintenance providers of rodent control in stables, barns, and feed stores. Some cat adoption centers have exploited this by offering farmers feral cats that they have collected and taken into care.
Properly managed, such programs can be a satisfactory solution to the problem of feral colonies that have become too large or need to be relocated because of health issues. Although the animals concerned are not regarded as pets, the people who “adopt” them must agree to provide minimum shelter, a small daily amount of cat food to augment whatever prey is taken by hunting, and veterinary care if necessary.
Neutering program While a sedated feral cat is prepared for surgery, a vet shaves an ear ready to cut a small notch that identifies the animal as neutered. On recovery, the cat will be taken back to its home colony.
FERAL CATS
to fight off marauding toms, which are a constant peril with their desire to kill off kittens and so bring the females back into season for further matings. As a feral colony expands, the dynamic within it changes, with stronger toms ousting weaker rivals that then either hang around the periphery of the group or strike out on their own to find more congenial territory. Occasionally, males born within a colony do become accepted by the senior members simply because of their familiarity, but a strange tom attempting to infiltrate the group is usually rejected vigorously.
CONTROL OF COLONIES Life in a feral cat colony is hard and tends to be short. While well-cared-for pet cats often live into their teens, a feral cat is lucky to survive beyond about three or four years. Diseases are common and spread rapidly. Nutrition is often inadequate, and as the colony grows there is less food for everyone.
Females weakened by continual breeding are particularly vulnerable and may die, leaving sick and abandoned kittens. Traffic accidents and fighting among rival toms lead to injuries and infections (see pp. 304–05) that never receive treatment. Most countries now have a policy of managing feral cat colonies, both for humane reasons and to prevent them from becoming an environmental problem. As a more acceptable alternative to wholesale eradication, many cat rescue organizations or animal welfare societies have put a three-part program into practice. This involves trapping the cats without causing injury, neutering them (and ear-tagging them for future identification), and returning them to the colony. Unfortunately, this often proves to be a temporary solution. The numbers of feral cats may fall for a time, but eventually unneutered cats will join the community and even a single breeding pair can restock the colony within a year.
BARN CATS In rural areas, feral cats are sometimes welcomed by farmers and other landowners as low-maintenance providers of rodent control in stables, barns, and feed stores. Some cat adoption centers have exploited this by offering farmers feral cats that they have collected and taken into care.
Properly managed, such programs can be a satisfactory solution to the problem of feral colonies that have become too large or need to be relocated because of health issues. Although the animals concerned are not regarded as pets, the people who “adopt” them must agree to provide minimum shelter, a small daily amount of cat food to augment whatever prey is taken by hunting, and veterinary care if necessary.
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