OnFeral Felines—Michele Metych
My parents didn’t notice the litter of kittens until it was technically too late. By that time all four had learned to fear humans. The parent cats were feral: the father was a big black tom, and if a ball of fluff couldlook menacing, hedid. He was also missing most of one ear, and during the summer I spent watching him, he showed up with various other souvenirs—a limp here, a scratch and a missing clump of fur there. He wore his scars like trophies. The mother cat was a sleek silver tabby, and if the father swaggered, the mother cowered. That summer they deemed my next-door neighbors’ boat a safe place to raise their litter. This was mostly true—the neighbors were elderly, and the boat hadn’t been moved from the backyard in years.
We first sighted the kittens in May, and in this house full of cat lovers, it spawned a flurry of activity. “Feed them!” “Take themsome water!” The goal was to bring them inside and find them homes. My parents are the people who routinely scoop up strays and bring them to no-kill cat sanctuaries, and they’ve seen their share of angry and scared cats. But these kittens were different—when my dad approached them, they’d burrow into the walls of the boat, desperately digging into the insulation to carve out hiding places—anything to escape human interaction.
We tried to find spaces in the area no-kill shelters, but kitten season had passed, and shelters were full. Several rescue organizations offered to let me borrow humane traps for the kittens, even though they couldn’t help find them homes. Finally, someone used the word “feral.” This unlocked an immense amount of information, and it made me a part of the battle on behalf of feral cats.
Feral cats are those that ended up outside for one reason or another. They’ve grown wary of humans, met other cats, oftenformed colonies and established territories. They’re hard to approach, and they’re usually seen only at night. Unlike a stray cat, a feral cat does not understand positive conditioning—they will not learn over time to trust the people who feed them, for example.
Not every cat within a colony iscompletely feral; there are severallevels of feral. The determination is based upon the amount and kind of human interaction the cat has had. Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County, a California rescue organization that works to socialize adoptable ferals, cites the following three categories asapossible classification system: a totally feral cat,born in a colony, that has either had only negative contact with humans or none at all; a semi-feral cat that has at least had limited positive contact with people; or a converted feral, a cat who was once domesticated but is now outside and has joined a colony. There are gray areas, and there are cats who defy classification. I met a young feral cat who would not let me come withinthree feet of her, yet she would scramble on top of garbage bins and leap-frog from bin to bin, meowing pathetically, following me when I walked away.
There aren’t many physical rescues for feral catsfor obvious reasons. True feral cats cannot be socialized and will never be adoptable, so any no-kill shelter who accepts one is doing so with the understanding that it is a lifetime commitment. In a kill shelter, ferals will be euthanized. They do not meet the requirements for adoptable pets.Even cats that can be socialized need to be approached with caution. This is not a process to be undertaken lightly—these cats may always be skittish, they may bond inordinately with one individual, and they maynever be the sort of lap cats that most adopters want.
There are heart-breaking and ineffective ways of dealing with feral cat colonies. The legalization of feral cat hunting is almost always on the ballot in at least one state, and the University of Nebraska issued a report earlier this month decrying TNR (trap, neuter, and return), recommending instead that feral cats be shot. South Dakota and Minnesota already allow feral cats to be hunted.
Avenal State Prison in California had a successful TNR plan, one that had reduced the number of feral cats on the grounds from 600 to 200. Then the pro-TNR warden was replaced, and the program was discontinued. This resulted in the deaths of many cats. Inmates and employees were warned that feeding cats would result in disciplinary actions. The same inmates who had previously built a cemetery for cats that died of natural causes, whichwas so meticulously maintained that they received a commendation from the city, weren’t even allowed to feed the animals as they starved to death. The 129 acres of grounds are so secure that not even rodents can dig in or out. This meant trouble when the cats’ six feeding stations were dismantled, and there is still an ongoing battle over the fate of the remaining ferals.
The best options for truly feral cats are placement programs and dedicated caregivers. Feral cats require the same basic things as their indoor counterparts. There are programs like the Texas-based Barn Cats, Inc., where feral cats are sterilized, vaccinated, and matched with property owners. These cats, in exchange for shelter, daily care, and long-term veterinary care, provide rodent control in and around barns, stables, offices, and warehouses.
Cats that remain in their colonies require constant effort on the part of a caregiver who provides food and water and sometimes shelter for the colony. This person will help the cats live quality lives and stop the colony from growing through TNR. Sterilized cats are healthier, and because they aren’t breeding, and because they are territorial, the colony ceases to grow, and eventuallydecreases in number—humanely. The caregiver should also remove kittens beforetwo months of age so that they can be socialized and adopted.
There are programs to help people who undertake this responsibility. Most of these are run by no-kill sanctuaries. PAWS Chicago has a great system—$20 covers the cost of sterilization, ear-tipping (removing the tip of one ear under general anesthetic to make it possible to recognize animals that have been altered), vaccinations, ear cleaning, wound cleaning, and treatment of any parasites.
By the time someone told me about feral cats, my parents had been feeding the kittens twice a day for over two months. This is why I can say that my parents were late—these kittens were over four months old.By the end of summer, the adult cats stopped coming, and one by one the kittens disappeared, until there was only a tiny tabby left.
My dad started spending an increasing amount of time with the remaining kitten, and it turned out that a beached boat serves as a jungle gym for a kitten. My father would dangle a toy on the windshield, and the kitten would slide down the glass chasing it. He’d romp back up to slide back down. The kitten tried to walk across the ropes on the boat, but his tightrope walks always ended with him falling to the deck. When it got to the point that the kitten tried to follow my father off the boat, my dad caught him—with food and a cat carrier and a well-timed shovewhen the kitten allowed himself to be distracted by a plate of cat food. The kitten turned into a dervish on the two-minute walk back to thehouse. He was hissing and spitting and hysterical, causing the cat carrier to vibrate so much I nearly dropped it.
By the time we put the carrier in the spare bathroom we’d prepared earlier, Schnookums was curled up on the towel inside, asleep.Almost a year of carefully continued socialization followed—leaving the television on so he could get used to hearing people, rewarding him with praise and food whenever he initiated contact, trying not to make sudden movements or noises, and teaching him that people weren’t going to hurt him.
He still lives with my parents, four years later. He loves to chase ribbons. He takes his favorite toys back to his bed at night. When my father naps, Schnookums nudges his closed eyes with his nose, and when he is satisfied that my dad is asleep, Schnookums curls up on his feet and sleeps too.
But he still runs and hides when you open the front door.
Works Cited
Brazil, Eric. “A Death Sentence Handed Down to a Prison Colony of Feral Cats is Commuted to
Life—and Sterilization.” Sept. 9, 2001. San Francisco Chronicle.
Forgotten Felines of SonomaCounty. “About Feral Cats.” 2010.