Many people make the mistake of adopting a street or feral, cat. But is it really a good idea?
I bet you’ve seen at least two feral cats in your street. Maybe you even feed them. But they are not meant to be pets. Most of the street cats you’ve seen are not friendly. They usually run away if you try to pick it up, or pet it. But there is a difference between a street/feral cat, and a stray cat. A feral cat is a cat that has had very little or no contact with humans. Unless they are socialized by fourteen weeks of age, the cat is officially feral. A stray cat is a cat that was abandoned or lost by their owner. Basically if the cat has had enough human contact to be used to them, they’re stray. Stray cats can usually be put in animal shelters, but don’t expect them not to be a bit timid. After all, they’ve probably had a hard life.
In my articles; “World of Cats”, (http://thefelineuniverse.com/world-of-cats/) and “Saving the Felines!” (http://thefelineuniverse.com/saving-the-felines/) I mention TNR. I’m eventually gonna dig deeper on that topic later on. But TNR is an amazing way to make sure that the feral cats living in your area are healthy and happy. If you didn’t know what TNR was, then here’s the answer: TNR is a process where you trap a feral cat, bring it to the vet and have it neutered or spayed so it can’t have kittens, and then returned to where it was found. After TNR it’s safe to feed them without being scared of producing more kittens.
The more feral cats that don’t go through the TNR process, the more cats that are born and end up being feral. Even if a feral cat ends up being neutered or spayed, there are still many hardships or living in the wild. But feral cats will not be happy living in an animal shelter. What they consider freedom is not what pet cats consider freedom. Feral cats are also usually either aggressive, timid, or, both.
The Feline Queen ❤️