CASTAWAY CRITTERS
The James A. Hueholt Memorial Foundation for Animals

A FERAL CAT IS NOT A PET CAT

Sometimes there is confusion as to what constitutes a feral cat versus a pet cat. Feral cats are unsocialized offspring of unsterilized domestic cats. Feral cats, while dependent on humans for food and veterinary care, cannot realistically be tamed and are not suited to living indoors with humans. Friendly stray cats - abandoned pets - and young kittens are found in unmanaged feral cat colonies. These cats are suited for indoor life with humans and are therefore removed from the colony for adoption. See Alley Cat Allies' Glossary of Feral Cat Terms.

Also, quickly refute any mention that feral cats are sickly. After all, how can we contend that TNR is humane if people mistakenly believe feral cats suffer horribly? Alley Cat Allies suggests demonstrating the benefits of TNR firsthand by showing photos of your healthy "managed colonies" - those you've already sterilized and vaccinated. They will see that these cats are indistinguishable from house cats, except for the ear tip.

Currently, many localities are doing nothing regarding feral cats or are sporadically or systematically trapping and killing. Either way, there are feral cats in the community — otherwise, the issue of how to manage them wouldn't come up! So the question isn't one of whether or not there should be feral cats in the community. The issue is how to provide the best quality of life for them and stop their reproduction. TNR is not just the only proven effective means of feral cat population control, it is also the best means of improving the quality of life for individual cats.

Alley Cat Allies says encouraging citizens to keep their pet cats indoors should not conflict at all with promoting humane management of feral cats. Furthermore, the citizens that local authorities are trying to reach with its messages about proper pet care are the very same people who are feeding and caring for the community's free-roaming cats. Studies have shown that as many as one in five households feed free-roaming cats. These same studies have shown that the caregivers regard the cats they feed as pets, even though they can't necessarily touch them. A message of humane, nonlethal population control for these cats will resonate with the general public, and will only lend more credibility to any other messages that animal control is trying to communicate.

And certainly, any message sent to the public about the care of domestic cats should include the importance of spaying and neutering all cats, and never abandoning a pet  - messages that not only promote the well-being of the current generation of cats, but prevent future generations of feral cats.

Helpful resources available from ACA include the factsheets Building the Body of Scientific Evidence that TNR Works and Reduce Your Euthanasia Rate. We also encourage you to purchase ACA's video, The Humane Solution. This video provides an excellent introduction to feral cats and TNR, and is useful for educating both officials and the general public. Activists have used this video in many ways, including showing it at meetings with officials, donating copies to public libraries, and arranging for public access television to air it.

The above information is courtesy Alley Cat Allies.

Pennsylvania's animal cruelty statute (TNR is defined as providing ongoing care--i.e. shelter, food and water daily--so it does not constitute abandonment)

Please see Alley Cat Allies website for information on Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

Additional Resources: