Feral Cat

When most people picture cats, they picture a fat, well-contented beast curled up by the fireplace or peaking out the window. However, for feral cats, the outlook is not so rosy. Sometimes the cats are abandoned by owners who did not want to be bothered with them any more, and some were born in the wild. In some places, feral cats are considered nuisance animals.

Help for the feral cat falls to the community, and feral cat care in Waggaman, Louisiana has been taken over by the local Humane Society, as it has in other places as well. Savannah feral cats are helped by the Islands feral cat project. They seek to stop the spread of feral cats in Savannah by running a spay/neuter program. The animals are caught, spayed/neutered and vaccinated, and adopted when possible. Others seek to provide feral cat sanctuary in certain areas, or run spay/neuter and release programs where the cats are returned to the wild after being sterilized.

Feral cat behavior can be unpredictable, and feral cat claws and teeth can be very sharp. You should use extreme caution when approaching a strange cat. If you are looking to trap a feral cat to get it treated, contact your local animal rescue group for a live animal trap if the animal is too difficult to approach.

Feral kittens are just as cute as their domestic counterparts. Taming a wild feral cat or kitten is possible, but it takes a lot of time and patience. When you are taming feral cats, do not expect results over night. It may take weeks, months, or even years before the cat comes to be friendly with you, especially if it has lived in the wild since birth. Never push the relationship, and remain quiet and calm around the animal. Allow the feral cat to approach you on its own terms, and never chase after one. Feral kittens are often easier to tame than their adult counterparts, however, they quickly learn their wild instincts from their mothers.

If you live in an area that has a lot of feral cats, offering them shelter to help them survive the elements is a big step. Feral cat houses can be set up in your backyard or in the area of the feral cats if your community allows it. Once the cats come to see that you intend them no harm, and are in fact a source of food and comfort, you may see some of the start to come around.