In one study, stray cats were defined as cats that were taken from dumps and residential or industrial areas, while feral cats were defined as cats that were remote from these locations. I would have thought that this was an inaccurate way of going about things.
Other scientists have defined feral cats with reference to their non-reliance on humans for food and shelter. Well, feral cats certainly are often not completely independent of humans and neither are they dependent. If a feral cat is highly dependent upon regular feeding from a certain source and the cat is relatively friendly it could be argued that the cat is no longer feral.
Sometimes feral cats can be defined as domestic cats that have gone wild or a cat that reproduces in the wild. One scientist, M.R.Slater defined “feral cat” in what he calls a pragmatic way “based on the status of an individual cat had a particular point in time”.
“A feral cat is one that cannot be handled and is not suitable for placement in a typical pet home, that is, the cat that is un-socialised.”
“Socialisation” has been defined as the process by which an animal develops social behaviour that is appropriate towards other cats and animals in the human household together with people. This is because the word “socialise” refers not only to whether a cat develops appropriate social behaviour towards animals of the same species but animals that he or she lives with of different species.
What is the difference between being domesticated, being tame for being socialised? “Tame” in the context of a cat means that the cat is not frightened of people nor dangerous to people. Such a cat is also domesticated. A domesticated cat feels comfortable at home. I have already defined the word socialisation. There is clearly a very large overlap between these three terms.
In the context of discussing cats, people often use the word “tame” to refer to a wild cat that has been tamed but is not domesticated. In other words the wild cat is safe and relaxed around people but not suited to living in the home.
Source: Myself and The Welfare of Cats ISBN 978-1-4020-6143-1
She loved animals and had both cats and dogs but one at a time. 😉
A sweet story of patience and gentleness that made the life of a cat much better. Domestic cats should be with people not feral living a harsh life.
Perfect, Ru.
You have a remarkable aunt.
My Aunt slowly got a feral cat to come closer and closer to her house with food. When the cat got real close to the house she left her door open one day and put the food dish in the house. The cat came in and ate then went back out but one day it went into the house and stayed there. It became her indoor cat. She brought it to the Vet to be checked out and spayed. She had that cat until it was old and it was a sweet gentle cat.
Love it. This is much better! Based purely upon lots of first hand experience which is the best type of knowledge to define something.
Thanks Dee. I’ll probably add your comment to the article because sometimes people don’t read comments and this is too good not to be read.
I always get so much enjoyment when I read how “experts” define the feral cat.
After all, they’re so “in the know”…
All my opinions…
Ferals can’t be summed up in one convenient definition.
There are varying degrees.
All ferals have the potential to be domesticated to an extent. The biggest obstacles are time and the willingness to do the work.
I developed my own tier system long ago, and it’s workable for me.
My system includes true/complete ferals, ferals, semi-ferals, strays in the wild, and domesticated.
The definitions are simple and, with luck and work, many will descend a tier or two or, rarely, descend some of the way to domestication. A true feral or feral will never become completely domesticated even when they drop in rank to semi-feral. They will always retain that roaming and nocturnal behavior.
A TRUE FERAL is completely unapproachable. Except for the dominant male of the colony, the remainder will retreat until a caretaker steps “out of bounds”.
A FERAL is unapproachable also, but will remain in the open unless threatened.
A SEMI-FERAL will allow a certain amount of close distance but can be easily spooked. These are very workable and the ones that I most bring home and work hardest with.
The STRAYS IN THE WILD are those that were domesticated at one time but have been out long enough that they have become skittish. They’re a piece of cake to turn back around.
The DOMESTICATED speaks for itself.