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
Rudolph – Next time you see her, please tell that nice Mrs. Munshi hello from rainy Washington state.
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Dee – An impressive categorization! You’re clearly an expert with years of experience in caring for a variety of cats.
My little Louisa – the best of girls – never let me touch her in all the years she was with me.(Her story is somewhere in the PoC Catacombs; wrote about her years ago.)
In 2005, a feral cat expert trapped her in a cage for a hefty fee (as in very hefty) and, two days after moving here (I had to leave her behind, as the moving men were loading the van),I drove back to Seattle and fetched her home. It took her over six weeks to come down out of the cupboard in the laundry room and begin to explore the house, as she’d never been indoors before, presumably. I’d fed her for four-five years prior to selling and moving here, but she refused to ever come into the house in Seattle, even in the rain and snow.
Where I live now, she inadvertently slipped outside three or four times over the years – to my near-massive-stroke consternation – but always came in when I called her. Though my noli me tangere girl came when called, she never allowed me to lay a finger on her. She loved a pat of organic butter every day, the size of a pea, and adored my boy, who attacked her numerous times when both he and she were outdoor cats in Seattle. But after she became accustomed to living indoors, he finally decided he liked her a bit. Pix of he and she are in my ‘against the grain’ Elegy to a Cat. She was put to sleep nearly four years ago, as she became ill with cancer. A major loss. She is still missed…my little girl with her shy, reserved ways.
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Ruthie – are you still intact? Enjoyed your e-mails which I answered today, if you could read my typo-bespattered inanities. Will try to get back to the library next Tues. xxx
Sylvia –
What can be done to get your computer right?
Please explain.
Louisa reminds me so much of a beautiful yellow feral that a dear friend of mine cared for.
Sweet Dee. You are certainly the house expert here. I was amazed reading about Louisa, oh my! I am very glad I didn’t have to move and make that kind of decision. I don’t think I could have. Yes, four plus some years, feeding, caring for and trying to coax a beautiful friend to trust me enough to stroke her gorgeous fur. It never happened, but she was my cat. We had a beautiful friendship. But I believe the trauma she felt being trapped and neutered as a young cat, long before I met her, kept her distrust of humans strong. No touching was the rule. She will forever be in my heart.
One of her best pics.
Tears…
Such a beauty, tears here too xx
OMG what a beautiful girl she seems to have this Aura about her
She was the smartest cat I ever knew. And yes, a little blond angel.
Lovely picture of a gorgeous cat.
Howdy Sylvia yes thanks I read your emails and somehow my sanity survived lol and I will reply to you for Tuesday xx
I can’t add anything to what our feral expert Dee has already written, I know by my time as volunteer feral officer for Cats Protection that she is spot on with all she says.
Cat lady of “Joggers Park” in Bandra in Mumbai (Thursday 22-5-2014) :- Came across Mrs Munshi who regularly feeds this stray cat in “Joggers Park” with cat food. The cat follows her like a dog and anticipates her arrival, something which amazed me .She has been feeding this cat regularly since the last 6 months.Remember that this was a common stray cat in a common garden of Mumbai interacting with numerous people daily. How does this cat recognize Mrs Munshi ? Proves the fact that cats are intelligent pets but undisciplined unlike dogs who obey their human masters commands.This is definitely a “Feral Cat” that is accustomed to human company but likes living the outdoors life.
I have posted the photo of Mrs Munshi petting the cat.
Sweet picture Rudolph. Love it. I can smell the garden 😉 This cat proves the point that there are a variety of types of feral cat some of which are quite domesticated in some ways. You could argue that this cat is a full-time outdoor cat that this semi-domesticated. Lovely lady who likes cats. The cat is a calico cat. She looks quite slender and small.
As you know, I always like to see photographs of cats from Asia because they add a fresh dimension to the website.
A beautiful calico and a very beautiful lady.
It’s so refreshing to see that someone can feed a cat in the open and nobody wants to stone her.
I love that photo 🙂
Lovely photo and a lovely lady I love her bright Blue sari 🙂
She loved animals and had both cats and dogs but one at a time. 😉
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.
Perfect, Ru.
You have a remarkable aunt.
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.
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.
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.