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
I love that picture, Leah.
Is the little one Charlie Bacon (AKA Thomas)?
Forgive me, Valerie.
But, are you talking about Rula and the dark torti?
Or, do you have others?
Charlie Bacon with Alfie 🙂
Even ferals can become beautiful house cats. My friend rang me one day and said guess what I have here? she said listen…I could hear little baby mews… she had found a tiny Black kitten outside her back door where she worked after she heard his cries, it was a cold rainy day. The kitten was about 5 weeks old, tiny. She said he spat at her when she opened the door 🙂 he must have strayed from a feral colony and where she worked in the inner city there were probably plenty of those.
I took him to the vets and had him treated for cat flu but even so he had plenty of cattitude! We named him Charlie Bacon and he was a funny little man used to drape himself around the back of my husbands neck.
My friend bought her little cousin round to see him as she had just lost her budgie, precious. We thought she might take him but she was a little scared of his feral streak also she was only 8 and still upset about losing precious.
A few days later I got a phone call…. ‘do you still have Charlie Bacon?’ ‘yes he’s here’
He went to live with her and he’s now about 6 and a beautiful silky much loved Black cat. He is now a ‘Thomas’. He is loved so much by his young mum, she even declared recently that she wasn’t going on holiday unless she could find a suitable cattery for Thomas. I’ll see if I have a photo 🙂
OMG what a beautiful girl she seems to have this Aura about her
Lovely photo and a lovely lady I love her bright Blue sari 🙂