While looking into insurance for our cats, I found out that “feral” apparently was considered a “breed”. Maybe it’s meant to cover cases where “we found this cat living in the woods and we don’t know what breed he is”.

One of our cats came to us from the wild – the field behind a local park — by way of a shelter, but I’d hesitate to call her feral. That’s not just because we think we’ve figured out what breed she is (Exotic Shorthair, “the lazy person’s Persian” according to Wikipedia), but because she’s become so civilized she doesn’t even want to go outside anymore.

She’s not typical, though. Many feral cats aren’t capable of becoming adoptable once they’re out of kittenhood. While fostering cats, we saw at least one adoption fail because of this.

So, why not just leave feral cats in the wild? That’s not the best solution for anyone. These cats are not a native part of the ecosystem, and they are extremely good hunters. El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, where, sadly, many people have abandoned their cats, says on its website, “In some cases, cats have contributed to or caused extinctions.”

Life is not optimal for the cats, either. They typically weigh less than pet cats (seldom more than six pounds, according to El Yunque NF). Facing many dangers – wild animals, cars, disease, or just food scarcities – they’re lucky to live more than a few years.

Humane trapping is often the first step toward solving a feral cat problem. (I’ve done it in my own basement – long story.) The captured cats can be adopted if possible, euthanized if they have incurable conditions, or spayed/neutered and released. Releasing neutered cats at least will cut down on population growth. It doesn’t make their lives any less dangerous or difficult, however.

Feral cats are not going to go away soon, and their stories are not all going to end happily like our cat’s. We humans have to do what we can to keep the problem from getting worse.