Our Work with Feral Cats
What is a feral cat? If a cat is not friendly or approachable, it may be a feral. These cats are able to look after themselves and so long as a feral cat is healthy, they will live happily outside. We do however highly recommend helping these cats and ensuring they are at least neutered.
Why we started to work with feral cats
Cats absolutely decimate wildlife. So many birds and small mammals are brought to us with cat related injuries. Upon seeing the affect that cats can have on our bird population, we decided to start helping feral cats too. To trap and neuter the wild cats so the population could decrease. If we ever feel a feral cat has a chance at living happily with a family, we will look at also rehoming so the cat has a chance at living a loved life. Since we have started to admit feral cats over the last few years, it has really opened our eyes … to just how many there are, how often they breed and how young they will start breeding. The younger a feral cat is caught, the easier they are to tame.
The ideal home for a feral cat
Feral cats are ideal for outdoor homes such as stables, smallholdings, farms and large gardens. They of course require daily feeding and dry shelter. A really good home may also offer patience and an indoor home environment to work with taming the cats – this is possible for many ferals.
Stray Cats
If you believe you have found a stray cat, there are several things you can do:
- Cats can roam over a wide area, so ask around to see if anyone knows who it belongs to. Talk to your neighbours.
- If you can safely transport the cat to a vet, you could have it scanned for a microchip.
- If this isn’t possible but you can get close enough to put a collar on it, then you could put a paper collar on the cat with your contact details on asking the owner to contact you. Take precautions when approaching the cat and fixing the collar.
- You can also create a Found Poster. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Minimum details should include description of the cat, where it was found and if it is a male or female. A really good poster would also include a photo.
- We also recommend you post photos of him online through Social Media. This can be a very fast way of reuniting lost pets.