Feral cat

A feral cat is a domestic cat who has been born and raised without contact with humans, or a cat who has not had contact with humans for a significant period of time and has become unsocialized. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a homeless socialized cat who could potentially become comfortable living in a home again.

Definition

The meaning of the term feral cat varies between professions and countries, and is sometimes used interchangeably with other terms such as free-roaming, street, alley, or community cat. Some of these terms are also used to refer to stray cats, although stray and feral cats are generally considered to be different by rescuers, veterinarians, and researchers. Stray cats are socialized cats who no longer live in homes, but could potentially be successfully reintroduced to a home environment.

A 2013 article in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery found that rescuers and veterinarians in the United Kingdom tended to distinguish feral cats from domesticated cats based on traits such as their levels of socialization, ownership, and confinement, and on the amount of fear of, interaction with, and dependence upon humans. They found that rescuers and veterinarians tended to agree that feral cats were cats that had not had much human contact (particularly before eight weeks of age), would try to avoid humans, and would prefer to escape rather than attack a human. However, veterinarians and rescuers disagreed on whether a feral cat would tend to hiss and spit at or attack a human during an encounter, and disagreed on whether adult ferals could potentially be tamed. The article provided a composite definition of a feral cat as a cat that would choose not to interact with humans, could survive with or without human assistance, and would hide or defend itself when trapped rather than allowing itself to be handled.