Feral Cat
Feral (or wild) cats may live alone, but are usually found in large groups called feral colonies with communal nurseries, depending on resource availability. Many abandoned pet cats join these colonies out of desperation; but they can usually be readopted into a new home.
Identification
The cat has been the most resistant to change of all the animals that humans have domesticated. All members of the cat family, wild or domesticated, have a broad, stubby skull, similar facial characteristics, lithe, stealthy movements, retractable claws (except the cheetah) and nocturnal habits.
Feral cats are house cats living in the wild. They are small in stature, weighing from 3 to 8 pounds (1.4 to 3.6 kg), standing 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30.5 cm) high at the shoulder, and 14 to 24 inches (35.5 to 61 cm) long. The tail adds another 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30.5 cm) to their length. Colors range from black to white to orange and a variety of combinations in between.
Habitat
Cats are found in commensal relationships wherever people are found. Cat populations equal human populations in some urban and suburban areas. In many suburban and eastern rural areas, feral house cats are the most abundant predators.
Feral cats prefer areas in and around human habitation. They use abandoned buildings, barns, haystacks, post piles, junked cars, brush piles, weedy areas, culverts and other places that provide cover and protection.
Fun Facts
Feral cats can produce 2 to 10 kittens during any month of the year. An adult female may produce 3 litters per year where food and habitat are sufficient.
Cats may be active during the day but typically are more active during twilight or night.
They are territorial and move within a home range of roughly 1.5 square miles (4 km2).
Feral cats are considered to be totally wild in habits and temperament after several generations.
Damage
Feral cats feed extensively on songbirds, game birds, mice and other rodents, rabbits, and other wildlife. In doing so, they lower the carrying capacity of an area for native predators such as foxes, raccoons, coyotes, bobcats, weasels, and other animals that compete for the same food base.
Where documented, their impact on wildlife populations in suburban and rural areas—directly by predation and indirectly by competition for food— appears enormous. A study under way at the University of Wisconsin may provide some indication of the extent of their impact in the United States as compared to that in the United Kingdom, where Britain’s five million house cats may take an annual toll of some 70 million animals and birds. Feral cats occasionally kill poultry and injure house cats.
Feral cats serve as a reservoir for human and wildlife diseases, including cat scratch fever, distemper, histoplasmosis, leptospirosis, mumps, plague, rabies, ringworm, salmonellosis, toxoplasmosis, tularemia, and various endo- and ectoparasites.
Legal Status
Cats are considered personal property if ownership can be established through collars, registration tags, tattoos, brands, or legal description and proof of ownership. Cats without identification are considered feral and are rarely protected under state law. They become the property of the landowner upon whose land they exist. Municipal and county animal control agencies, humane animal shelters and various other public and private “pet” management agencies exist because of wild or unwanted house cats and dogs. These agencies destroy millions of stray cats annually.
State, county and municipal laws related to cats vary. Consult local laws before lethal control is undertaken. Consult the local animal control agency for instructions on disposal of cats if live capture is desired.
Damage Prevention and Control Methods
Exclusion
Practical for protecting small poultry and mammals.
Cultural Methods
Clean up debris, burn refuse and brush piles, seal buildings, reduce habitat and food sources.
Frightening
Dogs.
Repellents
Many products are registered but are practical only for small areas.
Fumigants
None are registered.
Toxicants
None are registered.
Trapping
Box traps. No. 1, 1.5, or 2 leghold traps. No. 220 Conibear® or body-gripping traps. Snares.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The above information was adapted from PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF WILDLIFE DAMAGE with permission of the editors, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Robert M. Timm, and Gary E. Larson (Cooperative Extension Division, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Animal Damage Control, Great Plains Agricultural Council Wildlife Committee).
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