What does feral cat mean
A feral cat means a cat that is not owned by a caretaker and has lived at least the majority of its life outside in the wild. There are many key characteristics that distinguish a feral cat from a stray cat.
How to tell if a cat is feral
A cat is most likely feral if:
- It rejects any human contact: If a human comes close to it, it will quickly run away and hide
- Avoids eye contact
- Doesn’t meow: If it feels threatened, a feral cat will hiss or growl, and in some cases scratch or bite
- Does not let humans touch them
- Mostly active at night or early morning
- If there is a loud sound, a feral cat will likely sprint away
- They eat slowly, stopping constantly to check its surroundings
How to tell if a cat is feral or abandoned?
An abandoned cat, sometime referred to as a stray cat, will be much more open to human contact. They will get closer to humans, and also exhibit comfortable behavior such as meowing, rubbing their heads on objects nearby humans, or rolling on their backs. An abandoned cat that is forced to live in the wild for an extended period of time may become a feral cat.
How do you know if a cat is feral vs stray cat?
There a couple key differences between a feral vs stray cat. A feral cat will rarely meow, whereas a stray cat might meow if it feels comfortable. A feral cat usually comes out in the dark, while stray cats are active during the day. Stray cats tend to live by themselves, while feral cats usually live in colonies with other feral cats.
Feral cat fun facts
- Male feral cats on average have a wandering distance of 25 acres, but some travel up to 740 acres on a regular basis.
- Feral cats are the same breed and have the exact same genetic make up as domesticated home cats
- There is an estimated 80 million feral cats living in the United States
Feral cat lifespan
The feral life cat expectancy is a lot shorter than house cats. Around 50% of feral cats die within their first year. If they survive as a kitten, the average lifespan of a feral cat is 2 years.
