What is a feral cat?
The word “feral” is used to define a cat that lives outdoors and essentially does not belong to anyone.
Feral cats are the result of domestic cats being abandoned or lost and left to fend for themselves. The kittens of the abandoned domestic cat are now considered feral as they are usually never handled by people and become terrified when approached and often hiss or spit out of fright. Sometimes this is misunderstood as being vicious, but this is not true as generally they cower to the back of the cage when they are trapped and shake from fright. Some even urinate due to uncontrolled fright.
Feral cats can often have kittens twice a year and some can become pregnant as early as 4 months old when they are only kittens themselves,as a result of this rapid breeding some female cats can become sick and this carries through to the kittens. Trapping both male and female cats and having them neutered before releasing them back to their original habitat is the most proactive way of keeping these cats healthy.
Trap Neuter Release
TNR involves humanely trapping feral cat that are currently living in housing estates, towns, villages, rural areas or farms, Once trapped they are transported to a veterinary clinic where they are neutered or spayed. The may also receive a health check, vaccinations, flea and worm doses and any other necessary medical treatment that is required. After surgery, and once they have recovered for a day or two they are returned to their colony habitat where they can continue to receive food, water and shelter from caring individuals. Kittens, if trapped at a very young age can be tamed and are often put into foster care where they can be re-homed rather than being released back into the wild. Since the cats are no longer mating, they are no longer fighting which previously was the cause of disease spreading, the colony will diminish in size. TNR makes the colony more stable, impacts the influx of newcomers and improves the overall health of the cats. Sterilised cats have their ears tipped as this makes it possible for us to differentiated between the ones that have been sterilised and the ones that have not been sterilised.
Roscrea SPCA offer a TNR scheme to anyone that needs to avail of it and we would ask anyone that is feeding colonies of cats in any location in the area to please get in touch with us so that we can monitor these colonies to assess their needs for food and medical attention.
Did You know ?
Most mother cats give birth to a litter of between 1 and 9 kittens.
On an average, cats sleep for almost 70% of their lives, which means a nine-year-old cat has been awake for only three years of its life.
The whiskers on a cat serve a very important function in assisting cats with getting around, especially at night. Whiskers are embedded deep in the cat’s body and are connected to the cat’s sensitive muscular and nervous systems, acting as touch receptors (or a “kitty radar”). Whiskers allow a cat to detect and respond to changes in their surroundings.
House cats share 95.6% of their genetic makeup with tigers. They also share some of the same behaviour habits such as scent and urine marking, prey stalking and pouncing.
Each cat have 32 muscles in each ear that control their outer ears, whereas humans have only 6. (Source: www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets-animals)
Reproductiion in cats can start from 4 months of age
Cats have five toes on each front paw, but only four on the back ones. It’s not uncommon, though, for cats to have extra toes.
A cat can reach up to five times its own height per jump. (Source: Animal Planet)
The technical term for a cat’s hairball is a bezoar.