Loose Cats - stray cats

Animals, March, 1999 by Kathy Savesky

Thinking of taking in a stray or feral cat? Make the most of your budding liaison with that free-roaming feline.

She had the kind of face you couldn't forget. Those gorgeous green eyes that looked right through you. They haunted you even after you got home. Lying in bed at night, you couldn't get her off your mind. The shy way she hesitated when you reached out to touch her. And at the same time the familiar look of one who has been around. You tried to resist her, but the pull was too strong. She's one in a million, but are you ready for the commitment?

Excerpts from a tawdry romance novel? In Animals magazine? Before you worry that you picked up the wrong publication at the newsstand, think again. The gorgeous green-eyed heroine of this story can be found in almost any backyard, alley, or barn--and she comes with her own fur coat.

She goes by many names. The stray tabby, neighborhood cat, little lost kitty--they are all variations on the same theme. Cats without homes, or without owners accepting full-time responsibility. And they are everywhere. They come in all colors and breeds. They range from sleek, well fed, and friendly to shabby, skinny, and petrified of human contact. The one characteristic they all share is a very real--if not always obvious--need for human support.

If you know one of these cats and you're thinking about making a commitment, you're not unique. Every year--in fact, every day--stray and homeless cats are romancing their way into new homes in communities across the country. The stories are as numerous as the cats themselves, and if you ask many of those who've taken the plunge, so are the rewards.

But before you assume that this new relationship will be an instant match made in heaven, think again. The casualness that launches many feline-human ties all too often foretells their end. Easy come, easy go is the tragic theme that describes how many people acquire--and eventually lose or discard--the family cat. And according to experts, it is one of the key reasons that the number of homeless and marginally cared for cats roaming our communities continues to grow.

Although research into pet ownership is revealing a core group of cat owners whose responsibility ratings far outweigh dog owners', the big picture of cat-human relationships is hardly characterized by commitment. Recent surveys conducted in Massachusetts and San Mateo County, California, suggest that while people actively seek out dogs as pets and usually spend some money to acquire them, cats most often are obtained passively and for free--often as a castoff from a friend or as a stray.

According to Gary Patronek, director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University's School of Veterinary Medicine, the double standard is rooted partly in the nature of cats: "Unlike dogs, free-roaming cats are relatively small, skilled at killing prey without the assistance of pack members, and adept at finding shelter, all of which allow them to go unnoticed." Such factors contribute to their success in surviving longer without human assistance (although certainly far briefer than indoor cats), to people's failure to accept full responsibility for them, and to less public concern for the impact they have on human health and the environment.

"Cats receive about half the level of care and protection that dogs do because we have a cultural belief that they don't need us," says Carter Luke, vice president for humane services at the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals/American Humane Education Society. "This is a myth, but it results in a lack of public policy or widespread agreement on what constitutes responsible cat ownership." The tragic by-product is a huge and, in many places, growing pool of cats left to live and roam free.

Although much attention has been paid in recent years to problems associated with feral cats (unsocialized domestic cats that have been born to free-roaming mothers in the wild and/or have reverted to the behaviors of their wild ancestors), estimates suggest that as few as 30 percent of all free-roaming cats in the United States may be truly feral. In communities across the country, loose-knit networks of people have banded together to care for, sterilize, and vaccinate these animals, with the intent of minimizing their suffering and reducing their numbers.

With few exceptions, however, totally unsocialized cats are not the group from which people are drawing new family pets. The cats caught up in the revolving door of human commitment are drawn instead from what appears to be an ongoing supply of abandoned, lost, or free-roaming tame or "pet" cats.

"Many of these cats aren't totally homeless but, rather, `sort of owned' cats," says Luke. Although they are fed and maybe even occasionally allowed indoors by one (or more) family, they spend most of their time exploring an outdoor territory that may include a few backyards, a whole neighborhood, or even several city blocks. These are the cats that aren't missed when they fail to show up for a meal, are left behind when someone moves, are taken in by others who don't realize they have a home elsewhere, or simply disappear. Many of the people feeding them consider them "neighborhood cats," and no one accepts full responsibility for them.