all they want is a room somewhere...

(why we can't simply "take them all in" - and why they wouldn't want us to)

When the subject of cats on the street arises, we commonly get the question, "Why can't we just find them all homes?"  Ideally, those cats which have come from a home, been lost or abandoned, or which for other reasons are friendly/socialized to humans, should absolutely be removed from the street, vetted, and placed in loving adoptive homes...these "stray" cats may obviously be found in the free-roaming cat population, living alongside their feral counterparts...

A few words on why the traditional model of “rescue” does not apply to feral cats, however, which comprise the vast majority of the free-roaming feline population.  As mentioned many times across this site, the term “feral” denotes an animal specifically not socialized to human beings.  Feral cats and kittens are not candidates for adoption; they do not make suitable pets, and should not be placed in homes for several reasons.



Most adopters have a preexisting set of expectations for the animal they are welcoming into their life and home. A feral cat will not meet them.
This failure will most commonly result in one of two outcomes, neither positive for the humans or the cat involved.  It may happen that the adopters will decide that they have made a mistake and will look to rid themselves of the cat in question, whether by tossing the cat out the back door or by bringing the cat to a shelter.  Both courses of action on the part of the humans will probably result in death for the cat.  The cat isn’t likely to survive long in an unfamiliar territory, and a feral cat in a shelter faces almost certain execution.  Kittens born outside must be taken in by 6-8 weeks of age for optimum socialization – any older, and the kit has passed the most formative stages of its development, and will become increasingly more difficult to “bring around.”  A kitten who is taken in at 12 or 14 weeks of age (or older) will take much more time to socialize, if at all, and will not have developed adequate survival skills to make it if put back outside after too much time has passed. If the adopter chooses to keep the cat, the cat will very probably be miserable in a home environment if they are truly feral.  Few feral cats will ever thoroughly socialize to humans.


Placement of a feral cat costs a friendly cat a home.
The home in question could have received instead a friendly, well socialized, highly adoptable cat that might otherwise have been killed at the shelter or perished on the street.  It is estimated that 70% of healthy cats in shelters are euthanized annually (or approximately 25,000 per day,) with the kill rate for feral cats approaching 100%.  The only exceptions are cities with integrated TNR programs operating hand-in-hand with the local shelter system.  There are simply not enough homes for the millions of animals on the street and in shelters across the United States.  With so many friendly, adoptable cats dying, there is no justification for placing feral cats in adoptive homes.  A feral cat is, in fact, the easiest cat to place - they already have a home – that is in the territory they inhabit.


Adopting out feral cats makes a bad name for Rescue.
By perpetuating the concept of poorly socialized cats or kittens as pets, irresponsible or uninformed “rescuers” do a great disservice to Rescue as a whole.  Both cats and those that work with them have suffered varying degrees of stigma throughout the ages, from being decried as witches and familiars to being called “the crazy cat lady” in the neighborhood.  The only antidote to societal marginalization of felines and their human advocates is to proceed intelligently and responsibly to manage pet and feral overpopulation in a way that serves the best interest of both the cats and the community.


to learn more, visit www.siferalinitiative.org