FERAL CATS
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What is a feral cat?
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Well genetically they are no different from a domestic cat, they are just normal cats who have not been socialised with humans.
Sometimes they are born outside and never get handled by people, sometimes they begin life as a pet and become feral over many years after loosing their homes.
Because MART tends to take in more stray cats than owned pets, a higher proportion of our cats turn out to be feral. Once they have been neutered, occasionally we can return them to the place they came from providing it is suitable and safe, but often it’s neither of these things, this means that we often need safe places for our feral cats to live.
Each cat is different, so it’s important to find the right new home for each of them. Some are very sociable with other cats and would make a great companion for a resident pet, some have medical conditions which mean they need close monitoring. Some are less feral than others and could, in the right home make great pets in the fullness of time and some would be happiest living a more natural life in a large garden, small holding or similar.
All are difficult to place which unfortunately means, they spend far too much time in care.
If you think you might have a safe place for one of our more feral cats, here are a few things you will need to consider first.
1) You will need to have a garden or land with a suitable outbuilding
2)Because s/he will need to be kept safe and secure for 2 months before being given access to a more natural life, it’s very important that the outbuilding is escape proof.
3)There will need to be a natural light source and it will need to be kept frost proof during the worst of the winter weather.
4)There’s no doubt s/he will earn their keep by catching rodents but s/he will require regular meals please, this will help keep them healthy and also keep them close by and not wonder too far.
5)If they are ill they will need veterinary treatment just like any other pet
6)Finally there should be no busy roads nearby.
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The cats in these photos are all currently in our care and looking for places to live.