All About Feral Cats Trivia Quiz

Answer: The wild kittens of domestic cats who have never lived with humans.

When domestic cats are abandoned without being spayed or neutered, they breed uncontrollably. These unspayed and unneutered cats have kittens who are not socialized with humans. True feral cats are the wild children of abandoned domestic cats. They are wild in the truest sense.

Answer: Matriarchal

Stable feral cat colonies live in a matriarchal society. This means that the mother cats and their daughters stay in the same area, helping to feed and take care of each other's kittens, kind of like a lion pride. The males born in the colony are eventually evicted from the society by the toms who protect the colony. The evicted males wander off in search of their own colony.

Answer: False

Feral cats, the offspring of domestic cats, are elusive and do not trust humans. This is the result of never being handled by or socialized with humans. If cornered, a feral cat will attack.

Answer: All of these

Feral cat colonies can be found in alleyways, behind shopping centers, in parks, in abandoned houses, virtually any where humans do not always go. The colonies can average as low as two full grown cats upward to about fifty or sixty, maybe more.

Answer: Trap, neuter, return

Trapping, neutering, and returning feral cats to their colony habitat is considered the most humane and effective way of reducing colonies. In this context, neutering also means spaying.
Trap and kill does not reduce the size of a colony. When intact cats are trapped and killed, a void is left in the colony, which will then be filled by more intact cats, who will mate and grow the colony out of control.
Trap, tame, and adopt does not reduce the colonies. As a general rule true feral cats, the offspring of domestic cats who were never socialized with humans, cannot be adopted by humans, as these cats are too wild. However, as with all cases, there are exceptions.
Trap, neuter, and relocate also does not reduce the colonies. Relocating a feral cat away from the only colony he or she has ever known is like signing a death warrant. The cats will become depressed and confused, and would be vulnerable to attack by the new colony he or she is released into.

Answer: With scheduled feeding times.

The best way to feed a colony is with a scheduled feeding. By feeding them at the same time every day, the cats will become used to you and you will then be able to observe if any females are pregnant or nursing. Also, by feeding them at the same time, you will then be able to tell if they are all eating.
Feeding the colony anytime they want to be fed is a bad idea, because the cats will always want to eat. Like little children who do not know when to stop eating, the cats will eat and eat and make themselves sick.
Placing the food dishes wherever you want, whenever you want is also a bad idea. The cats will not know from one day to the next when and where they are going to be fed. Also, by feeding the cats this way, you will never know if all the cats are eating or if their food is being stolen by other cats or stray dogs.
Feeding the cats only once a day, the time doesn't matter, is also a bad idea. Feral cats live outside in all kinds of weather, and extremely cold weather makes them more hungry than usual. Also, if the colony has pregnant females, those females need extra food for themselves and for their growing babies inside them.

Answer: false

Feral cats do need shelter. If colony is being managed by a human caretaker, the caretaker should provide them with a man-made shelter, like a doghouse, to protect them from the wind, cold, rain, snow, and heat. Just because feral cats are the wild offspring of domestic cats doesn't mean they do not need shelter.

Answer: 6 weeks

Like lionesses, feral cat mothers bring their babies out in the open at approximately 6 weeks of age. If the colony lives in an alleyway, the little ones are more than likely on the alley floor, while the rest of the colony is taking shelter in a nearby yard. If the colony is in a park or behind a building, the kittens will be somewhere safe nearby. If you see a female who is heavy with milk, but do not see kittens, the mother and the rest of the colony will give you an indication if the kittens are nearby. The feral cat colony I was taking care of had a mother, three 9 month old kittens, and three kittens about 3 months old.

They were in my alleyway, and the mother and her older children were fed on my cinderblock fence, while the little kittens were in the alley. I had no idea that the mother had little ones, until one day I saw the mother and her older children look intensely down to the alley floor and drop food from the plates.

This made me realize that there were little kittens. I then opened my alley door and to my surprise I saw three little kittens. From that moment on, I began leaving food out for the little ones.

Answer: 2-3

On average, a pair of two uncontrolled breeding cats can have two litters per year. During the first year, the pair of cats can have approximately 12 kittens. If left uncontrolled, they can have 66 cats the second year, 2,201 cats in the third year, 3,822 cats in the fourth year, and 12,680 cats in the fifth year.

By the tenth year, the two original uncontrolled breeding cats and their offspring can produce a staggering 80,399,780 cats. This is why it is so important to have your cat spayed or neutered.

Answer: Trapping it with a humane cat trap.

The best way to catch a feral cat is to trap it with a humane cat trap. These cat traps can be borrowed from any animal shelter, humane society, or local SPCA. The cat is lured into the trap with food, and the door closes shut on them.

Unless the cat knows you and trusts you, do not pick the cat up and place it in a cat carrier. This is a wild cat and will attack you because it is feeling threatened.

Luring it to a cardboard box that has food in it can work, but be please be aware that feral cats can claw through the box and escape.

Luring it to an open area with food, then using a net to catch it could work, but the cat will fight and most likely tear the net and escape.