Differentiating between wildcat, stray cat and domestic cat in New Zealand

The British Ecological Society says in an article that there have been long-standing conservation efforts to restore the native wildcat in Britain and New Zealand. They've got that wrong completely because there has never been a wildcat presence in New Zealand. And the same applies to Australia. Both these countries have never had a wildcat.

You can't go around shooting feral cats in New Zealand because you don't know for sure if they are feral cats and unowned. This image is by Michael.

The only cats that they have are domestic cats, stray cats and feral cats. And the feral cat cannot be described as a wildcat. They are two different creatures/species. That's because the feral cat ultimately is a domestic cat that is unsocialised. Feral cats can be socialised to become domestic cats with patience. And feral kittens can quite easily be socialised to be domestic cats.

But the true wildcat, a wild cat species cannot be socialised. They might be tamed to a certain extent but they will never be a good pet.

But the title to this article hints at one problem namely this: New Zealand wants to cull i.e. kill all the feral cats in their country because they prey on native species. This is the same attitude as that of the Australian authorities. They have the same problem and they have the same solution: mass killing of feral cats.

But here is the rub on that project. You can't distinguish between domestic, stray and feral cats at a distance. They all look very similar. You can't shoot at a feral cat to cull the animal inhumanely because you might be shooting someone's pet cat. You might be shooting a stray cat which is in between a feral cat than a domestic cat in terms of socialisation.

Although some stray cats are fully socialised. They might have been someone's pet until the day before. So, the shooter might shoot a domestic cat or a stray cat but not a feral cat. You see the problem.

If you want to go around taking pot shots of feral cats which I find disgusting you have to make sure that all the domestic cats are, by law, full-time indoor cats. And that situation would have to be in place for a reasonable time so that you can declare to the world that every cat you see on the streets or in the countryside is not owned and are feral cats. 

You can then be safe to shoot them without being prosecuted for a crime under the nation's animal welfare laws. Or being sued by the cat's owner.

This problem and the solution is exactly the same in Australia. And the same would apply to poisoning cats with a device which chucks poison gel over the animal when it walks passed the device.

The conclusion is you can't go around willy-nilly killing feral cats unless you know that you are actually killing a feral cat and you can't do that currently in New Zealand.

And of course, it is immoral, inhumane, cruel and entirely wrong to shoot feral cats because you don't like them and because they kill native species for the simple reason that humankind put the feral cat there in the first place. They are the victims of human carelessness. To shoot them is to add to the problem. It compounds the problem and makes the human doubly wrong.

This Belarusian boy has a good heart (shame about President Lukashenko)

The boy is relatively pure, innocent and good. His country's president is the opposite; a close supporter of Putin and he harbours some of Putin's nuclear weapons. He says that he will not hesitate to use them and start WW3 and Armageddon. 

President Lukashenko is bad

Pres Lukashenko is often referred to by news media outlets as "Europe's last dictator". When he assumed office in 1994, he quickly began to reinstate Soviet-era functions and reintroduced the symbols of Soviet Belarus. 

He supports a mass murderer namely Putin. He falsifies so-called democratic elections. The New York Times says that he boasted early on in his 26-year rule that he had to reduce his election vote from 93.5% to 86% to make it look more plausible! 

And he admitted that he falsified the election after he won his third term as president in 2006.

President Lukashenko was the only legislator in Soviet Belarus to vote against his nation's independence from Russia in 1991. He was a former collective farm manager who became a Communist official.

Lukashenko was the first Belarusian president and nobody else has held the office. Some people say he has kept Belarus 30 years behind Russia. When protesters rallied 4 weeks against Lukashenko's August 20, 2020 election victory the police and intelligence services were ordered by Lukashenko to suppress protesters by arresting them and torturing them in their thousands.

United States, European Union and United Kingdom do not recognise Lukashenko as a legitimate president. They have imposed sanctions on Belarus which has hobbled the economy and isolated the president. Lukashenko's sole supporter is Russian Pres Vladimir Putin.

He continues to defy the West. He says that Pres Biden was elected illegitimately. He doesn't give a damn about what the EU say about him.

He has been accused of masterminding a migration crisis by letting thousands of refugees, mostly from the Middle East, to arrive in Belarus to then cross the border with Poland or Lithuania.

A policy adviser with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog said that, "His behaviour over the past year has shown that political isolation has turned him into a delusional, paranoid and petty man."

He is considered to be a threat to regional security and is referred to by some as an international terrorist. In that respect he is very similar to Pres Putin.

Belarusian boy is good

A good Belarusian boy. Screenshot.

Why does the boy have a good heart? Because he loves this cat on the pavement. He loves animals. Any boy who loves animals is good because it's obvious.

New York City stray cat is too sweet not to be adopted

Date: 17th Nov. 2021: This is a really cute male cat who has been a stray for 1.5 years in New York City. You can see from the video that he desperately needs to live with a human companion. The person who made the video is asking for social media users to adopt him (Reddit.com). 

They also ask if it is okay to take him to a shelter. I'm not sure about taking him to a shelter. He might not get adopted at a shelter. If he's not adopted he may be euthanised. Taking him to a shelter, depending upon the type of shelter it is, might be a death warrant for this little fella.

Stray cat needs a human companion. Screenshot. Sorry for the poor quality.

The best thing is to try and find a home for him locally. This is in fact what they are trying to do. They can't take him in themselves because they have a 17-year-old cat who does not get along with other cats. I totally get that. It can be disastrous to bring in a new cat to join a resident cat.

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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When you see cats like this it breaks your heart really. He's left alone all the time in the urban jungle, through different weather conditions. He is vulnerable to being harmed. Where does he get his food from? Probably kind people feed him but is reliant upon that and the supply may be sporadic. He needs a proper home where he is loved all the time.

For me, there are too many cats and dogs without homes, unwanted and living under difficult if not intolerable circumstances. I hate to be negative but it does paint a very negative picture to me. We can't expect perfection from the human but I think that we can expect a little better than our current performance in the human-to-cat relationship worldwide.

The Most Beautiful Stray Cat?

What's up? - O que se passa ?
Originally uploaded by * starrynight1

Is this the most beautiful stray cat? Who knows. I just know that he or she (I would say that this cat is female) is startlingly beautiful. Just goes to show how impressive a moggie (random breed) cat can be. Of course, it is a fine photograph too.

The photograph is all about texture, pattern and colour. The texture and patterns of the paving stones contrast nicely with the coat texture and patterns.

This stray cat is a spotted tabby and white. She looks very healthy but probably isn't. Stray cats get very serious illnesses such as FIV and FIP, both killers. See Cat Health Problems.

This cat though could (I feel) do well in the Household Pet division (moggie division) of a cat show because of the fabulous coat.


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The photo was taken in Oeiras Garden in Portugal. It seems to me that probably the most common of all cat coat types particularly in the Mediterranean countries is the tabby and white. The Mediterranean basin (the area around the Mediterranean sea) is where the wild cat was domesticated and that includes in Cyprus and Egypt. In Egypt the African wild cat was domesticated. The European wild cat was domesticated in Cyprus as I understand it. So this cat, which lives in the Mediterranean basin has some 10,000 years later a bit of wild cat in her including the genes that created the coat - the wildcat has a tabby coat. You can see more spotted tabby and white cats here and Turkish Van type cats (in Cyprus) here: Birth of a New Cat Breed.

Since writing this post I have written a page about the cats of Morocco discussing what makes the cats of North Africa the type (shape, colour and pattern) that they are. They will be the same or similar to those of Portugal.

I also reproduce the photo below in large format as the one top right is located on Flickr. The photographer may remove it from Flickr in which case it will be removed from this page as well!

Beautiful Stray Cat - Photo by * starrynight1

Another thing that is noticeable about this cat and which makes it and her is that she appears to have been pregnant before. This, though, is a wild guess - I could well be wrong. She could be a male cat!

Another thing is that the tip of one of her ears has not been clipped signifying that she has been trapped, neutered and returned. I say this because the photographer has photographed several cats in this park an one, a jet black one, has had his ear clipped.

Often stray cats (particularly true feral cats) can look very dirty and thin. That is not the case with this cat. I get the feeling that she is well fed by visitors to the park. Here is a classic tabby cat from the same park:

Photo left by by * starrynight1

When a Stray Cat Comes to You

What to do when a stray cat comes up to your home? Or there is a cat wandering around in your area and you feel that it is stray. A lot of people take what only can be described as hostile action, against the cat, for example, kill it by poison or kick it etc. (see cat poison). In fact there is a post on this blog made a day or two ago in which the person said she loved cats but puts down poison to deal with stray cats! See Stray Cats.


I have lost the credit for this photo. I think it could be MAR please advise - sorry

But the question is what is the thing that we should do? The proper thing throwing out all other considerations? If the cat is tame it is probably a stray cat as opposed to a feral cat. And in that case it probably lives with someone - but who? And if you can't find out, then what?

One way to find out is to ask around the neighbours. This might seem troublesome to many people who don't care about cats or animals generally. Fair enough but it is the right action to take. Another way to try and find the owner is to place a collar on the cat in which the question as to who is the owner is asked with your contact details provided. You can see an example here.

If the owner (keeper) comes forward you should try and convince them to act more responsibly and I realize that that is going to be all but impossible but at least you know who the person is and can deal with the matter in a better way if things get worse.

Another way to try and find the owner is to contact the local shelters (in the UK - here is a list). Once all reasonable steps have been taken (and ideally recorded) but without success, you can move on to the next stage, which is to rehome the cat. That means deciding whether ownership should pass to you (a very serious commitment for the remainder of the life of the cat) or whether the cat should be rehomed by a local shelter.

Provided you have done all you reasonably could have done to find the owner no one can accuse you of theft. If the cat is feral and therefore wild there can only be one course of action, which is to support the cat (which is effectively wild), while ensuring the cat cannot reproduce. This is called trap, neuter, return and it is probably best left to the experts, provided the experts are simply just not going to kill it after a couple of days at the shelter.

When a stray cat comes to you, you should take the above action provided you are convinced the cat is stray. What I did was to take in the stray cat. He is called Timmy (middle picture above) and he is possibly a time share cat because he lives somewhere else as well as at my place. I took the hardest step and that has to be for life.

When a Stray Cat Comes to You to Home Page (main site)

Three Stray Cats Update

This is a three stray cats update. My three stray cats are Binnie who has lived with me for 16 years or more and she is no longer a stray I suppose! She was though. Then there is Pippa, a small black girl. I would see her dice with death crossing the road outside the kitchen window but could do little about it as she belongs to someone else - I know who - but I would still consider her a kind of stray or perhaps a better description is a part-time cat. Well, I have not seen her for a considerable time. This is mainly because Binnie chases her away and the pecking order is that Binnie is above Pippa.

It also may be due to the summer weather. There is less need to seek warmth and food etc. Or she may have been killed, I don't know. I wish I did.

Then we have Timmy, the top cat who still comes in for his nosh (UK terms for food in case you are from another country and hadn't heard the word) and then he either stays a while (less in summer) before disappearing. Timmy is very skinny and very athletic. I would expect him to come in a lot more when the weather turns colder and wetter in about 3 months or so.

We have another stray cat in in fact. We have called her Marty. She is a fast mover, darting in to grab some food (only if it is fish or prawns!) before scampering out. Binnnie accepts her but chased her off last week. Binnie is about aged 90 in human terms so it was very impressive to see although I wish she wouldn't!

She is also overweight so to see her running pretty fast is awesome. It is probably awesome for the other cat too. I think her sheer size is intimidating. That's about it. All is calm and at the moment is is more like 2 stray cats with 2 in the background.

How to Create a Stray Cat

This is how to create a stray cat. Buy a nice house with a large mortgage. Buy nice new, all white furniture and put in a new kitchen. Go on holiday 3 times a year and have three kids. To complete the image and the perfect family scene buy a purebred pedigree cat, say a nice Siamese, they are one of the most popular and impressive looking cats and the white body and dark pointing (extremities) go oh so well with the white kitchen and the new cushions you just bought for the large sumptuous sofas that could barely get through the front door when they were delivered. Keep doing that sort of thing for a time.

Wait for the inevitable economic crash, the bust after the boom. Then try and hang on to the job, but to no avail. The wife works part-time but the debt that you accrued over the last ten years amount to $50,000 and the family home has been remortgaged four times and now property prices have plummeted there is negative equity. You stop paying the mortgage and the HP payments on the sofa got too much so you lost that. Next you lose the house.

You pack your bags and cart away what possessions you have left. You, the wife and the kids shut the front door for the last time. Inside the home is your Siamese cat, without food or water and locked in. You just couldn't see a way to paying for her. The cat had to go. That's how to create a stray cat in the recession.

{based on the true story of Bandy a 1 year old Siamese cat who was left in a foreclosed house and who became a stray cat with no where to stray to}



From how or create a stray cat to feral cats

Australians are Hostile to Stray Cats

Why do I get the distinct impression that Australians are hostile to stray cats? I mean Australians as a nation not individual Australians lots of whom are very much for, and care for, the stray and feral cats. And lets not forget that stray cats are quite possibly domestic companion cats that are simply outdoors. All over the internet are stories of stray cats in Australia being ill treated.

There seems to be a kind of culture that approaches that found in China with respect to the stray cat or indeed feral cat. This culture seems to have been promoted or even generated by a long term and on-going campaign by government officials who have claimed that the poor maligned stray cats and feral cats of Australia are responsible for the death of millions of native wild animals. A reality check indicates that this is not the case. Here are a few facts that come from a very reliable source, Sarah Hartwell (unless otherwise stated), who was assisted by http://www.catassist.org.au:

• there are pro and anti feral and stray cat camps. I sense that the anti camp is winning because of government backing (my view)
  
• there are no accurate figures on the numbers of stray cats and feral cats in Australia. This fuels guesswork and alarmist assessments. The figure is, apparently, between 3 and 30 million.
  
• an influential survey carried out in 1994 by Dr David Paton claimed that cats kill 3.8 billion animals and birds annually. A vast number. But this survey, which may be etched in the minds of some Australians, has been found to be lacking in objectivity (Dr. Paton disliked cats) and accuracy. It is, in short, misleading. More birds are killed by cars than cats in Australia (survey result not guesswork).
• another study of 1994 (by Reark research for Petcare Information and Advisory Service) confirmed that cats preferred hunting introduced wild species (rabbit and mouse) rather than native Australian species thus debunking the claim that precious native species are being slaughtered by cats.
  
• habitat destruction by people is probably the biggest killer of native Australian wildife (my view)
• it seems that a considerable percentage of vets are also against the feral and stray cat. Witness the case of Possum who was shot 27 times and the owner couldn't find a vet to assist until after 4 tries a kind a decent vet did assist. (see Worst Case of Cat Cruelty) -this is my view and not Sarah Hartwells.
  
• Ms Hartwell supports my view that wholesale shooting of feral cats is inhumane and it doesn't work either. (see Ground Shooting of Feral Cats and the Vacuum Effect). She also supports proper, humane and organised action using TNR techniques. The Australians seem incapable of accepting this. It isn't, it seems, in their nature as it would take a long term approach and a concerted approach.
  
• all the signs are that, generally, as an electorate, Australians are hostile to Stray cats.
  

Some selected posts on this topic:

• Feral Cats of Australia
• Australian Feral Cat Laws
• Savannah Cat Ban in Australia in Wrong
• Feral Cats

From Australians are Hostile to Stray Cats to Home Page

Stray Cats Smell

Do stray cats smell? Timmy, the cat I feed and give a bit of tender loving care to, does. He washes etc. But he always has dirty paws, a messed up and scratched face and he smells of a very badly kept room. You know those homes where the owner or tenant has simply given up (don't blame them) or they are old etc. and the whole home is a complete disaster, with piles of newspapers, mess on the floor, a massive pong of filth, old dirt, that kind of place. Well Timmy smells of that kind of place and I wonder if he is time sharing. I don't think he is, though, as he is very hungry when he comes in, as if he hasn't eaten since the last time I fed him.

He may be living in some sort of run down place, a garage or something that has junk in it and he smells of the junk he lies on. He occasionally stays with me for a while but seems eager to get going back to his filthy home. When I pick him up I get dirty and feel itchy (due to his allergens) at the same time. I still love him though!

It is much harder for a stray or feral cat to keep clean. When I washed him he hissed! Timmy's head wound has healed nicely (see cat abscess). I feel (and this is not a boast) that I have saved his life.

Stray Cats Learn to Stay

Pippa on a bed in the flat for the first time. She has eaten and she is having a rest.

Stray cats learn to stay in a new home, if what we do is better than what the "owner" does. Of course, we do not try and entice a cat away from her his owner but if the stray is Pippa (see above) and if she is not that happy in her home she might stay despite that fact I am doing nothing different than normal.

I saw Pippa out the kitchen window dicing with death walking near the road. She approached the flat, and seeing her, I opened the window and called out fearing that she might get hurt. She heard me and recognized my name but would not jump up through the window (no surprise as it is high and she is unsure). However, about 10 mins later she came in through Binnie's (my cat) cat flap and was I pleased to see her. I fed her and loved her. And for the first time Pippa went to one of the beds in the flat and installed herself on it to wash herself and have a rest. I loved her some more and she is still there right now as I type this post. She is a complete sweety but nervous. She likes good quality cat food and is jet black.

Also for the first time the "owners" have added a name tag to her collar. Her name is Kelis. I will still call her Pippa because she has this Pixie-like face.

Stray Cats are Very Stoic

Stray cats particularly, are very stoic. They are very accepting. I am referring to a story, about a not that unusual event, in which a cat was resting inside the engine compartment of a car (perhaps it was cold) when the owner turned up and turned on. The car driver smelled burning and realising there was a cat stuck in the engine compartment drove to the Baltimore SPCA for help. I am shocked that she was unable, as reported, to recover the cat. What was going on? It can't be that difficult, surely, to open the hood (bonnet in Britain) and get the cat out. I would certainly not move off if I knew (as she apparently did) that a cat was on top of the bl**dy engine. Well she did!

With great good fortune the cat survived with third degree burns to one paw and the others blistered. He was on top of the engine during the drive. He is unchanged and relaxed, accepting people and being very nice about it all. I take care of a stray cat called Timmy (see the header) and he is similar. He is uncomplaining and very laid back. He seems to accept discomfort very well. When he was in a fight recently and I took him to the vet he behaved impeccably. It may have been the first time he was in a cage but he took it all in his stride. It seems that the more difficult life that they endure makes them more quiet. It knocks the rough edges off their character. It also teaches them to endure better. It is the equivalent to putting a banker on the street for a few months. It would improve them! Although I am not advocating that cats and bankers should be turfed out on to the street - just bankers.

Stray cats are very stoic and make great companion cats. Get down to that cat rescue center!

Stray Cats of Winnipeg

The stray cats of Winnipeg are multiplying and it is becoming an area of concern. Is the increase in stray and feral cats due to the economic downturn? Possibly, yes as there are reports in the USA that this is happening. What is a bit shocking is that the euthanasia rate for the stray cats of Winnipeg at cat shelters is four times higher than for dogs!


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And the numbers are, as usual, large and daunting. 34% of the 5,900 cats admitted to the Winnipeg Humane Society shelter were euthanised (2,000 in 2008). The problem of feral cats goes on across the globe. I have just made a post about a successful trap, neuter, spay program in Doha, Qatar, not a place, necessarily where you might think that this would happen but happening it is and successfully on all accounts. Do they have a TNR scheme in place in Winnipeg? If so it needs to be carried out with a level of conviction to make an impact. In Doha they have four government teams involved in managing feral cats.

Stray Cats of Qatar

The stray cats of Qatar in Doha, are being managed humanely on an official basis with the help and advice of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Qatar Cat Coalition. Like many major cities in many countries, Doha in Qatar had a "feral cat problem." A lot of people don't like to see stray cats in public places. Not everyone is tender towards them, in fact, many are downright cruel and one can see their argument. But the big issue is how to deal with it and the only way, and this has been supported by the authorities in Qatar, is to go through what might seem to be the slog of trap, neuter, medicate and return.


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It seems that, initially, ad hoc attempts were made to deal with the complaints. No doubt these were pretty ineffective and probably cruel. The Qatar Cat Coalition (QCC) became involved and asked the WSPA to step in and advise during a meeting with central government people. It seems that this was dealt with (at this stage) in a professional manner, with the three best organisations involved at the same time.

This in outline seems to be the order of events (and some people in places in Australia might well learn from this):

1. Complaints by the public about feral and stray cats
2. Local authority probably round up and kill cats in reaction to complaints
3. This fails to reduce population of feral cats as unneutered feral cats are very good at surviving by breeding and fill the void (see vacuum effect)
   
4. Qatar Cat Coalition (QCC) calls for change in policy as a result
5. Meeting set up with government+QCC+WSPA and a humane program devised based on TNR (trap, neuter and return)
   
6. Qatar Gov. officials visit a project in Dubai where TNR is practiced
7. Dubai authorities provide glowing report and the evidence is in front of them
8. Qatar authorities ask QCC and WSPA to set up TNR scheme in Doha
9. WSPA delivered an initial training course on trap neuter return methods, which is well received (note: it is nice for people involved in this kind of work and motivating, to be doing things in an humane manner)
10. Practical training is set up to train Government and QCC workers in humane TNR. Vets are involved too
11. 2008 - In Doha there are 4 government managed trapping teams, monitored by the QCC
12. The stray cat and feral cat populations are managed at last
13. The Qatar government ask WSPA and QCC to get involved with a similar scheme to control stray dogs.

The stray cats of Qatar in Doha are now managed humanely. The only way, it seems to me, to do this is as described. Shooting and ad hoc killing of feral cats will fail and demotivate not to mention cause a lot of suffering to innocent and vulnerable animals to whom we owe a duty to treat properly because, ultimately, we put them there.

Stray Cat Harmony

There is a kind of stray cat harmony amongst my three stray cats now. For example, Binnie has frightened off my little Pippa. I miss Pippa but Binnie had to exert her authority over someone and that has to be Pippa as the lowest in pecking order. Pippa will be back, I am sure, as the food is just too damn good.

As for himself, Timmy, the boss man with the wounds he now joins me on my bed all night. He has finally figured it out that life is better on my bed than in a shed. This works well for him as Binnie gets off when I go to bed because I move my legs around too much for her. So the night shift handover is smooth.

The trouble with Timmy is that I am allergic to him and he makes me sniffle all night. This blocks my nose in the morning. Hellfire and damnation, it's a heavy burden. My girlfriend says that she would like it if he went on her bed! I said fine.

Cat Fights Can Cause an Abscess

Yes, cat fights can cause an abscess and Timmy got into a bad cat fight, got bitten and then an abscess formed and I had to take him to the vet. Well, you know, despite being the only cat I am allergic to (true - I only have to look at him to itch), I love him and care for him. And I am glad to say that his abscess is beginning to subside gradually. Fortunately he still comes in every day for rest and food. This gives me the chance to feed him and bathe him. I put antibiotic power in his food. I break open one of the antibiotic pills the vet gave me and pour it over the premium quality (he only eats premium!) cat food and mix well.

I have also prepared a salt solution and bathed his wound with it. There is still quite a bit of puss under the skin in the area of the wound (the area is raised and hard), so I was pleased today to see that the wound was seeping puss. I was worried that the infection would cause the puss to continue to build up. As I said. there was a hard bump on his head around the area of the puncture wound after going to the vet. Well, after giving him antibiotics, daily, since the operation and cleaning his wound with salt water, the amount of puss seems to be going down. I am not completely sure but I am fairly confident Timmy is on the mend.

It was good to see him again and eating well. These are good signs but he is still shaking his head occasionally. It just may be that the infection has spread to his inner ear as he scratches his ears. He is a real worry for me. The next worry is to decide whether to neuter him. Neutering should be automatic and I recommend it but he is a "whole" boy and I just do not want to take his manhood from him. I don't want his boyish character to change. He has a standout boy cat character. Anyway, we'll see.

Taking In A Stray Cat

Fat stray cat - Lontra - not all strays have it tough! Although she might be ill. - Photo by * starrynight1

Taking in a stray cat is the easiest thing in the world provided you don't have any other cats. In fact, there are stray cats pretty much everywhere. Wherever I have lived I think I have bumped into stray cats particularly so in London where people live close together. I have never purchased a cat, they usually come to me and stay.

Often you don't actually have to take in a stray cat as the cat will just walk in, take some food, do it again and then stay a while one day (provided we are pleasant to the cat). And voila we are on track to take him in. A word of caution, of course, as there are also a lot of cats that time share or visit and do overnight stays like children. We have to make sure that we are not teasing a cat away from the "owners" (keepers). That said, if a cat persists in coming to us there is possibly something not quite right about the place where he or she is coming from.

There can be some decisions to make, I think, once he has stayed, however. One problem I have with Timmy who stays with me is that I think he is "whole" or not neutered. I think this because he has b*ll* and he has a jowly masculine face. He doesn't spray urine though, thank God. Do I have the responsibility to have him neutered? On one level, I do. I need to protect the stray female cats in the district if there are some that are not spayed from getting pregnant (see Cat Pregnancy). There are too many feral cats ( feeding feral cats) around, who live tough lives that are too short with euthanasia as the end game.

On the other hand he is not my whole responsibility as he visits and stays a lot. I am convinced he is a stray though (i.e. has no owner). If I think that, I should take him to the vet to be checked out. He just may be neutered but I don't think so. So taking in a stray cat is easy with complications. If we have cats (I have one previous stray cat who is now "my cat") there can be problems with the introduction (Introducing a New Cat). Once that has been got over and it almost always will be in due course then a check up by the veterinarian is in order as we just don't know what a stray cat's health it like and we owe it to the cat to ensure all is well. That is the other complication - expenses. Vets aren't cheap and some people don't, it seems, factor in the cost of keeping a cat over the lifetime of the cat - about £10,000 for a cat that lives for 14 years (See Pet Care Costs).

I can't think of anything major over and above what I have mentioned. One last think. In taking in a stray cat we are doing a public service and probably saving a life as a lot of feral cats that are "rescued" end up being euthanized as there are not enough homes (see No Kill Cat Shelters). That said, one person thinks completely the opposite.

Taking In A Stray Cat to Stray Cat Picture

My Binnie Do

The cat that currently lives with me is actually called Judds. Weird name really. It is short for Judders. Also a weird name (it's after her tail that "judders" when she is excited). She was a stray, a lost soul on the streets of London. Since 2002 I have called her Binnie. Don't really know why. Except she is like a dustbin. Maybe it came from that. I have fought her for 14 years on the matter of her diet and lost on every occasion. She taught me persistence.

Back to the story. At the time I was living in London (Notting Hill Gate, before it became really fashionable). This was about 1993. Binnie was under a car sheltering when I came home from work.

She looked up at me nervously. She is still nervous. She must have had a bad start. Anyway, as I say on the home page of my website, my favorite cat is a homeless cat looking at me and asking for help. Just can't resist.

So, I feed her with the left overs from our (I was married then) two cats. She gulped it all down. She went back to her damp little hiding place around the corner. I think the person who cared for her abandoned her.

As is the case she eventually came round and stayed. I thought she was pregnant. Then I realized it was food!. I was feeding and she was eating. We couldn't really take her in permanently so I talked to my neighbor. She thought Binnie was pregnant!

Well there you are. 14 years later and she is still my loyal companion. She was upset when I lost Missie, my other cat. I still grieve for Missie.

I moved out of London after the divorce in 1994 and now am back in Barnes another fashionable place. And guess what - Timmy another stray just walked in....I love him to bits.