AY Honors/Cats - Advanced/Answer Key

Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large groups called feral colonies with communal nurseries, depending on resource availability. Many abandoned pet cats join these colonies out of desperation. The average lifespan of these feral cats is less than two years, while an average domestic housecat lives an average of sixteen years or more. Cityscapes and even North America are not native environments to the cat; the domestic cat comes from temperate climates and was distributed throughout the world by humans. Although cats are somewhat adaptable, feral felines are unable to thrive in extreme cold and heat, and with a protein requirement of about 90%, few ferals find adequate nutrition on their own. In addition, they have no defense or understanding of such predators as dogs, coyotes and even automobiles. However, throughout the United States, there are thousands of volunteers and organizations that trap these unadoptable feral felines, spay or neuter them, inoculate the cats against rabies and feline leukemia and treat them with long-lasting flea products. Before release back into their feral colonies, the attending veterinarian nips the tip off one ear to mark the feral as spayed/neutered and inoculated, as these cats will more than likely find themselves trapped again. Volunteers continue to feed and give care to these cats throughout their lives, and not only is their lifespan greatly increased, behavior and nuisance problems due to competition for food are greatly reduced. In time, if the entire colony is successfully spayed and neutered, no additional kittens are born and the feral colony disappears. Many hope to see an end to the harsh and unnatural world of feral cat colonies through these efforts.

Low cost spay and neuter clinics [3] (http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html)are available throughout the United States.