Feline

Egyptflower, I think it's great that you're doing that.

Avatb, I hope you don't mind I've read some of your comments and I've been posting this on all the feral and stray cat pages: Hi! If possible, can you trap, neuter, release this cat and visit: http://www.feralcat.com/michelle.html. If you neuter feral cats, it decreases the amount of feral cats and increases the amount of small animals that they eat. Thanks!

Oh, that's nice of you to take care of the cats avatb!!!

We have a feral cat that has given birth to a couple of litters in our barn, though she seems to have a large territory & we often don't see her for weeks at a time. We have tried to trap her (so we can get her spayed & release her) but she is far too wily to fall for the live trap. We feed her when the weather is bad (in the snow & heavy rain when it is hard for her to hunt) & also we think she is pregnant & when she is nursing. We also put worming medicine into the food occasionally but it is hit & miss as I think the foxes often get there first! We remove her kittens when they are 5-6 weeks old & they have all found homes through the local shelter.

In many communities, there are TNR -- trap, neuter, release programs for feral cats. I've trapped two and feed them (in hopes that they will be too full to hunt birds) and they have been around for a few years now.

Kris I agree with you I have taken in several stray and unwanted dogs over the years they were always such good pets. Some people call them rescued dogs.
I could not believe the shape this poor dog was in the ribs were sticking out, the pads on the feet were wore down. And it looked like he was beaten also. Makes me angry to see people mistreat a poor helpless dog. Now the dog is in good shape! http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/686...

Even if more people chose to adopt from shelters (which I obviously thoroughly recommend!) that alone will not solve the problem. An interesting statistic - according to humane sites one un-spayed female cat and one un-neutered male cat and their offspring theoretically could produce 420,000 kittens in 7 years.

Right, I will now get off my soapbox!

Thats interesting Sarah!!

Kris is exactly right. The each X can act like orange off (black) or orange on. Since each cell will only get one X, it will be either orange or black. To get the white coloration, you need the help of another gene. But that is off the tract of the male/female issue. The Y does not affect coloration.

Yeah, i mean it states on the net that they have a median of 4.7 years! poor things. We have a problem with feral cats here in the u.k(Scotland), they are breeding with the Scottish wildcats and polluting the gene pool. I'm glad to hear you managed to help that poor dog. I always get pets from shelters, don't like all that status symbol crap with their pure breads, give me a mongrel over a pitbull any day of the week!

It is sad, Karen!! :(

It's good to hear that this colony is well fed & cared for. Sadly this is rarely the case for feral cats, especially in urban areas where many cats don't live more than a year or 2 due to disease & car accidents. I used to do volunteer work at a humane society shelter in Middle Tennessee & every year we would get literally 100's of unwanted kittens & strays through the doors simply because so many people fail to get their cats neutered. Many of these cats came off the streets & are unadoptable because they are too feral to be house cats. It is very sad.

Yes I read it. It says they live 4 to 8 years. It is to bad people throw they're animals out on the side of the road. I have a dog that was starving to death with a rope around its neck ,My family took in this year. It was so sad. We fattened him up now. People should bring their pets to the no kill shelter like the human society.

I love feral cats, it's just a shame they don't live long. Check out Wikipedia, some really interesting facts about Calico's.

Well said!! That is very interesting!! I have noticed when they have kittens sometimes there will be a yellow male like Garfield the comic strip cat, in the group. And some will be calico females.

Calico cats are almost always female because the X chromosome determines the color of the cat and a female cat has two X chromosomes. A common male cat has one X and one Y chromosome. Since the Y chromosome does not have any color genes, there is no chance he could have both orange and non-orange together. One main exception to this is when, in rare cases, a male has XXY chromosomes, in which case the male could have tortoiseshell or calico markings. Most male calico or tortoiseshell cats are sterile due to the abnormality of carrying two X chromosomes. I do love the copy and paste.lol

Thank You!! The cat is not friendly now, I could hardly get close to it to get its photo!! But I think the professors and staff are such animal rights lovers they felt that the best they could do was to feed it and give them veterinarian care.

This photo is lovely and the color on this cat is spectacular. What a shame it's feral...someone could've loved this cat and given it a home.

I have never heard of a male calico, I am interested in genetics, so I wouldn't mind if you gave details on it. Its a fascinating science!! Everyday a new discovery!!

It is possible to have a male calico, it is just extremely rare. If you do happen across one, it will be sterile. The coloration of the calico has to do with genetics, so I won't go on about the details.

This was at the last college campus. The professors and staff were cat lovers ! We had many cats that were feral. It was a calico cat which is always female. Another interesting thing is while working at the air force base in Tampa we also had feral cats too, that were fed by the ladies. No one would say anything cause we all thought it was very kind. The cats at the college had veterinarian care, the vet would sneak in to give shots. So these cats would live for years, the best of food too, kibbles and bits.

@ Karen, making a cat indoor or outdoors is a very baffling question.

Sadly american feral cats rarely live long or healthy lives!

True... I too do not know... how many are here free as like wild... But in freedom they are happy and healthy... Captivation lapses any animal's health...!!

I bet she does'nt know that we are talking about her.!