Advice Please On Feral Cats.

Hi. I feed a group of 7 adults feral cats. One of the 7, a female, always stays a little away from the other 6 and eats last. I never see any aggressive behavior toward her. I was wondering why this is happening. Thanks.

Hi FelineMon! Welcome to the Forums,
and tx for helping these small brethrens and sisters of ours!


Interesting question. There may be several different answers as I see it.

She is lowest in the hierarchy. The hierarchy is well established, so there is no need of reinforcing this...

She is highest in the hierarchy - and allows the others to begin. Such happens!

She is a little easy to stress. Eating together with others, although more or less friendly - is stressful. So she waits for last, especielly as she apparently understands and has experienced there is always enough with food.
Being with others is also a little stressful - thus she helds herself a little apart.
I myself think the third possibility as the most probable.

Luck for all there is never open hostility against her from the other cats.
Sorrowful, so is not always the case...

Keep in touch,

Good luck!

Welcome to TCS!

It is an interesting question, and I think Stefan did a great job of answering it.

I just wanted to say hi and welcome you on board.

Are the kitties already spayed/neutered? Are you familiar with TNR? How long have you cared for them? Did you name them?

With the latest batch of ferals, Gary and I tried not naming them. Our theory was we'd get less emotionally involved and worry less over the winter if they didn't have names. Yeah, that worked. (Not!)

Hello and welcome to the site!! I have a different point of view and this might not be the norm but it is with my family of ferals.

The feral's I care for are all related. They all look alike and when I study them, I can see they are a family unit. The mother of everyone I am assuming is Dixie. I trapped her in December and she was TNRd. What I have observed is Dixie waits until everyone else is done eating and then she comes to eat. She also is never seen very close to her "kids". She is a loner but watches over everyone closely. I also noticed that one of her kittens, Yogi, who is also TNRd. Also would wait until all of the other kittens would eat (the three girls I trapped) and then he would go in to eat. I witnessed this one day in December and will never forget it as long as I live.

It was about 2 degrees outside. I had just put their hot food out into the shelter and went back inside to watch from the window. Yogi (a sibling of the three girls who were about six months at the time) approached the shelter and sat in front of it without going in. He kept looking back at the bushes. Again, it was brutally cold. Out came one kitten and went in the shelter to eat. Then another came out of the bushes and went into the shelter to eat. I was astonished by this as he was sitting in the freezing cold waiting for the girls to eat first. Then the third kitten (my Magilla) came across the yard and froze, just sat down. Yogi got up and walked a few steps towards her and sat back down. Magilla got up and approached the shelter some more and as she got close to him, he took his paw and pushed her towards the shelter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am telling you, I just melted and my heart will never be the same. It grew about ten times. I have NEVER witnessed anything like that in my life. After the girls were done eating and left the shelter, Yogi went in to eat ( and he is not low man on the totem pole).

So I personally do not believe that cats are like dogs, so to speak, and do not have an alpha. They do not go by those rules. Maybe, yes, in some cases there is the more aggressive cat who will get his way and eat first. but IMHO I don't believe every colony runs by the heirarchy rules. They tend to look out for their own, like lions and tigers, if you may. Dogs do not do this and I do not believe that cats have an alpha or a leader and subordinates. I think it can change day to day depending on their survival and necessities for that particular day and work together to sustain their group. Just another aspect of opinion here.

Much luck to you and your cats

I remember you telling this story, and that really is amazing.

That jogged my memory. I remember now, the very first litter of kittens that got us involved in TNR (four of those five kittens are our inside-only pets now!), their mom did the same. She would always wait for her babies to eat before she ate. Of course, I have no idea what would have happened as they aged if we left them outside in the colony....

But if the kitty that sits and waits to eat last is mom of the other cats, that could also be the explanation.

Mom's will wait for their young to eat first. The strange thing with the situation in December, it was Yogi, (who is a male and I am assuming he is Magilla's brother, identical to her and same size, same teeth, according to the vet who TNRd) who was waiting outside the shelter for his siblings to eat first!!!!!!!!!! When I first saw this, I didn't know he was a male and thought maybe it was the mother . It wasn't until I trapped him that the vet said he was about seven months old. So then I knew he was a sibling to the other girls. Anyhoo, it was sooooooooo cool to see that and such a loving, selfless thing to do.. I'll tell you, on that day, I ran a bunch more hot food out to that shelter wanting to make sure they all had enough. . I still see him everyday now and he lets me get closer and closer to him now. I always tell him I will never forget the sacrifices he made for his sisters that day and I am sure there were alot more that I didn't see. (I am getting off topic, SORRY)

He sure is a very special little guy!

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm trying to closely observe the behavior of all, so I can have a better idea of why Lucy (my girl who keeps her distance, does so). I am registering for the next TNR course offered

what a wonderful idea!! Didn't even know there was such a class offered for TNR. You will get alot of good information in that class. Keep us informed and updated

Originally Posted by Feralvr

what a wonderful idea!! Didn't even know there was such a class offered for TNR. You will get alot of good information in that class. Keep us informed and updated

Click to expand...

I've heard of them. Very cool! I think Neighborhood Cats (in NY) sells videos?

Just remember, we can help too! In fact, most of us learned from just doing it, or from each other here!

Feralvr was already trapping when she found TCS. We just had outside cats we didn't know what to do with, and that's how I found TCS. If there are classes where you live, it sounds like there should be other great resources.

Originally Posted by LDG

I've heard of them. Very cool! I think Neighborhood Cats (in NY) sells videos?

Just remember, we can help too! In fact, most of us learned from just doing it, or from each other here!

Feralvr was already trapping when she found TCS. We just had outside cats we didn't know what to do with, and that's how I found TCS.

If there are classes where you live, it sounds like there should be other great resources.

Click to expand...

Hi and thanks for posting.
NYC sponsors TNR classes for certification and helps provide free neutering.
My biggest problem with my feral family is the neighbors. Many object to my feeding them and I am forever fighting with people. That why I prefer animals to people

Yes, I know what you mean. I have troubles with some of my neighbor's as well. I actually have talked with a few of the complainers and explained about the feral cat's and predation. They were worried about the birds. Now they seem to have calmed down. I live next door to an abandoned house and the cat's have just moved in there because it is safe. I have explained that if I had not trapped them we would be overrun with kittens right about now or very soon. I also ask them if they would like to contribute or donate to the cause of TNR in our neighborhood as it gets quite expensive for me. That usually shuts them up and they end up thanking me for controlling the cat population in our neighborhood. . I don't really care what they think, I am going to do the right thing by the feral's. Once the neighbor's understand that these cats are all fixed, and I am feeding them twice daily and the cats don't want to waste their energy hunting birds, they seem (the neighbors) satisfied. Also, I told them the cats keep the rodent population down. That always makes them happy too as we have alot of voles/mice because we live near woods. So if you just try to explain the concept to them, and ask for donations , they usually go away and never bother you again.

Thanks Feralvr. I'm trying to explain to neighbors about TNR program. I don't know how people can be so heartless. These poor cats need food and I won't stop. It's bad enough they have to survive the weather. I will never understand people.