Rescue is a misnomer--respect their dignity

There's nothing wrong with their natural habitat, you only have to feed them and they'll open up. This is my 6-year old "feral" tomcat, it greets me when it notices me coming or leaving while loitering around the block or it follows neighbors and waits on the carpet at the doorstep. I only took it to a vet once for an infection.

I feed and find homes for all the beautiful strays that find their way to my home, the ones that are too wild are neutered and spayed to avoid the misery of fights and pregnancies and many more unwanted and unloved babies. The problem is the multitude of dangers of living in the wild. I've buried 8 cats this year, my heart has broken so many times it is numb. Distemper wipes out whole families, the babies too young to be vaccinated (and were anyway, to no avail) and the road takes way too many. But there is success, I have a feral tom that is 8 years old now, fat and sassy and battle scarred, he looks much like your boy except dark orange where yours is gray. Your boy is beautiful, I wish you only the very best, love him while you can, it is all we can do.

Not much dignified about dying on a highway and being run over by so many trucks that all that's left is a hindquarter, or being 3-4 weeks old and being smashed into a paste by the wheels of a car, or being left injured and covered by ants and eaten while your alive. These are all images I personally saw happen to the feral colony in the neighborhood I rescued my current cat from. The kittens rarely made it--maybe 1 in 20 did not die a horrible death. There's no dignity in that, sorry. Glad for your boy but rescues are needed.

ElMariachi said:

 
There's nothing wrong with their natural habitat, you only have to feed them and they'll open up. This is my 6-year old "feral" tomcat, it greets me when it notices me coming or leaving while loitering around the block or it follows neighbors and waits on the carpet at the doorstep. I only took it to a vet once for an infection.

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Is he neutered?  That is the absolute minimum for helping them, if you wish or must leave them still outside.

But its true, some do make it long good years.  These lucky, these with immune system high above average.

But, it happens semiferales are put to death not because there are immediate problems, but to save them from being homeless.  This is a great shame and sin, I believe.  If said ferale  does manage OK, there is no need to kill it "for mercy".  Neuter, and let it live, if you cant help it in more active ways.