Can someone tell me why feral cat's eyes look different than house cats. Not all feral have these eyes but many do. Here is an example:
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Feral Eyes
- Thread starter riley1
- Start Date
Pic is not enlarging for me. Are you seeing something wrong? The expression is different. I have a feral who is almost 16, Eve, who is black and has had that same expression for all of her life.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
Thanks for replying! His eyes and other feral cats I have encountered pupils dilate in a widened slit fashion and stay in the upper section of the eye. My house cat's eyes pupils get large and round, covering most of the eye when they are upset. Not all feral cat's eyes are like this but I see this as an indicator of how wild they are. The one is the picture is terrified! He was so scared that he stayed under the dresser for three weeks. The first day he shredded two window screens trying to escape when I was gone. He would only come out to eat & use the box. Didn't even take time to bury his waste. Also, started loosing clumps of hair and literary covered the floor with hair. I talked to him with an animal communicator. The cat had no interest in being a house cat. He was a humane society foster so I relayed the information to them. They contacted the finder who build him an outdoor shelter so he could be a TNR cat. I herded him into the bathroom to catch him and he was so frightened that he peed on the floor - poor thing. The people plan on feeding him. I, also hope he didn't loose his territory to other cats while being away for more than a month (the shelter had him in a condo for 10 days before I got him).
His eyes looked the same at all times. I tried lying on the floor & talking to him but he would just stay frozen, didn't even move an eye or whisker. I am curious & think maybe this would be an indictor that these particular cats can not be placed in a home. Because so many communities have leash laws the shelter I work with is trying to tame all that come in. Thanks for reading this.
His eyes looked the same at all times. I tried lying on the floor & talking to him but he would just stay frozen, didn't even move an eye or whisker. I am curious & think maybe this would be an indictor that these particular cats can not be placed in a home. Because so many communities have leash laws the shelter I work with is trying to tame all that come in. Thanks for reading this.
That is very interesting. Eve, is an accidental indoor feral. She was brought in in 2005 with two of her brothers, both of whom became pets oddly enough although born from a very feral mother, but never became even close to a pet. By the time I realized it, things were a little too far gone to put her outside and she had bonded to another black cat I had who was a real sweetheart....I think that she believed that cat was her lost (separated from) feral mother. She is now old and probably does not have much more time....but that pic is exactly what her eyes look like all the time.
My avatar, Lily and her twin Chiquita, started life as ferals but were brought into the house by me after a long introduction and are both lap cats now. They have a sister who is all black, Meryl, who lives outside (TNRed) and her eyes always look that way. I have never seen the big round eye now that you mention it.
My avatar, Lily and her twin Chiquita, started life as ferals but were brought into the house by me after a long introduction and are both lap cats now. They have a sister who is all black, Meryl, who lives outside (TNRed) and her eyes always look that way. I have never seen the big round eye now that you mention it.
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- #5
I am happy that your kitties were able to transition to indoor life. This situation was a little different in that this kitty was very stressed. His behavior and the shedding demonstrated that it would probably take months for him to even come out from under the dresser. To me that would be no life at all for him. Plus, this could not be his forever home as I am a foster mom. If I kept a cat I would no longer be able to help the shy and sick adults have a place to heal and regroup for their future lives. I had a cat named Nina that ate on my porch for 6 years after I did TNR for her. Talked to her a couple times with the communicator. She appreciated the fact that she was cared for but I didn't want to own or control her.
Interesting thoughts!
First have to pat you on the back for being so caring - it sounds like you have a big heart. Socializing ferals is rarely easy!
I've got years of experience (more then I want to admit - now that I'm not exactly 30 anymore
) working/volunteering for shelters, fostering cats and kittens of all socialization levels, plus TNR work, and caring for feral kitties post-TNR (one of our permanent indoor guys is an ex-feral we TNR'd)......and can honestly say I don't think I can definitely tell if they're feral vs socialized just by eyes (ie - in a picture). Face-to-face I can tell alot from body language, but not eyes? But again - interesting observation.
What I wonder if you're seeing - like in the guy in your first post's pic - is that the pic is taken from very slightly above his eyeline. And when you had the foster in your home it's likely you were always slightly above her (even laying on the ground, as humans we're still slightly above a kitty's straight eyeline). And most ferals won't let you out of their gaze - - keeping anything they feel might be a predator in their sights is one big thing that keeps them alive! So maybe that's why you're often seeing that in the ferals (or barely socialized non-feral kitties) you've seen? Just a thought. In our house, we just lost a kitty - "Jo" - who was an extremely social "foster fail." And in our house we also have "Flick" - a feral that we TNR'd when she was a few years old, but eventually socialized enough to bring her in, and now she's the biggest lap cat I've ever had. So Jo was VERY people friendly from day one, and Flick took a year to socialize. And both almost always showed pupils that were/are so large that often that's all you saw!
Pics of both below (Flick's the ex-feral grey girl, and Jo is the white & grey boy) so you can see how two very different backgrounds still resulted in 2 VERY huge (well, technically 4
) huge pupils. (I put them in at fulll size so that you can see the HUGE pupils on both) Definitely interesting discussion though!!!!
First have to pat you on the back for being so caring - it sounds like you have a big heart. Socializing ferals is rarely easy!
I've got years of experience (more then I want to admit - now that I'm not exactly 30 anymore
) working/volunteering for shelters, fostering cats and kittens of all socialization levels, plus TNR work, and caring for feral kitties post-TNR (one of our permanent indoor guys is an ex-feral we TNR'd)......and can honestly say I don't think I can definitely tell if they're feral vs socialized just by eyes (ie - in a picture). Face-to-face I can tell alot from body language, but not eyes? But again - interesting observation.What I wonder if you're seeing - like in the guy in your first post's pic - is that the pic is taken from very slightly above his eyeline. And when you had the foster in your home it's likely you were always slightly above her (even laying on the ground, as humans we're still slightly above a kitty's straight eyeline). And most ferals won't let you out of their gaze - - keeping anything they feel might be a predator in their sights is one big thing that keeps them alive! So maybe that's why you're often seeing that in the ferals (or barely socialized non-feral kitties) you've seen? Just a thought. In our house, we just lost a kitty - "Jo" - who was an extremely social "foster fail." And in our house we also have "Flick" - a feral that we TNR'd when she was a few years old, but eventually socialized enough to bring her in, and now she's the biggest lap cat I've ever had. So Jo was VERY people friendly from day one, and Flick took a year to socialize. And both almost always showed pupils that were/are so large that often that's all you saw!
Pics of both below (Flick's the ex-feral grey girl, and Jo is the white & grey boy) so you can see how two very different backgrounds still resulted in 2 VERY huge (well, technically 4
) huge pupils. (I put them in at fulll size so that you can see the HUGE pupils on both) Definitely interesting discussion though!!!!
