Fat and Happy Cats?

Although "fat and happy" are not the usual words used to describe outdoor-living cats -- photos like this one from our Feral Colony Program -- clearly show that living outdoors agrees with many cats. Behaviorists used to think cats were solitary animals because -- when they hunt -- they do so individually. (Seriously, how many cats does it take to catch a mouse?) But now cat behaviorists agree that cats are social animals -- colonizing around their food source and enjoying the life companionship of other cats.

This colony of eleven cats lives at a horse farm just outside of Ann Arbor and enjoys regularly-scheduled meals inside the barn they call home. On their own, barns are great cat shelters, but if you look closely, you’ll see their kindly caregiver added in a few handcrafted cardboard houses. They’ll appreciate these during bouts of extreme cold weather. Like most wildlife, cats grow adequate winter coats, but cuddling together in a towel-laden box with 5 or 6 good friends is the cat equivalent to our nestling in front of a fire on a cold January night.

These are especially lucky cats as their caregiver made our commitment to maintain her land as a kitten-free zone and in return we funded their sterilization. With this group fixed, she'll use ongoing meal-feeding techniques to identify newcomers -- as they appear for food. This way -- if any new roaming cats join the colony -- they can get fixed before any potential pregnancies create unplanned litters. After all the work that went into getting the colony stabilized, it would be a shame to let newcomers start the kitten-cycle all over again. Meal-feeding (as opposed to free-feeding) is critical to outdoor cat management. It conditions the cats to come at the same time every day and be hungry when they do.