Feral cats. Highly controversial and often misunderstood, they live on the edges of our habitats and our awareness, in view but not always seen. Across the Peninsula you can find them in empty lots and abandoned buildings, in junked cars and culverts, digging through dumpsters, scrounging out an existence in the local park. Many live, in twos, threes and fours, in our backyards.

Feral cat colonies begin with free-roaming, unaltered and abandoned domestic cats; the colonies grow as new cats fight their way in, and as litter after litter of kittens is born. An unspayed female can have up to three litters -- as many as xx kittens -- each year. Free-roaming cats form colonies wherever they find food and protection from their predators and the elements. Unlike indoor, companion cats, their lives are hard and short, often ending, at just three to five years of age, in a brutal and painful death.

Although it's almost impossible to get a handle on the feral cat population -- national estimates range from 30 to 60 million -- no one doubts that their numbers are staggering. (The San Carlos-based Homeless Cat Network estimates that there are hundreds of colonies in San Mateo County, ranging from a few to as many as 200 cats.) In turn, the controversy of how to "deal" with the cats has divided the animal community, at times pitting animal welfare groups against each other. Some see feral cats primarily as wild predators of songbirds and wildlife. Others view them as the victims of a society that too often and too easily disposes of its companion animals.

In April 1995, after 18 months of researching options and considering strategies, the Peninsula Humane Society and the Homeless Cat Network launched a bold new cooperative venture. The Feral Cat Coop is a progressive TTVAR-M program designed to assist individuals and groups who are working to humanely control feral cat population growth and minimize the suffering of feral felines. PHS views the Feral Cat Coop as one important component of a multifaceted plan to care for feral cats while changing the attitudes and behaviors that make abandoning the family cat -- or simply allowing them to roam free -- "acceptable."

What do those letters mean?
TTVAR-M is an acronym for Trap, Test, Vaccinate, Alter, Release and Monitor. The Feral Cat Coop is intended for both truly feral cats and for homeless cats who are living in a colony with other stray and feral cats, but who may be somewhat socialized. Enrollment in the coop is free, but caregivers must have written permission to care for the cats from the landowner on whose property the colony is located.

Registered caretakers humanely trap their cats and bring them to the humane society's Spay/Neuter Clinic. There they are tested for FIV and feline leukemia. Because an infected feral cat (whose immune system can be severely compromised) cannot live a healthy life out of doors, those who test positive are euthanized. A small bite, a cut, an infection opens the door for bacteria to race through their system, explains Coette Schmidt, president of the Homeless Cat Network. It's hard to euthanize a cat you've been caring for, but releasing a sick cat is unconscionable.

Once the cat is vaccinated, altered and identified with an eartip, they are re-released into their colony. The caretaker provides daily food and water, and monitors their health. Kittens and even older cats who seem more tame are often socialized and placed in a home; newcomers to the colony are removed and evaluated for adoption. The Feral Cat Coop has an almost 100 percent placement rate for taming and placing kittens, notes Schmidt. The feral tendency, in most cases, is learned, not innate. The innate behavior is wanting to be a companion to humans. That's been going on for thousands of years.

In forming the FCC, PHS joined a small but growing group of progressive animal welfare organizations across the country that are attempting to implement humane short- and long-term solutions to the feral cat quandary. The Humane Society of the United States has estimated that 15 million people in this country care for feral cats, most of them with no organizational affiliation and little or no training. In 1997 Maryland-based Ally Cat Allies, the only national feral cat program, conducted the first nationwide survey of people caring for free-roaming cats. Among their findings: 91 percent of respondents use a TTVAR program and 60 percent noted that their colonies had stabilized or decreased.

For good reason, TTVAR-M is emerging as perhaps the most effective method for caring for feral cats. While the ethical dilemma remains -- PHS, like many animal welfare organizations, believes cats should live safely indoors, as true companion animals -- feral cats in managed colonies live healthier, better lives than their counterparts who fend for themselves. The majority of caretakers are extremely responsible, notes PHS outreach manager Lisa Boegl, who administers the FCC. They have a deep emotional commitment to their cats.

And the numbers speak for themselves. After three years of operation 215 colonies were enrolled in the coop, with 1,912 cats represented at the time of enrollment. 1,432 feral cats had been trapped and brought to PHS' Spay/Neuter Clinic; of these 1,223 had been altered and received rabies and FVRCP vaccinations, and been tested for feline AIDS and feline leukemia. 736 adult cats and kittens had been removed from their colonies, fostered and placed in homes. Many of the feline faces behind these statistics live in small, backyard colonies. However, a small but growing number of Peninsula businesses and other organizations are finding it in their best interests as well as the cats' to opt for "managed care."

One of the FCC's most visible successes is the colony at Coyote Point Park in San Mateo. County Parks & Rec for years had been trying to control the ferals there, explains Coette Schmidt. Some years they had as many as 75 to 100 cats. The park service would periodically do a trap, round up and kill program but more cats just moved in in their place. About two and a half years ago Patrick Sanchez, then-director of the park, asked to meet with representatives from the FCC to see if we could set up a TTVAR-M program. We now have seven people feeding there and just 11 cats. And, for the first time ever, there are no kittens running around because we pulled absolutely every one.

"Both statistically but psychologically, for the people who care about animals, the Feral Cat Coop has been nothing but success."

(If you are currently caring for a feral cat colony and would like more information about joining the Feral Cat Coop, please call Lisa Boegl at 650/340-7022, ext. 384.)

"Once Cattes were all wilde, but afterwards they retyred to houses, wherefore there are plenty of them in all countries." - Edward Topsell (17th century), The History of Foure-footed Beasts

no captions for the three photos of feral cats; credits are on the back of photos

Corporate Cat Care

While the majority of Feral Cat Coop members are individuals caring for small backyard colonies, several of the Bay Area's larger companies are beginning to see the benefits of working to humanely manage feral cat colonies on their property. Peggy Woods is a primary caregiver at one such colony.

How did you become involved in stray and feral cat care?
Employees at my company had been caring for the cats for many years, but always as individuals, not as part of a unified effort. I think this is true anywhere; wherever there is a needy cat there is likely to be a big-hearted person who will try to help them. The problem is that most people don't have a clue what to do and they feel daunted by the potential expense of it. What's so powerful about the Feral Cat Coop is that it provides everything you need to actually make a difference in these cats' lives.

I became involved with the feral cats here in 1993. I often take lunchtime walks along the bay; sometime that year I began seeing some little kittens there. Someone routinely put bowls of food and water out, but when the holidays arrived, suddenly the bowls weren't full, and I saw the cats sitting around looking wistful. So I charged home and got them some food -- and ended up feeding through the new year.

After the holidays, the bowls suddenly disappeared. I asked around and learned that another employee here had been feeding the cats, and was now trying to consolidate two feeding sites into one. Over the next few weeks I met a number of people who were caring for other cats on the property. We decided to work together and put a notice on the company's electronic bulletin board to see if anyone else wanted to help. And we got about 50 responses right away.

How did you convince the company to allow your feral cat program?
Several years earlier the company had tried rounding up all the stray and feral cats, and killing them. That concerned a lot of people -- and it didn't solve the problem. If you do that you just create a niche for other cats to move in.

I did my homework and then sat down with someone from our human resources department and told them how many employees were already interested and involved in humanely caring for the cats. I told them how much it would cost each year to trap, vaccinate and alter the cats, and I suggested that instead they make donations to PHS and the Homeless Cat Network and agree to let us join the Feral Cat Coop and receive those services for free. And they agreed to my proposal, so we've gone with it ever since.

When we first got started the company gave us use of a small modular building they no longer needed. For the first few years it had no electricity or water, so we kept the kitties in my garage, and used the trailer for storing the carriers and cat food. About a year ago I approached the company about making the trailer habitable. Now we can use it for cats recovering from their spay or neuter surgery. And whenever we catch one who is tame or quickly becomes tame, it's a prime place to have them viewed for adoption.

What's been your experience in almost five years of working with the colony?
It's impossible to know exactly how many cats we had in the beginning. We estimated it at more than a hundred, and perhaps as many as 150. So far we've trapped 130 cats and kittens. We've fostered and placed 52 kittens -- a real high adoption rate for a feral cat colony. There are probably 60 or 70 cats in the colony right now. Our numbers are going measurably down each year.

How do you tame a feral cat?
The length time it takes to tame an unsocialized cat can vary greatly; it depends totally on the animal involved. In cats, as in people, there are so many different personalities, so many different temperaments.

Most of the time, kittens can be tamed very quickly. If you have an eight-week-old kitten, after 24 to 48 hours they're broken in. They may always be a little skittish on loud sounds, they may not welcome strangers, but in terms of being socialized with their primary people, it's almost an immediate thing.

I'm not sure that we've tried to tame completely feral adult cats. Usually they've given us some kind of signal during the recovery period, and we've slowly worked with them. Occasionally we find new cats in our colony who have been dumped. They are quite tame and obviously were recently someone's companion. In early November we picked up a guy who has a real peculiar tail. It's so kinked, it almost looks like a knot at the end. He's a big, apple-headed tabby who's really gentle, a real sweetheart. When we had him neutered, we discovered he has an enlarged liver, but we were still able to place him.

We place almost all our cats with people who work here. We've created an internal webpage that has an adoptions section, where we post the available cats' photos. It's a wonderful way to get visibility.

What has been most difficult and what keeps you going?
What I find hardest is the long periods of dealing with nothing but really wild, angry, hostile, aggressive cats. You're doing what's best for them, you've just helped them have an operation and some vaccinations that are going to increase their lifespan significantly, but they view you as the monster from hell.

But we've got some rich rewards -- changing a cat's life, being able to create a rags-to-riches story for a kitten. I recently started e-mailing everyone who's recently adopted, asking How's it going? Do you have any stories to share? I always hear back from at least two or three people, and I post their replies through our website. Good news can just make your day. Like when we heard that the cat with the kinked tail is not only sleeping on the bed with his new mom, but that he insists on digging in and sleeping under the covers with her....! It's all been very worthwhile.

photo captions: Wayne: no credits on these photos. pick whichever you like to use any or all.

photo A
Often easily tamed, many formerly feral kittens have grown up to be real homebodies. Popped through the fence at the company's daycare center, Willy and Roscoe were five weeks old and willing to do anything for food. Now they are charming their people, who would do anything for them!

photo B

As a kitten, June was diagnosed with a heart murmur and required special surgery. Today she is a true feminist and tells Ward, her cat companion, what to do at every turn.

photo C
Bonnie and Clyde, the Twin Tornadoes...socializing on the cat tree.

photo D
Minette (the tortoiseshell and original cat) shows Peanut the ropes. Peanut was probably born of a feral mother but tamed quickly when he was caught at eight weeks old.