If there is a food source, stray or feral cats will find it. She recalled a fast-food restaurateur who tried repeatedly for three years to remove five to 10 feral cats living nearby. No matter how many cats animal control officials carted off, there were always more. She trapped the cats, got them spayed and neutered so there were no more kittens, and the colony was stabilized. Left untended, stray and feral cats can live to around five years, compared to domestic cats' 12 to 15 years.
Feral cats succumb to predators, humans, dogs and other cats, and to disease and motor vehicles.
Cats in managed colonies tend to live longer, perhaps 8 to 10 years if they're spayed or neutered, Wilcox said. If the females aren't having two litters a year, they're going to have healthier lives. If the males are neutered, they aren't going to be transmitting some of the diseases through fighting and mating. Alley Cat Allies is now concentrating on changing public policy so the feral cats can live out their lives in managed care colonies. In some cases now, people set up managed care colonies only to have local officials order the cats removed because someone complains, Wilcox said.