what makes a cat feral
If they don't have early contact with people, the kittens of stray or feral cats will become feral, too fearful to be handled or adopted. Since a female cat can become pregnant as early as five months of age, the number of feral cats in a neighborhood can rapidly increase if cats aren't spayed or neutered.
A stray cat is a pet who has been lost or abandoned, is used to contact with people and is tame enough to be adopted. A feral cat is the offspring of stray or other feral cats and is not accustomed to human contact. Feral cats are usually too fearful to be handled or adopted.
Some of these cats may be owned pets that are permitted by their caretakers to go outside unsupervised, some may be tame strays who were formerly owned, but have been lost or abandoned, and some may be feral cats, those with no socialization whose disposition makes them unsuitable as domestic pets.