Feral Cat Resources Trap/neuter/return, managing a
colony, getting support from your
community, vet care, and more.
Are sanctuaries the answer? No, they are not! We cannot
keep rounding up ferals and
putting them in sanctuaries. It
is impractical to think that more
and more sanctuaries will be built
to accomodate the ferals. T/N/R
is a much more effective solution.
Learn more.
Feral Cats
WildCats Village
Best Friends provides sanctuary to over 400 feral cats.
For some feral cats, the safety and comfort of an indoor/outdoor environment of runs, carpeted shelves, and wooden catwalks that crisscross the 12-foot-high ceilings must seem, well, a bit tame.
For others, it has made the difference to their survival.
The large number (estimates range from 50 to 60 million) of feral cats testifies to their ability to adapt and survive in diverse environs, from urban back alleys to surburban mall parking lots to places where the closest neighbors are coyotes. It isn't an easy life; life in the wild rarely is.
Feral cats tend to melt into the background of a city, gathering in colonies and living a meager life in back streets, afraid of people and scrounging food from trash cans. Thankfully, more and more people are learning how to look after these "feral" cats, as they are called. With the right care, most feral cats can live a decent life in their own neighborhoods.
But there are always going to be some who are too sick or injured or timid to survive in the "wild." For them, WildCats Village at Best Friends may be the only lifeline that's left.
Indeed, for kitties who were once at the mercy of every kind of urban danger, WildCats Village is a little piece of heaven on earth. Here they can enjoy outdoor views from screened-in areas complete with scratching posts, snug beds, ramps, and cubbyholes.
For the younger kitties, WildCats Village is a home where they can run, climb, play and enjoy the kittenhood they perhaps never had. The older ones, who have done all their running, enjoy cozy private nooks in winter, and cool, shady corners in summer.
Each of the 14 indoor/outdoor rooms in WildCats Village is home to 20-30 cats. Cats with special diets live in one room; FIV-positive felines have their own special rooms.
The original WildCats Village, designed with four buildings and completed in 1999, set new standards of kitty comfort and staff care. It was the gift of a Best Friends member whose mother left her a bequest to be used for her favorite charity. She has made a great many kitties very happy indeed!
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