That's just silly. First, how do you know what generation you are dealing
with? These cats are wild and difficult to observe, let alone their
litters.

Second, this presumes that behavior is genetic. If this was the case, then
no wild animal could be successfully domesticated. Yet people successfully
rescue infant animals of all species and keep them as pets.

The key is catching them young, very young, like at birth. I have the
kitten of a feral cat sitting in front of me right as I speak. Her mother
is, after 12 years, still afraid of me but she knows where "home" is and
comes in when she eats and sleeps. The kittens couldn't be more loving.
They were handled from birth, and whereas they don't know their "birth
mother" is even related to them, they are very bonded to me!

Trap neuter and release is the option, NOT euthanasia. Remember what
happened in the bubonic plague, when cats were eliminated? Perhaps it is
feral cats that will "save" us from the avian flu!

"Pop" wrote in message
news

"Suzie-Q" wrote in message
...
: In article , nevermind
dontsend@here
: wrote:
:
: - "Don" wrote in
: - ink.net:
: -
: - snip
: -
: - You start out talking about domestic cats and then finish
up with wild
: - cats. They're different.
: -
: - The OP was talking about 'feral' cats, is that not a
domwstic gone wild?
:
: Feral cats are born of strays and have had no human contact
: to "domesticate" them.
That creates the "first generation" ferals. Often they can still
be recovered and can make a decent pet. They're "broke" but
still capable of loving and appreciating people if properly
treated.

(Until some kind human intervenes and
: does whatever it takes to "tame" them.)
Second and third generations may or may not be able to be
"tamed". By the 4th and succeeding generation they are usually
impossible to recover. Once a feral community becomes
entrenched, the only way to get rid of them is to catch them and
put them to sleep, or, as we do around here, feed them birth
control. Since a feral cat has a life span of about 6 to 10
years though, it takes awhile to pare the community down that
way.
Feral cats can make good mousers on a farm some say, but they
will quickly over-run a farm if they entrench. And of course
they contain a lot of diseases and are murder on other pets and
animals. Entrenched ferals will fight to the death as a rule.

Sad, but true, unfortunately. Support your local SPCA.