How Does a Feral Cat Find Food?

Prey on Rodents, Birds, and Other Small Animals

The exact diet of feral cat will depend on where it lives, although nearly all eat small rodents. Cats are excellent hunters of mice, rats and moles making them advantageous to have around farms and neighborhoods. Unfortunately, feral cats also prey on birds, especially those easiest to catch, such as ground-nesting birds. The blame for the decrease in pheasant and songbird numbers as well as other animals has fallen on the feral cat population. If available, feral cats may also eat young rabbits, squirrels, small marsupials, lizards and insects. Feral cats living near ponds or lakes may eat fish living near the water's edge and amphibians such as frogs.

Scavenge Garbage Cans and Dumpsters

Feral cats scavenge for food in the large dumpsters found near apartment complexes, mobile home parks and villages, restaurants, and grocery stores. Of course, the rodents the feral cats eat are usually scavenging around in these dumpsters as well. Feral cats scavenge through individual garbage cans in residential and rural areas searching for any discarded tasty scraps of food. Apparently, there are plenty of tasty food scraps according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wastes Resource Conservation site. They say that Americans throw away about 96 billion pounds of food each year. The EPA says that number averages out to about one pound of food waste a day for each person. The feral cats may be eating quite well out of American garbage cans.

People Feed Them

It is quite common for farmers to set out bowls of cat food for their farm cats to eat. Feral cats soon learn where the easily accessible food is located. They frequently wait until after dark to eat their fill at the food dish and disappear quickly when they hear someone approaching. There are agencies committed to spaying and neutering feral cats that may also provide dry food when funds are available. People who feel sorry for the feral cats in their neighborhoods keep bowls filled with dry cat food out their backdoors. As in the country, these feral city cats wait until all is quiet to approach and eat.

Resources

• Feral cats
• Feral Cat resources
• EPA food waste