I had some great feedback from my ‘Pet Questions from You’ post,
and wanted to go into more detail with shelter/rescue terms.
Below are some of the commonly used terms in a shelter or rescue
environment: Feral cat: A feral cat is the offspring of a
domestic stray cat, born in the wild. Because of their lack of
human interaction, feral cats often appear unfriendly to humans.
Feral cat colony: A group of feral (and sometimes stray) cats
that live together in a certain area (ex. Apartment complex,
neighborhood, behind stores or restaurants, etc). TNR: Trap-
Neuter-Return is a method of catching feral cats and sterilizing
them (spay/neutering) so that they cannot reproduce. Ear
crop/Ear Tip: Part of some TNR programs will include cutting a
small part of the cats’ ear, so that they can be easily
identified as sterilized (spay/neutered). Stray: A domestic
animal that is lost or wandering at large. Open Admission: A
shelter/rescue that is open admission means that they will not
turn away any animal that comes into it