Do Feral Cats Clean Themselves?

This is a common question asked by people with little or no knowledge of feral cats. The answer is a resounding yes, yes, yes. 

We have a colony of undomesticated feral cats living on our farm, as well as a group of socialised feral cats. All of them fastiduously groom themselves. The time they will do this is after a meal. They will sit down and use a paw to clean their face and hard to reach places, and then lick over their entire body. When you see a cat sitting down in a yoga-like position with a straight ballerina-like leg extended over their heads, they are in full grooming mode.

From my observations, the secondary time they are most likely to clean themselves is as they are coming out of a nap. If they have a companion cat with them and they are close friends, they will often tongue-bathe each other.

The confusion over whether or not feral cats clean themselves probably stems from the perception that they look mangy. This is attributable to the fact that they usually live outdoors in inclement weather and dirty conditions so they are constantly brushing up to dirt, vegetation, spider webs and the like when they are hiding out. All their good self-cleaning work is undone, when they have to run and hide in a drain or on a building site or behind a dumpster. 

The second reason they may not look sleek and clean is because they often have poor nutrition – if they are not being fed regularly by kind people, they may barely be surviving on a diet of mice, small reptiles such as skinks, and even insects. The condition of their coat will be directly affected by their diet.

The third reason why they may not look their best is because they they could be ill, or they may be elderly with a touch of dementia.