I have a humane society and animal control in my town - which would be better to take in quasi feral cats?

Take them to animal control.
They Should be euthanized.
Feral cats are useless eaters.
They can never become pets. So why waste the time, space and money of a no-kill shelter when they could better spend their resources and animals that can be adopted?

Brass tacks. Do some research, find out how they euthanize their animals. Many "animal control" facilities still use gassing, where most humane societies use much more humane injection/euthanasia solution.

There are organisations out there who will come out and trap all the animals, spay and neuter them, and then rerelease them as long as someone agrees to put out food and water for them, but you mentioned TNR won't work (why not?) however...sometimes they'll offer other solutions or help. Alley Cat Advocates in KY, Alley Cat Guardians in California ( both have websites, might want to look them up or call and ask them what to do as they've surely dealt with similiar situations before) are two examples of programs for stray and feral cats. Many other states have similiar programs under various names.

To the person saying that feral cats cannot be tamed, YES, YES they can. It just takes time. It sounds like the cats the OP is dealing with aren't feral, they had a home but don't anymore, these cats act wild but often once they're captured they're easily brought back up to housecat speed.

Some shelters have extensive volunteer networks and people who are willing to take in cats like this in order to help them adjust and calm down. Some shelters don't.

Last Edited by JennOfArc on 09/18/2012 06:12 PM