Green Stray Cat, Varna, Bulgaria

Feral cats that are born and living outdoors, without any human contact or care, have been shown to be adoptable and can be tamed by humans, provided they are removed from a wild environment before truly feral behaviors are established. Such behaviors are established while it is still a kitten being raised by its mother.
• Life span and survival
Feral cats in managed colonies can live long lives. A number of cats in managed colonies in the U.K. died of old age. In the U.S., the last cat in a managed colony in Washington, D.C. died at age 17; and Zorro, the last cat of a colony at the Merrimack River in Newburyport, Massachusetts, died in 2009 at age 16.
A long-term study of a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program in Central Florida found that despite widespread concern about the welfare of free-roaming cats, 83% of the cats studied had been present for over six years, with almost half first observed as adults of unknown age. These time spans compared favourably to the average lifespan of 7.1 years for pet cats reported in a 1984 study, and to the finding that only 42% of the pet cat population in the U.S. is more than 5 years old.