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Felidae is the taxonomic family of mammals that includes the domestic cat and its wild relatives, within the order Carnivora. It is broader than the taxonomic genus Felis: the lion and tiger belong to Panthera, another taxonomic genus within Felidae.^[ref]

The distinction is easy to see by tracing two branches. A domestic cat belongs to Felis and then Felidae; a lion belongs to Panthera and then Felidae. Sharing a taxonomic family does not make them the same species or give them identical ecology. Conversely, being a stray cat or feral cat does not move a domestic cat outside Felidae: those categories concern its relationship with humans.

Classification is a testable account of relationships. The IUCN Cat Specialist Group's 2017 revision combined evidence from morphology, molecular studies and geographical variation, and recorded uncertainty where evidence or expert judgments differed. Such work explains why names below the family level can change as evidence improves, without making the distinction between Felidae and Felis arbitrary.^[ref]

A feral cat is a domestic cat living outside direct human care. In ecological usage, independence from provisioning is central; other classifications also emphasize lack of socialization to people. The category describes a living condition and relationship with humans, rather than a separate species. A feral cat remains distinct from the naturally wild European wildcat or Afro-Asiatic wildcat.

Definitions should be stated explicitly. SPCA New Zealand distinguishes self-sustaining feral cats from stray cats that still depend to some extent on people, even when no person owns them. Thus unowned, unsocial and independent are not interchangeable observations.^[ref]

Movement measurements provide an ecological example. A 2011 study used radio telemetry and collar-mounted activity sensors to compare owned and unowned free-roaming domestic cats near an Illinois city. Unowned animals had larger home ranges and greater activity in the reported sample. The study's operational category was ownership status; that should not silently be substituted for every stricter definition of feral cat.^[ref]

A collar record measures where an animal moves; it does not by itself reveal its complete feeding history, social experience or inherited ancestry. Combining these observations produces a more useful biological description than assigning the category from one sighting.

A stray cat is a domestic cat living without an identified owner, often near people and with some dependence on human resources. The expression describes circumstances, rather than a separate species. In SPCA New Zealand's explicitly stated classification, stray cats may be socialized or unsocialized, whereas feral cats maintain themselves independently of people. A lost companion cat and an unowned cat regularly fed by a neighborhood can therefore both be strays, despite quite different histories.^[ref]

Consider an unowned cat that eats food put out daily but avoids being approached. Food dependence and response to people are two separate observations; avoidance alone does not demonstrate an independent feral cat population. Nor does seeing a cat outdoors establish that it has no owner.

For ecological measurement, investigators can record ownership status, use radio telemetry to estimate a home range, and measure activity with collar sensors. A 2011 Illinois study compared these measurements in owned and unowned free-roaming cats. Its unowned category is useful operationally, but is not a substitute for every definition of stray cat or feral cat.^[ref]