SOLVED. Young Adult (?) novel from the POV of an abandoned cat who joins a colony of ferals. [s]

[Beau N.]

I'm in Australia. I read this book as part of my university course, back in 2005 I think. I'm fairly certain it was supposed to be a YA novel. I'm also pretty sure it was a stand-alone novel, not a part of a series. I read it as a paperback.

It was written from the point of view of a young cat who was abandoned by the side of a road with 2 other kittens.

The main cat was black and white. When he meets the feral cats they called him "shiny" and said he couldn't hide as well as they could. They needed to hide because they were being hunted and shot at. I'm fairly certain the other cats could tell he'd been neutered also.

The cats don't "talk" out loud that I recall. They communicate, but I don't think they spoke like an animal in a children's book would.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

EDIT: Found it, thanks to user cats_and_squares on Reddit - "Forest" by Sonya Hartnett.

Many thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

[Heather]

My daughter thinks the only one that fits might be the Warriors series. The first book is Into the Wild. There are boxed sets of all the books Warriors Box Set Twilight & Into the Wild.

[Beau N.]

Thanks for your response. I did come across the Warriors series during my hunt for this book. Unfortunately the one I'm looking for isn't part of that series.

[G.G.]

Tailchaser's Song maybe?

[Beau N.]

That sounds like an interesting read, actually; but it's not the one I'm trying to find. Thanks all the same =)

[Bruce]

I thought it might have been 'The Abandoned' (Paul Gallico) at first, but it's not.

[Sarah]

The Tribe maybe?

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Richelle. Here's the link - Forest by Sonya Hartnett.