I once fed 2 feral cats year round for three years tho incl a three legged cat. They were totally feral. Let em live under the home which was not heated. Never petted either. But I didnt have the heart to abandon him.
In the winter food would freeze solid in 15 mins at -20 and the water would too. So I had to go back out again. But every night I went out with two huge plates of catfood.
One of them came thru a window in mid Feb 2003 weighing 1 and 1/2 LBs after not eating zip all winter. Skin and bone. It was high of zero and -15 at night for a couple weeks before. What you gonna do? So that began feeding him, he ate and went right back outside, feral.
And then "the three legged boy" showed up. Lived around the yard for three years. It hit 32 below one night and never seen the three legged boy again. He did survive -28 the year before.
Fed the last cat one more year and he dissapeered. Tough life for a feral cat in the Northern US. But they would have been killed in a shelter prob and it is what they wanted.
He was a tough cat tho. Three legs and fast and tough as hell.
He would chase the one I still have now. He was the toughest cat of all I ever seen. All other cats ran from him. I have lots of cat stories over the years.