"They're getting all the action because they made the effort, " said real-estate agent Robert Herskovitz, who lives with three dogs and volunteers with Mighty Mutts, a nonprofit that finds home for stray animals.

WSJ: Where Dogs Rule the Roost

While the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Cat Protection League re-house about 125, 000 stray or unwanted cats a year, the League guesses that there may be about 1.2m feral cats in Britain.

ECONOMIST: Cats and dogs fight it out for prime pet position