Reviled and often killed, they walked a narrow path.
Now the city's feral cats have become wanted for a very different reason.
Their rodent catching skills are in huge demand by property owners plagued with mice and rats.
And a cat rescue group is offering Yorkshire's rural businesses and farmers the "experienced mousers" in a bid to find homes for feral felines.
The group hopes that by offering "working" cats to rural communities, they will find homes for cats which have turned feral after being abandoned as kittens or being born in the wild.
The scheme is already successful in the Wharfe Valley where a pair of cats have cleared a whole golf course of rodents, and have settled to live there.
Feral cats – which live outdoors and are wild or semi-wild – are a growing problem in many towns and cities.
Two abandoned kittens can become a feral colony of 20 cats in less than two years.
Rescue group Cats Protection collects and neuters hundreds of feral cats, then offers them to rural communities and businesses. Feral cats are adept at hunting rodents.
Spokeswoman Sue Dobbs said: "Most feral cats prefer the rigours of a working life to a comfortable lap in suburbia."
Golf
Cats' Protection's Wharfe Valley branch provided "experienced mousers" to Ilkley Golf Club after being approached by the club. The riverside course is now virtually rodent-free.
Branch co-ordinator Graham Hoult of Guiseley said: "We first gave the golf club one 12 years ago. It was a good mouser and did its job, then it died of old age.
"They asked us for another and we had two which we gave them. You have to keep them inside for three or four weeks and get them used to being there. Now they're out mousing on the links."
Last year alone Wharfe Valley branch had 160 feral cats neutered, said Mr Hoult.
A volunteer living next to farmland at Norwood Edge in Wharfedale took in to six of a 12-strong colony from the branch.
"We put them in a barn and kept them there inside for three or four weeks – you have to do that," said Mr Hoult.
"You can't domesticate them, but you can get them used to a location and being fed. Four of them stayed around and are just like farm cats now. One wanders off and comes back when it's wet or cold or hungry. The other turned up in Newcastle."
Sue Dobbs said a pair of feral cats are an efficient and environmentally-friendly alternative to chemical pest control.
"Owners must be prepared to provide their feline employees with food, water, a warm shelter and veterinary care when needed," she said.
peter.lazenby@ypn.co.uk