I’m not sure what’s extenuating (maybe you meant extraordinary, which I still disagree with) about being in -20°F by herself when just barely past kitten stage. All scientific papers and opinions I’ve ever read about cats puts them at the least domesticated of human companions, able to survive without us just fine.

The domestic cat retains a behavioural repertoire that makes some individuals very successful when living independently of people, and all cat populations show a degree of genotypic and phenotypic flexibility that enables them to move between states within a few generations, or even within a lifetime (Bradshaw et al. 1999)

The states being referred to here are states of domestication versus true wildness.

The very recent history of ‘true’ domestication, beginning perhaps as little as ~200 years ago, means that domestic cats effectively remain genetically ‘wild’ (Tamazian et al. 2014). Few genomic alterations in domestic cats are attributable to domestica- tion, excepting genes affecting memory, fear-conditioning and reward learning (Montague et al. 2014). Domestic cats have retained the genetic basis for effective hunting (Bradshaw 2006), including sensory traits such as a broad hearing frequency range, high visual acuity and accentuated vomeronasal capacity (Montague et al. 2014).

ETA: links and quotes

indoor cats really struggle a lot if they ever get lost outside.

Curious by what you mean about struggling. Not trying to be simply contrary.

My (then) 16 month old, seven pounds wet with rocks in her pockets indoor cat escaped in 2018 and lived wild in rural Maine for 18 months before being trapped and returned to us (thanks to microchipping). She was 9 miles from home and had a broken paw (something fell on it and crushed her toes), but was otherwise healthy and in good spirits.

I tend to agree that a feral has an advantage based on common sense, but also that my tamed feral is a beast when he fights.

Edit: wrong quoted text