Give Birds a Break. Lock Up the Cat.

[groovedaddy]

Halloween came to our house early this year.

The other day I looked out the window and saw a strange black cat sauntering through our yard. It was a beautiful animal, with bright penny eyes and fur that gleamed like a newly polished shoe, but still the sight turned me ghoulish. So I ran outside, hollered, stamped my feet and finally managed to chase the little witch’s sidekick away.

I am not superstitious. I have always been a cat lover. Yet if there is one thing I don’t want crossing my path right now, it’s another bored, carnivorous tourist, another recreational hunter on the prowl. Our yard is already a magnet for half a dozen neighborhood cats, all of whom I know to be pets with perfectly good homes of their own. But they are free to roam, while we, between our burbling bird fountain out front and our well-stocked bird feeders in back, just happen to look like a felid Six Flags — now more than usual with the busy fall migrations under way.

I would like to complain to the cats’ owners, demand that they come claw their property from mine, but I don’t. I’m a coward, complaining is unneighborly, and I’m all too aware that I could be accused of hypocrisy, of the pot calling the kitty black. Until she died two autumns ago, our cat Cleo was a notorious free ranger, yowling outside neighbors’ windows, climbing on top of their roofs. We tried to make her a housecat, but when she retaliated by using our living room as a giant cat box, we cravenly sighed and flung open the door.

Had I known then what I know now, I would have held my ground, plugged my nose, and kept Cleo inside. Experts disagree sharply these days over how to manage our multitudes of stray and feral cats, with some saying off to the pound, others preaching a policy of catch, neuter and release, and everybody wishing there were other options to click. Yet when it comes to pet policy, and the question of whether it’s O.K. to let your beloved Cleo, Zydeco or Cocoa wander at will and have their Hobbesian fun, the authorities on both sides of the alley emphatically say, No. There are enough full-time strays; don’t add in your chipper. It is not fair to the songbirds and other animals that domestic cats kill by the billions each year. New research shows that neighborhoods like mine are particularly treacherous, Bermuda Triangles for baby birds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/science/29angi.html?th&emc=th

[TrogL]

1. I've got an outdoor cat

I've had no trouble with mice.

The neighbour three doors down had mice nibbling on her car wiring.

[Bertha Venation]

2. All I can say is this:

Where's BikeWriter when you need him?

:popcorn:

[Debi]

3. It's like eating CornFlakes at the Olive Garden.

:banghead:

[Bertha Venation]

4. LOL

:thumbsup:

[msanthrope]

10. ...While breastfeeding and smoking, having left your pitbull in the car. n/t

[Joe the Liberal]

5. Interesting. n/t

[cwydro]

6. One of my cats hunts shoes, Period.

I can never find an entire pair. Birds, not so much.

The other day there were two pigeons eating kibble out of the outside cat bowl right next to where she was sleeping. She woke up, eyed them, and went back to sleep.

One cat does catch rats, but never seen him with a bird.

[Tabasco_Dave]

7. I put a bell on my cats collar

I got sick of him bringing critters in the house, it's a cheap solution and it works.

[Forkboy]

9. My only problem with that is if the cat gets lost and needs to hunt to live.

The bell is a death sentence.

[Captain Hilts]

15. It IS effective. And they can still catch moles, etc. nt

[meow2u3]

8. Never mind just the birds. Keep your CATS safe by keeping them indoors

You can always bring the outdoors indoors, or if the cats are feral, you can always manage a feral cat colony by building an indoor/outdoor enclosure for them, presuming you have the resources for managing such a colony.

[Rob H.]

13. +1

That's good advice for the author's neighbor, too. Halloween is coming up soon and that's not a good time for black cats, in particular.

[Captain Hilts]

16. Mosby was a feral and we tried to keep him in. He was miserable. He never chased birds...

in fact, he'd be in the backyard and they'd be strolling around him. Brown thrashers, blue jays...

[joeybee12]

18. Ferals are totally different...they can't become house cats, ain't gonna happen

But a socialized cat should be kept indoors...it'shealthier and safer for the cat, also for the wild bird population.

[Madrone]

23. I have two feral housecats.

:shrug:

[joeybee12]

26. Stray or feral...did you adopt them as kittens?

Feral kittens can be socialized, but if they were born in the wild, they ain't gonna be housecats if you don't get them before 4-5 months tops. If they meow, then they're not ferals, either.

[hamsterjill]

22. Another +1

An indoor cat's life expectancy is many times greater than the life expectancy of any outdoor cat.

Enclosures are wonderful!

[Gormy Cuss]

11. Give birds a break. Stop turning their habitats into subdivisions and office parks.

Give birds a break. Plant trees, shrubs, and flowers instead of that lawn.
Give birds a break. Stop using windmills that are hazards to them.
Give birds a break. Stop filling bird feeders during the summer.
Give birds a break. Work to eliminate the feral cat population through neutering. That'll cut the songbird loss by at least half, probably more.

Or you can just lock up the non-feral house cat and pretend that's enough.

[Bertha Venation]

12. + 1

[Captain Hilts]

14. If a bird can be caught by an overweight cat with a bell, then it's not long for this world. Most

cats prefer to hunt rodents, which is helpful.

[ChickMagic]

17. I whole heartedly agree

My mother feeds all the stray cats in the neighborhood
and she also has a low hanging bird feeder. It is a
cat smorgasbord.

One day she told me, "There was the prettiest little
yellow bird outside." I, of course, asked, "What kind
was it?" Her reply, "I don't know. It didn't have
a head." AAAAAAA!

If she wasn't my mother, I'd have beaned her silly.

[hedgehog]

19. How much of the problem is the number of prowling cats, and how much of

it is due to acre after acre of manicured lawn with no refuge, food or cover for the birds, not to mention the use of herbicides and pesticides? I imagine the average suburban landscape looks pretty but amounts to a barren desert for the average song bird.

[groovedaddy]

25. Wait till the avian flu rolls back around. They'll change their tune then! n.t

[Nuclear Unicorn]

20. My roommate's cat keeps bringing her birds...

...and leaving them on her chest while she sleeps. The first time she screamed when she woke-up but now she's actually gotten used to it.

*shudder*

She won't lock up the cat because he's an adopted stray and she says it would be cruel to lock-up a "wild" animal.

[Lethe]

21. My cat approves of this post

[Bertha Venation]

29. Your approving cat is gorgeous.

:loveya: what a kitty

[WinkyDink]

24. This was SO fabulous, I had to read it aloud---in the voice of "Sheldon"---to Mr. Dink!

[Patiod]

28. ****snort****

I can just hear Sheldon!

Although my SO is a Stray Cat enabler, so I sort of sympathize with the OP.

Our cat used to be an avian predator, but she's too fat now. We had her belled, but then we watched her stalk a groundhog without making her collar bell make any noise - pretty damned impressive, even though Mr Groundhog outran her.

[hobbit709]

27. Let the kitty try to catch one of these birds.

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. Probably have some trouble taking this kitteh though...

Seriously, it's better for the cats _and_ the birds if kittehs are kept inside or only taken out in an enclosed "playroom" or on a harness (although that heightens the risk of kitteh escapees.)

[madinmaryland]

31. Ours are indoor cats.