Re: Cats - sheesh!

Talking about Cats I have had cats in my life for 66 years now. Wouldn't be without them . I used to have 6 but now down to 3 having lost my beloved older ones when they were 16,17 and 18 years old.
The three I have left only one of them would grab a bird and on odd occasions has brought one back for me. The other two do not hunt and
are well domesticated. You do get cats that love hunting and the rest are lazy and wouldn't trouble themselves. So your argument that all cats are destroying birds is untrue.
A lot of the birds in Britain are being killed because of lack of habitat. Grass with seeds is cut down/ Wild hedges are dug up for fields. Poison is put on as pesticides on food birds would eat. Have you heard the house alarms going off nowadays. Over 10 minutes of tortuous noise so any young birds in nests in the eves of houses die within a minute. Increase in Crows and Magpies who kill young birds in their nests. Foreigners coming over here and think they can kill our swans, ducks and small birds as that's what they do in their country.
Is that what you wanted to hear MJK. By the way what happened to your photo, have you gone off of yourself now

Re: Cats - sheesh!

Our cat is also elderly and have watched birds feeding only a few away and she has made no attempt to catch them.

Re: Cats - sheesh!

Nature preserves man destroys, but nature will have the last laugh by natural selection.

Re: Cats - sheesh!

I worry about the cats.... not the birds.. My cats stay inside and eat all the good food I can buy for them.. They aren't a danger to anyone or anything and they are not IN danger from dogs, nasty humans, traffic and the like. Works very well. Now I know I'm going to be blasted for imprisoning cats... I think cat people here in the States mostly keep indoor cats. The only people who don't would be the farmers. They like a few mousers around to keep the barn free of vermin. So long as they are neutered and spayed and not having liter upon liter to become coyote food I have no problem with that.

Re: Cats - sheesh!

Oh, sensible posts at last .

Re: Cats - sheesh!

Have to admit if we ever had cats again (used to have 5) I would keep them in with possibly an out door run. I really don't like the anti cat brigades way of dealing with our furry friends, they may be wee killers but they are only doing what comes naturally to them.

Re: Cats - sheesh!

Out of the two species I much prefer dogs, but I wouldn't want keep either if they couldn't be let out of the house or go off lead and live as natural life as reasonably possible, which in the cat's case means hunting wildlife. Dogs hunt as well, but generally we control them better and they are not usually the danger to birds and small mammals that cats are.

In the UK in particular feral cats lead pretty miserable lives generally. This is a problem which humans have created by allowing their cat to remain un-neutered and irresponsibly abandoning them to take care of themselves. The domestic cat, unlike the Scottish wildcat, is not native to the UK - it was introduced into this country, so humans are entirely responsible for the feral cat population today.

In Australia they are also an introduced species, which has been allowed to become feral and they have become very successful at survival in the wild. They have decimated a lot of the native wildlife and caused some natural species to become extinct. In the Northern Territories some feral cats caught have evolved and grown huge in size - even without getting to a large size cats are formidable predators.

Cats are not to blame - it's down to us humans and our lack of responsibility for the things we do.
see link
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv...s/pubs/cat.pdf

You have got to hand it to cats - they are survivors (except the ones in the pictures ).
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-0...m-land/4731696

Re: Cats - sheesh!

I guess I don't understand what "Natural LIFE" means... Both cats and dogs have been domesticated through the centuries by humans... We MADE them.. We made all the breeds by breeding and cross breeding. There are no "naturally" occurring dogs or cats. So yes.. while dogs may have instincts particular to wolves.. or in the case of cats, to the the African Wild Cat.. or the Asian Desert Cat.. they did NOT evolve without our help and interference.. Humans have "insticnts" also.. doesn't mean we have to act on them. Cats do just fine indoors and live long healthy lives.

Re: Cats - sheesh!

Again I agree with you, we used to have one we had to keep in she was a dwarf tiny creature never grew bigger than a 12 week old kitten, vet advised she be kept in for her own safety and she did pretty well, out lived our others who went out side.

And kept in from day one she never even asked to go out, she accepted her indoor life and had so much to do indoors she was never bored or unhappy.

Re: Cats - sheesh!

A cat is a wild creature who just visits humans for food and warmth! At least mine do. You don't own them, they own you. They keep my dog in his place too!