Keep Your Cat Indoors, For Natures Sake

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by Hopeuhavechange

Cat Chow. Or make if Suzy Homemaker feels industrious she can whip something up.

lol, I didn't think that was a serious question but I could be wrong. Cats don't even eat what they kill for the most part. If they did, that number would be a lot lower.

[joseephuss]

Yet the new study estimates that free-roaming pets account for only about 29 percent of the birds and 11 percent of the mammals killed by domestic cats each year, and the real problem arises over how to manage the 80 million or so stray or feral cats that commit the bulk of the wildlife slaughter.

Looks like the problem is less about people's pet cats and more about the feral cat population.

[Faerluna]

Originally Posted by Hopeuhavechange

Points for being funny. But a plea for a little little clarity here. Nonnative species introduced into an ecosystem isn't natural. And, btw, a majority of kills are from stray cats living in their various colonies, some 40 million of whom are rounded up and euthanasized every year, lest they overwhelm the environment and broadly communicate diseases within the population and without (nature hard at work-- self-preservation being the 1st law of nature and pathogens are hardly excepted fr the law).

The only disease that cats and humans are remotely likely to share is Toxoplasmosis. The last confirmed case of cat to human rabies transmission was 35 years ago and cats are very unlikely to have rabies in general.

And the amount of animals, in particular birds, that are killed by urban sprawl and flying into buildings far outweighs the number killed by cats. Nobody wants to try to track that, though, because you really can't. Just like this article. You can take a small sample of cats vs prey and show the data any way you like and call it accurate.

Not to mention, cats are more likely to kill the sick and the older, more compromised birds that a healthy bird.

As someone that takes care of lots of feral cats for going on a decade, the amount of animals killed by cats is far smaller than articles of this nature portray. If cats were truly killing that many birds, there would be a significant drop off in population and dead birds laying around in vast quantities. But there aren't, because it's simply propaganda.

[Hopeuhavechange]

Originally Posted by Faerluna

The only disease that cats and humans are remotely likely to share is Toxoplasmosis. The last confirmed case of cat to human rabies transmission was 35 years ago and cats are very unlikely to have rabies in general.

And the amount of animals, in particular birds, that are killed by urban sprawl and flying into buildings far outweighs the number killed by cats. Nobody wants to try to track that, though, because you really can't. Just like this article. You can take a small sample of cats vs prey and show the data any way you like and call it accurate.

If cats were truly killing that many birds, there would be a significant drop off in population and dead birds laying around in vast quantities. But there aren't, because it's simply propaganda.

Not to mention, cats are more likely to kill the sick and the older, more compromised birds that a healthy bird.

[View Full Quote]As someone that takes care of lots of feral cats for going on a decade, the amount of animals killed by cats is far smaller than articles of this nature portray.

forgive one hand typing- are you suggesting the article is mostly/completely a fabrication? Why? I've seen unrelated studies suggest similar numbers for some time. A conspiracy afoot? Who is behind this campaign of propaganda?

I have seen what i believe to be healthy birds taken by cats and deposited around, usually on a porch, most frequently Mourning Doves who lack astute awareness of many other birds; also Robins protecting their brood. I know this fr observation. As for the Toxo disease rt I will have to look into it. I suspect much of that goes undetected or unreported.

Are you advocating for nonnative (but i repeat myself) feral cats..is that a good thing? And house cats should be left to take wild animals for sport and tossed aside when the become bored with the corpse? Oh, it's not really a problem in your view, or is exaggerated i gather. And there are drops in population certain birds which may not be wholly due to cats but they are a factor. Why not eliminate it? Not the cats but free ranging domestics and feral populations? Doesn't seem all that radical to me.

[Hopeuhavechange]

Originally Posted by TheCount

lol, I didn't think that was a serious question but I could be wrong. Cats don't even eat what they kill for the most part. If they did, that number would be a lot lower.

right very few cats consume their kill. ferals must be an exception. otherwise...

[zrinkill]

Originally Posted by Teren_Kanan

What else are they killing? Vermin are the only ones I saw listed in the article. Rabbits, Birds, Moles, Shrews, Chipmunks, Snakes, Bugs, lizards, frogs and voles. Did I miss some non vermin?

My thought as well.

[Hopeuhavechange]

And i should recall the times my better half has removed apparently vital, HEALTHY birds fr her cat's mouth which it brought back inside the house and was able to recover and fly away post release. A diminished animal cldnt do so, we know that. Also racked w guilt he has taken two birds to wildlife rehabbers in similar circumstances, and the only obvious issue was the bird was punctured by her cat! These are anecdotes but I have every reason to believe it's typical. Let's face it- cats are remarkably efficient predators.

[ConcordCowboy]

Originally Posted by Hopeuhavechange

right very few cats consume their kill. ferals must be an exception. otherwise...

Dexter eats everything he catches except moles.

He never eats them.

He has left me many a Skull licked clean Predator trophy style on my porch.

Oh and he won't eat livers.

He left me last week on my walk...a perfect mouse head only...this one wasn't licked clean though, with it's liver right next to it.

[ConcordCowboy]

Pesticides are killing birds, bees, and bats by the millions


Estimates from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicate that millions of birds and fish die every year from pesticide exposure. Scientists are now discovering that even low level exposure is disrupting the animal kingdom and causing new diseases to develop, threatening many species with extinction.

Roughly 90 percent of the nation's rivers and streams are contaminated with pesticides, affecting more than 80 percent of fish. More than 30 percent of the nation's aquifers are contaminated as well, affecting the drinking water of millions of people....


http://www.naturalnews.com/027971_pesticides_bees.html

[MonsterD]

Moar cat threads please

[ScipioCowboy]

Originally Posted by TheCount

That's precisely the point. Keep your pet cat inside because it is a killing machine.

More than that, my cat, Butterkup, is a cybernetic killing machine from the future.

He actually knows two human words: "Sarah" and "Connor". And he's always meowing about them. Quite frankly, he seems obsessed, and I'm a little worried.

[ScipioCowboy]

Originally Posted by Hopeuhavechange

Points for being funny. But a plea for a little little clarity here. Nonnative species introduced into an ecosystem isn't natural. And, btw, a majority of kills are from stray cats living in their various colonies, some 40 million of whom are rounded up and euthanasized every year, lest they overwhelm the environment and broadly communicate diseases within the population and without (nature hard at work-- self-preservation being the 1st law of nature and pathogens are hardly excepted fr the law).

Ultimately people are accountable for it and it's not fair to the lovable(?) feline in my view. Domestic cats belong in the domicile playing with string and chasing their shadows. Suppose most dog owners let loose their dogs to roam in packs to hunt little Fluffy wherever he's found...would not this instinctive predation be natural for Rover and Spike? Is this what we want?

Excellent points all around.

If people didn't exist, cats would just stay locked up in their homes all day where they couldn't hurt anyone.

[ConcordCowboy]

Originally Posted by ScipioCowboy

Excellent points all around.

If people didn't exist, cats would just stay locked up in their homes all day where they couldn't hurt anyone.

Yeah like cats never existed outside before humans domesticated them and decide that THEY wanted to keep them inside.

[ConcordCowboy]

Dexter says just try and keep me inside...

[joseephuss]

Originally Posted by ScipioCowboy

More than that, my cat, Butterkup, is a cybernetic killing machine from the future.

He actually knows two human words: "Sarah" and "Connor". And he's always meowing about them. Quite frankly, he seems obsessed, and I'm a little worried.

My cat is an indoor cat that just types on the computer all day and somehow dead birds end up piling up by the front door. It is very disconcerting.