Does a Killer Live in Your Home?

Not even sure how this is warrants discussion. I think it's joke or something, but I was never good at telling the difference between satire and sincerity. Oh my gosh! Cat's are predators?! This is news how exactly? Is this a PETA joke? I don't get it...

For real? Since Egyptian times, probably before cats have been kept around major cities and let run loose for a reason--a very specific reason: they eat pests. Cats were taken on board ships to eat mice. The boubonic plague occured because during the witch hunts most of the cats in Europe were killed. Mice ran amok and spread disease like wildfire. If it wasn't for cats you would be living in a hellhole full of all kinds of tiny pests and this post would be about the disease carrying killers instead of the gracious predators that protect you from them.

Have a read: hubpages.com...

Also, why do we license dogs and not cats? Why are dogs not allowed to roam neighborhoods and cities like cats?

When was the last time you saw, "Man mauled," or, "Woman killed by a pack of house cats roaming a neighborhood." It doesn't happen. We license most owner ship inherently risky things such as: cars, guns, airplanes, trains, tanks, busses, swimming pools, pharmaceuticals, medicinal practice, serving alcohol, etc. Dogs are potentially deadly to humans in the sense that they can attack a human and cause death. Much in the same way someone can accidentally hit you with a car and kill or injure you, an owners dog can accidentally snap and bite you with the same results. Domestic cats are not known to do this.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Heh, sorry for the typos, hopefully it makes sense. I'm on my phone.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Sorry this post wasn't meant as a joke. I don't take a stand on environmental issues involving cats. Although I find it interesting that I do see stray cats around here and also, like cats even though I am allergic to them. My post is only meant to see how some of the people on here stand on issues. I know I didn't offer two sides of the issue, I don't offer sympathy for the cats, the cat owners, or the victims of cats. The cats that hang out around here, do bring us "treasures" is all I'm saying.

I'm just trying to bring to my own attention that cats are "domesticated" yet they obviously are not. I think that cats are fishy creatures. How can you not like cats? They totally own their owners. I'm just curious to share and compare how cat owners feel about this even though it is not a real serious issue.

It seems like earlier in the day I at least got a chuckle out of some ats-ers, which I think is pretty good day for me.

I used to have a cat who we let go in and out as he pleased, and he was a pretty prolific hunter. When he was 19 years old, and presumably too old and frail to do anything but nap, a rat got into the house. He jumped off of a high dresser, landed on the rat and snapped its neck! Since them, our cats have mostly been declawed and so pretty much incapable hunting, except for the occasional grasshopper. And since I tore down my dilapidated garage in 1997, the feral cat population has dropped by about 30% by my estimation. The remaining feral kitties in my neighborhood are NOT to be messed with. There's one who I've nicknamed Black Caesar, who is missing half an ear and has been seen by me chasing a yipping bulldog down the street! I keep my cats inside because of him.

reply to post by BigfootNZ

Bollocks... pure and simple. The life span is no different between a neutered indoor and a neutered outdoor cat, death can come on suddenly regardless of where they live. But the quality of life between the two is different, the outdoor cat can be a cat, the indoor one is nothing but a prisoner. So to preserve nature, the 'nature' of a cat, who itself is part of nature, has to be suppressed?

Spot on, in my opinion. We have two cats. They come in for the night, all night, at about 8:00 p.m. They've been conditioned by us to get their wet food then. We keep them in for their safety, as previous cats have gotten themselves killed in the wee hours.

During the day, they let themselves in and out of the house by opening the back screen door with a paw, a hipbump to keep the screen from hitting their tail, and a quick scurry. They eyeball and stalk birds, are very rarely are successful. They've both been spayed, as have all our cats, and as all of them, they were all rescue cats.

They are excellent mousers/ratters. When they joined the household, we were battling Norway roof rats. It was a constant thing, and somewhere along the line, the cats learned that they could carry their prey into the house and let them loose in the bathtub, and the prey couldn't escape. I'm not crazy about this aspect -- mostly because I don't want any creature to suffer. My Bride is not crazy about finding a rat head or tail or haunch in the tub.

It's been a very long time since we've found anything in the tub. They are well fed, loved, cared for, and they do their job well. If TSHTF, their job will be even more vital than it is now.

I have 3 killers in my home and I'm proud of all of them.

Many a time have I stepped out the door to find bird feathers or mouse entrails on the ground.

I'm SO GLAD they are eating healthy balanced natural diets and not relying on the unidentifiable MUCK that is in most cat foods these days.

They're happy, healthy and stop the rodents from destroying my house.

I'm not overly keen on them catching birds, but at least they eat them and don't just do it for fun. 9 times out of 10 they fail to catch them anyway. Fun to watch them try though.

I love my natural born killers.

ps....my cats are part of the wildlife and no more of a threat to it than the rodents or birds they catch....ain't nature wonderful.

Now let's talk about humans killing wildlife eh? Ever mowed a lawn?

[edit on 22/3/2010 by nerbot]

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by bookreader

 

I have three,indoor-kept,spayed and neutered cats.
My babies are never allowed outside at anytime.The
reason being,I want to keep my cats around for a long
time.
If I allowed them outside,they would terrorize the local
bird population.They would chase the squirrels and rabbits.
They would be chased by the local, free- roaming, dogs in
our neighborhood.Not to forget the cars and the crazies
that drive them.

Do you make sure your furry friends get a vitamin D supplement?
Otherwise a cat not spending time in the sun it can land in trouble, getting weak hips later and being more vulnerable to disease.

Most cats can learn to eat cod liver oil added to their food if you start gradually.



My cat gets let out because there are a lot of rats in the area, and he keeps the place free of them. The only birds he's caught are sparrows, and they are a pest species here.

My cats prey upon themselvs Smokey, Pepper and Dinker, kick the crap out of each other one minute and lick each other to death the next. They stand up on their hind legs, stare each other down, and bam it's on like the the WEC. Cats have the natural hunting abilities out of the womb, much like humans.

It is the natural order of things. Cats are gonna kill smaller wildlife, they are predators. In fact, it's more natural to allow this to continue than to stop it from happening.

reply to post by Faiol


I don't care how well fed your cat is,they will hunt,
they will catch and they will eat whatever flies,creeps
or crawls in their sight.

reply to post by bookreader


Oh no... this means we will have another green environment tax, where pet owners have to pay yearly damages tax to the government for damage caused by dirty moggies.

then again on the bright side if i train my dog to kill cats I might be eligible for a yearly grant!

Don't blame kitty, blame yourself!

Cats rock.

I have a feral cat that is 80% tame now. He's been neutered for a few years now. I know before he found me, he killed most of his food. Now that he gets fed daily, I only see him killing maybe once very few months. He mainly preys after baby bunnies and squirrels. I've never seen him catch a bird. I have saved the last two critters he caught and they lived. I hate that he kills, but I know it's what cats do.

One of my dogs is a straight up killer. There is really nothing I can do because these critters come into my fenced yard. My dog averages a couple kills a week in the summer, and one or two kills each winter. She has killed a raccoon, an opossum, a squirrel,a couple of bunnies, a few birds, but mostly she kills moles, shrews and mice. She smells them in the ground and stalks and waits for them. I hate it when she does this and I have tried to save many a mole or shew ( even though they tear up my yard! and they are gross) but I can't watch her outside 100 % of the time.

Animals will be animals and that is their nature. It's not like I trained my dog to kill.

Oh, and my dog is well fed. In fact, I have three big dogs and only one killer out of them.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by virraszto]

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I have to agree. And keeping the rat infestations and mice infestations down in some areas should be considered a blessing!

Im Sorry I dont agree the neuter and release of cats. Certainly neuter all domestics and force a register of cats in the same way dogs are, by all means. But releasing animals that dont belong in a local ecosystem is destructive, weather theyu become 'natural' or not. Something else is displaced.
Human meddling with this primal balance on different landmasses, has caused all manner of extinctions.
I cite Australias Mammal Extinction Record as evidence.

en.wikipedia.org...

Cats belong where their wild anscestors still exist, nowhere else. They are not in my personal opinion only, a suitable domestic pet elsewhere.
They are a magnificent creature in their own right, but their natural behaviour causes too much damage in exotic ecosystems.

cats in Australia abatement Program 2008 (scroll down to feral cats)

www.environment.gov.au...

Feral cats In Australia

en.wikipedia.org...

In Australia, the feral cat inhabits the entire continent from the snowy highlands to the arid interior and is pushing Australian birds, reptiles and marsupials towards extinction.

But Australia was not always the cat paradise that it is today. It is quite probable that over the last 10,000 years, the cat was introduced by successive waves of Indonesian, Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch mariners. However, it seems that the cat found it difficult to take hold in an ecosystem containing Devils, Thylacines (Tasmanian Tigers) and nomadic Humans.

When the English introduced the cat in 1788, it was into an ecosystem in which Devils and Tigers had recently become extinct, and the local Humans were soon to stop living a nomadic existence. This allowed the cat to enter near the top of the food chain with few competitors or other animals hunting it.

As well as being aided by a lack of competitors, the cat was aided by Humans deliberately releasing them into the wild in order to control rabbits and mice. Although the cats did quite a good job keeping the rabbits and mice under control, they also preyed upon native birds, marsupials and lizards that had not evolved defences to it. This led to mainland Australian suffering a significant decline in ecological biodiversity.

www.convictcreations.com...

If it's Feral, It's In Peril

[edit on 23-3-2010 by wayaboveitall]

reply to post by bookreader


That's it!! Call the WWF! Get the Obombanator on this too!! We're gonna get those neo-nazi cat owners to keep them evil things inside or face the wrath of the Obamanation!!

No offense to the OP, but this is just absurd. I have personally witnessed more than 75% of the birds that have died near my house die from causes other than a cat. I have watched them fall from the sky like a brick, Fly into my windows, fly in front of a car (gruesome, but cool to watch ) and even kill each other. My cat, as well as other outdoor cats near my home, MIGHT kill one or two a week. It's their nature to do so.

You know what happens if the population of various species are allowed to flourish out of control? Disease.

allexperts.com

First, the hunter does a great service in holding down the numbers of wild game, which otherwise would explode in numbers and as we know from studying history, would experience a great, tragic die-off because of over population problems. The die-offs caused by over population create far more suffering in the animal world then does quick death resulting from fair chase hunting.

A Cat is a hunter too.

[edit on 23-3-2010 by pyrael]

and thats the thing, cats often keep the other real pest in check, mice and rats who WILL eat bird eggs and reptiles.

Cats Do eat Reptiles, Atleast Here, NZ dosent really have much reptile diversity. Cats are the bane of wildlife, but equally other exotics.

Google cats eating lizards (Not just in Australia)

My cat is a Lizard serial killer.

My niebors gave me a cat they didn’t want and that was previously an outdoor cat that lived north of here where there aren’t many Lizards.
I already have 2 cats already that are indoor/outdoor cats and as soon as I let this new cat out in the yard within a couple minutes she is killing and eating lizards in my yard.
One of my other cats has killed a Lizard on a rare occasion, and if I witness it I’ll save the Lizard, but I do realize cats will be cats and I don’t stress the possibility of her getting one with out me seeing her.
But, this new cat would probably eat a dozen an hour if I let her.
I guess I could just keep this new cat inside all the time, but she has been an outdoor cat and is very destructive in a house and clawing up things.
Any suggestions?

www.matchdoctor.com...

pic
k53.pbase.com...

birding is NOT a natural hunting practice for cats, its also harder than mousing. The impact on bird life is minuscule compared to rodent.

It Is, and no its not!

At present there are no more than 61 adult Kakï in the wild, and of these only 14 are known to be female. Just seven productive breeding pairs exist in the wild. In the 1800s Kakï were widespread and common throughout much of New Zealand, however a widespread and sustained decline saw Kakï breeding become confined to the Mackenzie Basin by around 1960. The main causes of the decline are thought to have been the introduction of mammalian predators and habitat loss following European colonisation. Within the Mackenzie Basin, the loss of most birds from the 1940’s to 1960’s may have resulted from prey–switching by feral cats and ferrets associated with large–scale rabbit control.

www.nzbirds.com...

www.abcbirds.org...

www.abcbirds.org...

the outdoor cat can be a cat, the indoor one is nothing but a prisoner. So to preserve nature, the 'nature' of a cat, who itself is part of nature, has to be suppressed?

Yes Exactly, making it in my humble opinion, an unsuitable pet.

I agree with most of what you have said. The bigger problem is humans.

While this is true enough, the problems are many and deliberately adding to them isn't a sound choice.

Rodents are in no danger of dying out any time soon. Nor are birds.

Indeed they are!

Endangered native rodent

www.fame.org.au...

The other side to this story is that communal nests are easy targets for feral cats that are able to sit outside a nest entrance and eat a colony of mice in a night.”

www.fnpw.com.au...

Endangered native bird

www.birdsaustralia.com.au...

Feral cat predation On reptiles too

3. The Feral Cat is carnivorous and capable of killing vertebrates up to 2-3kg. Preference is shown for mammals weighing less that 220g. and birds less than 200g. but reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates are also eaten. Carrion and other scavenged material is taken if live prey is not available.

www.environment.nsw.gov.au...

Cat Facts
• Feral cats are solitary and mainly noctural.
• Their diet includes small native and exotic mammals,
birds, lizards, fish (rarely) and occasionally insects.
• They can survive with limited water, taking much of the
fluid they need from food.
• Feral cats reach sexual maturity at 12 months of age,
and can breed in any season.
• They can have two litters per year, and average four per litter

www.invasiveanimals.com...


The western sheild Project

Western Shield, winner of the prestigious national Banksia Award for fauna conservation in 1998, is working to bring at least 13 native fauna species back from the brink of extinction by controlling introduced predators, the fox and feral cat.

www.feral.org.au...

www.dec.wa.gov.au...

It is the natural order of things. Cats are gonna kill smaller wildlife, they are predators. In fact, it's more natural to allow this to continue than to stop it from happening.

How so? Please explain?

[edit on 23-3-2010 by wayaboveitall]

'And then they came for the cats, and I said nothing???'

I think NOT.

Without cats there probably couldn't be any cities. I am not exaggerating at all.

First of all, we never would have made it to 'urban living' without them. Yeah, it has been kind of a dubious reward...but it's not their fault, they have been doing their part. Maybe we need bigger cats...ones that preferred politicians and spies.

Cats are extremely good at killing little varmints because little varmints are so good at multiplying. Thus, cats have gotten LOTS of practice over the centuries. My favorite 'moment of truth' on this ever was in "Bad Boys 2" when Martin Lawrence's character, who is under cover as an exterminator spots a "poppa rat givin' to a momma rat" and says "they fuc* just like we do!!!" and the line is delivered with shock and awe that is just hilariously perfect to me. But actually, they breed a lot more, and a lot faster than we do.

All those little varmints were a MAJOR MAJOR OBSTACLE to the first human settlements. You see, hunter gatherers moved around a lot. And they weren't the ecologically perfect 'greenies' movies and tv tend to want you to believe. They were people just like us. And wherever they go, people leave piles of trash and food waste.

Dogs and cats seem to have begun to be domesticated by eating our trash and following us around. Cats probably couldn't keep up with human hunter gatherers on the move like dogs/wolves did. So cats probably didn't really become domesticated until the ice age forced people to try and stick together in groups bigger than ~30.

That was when people began to create, in addition to trash dumps, all sorts of stockpiles. A woolly mammoth is a LOT of food, and other stuff too; all of it was cleaned and sorted and...stored in a pile somewhere. And since people weren't moving around so much...the dumps and stock piles were in the same places for long periods.

Those stockpiles were subject to a major rat and bird and general varmint problem.

Even today, in India, because they haven't invested in modern facilities, rats represent losses of something like...from memory I'd guess 10-20% of stored food: 'starving India' wastes more food than anyone. It's been a while since I looked up the real numbers for a thread on the overpopulation myth, but it's shockingly high.

Cats saved the day. It's probably a big part of why the Egyptians worshiped them. Grain storage was of vital importance to them. Imagine a worried scribe in a grain warehouse...and he or she sees a cat catch and eat a rat. 'Thank the gods, and find me some more cats!'

The other part of the varmint problem is disease. We have every reason to believe that without cats, today's cities would be similarly overrun with disease spreading varmints of all sorts, most of all RATS.

In other words, an effort to eliminate city cats could be yet another part of the ongoing WAR TO ELIMINATE YOU. Because apparently, the wealthy and the powerful today consider YOU to be a "VARMINT." Every day...it's more stupidity at the top, more betrayal of their fellows. And now they want us to betray cats too? Ha, even the cats are on our side, you's got no chance, NWO.

Nature makes more than enough varmints for cats. The suburban ecosystem in particular is a lot more active than people are lead to believe. Protect your cats from diseases and parasites if you must, but they won't be happy about it.

Yes, here's to cats: we need them 'out there on that wall.'

To cats everywhere, especially you, the mistreated urban "feral" cat cleaning up after all the lazy humans who leave trash all over the place by eating it, and by eating the rats that want to eat it. You'll even kill rats and such just for the practice, and I'd swear you have fun doing it too.

In any case, thank you for your service. Somehow, we can afford to hire people to trap and kill YOU but not to clean up the trash and keep things clean in the first place.

No killers in my house! Both our kitties are spoilt little indoor furbabies . Couldn't let our deaf cat outside anyways, she'd become the victim!