RACCOONS?

[abcrystcats]

Mtmynd, I really don't think outdoor cats are responsible for diminishing the bird population. That is a pleasant fiction we've invented to excuse ourselves. Cats prefer to CATCH what they chase, and that usually means grounded animals like mice, rats, and squirrels, and so on. Cats do catch and kill birds. Some cats are quite skilled at it. But SOME cats killing birds is a very small portion of the problem. The real problem with the diminishing bird population is the effects of pesticides and pollution.

Even so, I think that pet cats OUGHT to be kept INDOORS. We have laws that control what we do with our pet dogs. We can't just let them run wild in the streets. We ought to have the same laws for cats. Cats breed. They spread disease. They get hurt in traffic, get set on fire by mean kids in the neighborhood, and eat and drink things that kill them later. Who hasn't been awakened by a chorus of mating male cats caterwauling under the window? How do you think they got that way? They got that way because laws permit owners of cats to let them outside, where they breed. The breeding produces more cats, and those cats come screaming and crying under your window.

I wouldn't let my cats out, no way. They wouldn't even know what to do out there anymore, not even the two ferals. I had cats that I let out. I learned my lesson. One got feline leukemia and mysteriously disappeared. The other, the one left, bitterly resented being alone and outside with the wild neighborhood cats, even though I always invited her in for the evening. When I decided she was in for good, she NEVER complained. She was quite happy with her retirement as an indoor cat. She wouldn't have gotten the basal cell carcinoma that killed her if she hadn't spent so much time in the sun.

My cats are quite happy to sit in the window and watch the mysterious changes of the seasons. Sometimes I think they REMEMBER when they, personally, had to be out IN it, and are grateful to be in. When it gets the least bit cold here, they crowd the bed until I can't move an inch. They LIKE to be warm and safe. They have plenty of cat company and that keeps them mutually amused when I am not around.


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Is it WRONG to feed wild animals? Well, you've already got my response.

What the hell? We humans have taken over the fricking PLANET. There are six BILLION of us. We are crowding out every other bloody creature that there is! Feeding the wild animals means giving them a way to SURVIVE. The only way to survive in this stupid, human-dominated planet is if someone says, "Awww, isn't that CUTE?" Really, let them learn to trust us, and we will ALLOW them to live and not shoot them down as hated predators or food animals.

I would like to feed the 'coons if I can do it without endangering my cats, or THEM. If they come to expect food from humans, then they will become local pests. I don't want that. And I don't want them breaking in here one fine evening looking for me! It would freak my cats out.

[mtmynd]

Hi, ABC... "I really don't think outdoor cats are responsible for diminishing the bird population," I don't completely agree with, only because it really depends on the location of where the cats might be. If the cats are feral and continue to multiply, their only recourse for food (other than trash cans and hand-outs) would be those birds that they would find easy to catch... that and, as you said, rodents.

But we do agree on responsible pet care. We've had our share of cats, our last one passed away several months ago, and all lbut one were, for the most part, house pets. We had one female who become tagged, "the slut", (real name: Magnolia Thunderpussy), because she loved to get out and stay away for 2, sometimes 3 nights at a time before she'd return and demand entrance to eat and sleep seemingly for days before repeating her outings! What a gal!!

Thanx for your reply. I enjoyed your viewpoints and mostly agree.

[abcrystcats]

I got a good laugh out of my "mating male cats," snicker .

Magnolia Thunderpussy? Good name.