Cats + birds = unhappy face

[Bushwhacker]

There's a good philosophy on having cats, especially on farms.
Let's say one rat can cause £10 worth of damage in a year. If a cat can catch 100 rats over that period then that cat is worth £1000 a year. A pretty good return I say.

 

[Cliv]

We could eat the wild one's too, but then of course we would have to compete with the cats and apparently the snakes

 

[JonathanD]

We could eat the wild one's too, but then of course we would have to compete with the cats and apparently the snakes

It would take more than a couple of blue tit pies to satiate my grumbling stomach.

Back on topic though.... It would seem that many natural predators are missing from the urban environment, which is where most cats hunt. So I can see the RSPBs point of cats having a negligable effect on the population. Grey squirrels on the other hand probably have a much greater impact.

 

[Muddy Boots]

For all the cat lovers

 

[m.durston]

me and my missus had a rescue cat from the RSPCA around 9 years ago and with me she was very trusting. even to the point that when she got run over and lost a leg, her stitches broke and she got cat litter in the wound, she actually let me pick the bits out with a pair of tweezers. when it came to the vet restitching her she wanted to claw his eyes out lol.
anyways because she was so attached to me she saw fit to leave me little presents in the form of dead field mice, birds etc. apparently this happens when the cat feels that the owner is inept at hunting so they step in and provide the owner with the meals they need.
now i truly believe if you could utilise this primal instinct to train the animal to bring you kebabs, burger etc from the local takeaways the lucky owner could be set for life lol

 

[Ryecroft]

I guess cats are like marmite then.....

I got adopted by a cat, had her neutered only to receive a call from the vets to say she had already been 'done', so she went through it all twice lol!

She hunts regularly, mainly mice, but has also had a young stoat, squirrells, young rabbits and rats. All this is essential for me where I live as i am certain I would be overrun with mice etc if she was not around. This 'service' is well appreciated by farmers especially, and between cats and jack russells everything should be kept in check.

With regards to the birds, I feed the birds and ensure the tables all have good visibility all around and they are high to prevent the cat from performing ninja style leaps in pursuit of feline kentucky. This all seems to work, but I must admit the oranges sound good.

In my humble opinion, grey squirrells are more of a threat to our birds than cats, they eat the eggs and also nick all the bird food people put out.

 

[JonathanD]

I got adopted by a cat, had her neutered only to receive a call from the vets to say she had already been 'done', so she went through it all twice lol!.

I never knew cats could do that. And what a way to repay her

 

[Ph34r]

There are, i believe, around 7.5 million cats in britain.
For the sake of argument lets say that one in ten of them catch one bird per week (it could be a lot more or less, this is only a guess!).
That would mean 39 million wild birds killed each year by domestic cats.
Still not tooo upset about a few birds?

.......nope.

 

[JonathanD]

.......nope.

That's not what you said in your OP and title. What changed your mind?

 

[wattsy]

cats are predators it doesn't matter whether they're well fed or not they've still got the killer instinct and they'll still kill stuff. if you don't like it don't get a cat

 

[Opal]

I'd like a large stuffed cat, preferably a lion, placed in our garden, might keep the real ones away.....oh and btw a decent dog can kill a few dozen rats in a few minutes, a cat? ages.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Someone, anyone I need a new keybord!

 

[badgeringtim]

Not wishing to cat bash - but they also take out a lot of our native reptile populations, within only a couple of years suprisingly large areas can be decimated because of the small housing develoment (build on reused land and with mitigation for its direct impact). Some of the houses have cats and they are predators - some better than others and i dont blame them per say but it sad to areas of native animals reducing. We had a cat when i was young and he was an awfull hunter and would stalk the tree and punce on it expecting to catch the bird in the top - im fairly sure he didnt manage to do much damage but i would never have another one, reptiles simply have no defence against cats.

 

[Mr Cake]

Considering the incredible benefits that cats bring, the wholesale slaughter of wildlife seems a small price to pay.

http://www.innerself.com/Miscellaneous/Cats_You.htm

 

[Bushwhacker]

Considering the incredible benefits that cats bring, the wholesale slaughter of wildlife seems a small price to pay.

http://www.innerself.com/Miscellaneous/Cats_You.htm

What the ..........? :togo:

That's one crazy lady.

 

[Muddy Boots]

What the ..........? :togo:

That's one crazy lady.

Available to buy from her site to protect you and your loved one from you know who!

 

[Opal]

Considering the incredible benefits that cats bring, the wholesale slaughter of wildlife seems a small price to pay.

http://www.innerself.com/Miscellaneous/Cats_You.htm

She needs a Shrink badly. :togo:

 

[Muddy Boots]

She needs a Shrink badly. :togo:

I think she has been smoking the contents of her litter tray.

 

[Opal]

Well would you believe it? today in work, I was chattin away to to others in the kitchen and outside was a female blackbird pottering about, one of the lads thought it was a starling, it did have a starling's build but deffo a blackbird I said.

It moved over to the left border and then hopped into the overgrown weeds, suddenly, next door's black fluffy cat sprinted at amazing speed from below a six foot bush :yikes: and jumped into the overgrowth and snatched the poor blackbird, the male flew immediately over to the four foot fence beside the cat and b/bird, then the bird somehow escaped the cats claws and flew away to the right.

Amazing sight and we were all delighted the bird escaped, I won't know until temorra at the earliest if the bird is okay. My colleague said it was a pity we didn't get it on video, it truly was a spectacle. Still hard to believe it got away, must have been ten seconds in the cat's claws.

 

[Mesquite]

Enjoy

[video=youtube;Tuf61OjvoPQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuf61OjvoPQ[/video]