Cat killed one of my hens last night! GRR!

[Agnella]

Quote:
Sorry.. its not the cats fault...
The cats are just trying to survive...
How do you like it when you are very hungry?? Dosent feel good does it?? Thats how the cats feel...
I feel bad for the cats...
Please take better care of them..its your responsibility...

Redhen she said the cats are wild...didn't she? That's what I read. If their wild they are not HER responsibilty at all.

She could take responsibility and have them spayed/neutered at least. Just because an animal is wild doesn't mean we shouldn't do something to help it. If more people would take the responsibilty to have feral cats/dogs fixed, their population might finally start to go down. The excuse of "it's not MY responsibility" is pretty lame.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:

I think shooting them is kinder. I go to humane society's, got several pets there over the years. I adopt from there because the conditions are deplorable. I know I would hate to be stuck in cage, never let out, in a bldg. that smells like poo all day long. THey are disgusting places. The humane society is not humane to me and is nothing better than a chicken in a battery farm. IMHO

That is sad, but sounds just like the one where my daughter lives in East Texas.

Here feral cats are neutered, ear clipped and returned to their colony. It has been proven that this method better controls and limits the size of feral cat colonies than permanent removal. With permanent removal, the remaining animals have more litters to replace the cats lost, and the colony increases in size over time. However, when the sterile animal is returned within a day or two of its capture and medical treatment, the biological incentive to replace the missing colony member is removed, and the still-fertile cats have litters on a normal rather than increased schedule. As more and more cats are sterilized and returned, over time the colony remains at the same size and eventually decreases in numbers as fewer and fewer of its members are capable of reproducing. The clipped ear tells anyone checking or trapping the cats for neutering that that particular animal has already been sterilized.

If the animal is young enough that it can be tamed, it may be adopted out.

 

[honeydoll]

Around here it costs about $150. to spay/neuter an adult cat. If you send the $200. or plus to fix all the wild cats around me I'll get them fixed. So far we are up to five drop offs, let's see, that's around $700. Do you have that kind of money to spay/neuter wild cats in your area. Hmmm... Also, I have two special needs kids, my oldest has a brain tumor, I don't have time to worry about trying to trap all the strays around here. Does that make me a bad person? Ridiculous!!! The OP is doing nothing wrong. IF it hurts my chickens, it's not staying here long. I need organics, my son had cancer. I take raising organics this very seriously and I will terminate anything that becomes a real problem. My hubby has built a fine coop so I have had no losses in two years, but when people condem somebody for protecting their own chickens it is ridiculous. So when your willing to send her the money to spay/nueter all the wild ones around her maybe you can complain about her methods. It is an unfair burdern to expect someone to pay that kind of money when they are not her pets!!! IF you feel that way, go trap them for her. Agnella, that is a ridiculous expectation.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
Redhen she said the cats are wild...didn't she? That's what I read. If their wild they are not HER responsibilty at all.

She could take responsibility and have them spayed/neutered at least. Just because an animal is wild doesn't mean we shouldn't do something to help it. If more people would take the responsibilty to have feral cats/dogs fixed, their population might finally start to go down. The excuse of "it's not MY responsibility" is pretty lame.

Well, if there is a low cost spay/neuter clinic in her area, and if she can capture the cats, and if...

When I checked the cost of spaying our young cat a couple of years ago, it was a minimum of $350--and that is before paying for pain meds, antibiotics, recommended tests, etc. I called a LOT of vets and that was the least expensive I could find. But with the low cost spay/neuter clinic on the other side of town, I was able to drop the price to a total of $120. Vaccinations were extra, and we elected to have our regular vet do those. Multiply that $120 or $350 by the number of cats and it gets pretty expensive pretty rapidly. I will say that males were about half that at the spay/neiter clinic. I didn't bother checking at the vets.

It is no more hers not anyone else's responsibility to take feral animals of any sort in for spaying. Is it a good and worthy cause? Of course, but that does not mean that it is her obligation any more than it is yours.

 

[Agnella]

Quote:
Whoa! Ease up! Who said you are a bad person??

There are a lot of low cost spay/neuter options out there. I get strays altered for about $50 here in the Atlanta area. Your local humane society might have some options.

If you can't help an animal due to time, financial, or whatever other issues then so be it. But the whole "it's not my responsibility" mentality is lame IMHO.

 

[Oven Ready]

She could take responsibility and have them spayed/neutered at least. Just because an animal is wild doesn't mean we shouldn't do something to help it. If more people would take the responsibilty to have feral cats/dogs fixed, their population might finally start to go down. The excuse of "it's not MY responsibility" is pretty lame.

Not wanting to get this post shut down or anything, but this is nonsense.

If the cats are bothering her or her chickens she can shoot them if she wants to, whether they are feral or not. She can collect them up and have them neutered if she wants to, she can just keep on feeding them titbits if she wants to.

Just because an animal is wild doesn't mean we SHOULD do something to 'help' it.

You would not be the most popular person in the world if you grabbed up the last few Giant Pandas from the wild and whisked them off for sterilization.​

 

[Agnella]

Quote:
She could take responsibility and have them spayed/neutered at least. Just because an animal is wild doesn't mean we shouldn't do something to help it. If more people would take the responsibilty to have feral cats/dogs fixed, their population might finally start to go down. The excuse of "it's not MY responsibility" is pretty lame.

Well, if there is a low cost spay/neuter clinic in her area, and if she can capture the cats, and if...

When I checked the cost of spaying our young cat a couple of years ago, it was a minimum of $350--and that is before paying for pain meds, antibiotics, recommended tests, etc. I called a LOT of vets and that was the least expensive I could find. But with the low cost spay/neuter clinic on the other side of town, I was able to drop the price to a total of $120. Vaccinations were extra, and we elected to have our regular vet do those. Multiply that $120 or $350 by the number of cats and it gets pretty expensive pretty rapidly. I will say that males were about half that at the spay/neiter clinic. I didn't bother checking at the vets.

It is no more hers not anyone else's responsibility to take feral animals of any sort in for spaying. Is it a good and worthy cause? Of course, but that does not mean that it is her obligation any more than it is yours.

I agree with you. Great way to put it. It's not anyone's obligation but there's nothing wrong with helping IF you can.
It's amazing how expensive it is to alter an animal. Thank goodness for low cost programs or else I wouldn't be able to care for as many animals as I currently have.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Good points!


Just a reminder from the sticky at the top of this forum:

I just want to make clear the purpose of this forum.

*This forum is for dealing with predators and pests. Period.

*If information is graphic, please note it in the subject line of your post so members can make a decision whether they want to open the thread or not. If you choose to open a thread with said warnings, it is not BYC's responsibility when you are offended.

*Dealing with predators and pests is not always pleasant. Although sometimes hard to do, please be as sensitive as possible when explaining procedures and results. Some younger members and/or squeamish adults will appreciate it.

*Although some ways are not considered ideal to some, it serves the purpose of removing the offending predator. If you have an idea or a helpful comment, please do reply. If it is a sarcastic comment about the disposal or capture of a predator, please keep your thoughts to yourself. We are not here to judge one another on methods or ways and means.
*That being said, please do not gloat or suggest torturous ways of killing for pleasure or indeed, post in such a way that your predator control can be construed as pleasure killing instead of simply taking care of a problem.

*Compassion will go a long way toward helping to educate and help solve someone's predator problem. No matter the reason, most members' birds are their pets and being a chicken doesn't make it less of a pet than a house cat or companion dog. Please don't lecture or hassle anyone about their losses. Glass houses......

*If you wish to suggest an alternate non lethal means of control, please share it in a non judgemental way that is a viable solution and not merely complaining about who was here first etc, IF it is directly related to the OP's request for assistance. If a non lethal alternative is offered, please be appreciative and remember that there are many ways and means and flaming a member for suggesting such an alternative will not be tolerated.​

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Sorry.. its not the cats fault...
The cats are just trying to survive...
How do you like it when you are very hungry?? Dosent feel good does it?? Thats how the cats feel...
I feel bad for the cats...
Please take better care of them..its your responsibility...

Redhen she said the cats are wild...didn't she? That's what I read. If their wild they are not HER responsibilty at all. IF the cats are feral, well shooting them is Mrs. Fluffly Puffy's way of protecting her chickens. WHy is it if a coon or skunk gets a chicken, it's ok to shoot them but if a cat does they need to go to the humane society, In essence, you are saying cats are more valuable than other animals. That has never made sense to me. People assign more human traits to cats and dogs and they are animals too. When I hear, how do you feel if your hungry, comparing them to us. Well, then how would you feel being trapped, taken to a small cage in a so called "humane society" that never lets you see the light of day again and then kills you. If you were a cat would you rather be caged, forced medical care and then put to sleep or would you rather left outside with a fighting chance? It's ridiculous to compare animal feelings to our own. They are not human, and have you ever considered maybe they are happy being cats!

Sorry.. you make no sense to me at all...

Either way... your opinion is fine with me... its none of my business what you believe in...

 

[honeydoll]

Quote:
Whoa! Ease up! Who said you are a bad person??

There are a lot of low cost spay/neuter options out there. I get strays altered for about $50 here in the Atlanta area. Your local humane society might have some options.

If you can't help an animal due to time, financial, or whatever other issues then so be it. But the whole "it's not my responsibility" mentality is lame IMHO.

Shooting them, is her taken responsibilty for them. She is ending their suffereing. It's just a different method.