Feel kinda crappy.....had to shoot a cat

[Davaroo]

So, I'll say it again; at least the OP took charge of the situation.

To Docs point, did he need to shoot it? No. He could have done something else. He could have lured it in and befriended it. He could have shooed it away, trying to ignore it. But at least he took action instead of wringing his hands.

The animal wasn't left in the wild to possibly suffer and die of disease or fall prey, itself. It wasn't allowed to potentially prey on his chickens, or anyone else's, either. He also did not complain about the "bad" citizens of the world, those wicked souls who would allow some poor kitty to wander free.

No, he took decisive action, even if it was deemed distasteful. And if truth be told, it's one cat. Sorry, but there it is - one cat is gone.
Did he do the right thing? Yeah, he did.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Yes there are several options in these instances however attempting to trap this cat would have resulted in him being on the property until he was trapped. Sometimes it takes a while to get these guys. In the meantime he is attacking resident cats which often results in bites and abcesses, all expensive vet visits. While it's not pleasant, when you live in the country that's the way it is. If you pussyfoot around (no pun intended!) you end up loosing your own animals or having to pay huge vet bills due to attacks. Our rule is, if a stray arrives that is friendly, non-violent then I will have it picked up by animal control. Any animal that shows up to do harm to one of my own is shot on site.

 

[peacockgurl]

I had a feral cat living in the bushes on our property on the other side of our backyard fence. I tried to be friendly to it, talk to it and leave it food and water (outside the fence). But it always was scared of me. A couple of weeks ago the cat disappeared. I figured it got scared off by my border collie. Then on Friday my husband asked me if I saw the dead cat by the road. I went and checked and it was the cat. There was no evidence of it being attacked or hit by a car, so it must have been sickness or something that wouldn't leave marks on the outside. I am super glad now (hindsight is 20/20) that I didn't succeed in making friends with it. who knows what it was carrying. I still feel bad that it died but I learned a lesson here and wont try to do it again.

my animals, my pets that I sought out and chose to buy/keep, are my priority. I must keep them safe and my family safe too. I think you did the right thing by disposing of the cat and it is okay to feel bad about it. that means you are a decent human being, but sometimes you've got to make tough decisions. if you hadn't have done it and the cat hurt your mom's animals or your mom you would have really regretted not taking care of the situation when you had a chance.

 

[Titaniumcranium]

http://tnrrealitycheck.com/

 

[Bizzybirdy]

I love cats.

ALL of mine are spayed/neutered and stay in my yard and are bossed around by the few hens that manage to fly out of the chicken yard during the day.

However, there are 2 BIG roaming Tom cats that have attacked my cats, killed two females and severely wounded a young male. Now one of my favorite old girls has contracted FIP, no doubt from her encouter with one of them. Her abdomin is full of fluid and she is dying.

Enough is enough. I HATE these for all the hurt they have caused. They stalk my poor kitties at night and they will be dispatched as soon as I can get a clear shot. Problem is they run very fast!

 

[buck-wild-chick]

Ohhh and dont forget, Stray cats are major carriers of feline leukemia...

 

[amazondoc]

Quote:
Hey, if you're gonna post links, I can match you web site for web site -- and then some

--

http://www.feralfeline.org/tnr.html
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jul02/020701h.asp (a bit about both sides of the debate)
http://www.catvets.com/healthtopics/wellness/index.aspx?ID=273
http://www.catvets.com/professionals/guidelines/position/index.aspx?ID=292
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap-Neuter-Return

"Evaluation of the effect of a long-term trap-neuter-return and adoption program on a free-roaming cat population" (published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association) --
http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.2003.222.42?cookieSet=1&journalCode=javma

"Implementation of a Feral Cat Management Program on a University Campus " (published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science) --
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a783707826~db=all

There's much more, but that should get you started!

 

[cockadoodle]

We had a feral cat roaming our neighborhood when I was a kid, this thing had 1 eye and deep scars all over. Killed a few of our neighbors pet kitties, almost killed one of ours. We were in city limits and couldn't shoot it with a real gun (not that my parents had any) but we sure wanted to (and our whole family loves cats btw). My dad bought a bb gun pistol that takes the CO2 canisters. We popped him probably 8 times with it over a couple weeks, he kept coming back. When the bb gun started getting too fun for me (I was at that age where this activity was giving me some perverse pleasure after all the pain that cat had caused) we borrowed a live trap from animal control, trapped him in 2 days and promply sent him off to the pound where I guarantee he was not around for long. If I had been in the country, I would have blown him into tiny pieces with a .270, or a 30.06, .308 or anything else that would have given him the dirt nap he deserved so badly. Sorry the original poster feels a little guilt, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. You prevented a problem from getting even worse than you know it would have eventually. Me personally, if the cat appears nice and pet worthy, we are suckers enough to where I'd probably bring him into our home, or at least try to, but that isn't an option for many.

regards,
Mark

 

[BFeathered]

and

You did what you needed to do under the circumstances. It was crummy, but probably more humane in the end. If you'd like to take my 15yo gimpy Siamese (who also has kitty-IBD) to make you feel better, I'll ship him to you (JK). He's trying to help me type, does that count as harrassment?

 

[deenamr]

Yeah - Amazondoc.

thank you for all the great info.

I know Trap Neuter and Release works. I live in the country and had neighbors who got one barn cat five years ago. They didn't want to spend $78.00 to get her spayed. The result was 50 adult barn cats and about 2 dozen sick kittens. When I stopped to check on my irrigation water fall of 2007 I was shocked by what I saw there were literally cats everywhere. With their permission I took all of the kittens euthanized the ones who were blind from horrible eye infections, leukemia and aids tested the others. Had the rest spayed or neutered, vaccinated, dewormed and then rehomed them. It took me a year of traping the adults to get them all altered. They are by far a healthier group now. No new cats come into the territory because it is already well populated and the cats are not going through hormonal cycles which can attract other cats.

Please everyone spay and neuter your pets including barn cats. Every kitten that is born has the potential to add to the problem of feral cats. That is why I had all of the kittens spayed and neutered before rehoming them.