Geese and cats

[Leader Bee]

Hi guys,

I hope you could give me a little bit of advice please; Common sense says to keep geese safe from foxes, that's a given but could anyone shed some light on how they interact with cats? I would have thought the same would apply here but I've also heard from people that a goose is big enough that it really shouldn't have a problem with the local moggies and that they're very likely not to approach a bird as large as a goose.

Still, I think I would err on the side of caution here but I wanted to know what other peoples experiences were?

Regards.

 

[JedJackson]

You mean domestic cats? They steer well clear of geese, in my experience. Geese are not defenseless-- they bite hard and a strike for an adult's wing could cause significant harm to a cat, probably even death. Cats know better than to mess with geese.

If you mean bobcats or cougars, they can and do kill geese, easily.

 

[Leader Bee]

Thanks Jed - I'm in the UK so no chance of Bobcats and Cougars thankfully; Yes domestic cats. This will be my first time keeping geese so I wasn't really sure but that matches up with other information I've heard so thank you very much.

 

[JedJackson]

Thanks Jed - I'm in the UK so no chance of Bobcats and Cougars thankfully; Yes domestic cats. This will be my first time keeping geese so I wasn't really sure but that matches up with other information I've heard so thank you very much.

You're welcome. And, just to be clear, goslings need protection from cats, but not grown geese.

 

[jtn42248]

We have 11 geese plus an assortment of ducks and chickens. And, a number of feral cats that people have dumped out where we live. I have yet to see the cats go anywhere near the birds. Don't know if instinct tells them to stay away or not but more cats have been lost to critters than geese to cats.

 

[TSOWOATNKC]

Yesterday my barncat Anna was standing outside the bird yard, and most of the ducks, and ALL the geese made a huge fuss. It looked like they were yelling “Yeah, just try it!” at her.