I just caught a neighborhood cat trying to get at my girls!!!

[txnative]

One thing you might do is go buy a cheap cat collar, put it on that cat, and attach a note to the collar explaining the problem. Hopefully the owners would see it and act accordingly to protect their cat and your birds. Sounds silly, I know, but it might be a good way to solve the problem with no bloodshed.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
Spring powered guns WILL "break the skin" They will also KILL, so don't go shooting anything you don't want to kill Also, unless your birds are young chicks, most likely the cat won't bother them at all, regardless of how much "noise" they make. Pellet guns are NOT TOYS. The are deadly

 

[aliciasimon]

I have a neighbor cat that comes into my yard. My dogs go after it and nearly caught it once. I haven't seen him in a while so maybe the dogs scared him enough.

 

[Huntered]

I would get a live trap and put tuna in it,what ever you do with it after that is up to you.I know what I would do with it !

 

[AK Baha]

I use one of these with chicken in it,works every time. Then I bring the animal to animal control. A wounded and/or dying cat makes a heck of a lot of noise so keep that in mind if you decide to shoot it.

 

[3chickchicks]

Well Fifi is in the chicken hospital. I discovered wounds last night. I rinsed them in warm water and cleaned with betadine. Today I did the same and then dressed her wounds as best as I know how with blu kote and swat. I let her out with the others but despite the blu kote, one of the others wanted to peck. So I'll give her a few days and see how she does, perhaps give her a little bit of time to have with her buds so they remember her.
I had hoped to let her be with the others while she healed, otherwise I would have left off the Swat.

At her bedside she has water, feed, yogurt (with mealworms), and watermelon. I hadn't seen her drink so I squirted a little bit of water into her mouth just to be sure. Poor girl.

 

[quigley257]

Thanks once again to the cat lovers for jumping in and telling us to gently shoo these cute cuddly predatory invasive species away or to call animal control. NO. Shoot the dang things and get on with raising your chickens. Feral/free range cats are an enormous problem in the U.S. and I don't know of many places where you would actually get in trouble for killing them. If it is a "pet" it should be indoors where it can't cause problems.

 

[yogifink]

Quote:
No longer a curious cat, at this point, get out the pellet gun or call animal control. If you shot it tho, make sure its a clean shot. I hate to see an animal suffer from a badly placed pellet/bullet.

 

[Imachicklvr2]

Quote:
Yes, cats will attack full grown hens. Just today my cat jumped one of my EE hens.

He is not supposed to be outside but he escapes given the slightest opportunity, usually when my slow old dog is either going out or coming back in. Fortunately I was not too far from him and throwing a pair of garden sheers at him distracted him enough so my hen could get away. He is well fed so he is not looking for food, he does it because he has a strong predatory instinct and he likes to hunt. This is why the little bugger is not supposed to be out of the house. If he did it to someone else's chickens and they shot him I would be devastated but I would completely understand.

 

[real_redhead]

I just got a pellet gun last weekend after a raccoon tried to get my girls in the late afternoon. I chased it up a tree and waited for animal control to come. By the time they got here it had made its way down and ran away. Since I live in the city I can't shoot a gun unless something is in the act of getting my girls. He told me to trap the coon if I could and use a pellet gun to dispose of it since those are legal to use in the city. This coon is starting to become a problem. He got into a neighbors house and scratched the owner. the other night when I was taking out the trash he was in the can, jumped out and ran right by me...scared the crap out of me! I Would definitely get a pellet gun to keep for animals who might attack your chickens!