That stray cat..

[quigley257]

The problem is that cats hunt and kill for pleasure/entertainment. They are efficient predators that are extremely devastating to native animals and wildlife. If you have problems with rats and mice then you are lacking in natural predators such as hawks, owls, snakes and the like which naturally balance out rodent populations. You need to ask why the rats and mice are there. You are providing either food or shelter or both. There is NO positive argument for any cat outside your house as a pet.

 

[Teery]

At the neighborhood i live at there are stray cats everywhereee. WOuldnt be surprised that the reason theyre all over the place is because the ****** neighbors keep feeding them ( i passed by their house on this one early morning and i saw more than 8 cats eating the food they give on their lawn.) DOnt get me wrong though, i looovee my neighbors and cats, but them taking care of stray cats and what not that can lead to many problems. One night, i was outside watching my chicks(3-4 weeks old) as they were in the brooder, then all of a sudden this beautiful stray siamese cat runs pass me, and from what i could see it was chasing a moth? Once the moth was caught and eaten, she stares at me and then runs off like it was nobodys business. I didnt care too much for her because she seemed harmless (ya right..) The next night I wanted to give my chicks some alone time, get them used to being outside, then i hear loud screaming from my chicks, and guess what..that siamese cat brought 3 of her friends along.. drooling over my chicks. They scared me more than i scared them because i had no idea what to do, i panicked so hard i ended up meowing loud and them LOL glad they ran away though. Now that my chicks moved into their coop, for sure once i let them out in a fenced off area (including the top covered) THEYLL BE BACK, and my chickens will be screaming everyday non-stop. What sucks is that i live in the city so its always the dogs/cats > poultry, and if my chickens start becoming a nuisance to the neighbors, for sure ill be the one losing my pets. What can i do to keep them away besides scaring them off everyyday? Im pretty sture im not allow to kill these cats lol or even use traps... and plus i wouldnt even have the stomach to do any of that.

My mother has a problem with cats at her house in Arizona. She complained to the animal shelter. They basically said that there is not much they can do effectively and suggested that she get a live trap. They told her any cat she catches, they will take. Last I talked to her, the cat trap count was over 20 and the problem is pretty much solved.

She has learned a couple of lessons. A cat will spray in your car so make sure during transport to the shelter that you have a tarp or something to fully cover the trap. I would also suggest you keep the trapping and transport as covert as possible. Who knows who's cat you are catching...some people might get angry..

 

[War Chicken]

Cats aren't very effective at controlling populations of commensal rodents. Many of them avoid Norway rats and prefer native species. Adding cats to the mix shifts the balance from native rodents to the non-native pest rodents.

Even if cats were effective at controlling rodents, they're just as destructive and carry diseases transmissible to people. It's just trading one pest for another.


From "The impact of domestic cat (Felis catus) on wildlife welfare and conservation: a literature review":

Quote:
From "Effect of house cats, being fed in parks, on California birds and rodents"

Quote: The house mouse and the house cat have coevolved in close association with man for 4-6,000 years (Serpell 1986; Lund 1994). Deer mice and harvest mice in California have had neither the exposure nor the time to have responded to house cats in an evolutionary sense. It is possible that cat predation is selective with regard to harvest mice and deer mice, and that house mice have evolved behaviors that reduce the impacts of house cat predation.

 

[animals1981]

war chicken the typical cat can't do it but if the cat is taught by its mother yes it can control them. My cat could.


If you keep your cats clean they arent going to carry anything.


http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.23...2&uid=70&uid=3737720&uid=4&sid=21102569794407


Female cats are clearly much better.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10117428

 

[animals1981]

videos clearly prove a good cat is worth its weight in gold.


cats also can control snake and stoat populations near your house






there are places where peoples lives actually depend on cats again it depends on the cat the area the situation and set up its not so "black and white"




Not only best control cats dont like other predators on their turf including foxes

 

[animals1981]

Cats have been used for pest control for over five thousand years. Many feral cats do not depend on peoples hand outs or garbage still. It doesnt take a scientist to figure out there are still hundreds of thousands of good cats out there. Only the past hundred years have cats turned into soft sweet pets. This and farmers letting them become so inbred has led many to be such poor hunters. But with such a giant feral popluation and such a huge population living in farms and rural areas they still serve a big purpose. Take them away and watch how disgusting the world becomes. Mice and rat crap all over your food how nice lol You can't compare the 2. A rat or mouse infesting your food is far worse than keeping a few cats around. Most cat haters is because of the song bird people or bird watchers out there or people who have sand boxes and fail to cover them up.

 

[War Chicken]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...C-PLAGUE-narrowly-escapes-death-cat-bite.html

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/oregon-woman-contracts-black-plague-cat

http://www.ibtimes.com/black-death-...ic-plague-cat-hospitalized-critical-condition

http://www.digtriad.com/news/article/295069/57/Traps-Set-for-Possibly-Rabid-Kittens

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=935815#.UhOj-T8ky2U

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/...t-attack-leads-cumberland-county-feral-feline

http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/328671/79/Four-cats-quarantined-for-rabies-in-Northdale

The rabies reports are just from this August.

Rats aren't rabies vectors while cats are the #1 source of rabies exposure to humans. Cats carry bubonic plague and toxoplasma so they actually are largers sources serious zoonoses than rats.

Of course, you don't have to choose between cats and rats. You can have neither if you take sensible measures such as limiting rodents' access to food, shelter, and water.

From "Feral Cats and Their Management":

Quote:

 

[animals1981]

rabies can passs to dogs also why on earth would u not give your animals rabies shots? even horses can get them. Cattle can get rabies also cant they? what about sheep goats? etc..


Also why are you showing dogs killing cats? what does that have to do with this??? YOu want me to show videos of dogs killing dogs now? Or leopards killing dogs? puma or wolves killing dogs? Everything gets killed. Put your dog with mine i can promise you, your dog wont exist anymore. It means nothing. Like i said above some cats dont have it in them to hunt some do.


Ask any vet you cannot compare what cats spread compared to what rats spread.

http://www.macroevolution.net/diseases-carried-by-rats.html


If you keep dogs also they can get ticks and carry lyme. We can catch that as well. If you have animals its your duty to keep them tick and flea free and de worm them. Vaccinate them.

 

[War Chicken]

Dogs have a much higher vaccination rate and aren't being maintained in fed colonies or allowed to run loose (much). Cattle, etc., are also irrelevant since it's already been established that cats are the #1 domestic animal to carry rabies. I've never heard of cattle getting rabies but it seems like not a week goes by without some kid needing rabies shots due to a feral cat.

http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Zoonoses/zoonotic-disease-resources.php

Cats

Avian Influenza
Campylobacteriosis
Cat Scratch Disease
Cryptosporidiosis
Ectoparasites
Larva Migrans
Leptospirosis
Mange (acariasis)
Plague
Q Fever
Rabies
Ringworm
Salmonellosis
Sporotrichosis
Toxoplasmosis

Mice and Rats

Ectoparasites
Hantavirus
Leptospirosis
Lymphocytic
choriomeningitis
Pasteurellosis
Rat bite fever
Ringworm
Salmonellosis
Yersiniosis

 

[MelissaTXRn]

We had a big problem with the people around us having cats that they didn't spay/neuter. Soon we had sooooo many ferrel cats in our pasture. It was nuts!! I started shooting! Our Rottweiller took care of the few that dared to enter the yard. Now, we only have 1 or 2 and I am ok with that.