What Is So Hard To Understand.......

[redhen]

Quote:
redhen both our Brittanys live inside with us. They have their fenced in yard but even then Eva or I are constantly looking out at them. If we let them outside the fence to run one of us is with them. All that is as much to protect them as it is any other reason. Our cat is free to roam from the house to the barn but he is old,fat and lazy. On the rare occasion he may come in with a mouse or mole but beyond that he's just too lazy.

I'm of the belief that I can't very well complain about others animals running loose if I don't keep mine at home.

Larry

 

[ARose4Heaven]

What good is a cat for mousing if it can't roam? Spay and Neuter...of course, but I will not confine my farm cats. They have a job to do, and they do it. They are regularly handled and always have food available...not feral. If any of my animals doesn't show for more than a couple days...I go looking. My cats practically LIVE in my henhouse. They know that where chicken feed is, rodents will come. They respect the chickens because each of them, as kittens learned the hard way that a flock of chickens can become a lynch mob when crossed.

Shortly after we moved here, we had a very friendly Tom show up. He has stayed, and helped us establish a nice little group of mousers. He has since lost the parts necessary for that activity. Farms need cats...well cared for and properly socialized cats.

 

[Cass]

OH OH OH... I LOVE the idea of the paint gun for suspected pets on your property. And the warning that the next shot will be a real bullet. I live in a VERY rural area. But somehow dogs and cats just show up on my property. They don't stay, but they wander through. My cat has been treed by more roaming cats than I can count, and that's just not right....she is just doing her job, patroling the grounds for suspect mice and moles. (she thinks she's a guard dog, but can't scare anything bigger than a mouse)

I have one neighbor. I introduced my cat to them. I have asked and they report she never comes over to their house. They wish she would, cuz she's a great mouser and we live in the country, so mice are a fact of life out here...both inside and outside the house.

Now to score a paint gun. I wonder if my son got rid of all of his.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
What if your cat comes IN my yard and kills my pet bird? Or my pet rabbit outside ... or it comes in my yard and uses MY food garden as its litter box? Thats frickin soo gross and disrespectful to me, to ANYONE.
Doesnt that bother you? Why should I have to deal with YOUR cat?
If your cat comes in my yard...its trapped and gone..ASAP. And i'll continue until all your cats are gone...
So i hope you dont care much about them.. its a shame, cause its not the cats fault at all...
I keep my cats in my house, as a respect to my neighbors.
I'm sorry, thats just my opinion.. i dont want to argue with you, just maybe you can see how others feel about this?

 

[ARose4Heaven]

I am on a farm. The only reason I have cats is to catch mice. I can not put poison out, and have my chickens eating poisoned rodents. When we moved here, we made sure the neighbors knew that any animal that caused problems on our place would be shot or taken to the pound and we would attempt to notify it's owner...and they are welcome to do the same with ours. Maybe we just have exceptional neighbors...but for us, this works. Nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away.

When we lived in town. Cats were in the house. Dogs were tied or indoors.

 

[redhen]

I dont live in the city either..
City or country,its all the same.
Disrespect to your neighbors.

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
Only if the cats 'actually' go into other yards.

His cats might not, and if one of his cats DOES go in your yard- you can SSS or trap and remove like he already said.

any animal that caused problems on our place would be shot or taken to the pound and we would attempt to notify it's owner...and they are welcome to do the same with ours.

Apparently as he still has cats they are NOT being a nuisance to anyone as the cats still live.​

 

[redhen]

I agree.. Thats VERY true. Only if the cats go into others yards, is it a problem..
If they DO actually stay in your yard... then there would be no problem with that at all.
I understand that.

 

[rarely bored]

Dogs really need to be kept home, totally agree!

but assasin cats need to be allowed to roam outside to kill mice, gophers, moles and an occasional bird too. As outdoor people, one of our greatest threats is lyme disease which is carried by ticks, and the ticks tend to ride on the rodents. Get rid of the rodents - decrease the tick population. I'm sure many people would prefer a couple songbirds to be eaten by a good FARM cat than to suffer the deabilitating affects of lyme, or watch their children or spouse suffer.
btw, feral cats are a different story!

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

Wow, there are some really fantastic points being made on this thread.

I don't live in the "country". I live in suburbia, just outside city limits on an unincorporated dirt road. I have coyotes, I have opossums, roadrunners, lots of hawks and owls, I even think there are some raccoons. I also live right next to the interstate, and my little road seem to attract people that want to pull off the highway and do not so nice things, which includes dumping animals. I choose to protect my flock by good strong coop design, closed gates, and mandatory "human" supervision when the birds are out foraging. I don't know how to shoot a gun, but I can swing a baseball bat,2x4, or garden hoe if needed.

I do believe the truly wild animals have a right to live. We share the domain, and like someone mentioned before, just because I choose to have chickens doesn't entitle me to kill everything that comes into my yard. Its my responsibility to make sure my birds are secure from wild animals, and I do that by using strong materials for their coop, and hanging out with them while they forage. "OOOGA BOOGA" with arms flailing works quite well for wild animals.

As for strays/feral animals...when "OOOGA BOOGA" doesn't work, the baseball bat will come out (edit) to further encourage them to leave on their own accord....