You won't believe what me and my dad found!

[Boyd]

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Some animals just don't have that desire or smarts to get their own food. These are animals that have been domesicated over hundreds of years. I have another cat that lives outside and is around 7 years old. And she has never caught a thing in her life. But she is the dumbest thing.

Not feeding your animals may drive them to find and kill things, but whos to say that won't be your chickens. Feed your animals please, and let them hunt instinctively.

Well shucks, darned if I do and darned if I don't. Since my wife and girls are allergic to cats, we have no domesticated ones around. There is one that will sit on me for a moment but I better not twitch or move my hand.....

They are all healthy, sleek critters with no care in the world. Up here in michigan, our winters dump heavy loads of snow, so I don't expect them to go hunting in drifts 2x over their heads, nor dig for voles that burrow through the snow.

If they ever look skinny sick, or are having problems, you bet I would do something, but this is the way I was brought up, and in 25 years the only problems I've had were because a cat got into some poisoned bait, and I had to climb to get her, got the snot tore out of me, had the vet sedate her, pump her full of fluids and she made it after visiting the vet for a few. As soon as she got home, she flew out of the car and went back on the hunt.

My cats were never a big problems for my chickens. the full grown buff orps easily dwarf my 10 lb kitty size wise. The feral cats around here learn early, you play with fire, yer gonna get burned.

 

[Cetawin]

Kill them all! One thing about rats...wiring around the shed is useless, rats can chew threw wood, wire, a majority of metals, tins and aluminum.

Poisoning them is not always the best thing, if they crawl under something and die...the smell is horrendous.

 

[CarriBrown]

Good ol' fashioned rat traps. They are so stupid, you can just put one in their path and you'll catch them day after day. Trust me, I have a lot of rat killing experience!

 

[jus1jack]

You can bury a 5 gal bucket, cut a small entry hole in the lid, put feed in the bottom. You'll have a bucket a rats in no time...

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
I have always found that a well fed barn cat hunts for sport and kills a lot, but a hungry one kills just enough to survive. Here is one of my fat little darlings. BTW this cat was adopted and cared for by a rooster when he was a kitten. The rooster was killed protecting him and other kitten from neighbor dogs. The cat now hates dogs and will attack any that come in the yard, except my little dog.

 

[ams3651]

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i may just use that suggestion for my mice. I wonder if it would work for the little possum that just moved in......

 

[cmjust0]

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That's what I'm talkin' bout!

If we stopped feeding our LGD, he'd starve to death as the goats and chickens walked right over him. There's not a doubt in my mind about that.. Moreover, he'd attack a predator whether he was famished or fattened because food has nothing to do with his response to a threat.

I mean, think about it folks... If plentiful food was what kept dogs from killing and hunger was what kept them on guard, how would you feed a LGD that was expected to be aggressive with the predators but lazy around the livestock?

Answer -- it wouldn't be possible!

So, feed your dogs... If you're dog's getting a healthy ration but isn't doing what you want it to do, find it another home and find yourself a dog that will actually do what you want it to do..


Edited to add: Same goes for cats and all other animals in our care, too.. If your cat won't hunt on a healthy ration, don't starve it...just find a cat that will.

 

[saddina]

Well you shouldn't overfeed any animal, but, give it what the bag says, and if they're like Coco, they'll go after whatever else they feel they should. In his case, it's dogs dumb enough to enter his lawn, the songbirds are save, and the occasional mouse, groundhog, etc is brought to the back door (not on the doormat, just to the left of it).

Coco, defender of lawns, bunnies, chickens, and fountains from anything that does not belong in his lawns.

He's sitting in 16x16 tile, for referance, just over 3ft long nose to tail.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
That's what I'm talkin' bout!

If we stopped feeding our LGD, he'd starve to death as the goats and chickens walked right over him. There's not a doubt in my mind about that.. Moreover, he'd attack a predator whether he was famished or fattened because food has nothing to do with his response to a threat.

I mean, think about it folks... If plentiful food was what kept dogs from killing and hunger was what kept them on guard, how would you feed a LGD that was expected to be aggressive with the predators but lazy around the livestock?

Answer -- it wouldn't be possible!

So, feed your dogs... If you're dog's getting a healthy ration but isn't doing what you want it to do, find it another home and find yourself a dog that will actually do what you want it to do..

Edited to add: Same goes for cats and all other animals in our care, too.. If your cat won't hunt on a healthy ration, don't starve it...just find a cat that will.

I'm sure i said in an earlier post, i don't starve my cats, I take care of them if they get ill no matter how badly I get torn up, and these aren't cute pedigreed fluffy cats, in no way shape or form domesticated. These are feral cats that adopted me and the property. Most of them have been in my traps a few times.... sometimes because a trip to the vet, sometimes by accident.

I would never starve an animal, but one that has enough land to roam around on and they can't find a mouse or two a day, then they aren't very good cats.

PM me if interested and I'll direct you to the satellite link showing what I'm talking about

 

[gardenak]

I was going to suggest the peanut butter/plaster of Paris idea too- it works. GET RID of the RATS! They spread disease, kill chickens and are generally just disagreeable vermin. There is no good use for a wild rat! Shoot of few for sport if you like, I don't mind-