Never thought I'd use this as a subject line, but: Darned cats

[thistle_chaser]

A good start to the morning is NOT stepping out my door and finding a bunch of loose feathers and blood. The darned neighbor's cat is killing a bird a day, and spends the rest of the day hunting them

Comments

[felknight]

I would ask the neighbor to put a bell on the cat's collar or keep it indoors. Cats do not need to hunt and often do not eat what they kill.

[thistle_chaser]

I wanted to do that, but I live in an apartment complex, so I have no idea who owns the cat. I'm considering putting up a sign asking whoever owns it to do that, but I'm not sure how successful that would be. :/

[felknight]

If you live in an apartment complex, you can and should take this to the building owner. The cat is getting into all your stuff, leaving blood on your doorstep. The building owner knows whose cat it is and can get in contact with the owner.

[thistle_chaser]

Hmmm, good point, yeah.

[kelen]

I remember reading this article somewhere about how pet cats are wiping out local bird populations. They don't need to hunt, but they like to, killing billions of birds every year. o.O

[thistle_chaser]

That doesn't surprise me at all. This cat kills a bird, then is hunting again a short time later. It can't be that hungry...

[tersa]

I think you should keep the bird feeder up. Regardless of whether you have it or not, this cat is going to find birds somewhere and try to kill them.

Bizarre. It's too bad you live in [redacted]; the two cities on either side of you have leash laws that include cats, meaning owners are required by city ordinance to maintain control of their cats at all time. If you didn't live where you did, you could legally file a complaint about the fact that they're letting their cat outside so that it's killing wildlife. :/

[thistle_chaser]

I didn't even think about it being against the law for them to let the cat wander free, good point!

Semi-amusing side-story: Remember that Siamese I tried to catch/adopt? It's been wandering free again (in yet another new collar). Turns out it attacks that howling dog that lives next door to me! Good taste, Siamese, good taste.

[tersa]

[thistle_chaser]

Wow, that fits, for sure! Neighbor should be less worried about me reporting him to the owner than to the town.

(I'm going to screen your comment, since the link has the name of my town in it. :) )

[loupnoir]

A bell won't help. Birds use their vision to monitor for danger.

Lazy cat owners are a real pet peeve of mine. Okay, I've just deleted a long rant. Lazy cat owners can't be arsed to keep their pets inside for various reasons. Were it me, I'd talk to the local animal control folks for the loan of a Havaheart trap, catch the cat, and turn it in. I spent three years volunteering for a wildlife hospital in Walnut Creek, and after that stint of dealing with cat owners bringing in mangled birds and admitting they were actually proud of their pets killing wildlife, my sympathy for outdoor cats plummeted. No, it isn't the cat's fault that it was designed to hunt incredibly well, but it is the fault of the idiot owners who don't want to take responsibility for their animals.

Keep the feeder up if you enjoy it. If you can't find the owner of the cat, trap it and turn it in. If the person cares for the animal, maybe they'll get the idea they should really take care of it.

[thistle_chaser]

It's not even just the owners being lazy, they're being cruel. A cat that goes outside lives on average ten years less than an inside cat. Cats live only, what, 14? 15? years on average, so they're taking two-thirds of the life away by letting it outside.

I considered the trap idea, but if the cat is able to kill and eat birds, I wonder if tuna would be an effective bait.

and admitting they were actually proud of their pets killing wildlife

Ugh ugh ugh. These people.