Our Labor Day Weekend Surprise

surfcity, I know all about the reasons for keeping cats indoors. Here's the other side of that coin. If you live in the city, as I do, there aren't enough snakes to keep the rodent population down. When your vegetable garden (flower beds too) are ravaged by gophers, and your fruit trees are decimated by rats,(not to mention the diseases they carry) there's one sure way to keep the population in check. That's right, the domestic cat. Without the domestic cat running free in communities throughout this country, rodents would proliferate to the point of being unmanageable. Cats are much more likely to come home with a rat's tail as a trophy than a mouthful of feathers. With apologies to the bird lovers, my cats have outdoor privileges.

This message was edited Sep 13, 2009 10:11 PM

I understand, DP.

I just had to clean up a house finch head yesterday. The eyes were still open. The body was gone. It was very distressing, to say the least.

I know it wasn't a hawk. They leave a pile of feathers and eat them on the spot.

It was probably one of the neighbor's cats that's been hanging around lately. I try and keep the areas where the birds frequent as safe as possible, but they always seem to get one now and then.

By the way, KaperC, I found a mahonia (Mahonia repens--creeping barberry) from the link you provided. It's not poisonous--in fact the berries are tasty to humans and wildlife, it's nice and thorny/prickly and likes dry shade. So it should be a good barrier plant to keep the kitties at bay. Now, if only I can find it...

I also understand your point. I've had to do the same thing and each time it disturbs me and gives me pause to re-asess my practice.
Randy

edited for spelling. (still don't know if I got it right.)

This message was edited Sep 14, 2009 5:42 AM

I am 62 years old and by now I'm pretty much hardened to the facts of life. That's not always a good thing, but it does tend to make you a lot more accepting of 'what is, is'. I have seven cats..6 of them are inside cats, one goes outside in the daytime with us (out of necessity...I would rather he didn't, for his own protection,but...) He eats rabbits, gophers, rats, mice. We have a regular birdfeeder and a thistle birdfeeder and feeders for the orioles and hummers, but oddly enough, he's never gone after the birds. It used to distress me when he caught a rabbit, it also distressed me when I saw a king snake with a rabbit (I didn't know they are constrictors). I'm not happy with the hawks or the peregrines when they swoop through to catch birds either. I totally hated the coyotes because they will eat anything in a flash, including one roooster who was out of his coop with me in the garden for just a little while, never even saw the coyote, he was that quick. When I saw a coyote get my neighbor's little dog, I was extremely upset, so was my neighbor. But my neighbor was then in his 80's and told me, "Everything has to eat." I learned a great deal from that one sentence.

This message was edited Sep 14, 2009 8:55 AM

The thing that irks me the most about cats is the people who own them that don't get them spayed and neutered. I 'm a cat person and have been through the kitten routine 3 times with cats that weren't even mine...then it's finding homes for them, screening the people who want them, etc. I was lucky all 3 times to find homes for them (18 total ) but it aint no picnic.

The two I have now are really no problem at all. One is old and fat and does nothing but eat and sleep. The other one is a good mouser, but dumb as a bag of hammers. Every time an unfamiliar cat shows up here, I assume it's pregnant and that word has gotten out in the cat underground that this is a free maternity ward I'm running.

I have the reverse problem, as well: Crows that stalk the unsuspecting little cats around here...I've seen them fly off into the huge palm trees with cats in their claws. Now THAT'S un-nerving.

I lost two cats to owls and one kitten to a hawk. Also lost my grandfather to a car he walked out in front of. Life goes on.....

My 3 cats are typically lured in at twilight with the promise of "crunchies", and stay in all night. One of them got a rodent the other evening, however, and is now convinced she's going to find more. She doesn't eat them, but they are great toys. I wish they'd go after the $()@!Q gopher that hangs around the fenceline.

My cats get yelled at if they go near birds when I can see them. I have a flight cage with 12 parakeets, and they know all birds are "mine" and that they're not supposed to mess with them. That being said, I've had adventurous budgies who have learned to open the cage door (I've put powerful magnets on every door now) and I've come home to a pile of colorful feathers and 3 "Who, ME??" feline expressions. They occasionallly get a wild bird, but I figure it's the Darwin thing. Most of the birds who live here are smart (except for the mourning doves, who make JD's "bag of hammers" look like Oxford scholars). They know they have to deal with, and teach their babies to deal with, cats. It's the price they pay for living in my organic, fruit-filled garden.

Unfortunately, we have had several strange cats show up since the housing mess started----I figure they've been abandoned. My cats fight more with each other than with these intruders, so they have the run of the place 24/7 except when I turn the hose on them. And none of them seem to be dealing with the $)(#$(*)(++ gopher, either.....

If the gopher is only at the fence line, he's being dealt with. Otherwise he'd have his way with your entire property. My cats now always stay in at night. After losing two to owls, it convinced me. The kitten that the hawk got was swooped up in broad daylight in my front yard. Didn't have a chance.

Quite an array of calicos here, thought I'd add mine to the bunch:

Cutie Kitty (or Muffin as my dd calls her)

Oh...pretty baby...and I'll bet she's sooo embarassed over that photo and that you've posted it.....lol..

Well, Muffin seems a good name for that softie. How did you manage to get her sticking out her tongue?!!

Here's our surprise, Rocky Rocket Man, practicing to be the great hunter. He was throwing it, pouncing on it, chasing it, carrying it a little, starting the game over. My camera takes so long to recover from the flash, I thought I was never going to get a shot of him carrying the mouse-toy.

~'s!~

This message was edited Sep 15, 2009 10:48 PM

He's such a lucky boy......

Us'ns lucky too.

The other surprise is finding out how many of you'all are cat people too!

~'s!~

I'd like to take credit for the tongue but it was pure coincidence :-)

Talk about cats finding you...this one actually 'belongs' to the neighbors across the street but she started hanging out in my back yard and one thing led to another and here she stays. The neighbors came looking for her once and I told them she was probably in the back yard (it's not like we stole her or anything) and they came and took her home but she was their outdoor kitty and she obviously didn't like it there because she was back within an hour. I take her to the vet, had her fixed, feed and house her in the garage at night and she is my faithful gardening companion. On the other hand, they have had two animals killed on the street and deny the animals being theirs when it's time to clean up the 'mess'. And it doesn't take long before they replace the fallen ones. Personally, I think she is much better off now [even with me posting embarrassing pictures of her :-)] but then again I'm biased.

It is very, very hard on you to have neighbors who don't take care of their animals......

...been there, done that ....

The hardest part was having someone who was out walking by my house ask if I had a cat because there was a dead cat on the street. I panicked until I realized it wasn't 'mine'. Then going over to their house to let them know and for the mom to deny it was their cat while the little girl was saying it was. Awkward does not begin to describe that situation.

so what was the outcome ???

She took care of it herself, of course, JD.
Loved your photo of Muffin with the huge eyes and tongue sticking out. It made me LOL. Then I stopped myself knowing that she'd be offended, and then remembered she can't see me, so I LOL, some more.
It's a fact of life that cats catch prey. That owls, hawks (crows? never seen that but wouldn't surprise me!), and coyotes eat our friends. One thing I've done is left up wooden fence posts for the cats to climb out in the middle of the field out back. If they are tall enough, the calvery (my dogs) will arrive in time to save them.
I get presents from one old (neutered) tom cat. He has been very good about teaching the younger cats how to hunt. Usually the whole critter, the feral Mamma cat shares part of her kill. Nice presents.
Coyotes are less afraid of humans than they were. I've seen them at all times of the day and night. Seldom seen owls during the day, but hawks I have seen.
I do the responsible things, like getting the cats spayed/neutered. I too worry about people giving me cats without my knowledge (dumping them and expecting them to survive in the wild). I know that there will always be some that show up on their own. I welcome them.
Even still the cats will not take on some of the huge rats, but I have seen them catch rabbits, as well as gophers, the occasional bird, lizards, mice and for some reason toads. They leave snakes alone.
I once found a rat in my house that was a big as my cat. It took some determination but we finally killed the rat and all her children. Then we had to throw away all the food they'd ruined in the pantry.
I also found and sealed up the holes they were using to enter the house. (It was awfully cold that winter!) Steel wool works great around pipes, but you really need to pack it in. No problems since. At least not in the pantry! They do chew through drywall and wood, so I fixed those with steel backed patches before covering with new plaster.
Happy that Rocky Rocket Man is enjoying himself. : - )
Right now my Old cat (really my nieces' cat that lives with her Aunt) is demanding I feed her! I am running late, so as Her Royal Magesty demands, I am off to feed the Queen. LOL.
WIB,
SW

Yes, I took care of it myself. Mom just basically denied owning the cat and closed the door while shushing her daughter. I've kept my distance from them ever since. Unfortunately there are also two teenage girls in that house that are getting the same kind of attention that the animals get...limited.

SW, the copper scrubbies work even better than steel wool for sealing those openings. DH once had to replace a client's electrical box that had turned into a rat-condo. He put the copper scrubbies into all the openings where the conduit came in. When they chew on it, they get a "tangle" and they don't like it.

guam, I know what you mean. When our son was a baby the neighbor used to make a goo-goo fuss about how much she "loved babies". In the meantime, her 3 and 4 year old children were locked out of the apartment every day, all day.

When we bought our current house, the ad said there was a cat available with the house, so I knew it was the right one! Well, we did fall in love with the house too. :-) With the purchase of the house came the right to adopt the semi-ferel cat, Robbie, that lived there. As someone above mentioned, they become the most devoted companions - he's my shadow - and we were fortunate that he & my other male (rescue) kitty, Kitzen, bonded & have become the best of friends! I'm ready to add to our cat family, but think it would be too traumatic to Robbie, whose lived a hard life & has become rather frail, since his hypo-thyroid diagnosis, a couple of years ago.

Hey, guamsorbit - we're neighbors, never seen anyone else here from EH!

Liz

wow Liz, me neither! Maybe we should set up a little round up of our own :-) Unless of course, you're the neighbor across the street that I was just talking about.. Just kidding since I know you aren't :-)

dee

Dang, you recognized me... No, happy to say we've had no dead cats (although my cat chased a coyote, in the yard recently, 'bout scared me to death!), only skunks & deer. :-( (Hate losing any of my pets.) I was just trying to find the member address list (unsuccessfully) to see where you live. I live on Hillcrest Way, about 3/4 mile from the upper entrance to Edgewood Park.

This message was edited Sep 16, 2009 3:17 PM

too scary, I live on the same street at the bottom of the hill :-)

Just sent you a d-mail! :-)

Where is Emerald Hills, anyway ? Is it just above Emerald City ?
Little tiny people living in birds nests ???

Just follow the yellow brick road - you'll find us! ;-) We're about 20 miles south of San Francisco, in the hills above (west) of Redwood City. It's an unincorporated area, with no sidewalks, bigger lots than are typical in most of the SF Bay Area, no two houses alike (some are throw backs to the hippie days, some are from the 40's/50's & others are mini-mansions), views of the San Francisco Bay & we share our streets/yards with the deer.

Liz

Wow, you don't happen to work for a real estate company selling property in the area do you Liz? Sounds like a great place to live - minus the deer ;-)

What can I say DH & I fell in love with this area, when we were looking for houses... the only thing I miss about my old neighborhood (in Palo Alto) is the neighborly feeling - on our winding streets, we rarely see our neighbors... and no, I'm a boring accountant. T

JD, did the oompa loompa's live in birds nests?

"oompa loompa's " ?????
If they did (or do) this could accoun t for the dwindling bird populations !

lol, oh sorry, mixed up my movies didn't I?

What is an oompa loompa ? (or dare I ask ? LOL )

the little guys in Charlie and the Chocolate factory!!!!! cmon! you don't know them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0zZttfUaw

This message was edited Sep 16, 2009 8:54 PM

Nope ! Never saw the movie !

ok then...consider that your first (and probably last) brush with the oompa loompas.

Mike you really should see it. Gene Wilder is something else! The Oompa Loompas are the least of the movie and he is the most. They've remade it but you should see the original if you can find it.
~'s!~

Watch the original version of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate factory. The new one isn't as good!
Love Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner.
ima, you are right, I went and looked and I did use the copper scrubbies (like steel wool only it doesn't rust).
Thanks for pointing that out. I hate my brain glitches, thanks for saving my bacon again. : - )
I giggled reading about the Wizard of Oz and WW&theCF. I always wondered where the Emerald Hills were too. : - )
Now where did I leave that yellow brick road?
You all up north should have a RU, we can make it spring competition with us So. Californians, to see how many people show up, or maybe how many plants are traded? Something silly but in fun. : - )
WIB!
SW

Since they haven't been having any RU's up north, they must still be under the light brown apple moth quarantine....