An A would be if she caught mice IN the house instead of bringing them in the house. Sounds like a kitty F to me.

I had a dog that would catch mice, bring them in and present them to me as if he did good. Thankfully he wasn't gentle enough that any of the mice lived to run free inside.

My bottle baby Taffy caught his first mouse in the house and brought it onto my bed, growling for all he was worth. I happened to be in the bed at the time. Sooty, the black beauty girl, was interested in his catch and I decided to give them both the boot and close the bedroom door, Heard them "tenderizing" their catch for a while, next morning I disposed of whatever was left (not much). That was the only rodent in the house, thereafter they kept them outside and avoided my presence at the party.

Not to start the issue again, but one of these days you wont be so happy when you see the dead baby song bird or baby rabit your cat brings in. It is spring time. There are going to be lots of native baby critters soon. Please re consider letting you cat roam.

We had a mouse in the dishwasher (How did it get there?) and Eric caught it. It was his first mouse and he didn't know what to do with it. He just stood there with it in his mouth, growling at the other cats.
Eventually he dropped it. Felicite, 18 years old and very experienced, grabbed it, promptly killed it and ate it.
I'd have a serious mouse problem in the chicken coup and vole problem in the garden if it weren't for my cats. Chickens can catch and eat mice, but not nearly as well as a cat.

I've had cats on this proptery for 30 years and they don't catch many birds. I have had more song birds die when they hit one of my windows. Last year the only bird caught was one quail(we have a flock of about 200) and RocKat followed the wild turkeys until they beat him up. We have many voles, moles, wood rats, and mice. Sam did get a baby jackrabbit once, we have a wild fox and she gets most of the extra rabbits.

My cats do serious rodent-control, they enjoy being outside in nice weather. They have caught a bird now and then, usually one of the Kamikaze towhees, which don't seem to be cautious about anything.
I observed that the bird-world has it's own warning system, the crows and the scrub-jays will set up a racket, they have a call that sounds almost like "cat, cat" when they see one, and the other birds are alerted.
But crows also steal a lot of both eggs and baby-birds out of nests.

I do think it's sad when cats catch birds and other animals, but I really believe habitat destruction does a lot more damage to birds and other wild creatures than cats. In our area (San Antonio) developers even got away with razing a huge Yellow Warbler breeding area, because of some stupid loophole the city left in place.

Petra's absolutely right, humans kill more birds than cats. The construction of one Super Center in this area (on a nice wooded acreage) probably killed more wildlife than our total cat population did this year. A nice new subdivision wipes out bird homes, young aimals/birds and food sources. The only thing wildlife has to fear is us.

We can control cats somewhat; to say humans kill more birds is to really just give up on all things environmental. Why recycle? Why use cars that conserve gas? Why bother do anything that has a positive effect on nature? Humans are responsible for cats and for all things that are effecting the earth. That does not mean we should not try to do what we can to change what we can to benefit wildlife within our powers.

Thanks for the reminder, Lisa : )

Here is a link that might be useful: Cats kill birds

We have 10 cats, all indoors only. And yes, I feel it's better (and safer) if cats are not allowed to roam. However, I do not like the fact that cats are being blamed for declines in bird populations when the real culprits are unscrupulous developers who don't give a damn about the environment. Changing laws to enforce tighter restrictions on development IS within our powers, if we are willing to get out there and vote.

Hi again guys, yes I will raise my hand and admit to being a crazy bird watcher. BUT I have witnessed cats (that do not belong on my property) not only kill birds, but have also seen one run off with a mom chipmunk when her babies had just come out of the nest for the first time, they all died. I saw a FULL grown squirrel that was writhing and screaming in a cats jaws, and baby bunnies that screech and scream when they are being killed for sport, the frogs around my pond have been left in bloody peices. This was not done by MY cat, but one a neighbor thinks is ok to let roam. Explain to me how this is ok? I live on 20 acres and your fluffy is not welcome here. I love my cat and he is quite content being an INSIDE only cat. You as a cat owner will decide how you want your cat to live, I cant change that. BUT please be aware that wildlife WILL SUFFER at the paws of your beloved pet. Please be mindful of the NATIVE spring critter babies and keep your cat in your OWN yard!

Cats belong indoors. They are an invasive species and upset the balance of nature. Also, in urban areas, they are at risk of death by car, and in the country, death by coyote. Who would take that risk? I pity the few cats we see when we go out to our rural cabin (which is on 38 acres of woods & fields, surrounded in part by farms). They have a nasty & short life.

Rodents do immeasureable damage on a farm. They eat the electrical connections to valuable machinery, insulation and make nests in motors which cause the implement to burn out. Our three cats take care of this problem on the farm for us and they are very valuable to us. (Also, we love them to death!)

Yes, occasionally they will get a bird or baby something else, but that is the way nature works. I have had indoor cats in the past and always thought they were terribly bored. Cats are outdoor animals by nature.

Cats are not outdoor animals by nature, as they are bred domestically. Bobcats are outdoor animals by nature, as are Lynxs and Cougars.

Here is a link that might be useful: Indoor Cats

acorn, You are a brave woman. I have 3 male cats, 2 are indoor/outdoor, 1 is indoor exclusively. When I read the subject of your posting I knew what you were in for from the group who believe cats belong indoors.

I can tell you that one of my outdoor cats did help immensely this fall with the mice. If not for my cat, the mice may have made their way into my home. He gets an A+ from all at my house!

I don't understand why the indoor cat proponents keep preaching. I really don't care what they think. If I want my cats to go out, they'll go out. If you don't like the heading of a thread, just don't post on it. It is really very easy to just move on and start a thread on the Debates forum. Oh yeah, that's been done - over and over ad naseum.

The balance of nature has already been upset. The huge mouse problem in my chicken coup is in no way, shape or form, natural. In a sense, these mice have been "domesticated" in that they have been born, raised and fed pretty much entirely in that coup. Darn things don't even run when they see me. Poisons and traps are totally out of the question here.
My cats pretty much live out by my coup - for obvious reasons.
For pretty much the same reason they are uninterested in the large bird population in my yard. Again, this population is not natural. There is a huge population of house finches that exist because of the very large amount of things I have planted (I didn't plant them for the birds) and the water gardens I put in. The large spruce trees have been excellent protection for many generations of finches. I'm sure I'm going to get flamed big time for this, but if the cats were to remove some of those finches, it might be a good thing for the health of that artificially large population.

I'm sick of the assumption that cats who go outdoors are doomed to short and nasty lives. 22 years is not a short life. 18 years is not a short life - and who knows how much longer she will live since she's not dead yet.
I've never had an obese cat. I've never had a diabetic cat. I've never had a cat get renal failure due to lack of Taurine in their diet. And I never will.

I will admit the cats HAVE to been in before dusk and are not allowed out until the sun is well up.

My neighbor's dog kills rabbits and squirrels - should he be forced to stay indoors?

My lab mix used to kill mice for sport - should she have been forced to stay indoors?

I'll never agree to having my cats stay inside. I know it is wrong.

cnetter - why is it wrong? Because someone does not approach things the same way doesn't make the way you do, wrong. I don't think you're wrong at all. It's your cat, your life - end of story.

Oops, sorry labmomma. my communication skills aren't too great. I meant it is wrong for my cats to be exclusively indoors.
FWIW, this only applies to my cats. No way am I going to tell someone else to let their cat out or keep it inside. I have no right to do that.

I knew I would get flamed by the indoor only cat people and I am a bird watcher and bird lover. We have many bird nests that I can watch form my window. There is a squrral nest too. My cats leave them alone because we have chickens, goats and horses so the cats are too busy in the feed rooms. We have a pond and meadows so there are voles and gophers to hunt. We heat with wood so there are wood rats in the wood pile. Cats were never domestic animals they are associates living with humans for their own reasons. I like nime in at night because there are bob cats and raccoons and coyote. I have lost cats to predtors I'm not making light of it because I Love My Cats, but it is the circle of life. Hindsight I should have put this on debates I thought this group mellowed. LOL

Acorn, I don't think you got flamed. I think you were disagreed with. I don't think the two are the same. We can disagree. I posted two links to information supporting my opinion. There is very little evidence (if any) in wildlife biology that supports the notion that cats do not have an adverse effect on wildlife.

I guess when you show us the statistics that do not support the facts that cats do kill a substantial amout of wildlife, we "indoor only cat people" will seem more mellow to you. I personally have had to put back together wild birds that have been maimed by cats when I worked in avian rehabilitation. I have also had to see them die. It is as much the circle of life as a cat getting hit by a car is the circle of life.

Also, realize that you do not see all they kill and maim. And that when they maim or kill a parent, the entire nest dies, so in killing one adult, 3 - 5 babies may die waiting for a parent that never returns.

Please do not take my disagreement with you as flaming. It is not.

I will continue to post against people that let thier cats run wild. Is this a controversial subject? YES. Will it ever go away? NO. I love my cat. I love my wildlife. There is no reason for them to ever meet. I understand "barn" cats. My neighbor has them, but her cats don't ever seem to be the problem. It's the lady down the road that has "pet" cats she allows to roam. Not to sound rude, but I wanted to slap her when she came crying to me that one of her cats had been killed in the road. DDDAAAA! I know this subject has been discused to daeth, but if just ONE cat owner decides to keep their cat inside from now on it will be worth the effort! I can not be as respectful as Elly, (who by the way is a rehabber)I DO have a flaming disagreement. YOUR CATS DO NOT BELONG OUTSIDE KILLING NATIVE WILDLIFE! PERIOD.

I missed my chance to post before this became a debate about indoor/outdoor cat thread.

As an adult, my cats have all been indoor only because I've lived in the innner city. Hasn't stopped them from bringing me trinkets. My previous cat learned his lesson when I stepped on a mouse he'd killed and freaked out. Not a lot of tensile strength in mouse fur, doncha know! Ever after, he knew to alert me to the fact that he had a dead mouse. Usually he'd stand a foot away from it and meow, not making eye contact with me or it, until I saw the carcass. I'd praise him, throw it out the door, and give him a special snack. Win, win, win! (Well, except for the mouse....)

Twice now my Siamese has caught a mouse while he's been out in the yard with me when I'm gardening. I haven't taken the mouse away from him, but I have told him it's an "outside toy" and he can't come back inside until he's done throwing it up in the air and catching it again.

When I was a kid, my old tomcat used to bring me stunned animals all the time. Mice, voles, snakes -- he'd stun them and deposit them at my feet with a special meow. I've read this is the way cats teach their kittens to hunt -- I'm sure I was a huge disappointment to Butterfly, because I never mastered the killing bite!

I suppose in cats, there must be different temperments. Our cat, who just died last week, was an inside cat most of the time. He came to us as a stray, living in an old auotomobile for over a yr. before he decided to trust us. I was always outside with him when he was out, and he just laid and watched birds, and squirrels. Maybe too lazy to run after them. Our neighbor has 3 cats, who are in our yard a lot. Two of them just lay around, never run after squirrels or birds. The other one, he is sneaky, and does catch birds. I always yell and scold him, to no avail. Out of the 4 cats total, only one went after wildlife. They are all treated the same, fed the same, go inside at night, so it must be that some cats are just watchers and some are catchers. I have observed cats for 30 yrs. now, and that is what I come to feel now. If I had a cat that was a bird killer, it would never be allowed outside. We have 68 bird houses on our lot, and 3 feeders, for I love the birds a lot. At present though, no cat since ours died.
Darlene

Acorn, I used to have 3 indoor-outdoor cats, and it took years for me to realize how much damage my cats were inflicting on the native bird population. I read, listened, & learned about the delicate balance of nature, and accepted that I was ignorant (in the true meaning of the word) about many wildlife issues. I think it was "brave" of me to change my way of thinking, and many of us on this & other forums are simply trying to discuss this rationally, in the hopes that others will learn. Please don't flame me!

I wouldn't flame anyone, I know we disagree on subjects and it is great we have our own way of thinking. My cats are really house/barn cats. I have one, Rubie who is a total house cat, she doesn't even know where the barn is. I lived in the city 30 years ago and my cats were not allowed out ever then. I have no bird feeders but plant a bird and butterfly garden it has enough cover the cats don't bother with the area.

Well, here's a spin on this topic. My peaceful, sweet kitty was laying outside on the lawn while I was weeding. Suddenly a bunch of Blue-jays descended on him, and attacked him viciously. As I ran to his aid, I was 'dive-bombed' by the Jays and wound up with quite a gash on my forehead. He wound up at the Vet and I had quite a headache.

Obviously, there was a nest near-by and, we learned to respect Bluejays.