More cat issues...
- Thread starter ZX9RCAM
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My dog goes outside when my GF goes to smoke. She barks if there is somebody/thing outside of HER yard. I get on my GF for letting her bark, but she can't stop her a lot of the time.
I merely need to go out and look at her (my dog of course) and she quits.
Texasgordo
TGT Addict
Youse guys...
Texasgordo
TGT Addict
Buy 2 just to be sure.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Two is one, and one is none.
This is more-or-less like the live trap I built (post #15) out of scraps around my place at the time. A little bowl or jar lid with food is placed directly under that rod going down into the trap. The rod is notched to hold the trap door open, so that went the animal starts to eat, their head bumps the rod & knocks it off the notch, causing the trap door to close.
We had a hell of an issue with pet cats and Ferrell. The girls in my avatar live in the house we own next door. Common back yard. Pool/swing set/decks and a sand box that any kid would love to play in. Until the freaking cats start shitting in it.
I did the live trap thing for about 10 of them. That pretty much cleaned out the pets and a few Ferrell. Then it was just Ferrell cats. Nasty tempered and aggressive. They were dealt with in a more positive way.
Now we just have Possum/ground hog and rabbit since the cats have been removed. Just can't win.
I is.
Yep. I have the sweetest pit bull. She loves people and kids, and is very social.
But she hates cats and squirrels, and has ended the lives of several of both species that made the unfortunate decision to enter my back yard. She stalks completely silent, catches them, squeezes the life out them. And then its over.
Till the pomeranian gets involved. He then eats the squirrels, guts first. He apparently has not developed a taste for kitty.
You never, ever say anything on a site like that about the free roaming cats. You will be ganged up on, called bad names, and I even had someone kick over my planter in my front yard.
If you're going to do something, just do it. Don't talk about it, don't post about it, just do it.
Folks who trap and release them just give someone else the headache, imho...
I live on a peninsula that is accessible by a two mile bridge...people drop off animals knowing they won't swim 2 miles or very unlikely to make it back across the bridge alive. Cats are predators and kill whether hungry or not...I'll take the other small animals and birds over a feral cat anyday. We have owned cats..last one lived to be 21 a Siamese named Sam. Sam lived her long life indoors....because we cared about her....
I live on a peninsula that is accessible by a two mile bridge...people drop off animals knowing they won't swim 2 miles or very unlikely to make it back across the bridge alive. Cats are predators and kill whether hungry or not...I'll take the other small animals and birds over a feral cat anyday. We have owned cats..last one lived to be 21 a Siamese named Sam. Sam lived her long life indoors....because we cared about her....
Amen
Agreed. Trapping and releasing elsewhere is just wrong. It's no kinder to the cat and may create problems for others. It definitely does nothing to help with overall population control.
The easy answer for most people in my county (Harris) is to call animal control and get on the waiting list for a trap. You trap the cat and the county comes and picks up the trap. If you're catching cats regularly, they'll let you keep the trap for as long as you need it. This, however, is just the same as shooting the cats. You know those trapped cats are going to be euthanized; you're just outsourcing the work.
If you want to be humane and reduce the feral cat population, there's an imperfect, expensive solution usually referred to as TNR - trap, neuter, release.
Cat colonies are territorial. If you have one centered at or near your house, you can trap the cats, get them fixed, then put them right back where you found them. Get 'em all and the cat colony will no longer increase in size. Lots of their bad behaviors (really indiscriminate spraying and fighting) related to how they go nuts when in heat go away, too. Those cats will continue to defend territory, though, so no new feral cats will move in.
In Harris and Montgomery counties, Texas Litter Control are the go-to guys for implementing such a plan. Elsewhere I'm sure there are comparable organizations.
This is not a perfect solution. While they're still around, the cat colony will continue to crap in flowerbeds and kill birds. However, cars and predators will reduce their numbers. The average lifespan of a feral cat is just a few years so, if you're effective in trapping, the cat colony will be gone in those few years without you either creating a new problem for people elsewhere (by trapping and dumping them) or being directly responsible for their demise.
There are two additional problems with TNR.
First, if you do it right your cat colony will eventually be gone. With no ferals to protect the turf, the cat colony from the next block over will expand into your space and you'll have to start all over again UNLESS you can get all your neighbors to agree to never put out food. If you can, the problem is permanently solved.
Second, you have to do it right. Miss a single female and before you know it there will be a dozen new cats in your local colony. There always seems to be one incredibly wily female who never falls for the trap and starts the colony all over again.
