Page 9 | If you have a cat you have to stop it scaring and eating birds

lasagnelle · 2024-11-10T16:10:28+00:00

Get a bell collar or something. Give the wildlife a chance. Can you train cats to leave birds alone?

StaunchMomma · 10/11/2024 19:05

Tried the collar. Mine just ends up with a leg or his locker jaw stuck through it.

I'm not risking injuries for a pigeon.

Anyway, we have a big, thorny bush and you'll be glad to hear that the sometimes hundreds of sparrows who like to spend time in it know full well the ginger one cannot get to them while they're in there and if he does ever get close to one of them as they pop down to the pond for a quick bath then they swoop down at him and protect each other.

The squirrel is too fast for him and the hedgehog too scary.

The field mice are definitely not safe, though.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 10/11/2024 19:04

PyreneanAubrie · 10/11/2024 19:02

Yes, my cats and dogs do eat meat so I suppose they are indirectly responsible for animal deaths.

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Not judging. Just checking

Theunamedcat · 10/11/2024 19:03

It's us who are a threat to the birds the area I live in now my nan lived in when I was a child there were a LOT more cats more countryside and thousands more birds flocks and flocks of them they would sit on the telephone wires until they bent these days we have a pathetic few birds even less now they built on the fields they ripped up the trees in the town now there are no small birds in town either

We have pigeons and gulls no sparrows blue tit's great tit's coal tit's blackbirds? Haven't seen one this year in my garden we are in November ffs we get the odd Robin

But it's us who is the main issue

PyreneanAubrie · 10/11/2024 19:02

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 10/11/2024 18:59

Hoping the cats do

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Yes, my cats and dogs do eat meat so I suppose they are indirectly responsible for animal deaths.

Herewegoago · 10/11/2024 19:01

TriesNotToBeCynical · 10/11/2024 18:27

A proposition with no evidence. The ones who enter my garden mainly kill healthy fledglings. And I am not sure how one would recognise a weak or sick slowworm.

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Except for the assertions, stats and evidence of the bird sanctuaries/charities ..

User19876536484 · 10/11/2024 19:01

housethatbuiltme · 10/11/2024 18:54

You clearly missed the part that says 'at minimum' which then clearly refers to modern domesticated cats (still common) brought to the country vs. the almost extinct and extinct wild verities.

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If you meant thousands of years, why didn’t you say it?

Evidence of domesticated cats have been found in settlements dated to 300 years BC, and that’s just the ones they have found.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 10/11/2024 18:59

PyreneanAubrie · 10/11/2024 18:56

I don't eat meat. And I have indoor cats.

Hoping the cats do

PyreneanAubrie · 10/11/2024 18:56

I don't eat meat. And I have indoor cats.

K0OLA1D · 10/11/2024 18:55

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:53

Human chicken consumption should really be a different thread.

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What are you personally going to do to stop the decimation of birds in the UK? Grow your own food? Stop eating meat?

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 10/11/2024 18:55

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:53

Human chicken consumption should really be a different thread.

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Why? I assume you eat meat… aren’t you then killing more animals than a cat in a year? And also contributing more the destruction of the land than a cat?

housethatbuiltme · 10/11/2024 18:54

User19876536484 · 10/11/2024 18:51

It is thousands of years, not centuries.

Edited

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You clearly missed the part that says 'at minimum' which then clearly refers to modern domesticated cats (still common) brought to the country vs. the almost extinct and extinct wild verities.

Original poster

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:53

housethatbuiltme · 10/11/2024 18:52

50 million killed by their natural balanced predator vs. the 1.12 BILLION chickens slaughters for human consumption.

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Human chicken consumption should really be a different thread.

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Herewegoago · 10/11/2024 18:53

Sawlt · 10/11/2024 18:26

My cat catching perfectly healthy birds by stealth, speed … not catching crippled weak birds.

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That’s called ‘anecdotal evidence’ and isn’t actual evidence of anything. Maybe look at some official reports and statistics, you’re wrong.

dreamer24 · 10/11/2024 18:52

*within days

housethatbuiltme · 10/11/2024 18:52

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:49

50 MILLION dead birds a year. They might not be going extinct but that's a pretty low bar to set

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50 million killed by their natural balanced predator vs. the 1.12 BILLION chickens slaughters for human consumption.

dreamer24 · 10/11/2024 18:52

My cat will not wear a collar. He pulls them off. Every single one we've tried on him has been lost with days. He doesn't really bring birds home though, it's more field mice 😩

WildFlowerBees · 10/11/2024 18:51

My cats no longer catch anything thank god. In the summer one of them spent the afternoon sunning himself on the deck whilst a crow and a pigeon enjoyed the bird food close by. I did explain to him that if he pissed off the corvid family I wouldn't save him when they tried to peck his pretty eyes out.

Ours seem to cohabit quite nicely with the local wildlife that bimbles around our garden.

Tomorrowillbeachicken · 10/11/2024 18:51

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:35

Why does an American human make so much more?

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They own armies of cats that they dress in armour and they fight in their feudal wars?

User19876536484 · 10/11/2024 18:51

housethatbuiltme · 10/11/2024 18:47

Cats have been native to this island for at minimum centuries... Forrest cats (the most common feral in the UK) came over as rat catchers with the Vikings. There where native wild cats here long before that too.

This isn't some brand new never seen before invasion to an isolated island, they are LITERALLY part of the countries delicately balanced ecosystem. Don't fuck with nature, its perfectly capable of handling itself and has for millennia.

It is thousands of years, not centuries.

Sevenwondersofthewoo · 10/11/2024 18:51

fluffyfurryfeatherythings · 10/11/2024 17:47

To help lessen the amount your cat hunts:

play with them a lot indoors, lots of chasing, grabbing, hunting games
give them lots of toys and stimulation, posts to scratch, new things to bat around, places to explore, climb, hide
make their mealtimes interesting - food puzzles and games
keep them in for hours at dawn and dusk when birds are most active

Yeah ok do all that and the bloody cat brings me a great big bird in alive mind this was years back but still. She was most offended when I took it off her.

Original poster

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:49

AlpacaMittens · 10/11/2024 18:40

So if they're not threatening anything with extinction, then what's the issue? They do the same as eg magpies do when they attack small bird nests. Etc etc etc

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50 MILLION dead birds a year. They might not be going extinct but that's a pretty low bar to set

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User19876536484 · 10/11/2024 18:48

knitnerd90 · 10/11/2024 18:05

There are reasons SPCAs in other countries like USA and Australia (and I think NZ) tell people to keep their cats indoors. In fact quite a few councils in Australia mandate it, some just overnight, others all the time. I have 3 cats and they are all indoor only.

(Depending on where you are, outdoors can also be a risk for the cat: traffic and predators)

It is the safest method, and you can keep cats well stimulated indoors.

Cats aren’t native to Australia, so they have a point.

PyreneanAubrie · 10/11/2024 18:48

AlpacaMittens · 10/11/2024 18:38

OK but then also dogs will never be off their lead and will be muzzled outside if they have poor recall. Oh what was that? They need to run? They can just run on a lead.

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Correct . A lot of dogs shouldn't be off the lead because of their poor recall. Twice in the last week I've been harassed by aggressive off-lead dogs while I was walking my puppy on the lead.

housethatbuiltme · 10/11/2024 18:47

Cats have been native to this island for at minimum centuries... Forrest cats (the most common feral in the UK) came over as rat catchers with the Vikings. There where native wild cats here long before that too.

This isn't some brand new never seen before invasion to an isolated island, they are LITERALLY part of the countries delicately balanced ecosystem. Don't fuck with nature, its perfectly capable of handling itself and has for millennia.

Original poster

lasagnelle · 10/11/2024 18:47

AlpacaMittens · 10/11/2024 18:38

OK but then also dogs will never be off their lead and will be muzzled outside if they have poor recall. Oh what was that? They need to run? They can just run on a lead.

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I'd agree with that. I'm fed up of dogs with terrible recall

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