To think a buzzard might eat my cat?

[serinBrightside]

She is a tiny little thing and today I watched a buzzard sitting in a tree observing her very carefully.

I brought her in and scared it off but I am worried now.

I am not usually at home in the day and our last cat just vanished into thin air

DH thinks I am being daft.

Well. How big is she? Maybe you are NBU. Most buzzards wouldn't try their luck with a full-sized cat, I would imagine. But a kitten-sized one they might attack.

She is about one but we are not certain as she is a rescue cat. But still a lot smaller than all the other cats around here.

A buzzard took one of our guinea pigs a few years ago. We saw it happen...

Can you keep her in until she is a little bit bigger? Kittens grow quite quickly.

Gentleotter, that's awful.

I think we will try and keep her in at least until we get home from work. I don't know that she will ever get any bigger,she has been with us since August and doesn't seem to have grown.

I think Buzzards will take rabbits in the wild, so a small cat -possibly.

I have seen a sparrowhawk grab a dove, - it was too big for it and it carried it across the garden then dropped it, by which time it was badly mauled.

On the plus side - I would love to be able to see buzzards regularly- beautiful birds.

Buy an air rifle? ;)

Seriously though I think that it is unlikely the buzzard will attempt it - rabbits, guinea pigs etc move in very distinctly prey-like ways which buzzards are hardwired to respond to, cats (predators themselves) don't. Also, don't buzzards tend to drop down on their prey from a great height, not watch them for ages from a stationary position? It sounds as though the buzzard is keeping an eye on a potential threat, not stalking its next meal.

But if it will make you feel better (especially as your other cat disappeared) then keep her in for a while and tell the DH to go stuff himself. I have a tiny rescue cat too and I know how much my little furball flea machine means to me. I would totally understand not wanting to take a chance.

Oh crikey you don't think a sparrowhawk would take a guinea pig do you?

I have only seen one in the garden once but we do keep our GP in the garden in the summer and that would be awful.

I don't blame you for being cautious. There was a massive buzzard circling my garden the other day and both my (huge) cats came running for cover. I'm sure the buzzard would try and go for something smaller though, I think they usually take small birds rather than full-grown cats.

Mind you, my 'special' cat got attacked by a blackbird once and I had to go and rescue him

I don't know 5foot5, I think they're mostly interested in other birds. Do you have your GP in a run? maybe you could make a chicken wire covering for it?

What grumpla said about buzzards was right - they drop on their prey from a big height. As for a buzzard taking a cat? Though possible is most unlikely. I wouldn't worry.

Sparrow hawks would go for a guinea pig though their usual prey is definitely the winged type

We live in a very urban area, and have a small garden and an even smaller lawn area surrounded by apple trees. Nevertheless, we saw a raptor on our lawn, probably a juvenile sparrow hawk, who had caught a fat pigeon.

I know very little about raptors but, from Grumpla's info, it's unlikely that a raptor would see your tiny cat as potential prey.

I would have had the same concern as you had, especially as the cat might have been frightened by this bird, and I don't think you were being unreasonable at all.

oops....

RSPB said they will prey on animals that weigh up to about 500g, anything smaller is usually carrion.

How much does she weigh?

I think you should assume that your cat would be fair game for a buzzard. especially in these winter months.

Generally buzzards eat mostly insects, they love leatherjacket beetles (do you know the ones I mean?!). But it's lean times for the birds after all this snow n ice has killed the insects - I reckon Mr Buzzard might very well go for your kitten. Be careful.
BTW, I am thinking of getting a kitten for my son's 8th birthday - is this a good idea and how can I make sure it's a nice character? Is a rescue kitten a bad idea, or should it be seen with its mother ideally? We only have one cat, inherited from my MIL (long story - see littletree's post, poor woman), and that cat (aged 12) is a horrible unfriendly scratch your hand off type. Don't want another of those.

Maybe you could try a decoy raptor. You can get them from large garden centres etc like you can decoy herons. Put it on a high post- it might work to keep others away as there is already a raptor in the territory. Good luck whatever you do!

Blimey

Oh dear... I read the title as "a vulture" and was trying to work out where on earth you were!

Thanks everyone! I have bought a decoy Goshawk and we are going to put it in the tree where the Buzzard sits!

Tricky, I don't know if you can tell a kittens character very well, they all seem pretty mad to me. This one was about 8months when we got her and it was already clear that she was very gentle, calm (to the point of laziness!) and loving.

I would say get a young cat,the rescue centres are full of them as lots of people get kittens and then can't cope with them or get rid of them once they have out grown the cutesey stage.

Ditto young cat from a rescue centre! You've a much better chance of being able to tell their character by then and as serinBrightside says there are always tons of them. With kittens you really can't tell what they're going to be like. My cat was a rescue and I have never regretted choosing her over the cutesy kittens.

I would recommend you read the Vicky Halls cat books before you introduce another cat into your home though, especially if existing cat is troublesome.

I did not know that about buzzards eating beetles BTW . As a former Young Ornithologists Club member I hang my head in shame.

Although we live in a rural area I've never seen birds of prey anywhere near our cats. Female blackbirds are another matter, our psycokiller rodent hunter runs a mile if one of those comes close. Introducing a cat into your home is always a risk, they are independent inquisitive creatures with a completely different world view to us. Personally I think the benefits hugely outweigh those risks, although I wish the one sat beside me would stop trying to play with my keyboard.