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I suppose it is all down to where you live in England, we have always lived fairly rurally and nobody I have ever known has ever kept a cat indoors its whole life. Indeed during the summer months they practically live outside.
Thank you for your valuable input, though. I appreciate your concern.
John, thanks for raising the subject and keeping it on a polite level. It's a heated subject indeed. Good luck with your move (always tricky when you have animals, yes?)
I've heard that Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame raises Bengals. We have friends in north Florida who have an indoor Bengal.
Anyway, Colorado would be quite a climate change from England. What kind of critters you contend with depends on where you live. Rattlesnakes exist, but I never saw one in the wild in all my many years in Colorado. Black widows exist--I found one in my basement.
We lived in central Denver for 18 years; my cats were indoor/outdoor (they had a cat door) and managed to live 17 and 20 years respectively. However, I think it was during the last 5 years we were there (we left in late 2005) that the coyotes moved in.
Foxes were always there, but the coyotes were a fairly new addition.
My Denver cats did catch a few songbirds, but actually preferred mice, both were good mousers. This actually made the neighbors happy.
May I take this opportunity to thank all that have contributed.
Attitudes in England and the US are certainly different regarding cats, in England it is seen as intolerably cruel to keep a cat indoors for the whole of its life.
Actually, that is why I decided to jump in when I did and talk about our cats. Not everyone in Colorado feels as some of the folks on this thread do.
A friend of mine in Highlands ranch legally owns a Bobcat as a pet. I forget how much meat the thing eats a day, but its a lot.
Not that this will happen in Denver, but Colorado is way different from the UK. Keep your doors closed.
Mountain lion in bedroom kills family dog - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/06/mountain.lion.ap/index.html - broken link)
Thak you for posting that, that is EXACTLY why having a pet is YOUR responsibilty.
Look, common house cats around where I live go up missing each year because people don't get that the coyote or the mountain lion (which we do have here in Briargate, have in the Denverarea- you live on the Front Range you poopieheads) still live here. It's not commen because frankly people don't report animal loss to authorities.
Get freakin' smart. Even your 70+ pound Labrador is part of dinner here. Mine has a good run the 'hood but he doesn't have much time in the back yard.Even I keep an eye on my dopey dog...because frankly, he would the fight...he would lick you before he would fight you. Man and animal alike.
Husky's and Malamutes are a fairly common dog breed around here as well and they view small animals like your cats as pray. So it's not just the mountain lion or cars you have to worry about. If your cats jump the wrong fence they might end up in the jaws of a domesticated dog. Like most Siberian Huskies, she loves everyone, but if she gets taunted by a cat she'll figure out how to get over my 6 foot tall fence and can run > 20mph for 20 miles... your cat can probably run 30mph for 25 feet, but my Sibe will just be getting warmed up at 25 feet.
Keep your cats locked up, I don't want to have to return a corps to some little kid because their parents let the cat roam the neighborhood.
Americans keep an estimated 60 million cats as pets. Let's say each cat kills only one bird a year. That would mean that cats kill over 60 million birds (minimum) each year - more wildlife than any oil spill.
Scientific studies actually show that each year, cats kill hundreds of millions of migratory songbirds. In 1990, researchers estimated that "outdoor" house cats and feral cats were responsible for killing nearly 78 million small mammals and birds annually in the United Kingdom.
University of Wisconsin ornithologist, Dr. Santley Temple estimates that 20-150 million songbirds are killed each year by rural cats in Wisconsin alone.
Feline predation is not "natural." Cats were domesticated by the ancient Egyptians and taken throughout the world by the Romans. Cats were brought to North America in the 1800's to control rats. The "tabby" that sits curled up on your couch is not a natural predator and has never been in the natural food chain in the Western Hemisphere.
Cats are a serious threat to fledglings, birds roosting at night and birds on a nest. Research shows that de-clawing cats and bell collars do not prevent them from killing birds and other small animals. For healthy cats and wild birds, cats should not be allowed to roam free.
Work with your local humane society, veterinarians and state wildlife agency to enact and enforce free-roaming cat regulations. For more information: Free Roaming Cats. American Backyard Bird Society, PO Box 10046, Rockville, MD 20849. Cats: A Heavy Toll on Songbirds. by Rich Stallcup. Point Reyes Bird Observatory, 4990 Shoreline Hwy., Stinson Beach, CA 94924. Is there a Killer in Your House? by George Harrison, National Wildlife Magazine (October/November 1992). Beware of Well-Fed Felines. by Peter Churcher and John Lawton, Natural History Magazine (July 1989).
I never thought I'd use the American Jornal of Public Health as a link on C-D, but something I read in the November issue was very interesting. I'm bumping up this thread to bring it up. Here is the abstract:
"Ecological concerns focused on evidence that DDT ingestion by predatory birds resulted in eggs with shells so thin they were crushed by adult birds. In addition, DDT spraying to control malaria allegedly resulted in cats being poisoned in some areas, which led to increased rodent populations and, in turn, the parachuting of cats into the highlands of the island of Borneo to kill the rodents, a story that influenced the decision to ban DDT spraying."
"Ecological concerns focused on evidence that DDT ingestion by predatory birds resulted in eggs with shells so thin they were crushed by adult birds. In addition, DDT spraying to control malaria allegedly resulted in cats being poisoned in some areas, which led to increased rodent populations and, in turn, the parachuting of cats into the highlands of the island of Borneo to kill the rodents, a story that influenced the decision to ban DDT spraying."
So cats do have a place in the eco-cylce.
Well, any introduced population of animals or plants that flourishes, in a sense becomes part of the "eco-cycle". But often it's to the detriment of native populations. In the case of feral cats in the U.S., this is the case: outdoor cats have a major, negative impact on vanishing species of songbirds and other small animals.
Perhaps in Borneo the exploding rat population outweighed any bad effects of increasing the cats. Or perhaps there's a predator in Borneo that keeps the cats in control (pythons??) But here in the U.S., we're smart enough to realize that not only is Fluffy in danger from cars and coyotes, but she's also a part of the "eco-cycle" that we want to check.
Get freakin' smart. Even your 70+ pound Labrador is part of dinner here. Mine has a good run the 'hood but he doesn't have much time in the back yard.Even I keep an eye on my dopey dog...because frankly, he would the fight...he would lick you before he would fight you. Man and animal alike.
Exactly. I have a 75 lb. German Shorthaired Pointer. He is a big baby. The only thing that may save him is his SPEED. He is a hunting dog and was bred and trained to run all day. However, against a pack he is done. One Coyote can lure him out pretending to play and right into a pack, even in the burbs.
I would also add that, when hiking or camping in the mountains, YOU may be dinner. Just be aware of you surroundings.
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