[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by TheComputerGuy

Up here, an outdoor cat has a VERY short life....
They get eaten by fishers and foxes.

Here in Ohio they get eaten by car and truck tires, not good. and sometimes coyotes.

There no such things as bad pets, just bad pet owners.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by SeabeeBolt

True, but I also said that you may want to take the little critter to the local pound and let then deal with the problem. I'm a big animal lover as well, but I believe in taken care of my 3 cats and keeping them inside the house.

Yeah, but most places have a very short stay time. And it's just plain cruel to cage a feral cat. If they aren't people-oriented, they are basically wild animals, and shelter cages just don't do it. Now, if there was some kind of program to spay/neuter ferals and turn them loose again, that would be different. They'd live out whatever there was of their lives without creating more feral cats. And there would still be enough slipping through to keep the population going, just not exploding, and that potential rodent problem would stay 'potential' rather than 'real.'

[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by karibear

Yeah, but most places have a very short stay time. And it's just plain cruel to cage a feral cat. If they aren't people-oriented, they are basically wild animals, and shelter cages just don't do it. Now, if there was some kind of program to spay/neuter ferals and turn them loose again, that would be different. They'd live out whatever there was of their lives without creating more feral cats. And there would still be enough slipping through to keep the population going, just not exploding, and that potential rodent problem would stay 'potential' rather than 'real.'

I think your on to something there karibear, and its the best idea I've heard of yet. Maybe talk to the local politicians and see if theres any chance of get funding for the program. But you do understand that feral cats are the #1 problem with the drop in song birds population and many others as well.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by SeabeeBolt

I think your on to something there karibear, and its the best idea I've heard of yet. Maybe talk to the local politicians and see if theres any chance of get funding for the program. But you do understand that feral cats are the #1 problem with the drop in song birds population and many others as well.

But if 70-80% of the feral population was sterilized, the overall population would go down, without vanishing entirely. Considering how relatively short their life spans, they wouldn't be around long enough to do a great deal of damage. A feral isn't cared for the way pets are, they get diseases, broken bones, and other things that shorten their lives. Not, maybe, what they'd choose if they got to choose at birth, but the kind of life they are used to. I have a friend who's a cat lover and has no children to consume her income, so she has 4 cats that get the best care possible. When her cats have died over the years, they've all been 20+ years of age. Ferals don't live like that.

As for the songbirds, yes, they kill a lot - but so do the pampered pets that are let out regularly. It's what cats do. I've had both - inside and outside - but when I had the outside cats, we were completely free of rodents that got into all the feed stored. But they were also spayed. The last inside-only cat I had, one of our roomers left a door open and he wandered out. Unfortunately, the tree across the street was a favorite roost of 4 juvenile bald eagles, and he vanished awfully quick.

There are a couple programs local to various areas that spay/neuter ferals and return them to where they were trapped, but it's kind of like a sticking a finger in a wall of sandbags trying to hold back a flood.

And just so no one thinks I'm picking on cats, I feel even more strongly about spaying and neutering dogs.

[EarthBound?]

Don't worry Karibear we know . I think everyone on the Oklahoma thread are animal lovers.

[TheComputerGuy]

Originally Posted by SeabeeBolt

Don't worry Karibear we know . I think everyone on the Oklahoma thread are animal lovers.

I love animals.... They taste great!

[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by TheComputerGuy

I love animals.... They taste great!

Are you a member of "P.E.T.A". People Eating Tasty Animals?

[peggydavis]

We have a lot of feral cats here. We have trapped them all and spayed and neutered them. Now they want to live in the house too.

There is a group in Holdenville that traps the cats, then returns them so they can live but not reproduce. I should help them out if they are still in business.


It was an interesting story about this guy I call the cat man, and his experience in moving from California to Holdenville.

Oklahoma Cat Rescuer in Holdenville Seeks Donations of Food

[_redbird_]

Yeah, there's also that lady who works as a cashier at the grocery store in town who has 28 cats, sometimes its 32 cats. She loves them to death.

She has that really dark hair, and she is very chatty. Ask her sometime and she will tell you ALL ABOUT THEM.

We had a feral cat which had kittens, the number went from 9 to 17 real quick when the kittens were growing up and having kittens. Then a friend of ours from CO came to visit and she had them all trapped and fixed.
That's how ended up with our cats, the twins Lightening and Thunder. Except Lightening died, so all we have now is Thunder. He is awesome. And I don't even like cats!

[peggydavis]

I always go to her cash register when I can, since I am always buying massive quantities of dog and cat food. She does love her cats.

We are going to the Saturday night amateur boxing in Wetumka tonight. We try to join in with all the cultural activities in the area.