Please Think Twice Before You Get A Cat...

[K.J.]

LMAO WHO WOULD BE SO WORRIED ABOUT BIRDS!?!?!?!?!? ITS PART FO THE FOOD CHIAN MAN!

I have to agree, the food chain is important. Maybe they should make a bird-flavored cat food to satisfy their tastes, but cats are far more important than birds. I feel sorry for the birds when my cat kills a small one, but you simply cannot say a cat shouldn't kill a large, annoying bird such as a crow. Besides, an eagle can take a kitten away and no one gets annoyed by that. It's the food chain. Without it, we would be starved, probably, and left with no important vitamins to support us.

 

[Synirr]

Neutering cats and keeping them in at night does helps a lot in controlling their killing instincts and hunting opprtunities...

How does keeping them in at night benefit birds? Isn't this thread primarily about the safety of songbirds? They are roosting at night, it's during the daytime that they are in danger from cats...

It's the food chain. Without it, we would be starved, probably, and left with no important vitamins to support us.

One problem with that theory: Housecats, as a domestic species, are not part of the natural foodchain and thus put an unnatural strain on the populations of their target prey animals. It's non-native and domesticated species like housecats that can throw the natural balance of the foodchain out of whack, and in doing so, effectively endanger far more species than just those they themselves target by depriving them of their natural source of prey.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

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One problem with that theory: Housecats, as a domestic species, are not part of the natural foodchain and thus put an unnatural strain on the populations of their target prey animals. It's non-native and domesticated species like housecats that can throw the natural balance of the foodchain out of whack, and in doing so, effectively endanger far more species than just those they themselves target by depriving them of their natural source of prey.
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Yes that may be true but what do you think they eat before we domesticated them? this is something these animals have carried on from the past. even us humans have traits that we have taken from 100 and 100 of years ago. its just part of the living cycle everything living will flucsuate in numbers no matter what animal it is.

 

[Opcn]

I've been saying that for years, nice to hear the word is getting around.

Edit: DiscusLova, undomesticated ancestors of house cats didn't eat anything in much of housecats range, there ancestors didn't eat a single north american bird in the past few millenia, not a single one, now millions die each year. Yes it is natural for populations to fluctuate, its also natural for temperatures to fluctuate but that doesn't mean that its best for humans. in the end all different aproatches to sustainable living are about keeping humans happy and not dead for as long as possible If other species can be helped along the way (like the many species of songbird that are disapearing) then so much the better.

 

[Synirr]

Yes that may be true but what do you think they eat before we domesticated them? this is something these animals have carried on from the past. even us humans have traits that we have taken from 100 and 100 of years ago. its just part of the living cycle everything living will flucsuate in numbers no matter what animal it is.

Surely you recognize that there are a lot of behavioural differences between domestic cats and their wild ancestors -- one being that housecats kill for fun and not just food, whereas wildcats generally do not. And, as Opcn said, their territory is much more vast than that of any of their ancestors. Domestic cats are not naturally found anywhere in the world, as they are a species essentially created by the influence of man, so they are by default a non-native species. Non-native species as successful as cats tend to put a lot of strain on native species.

....can't the cat owners at least put a bell on their cat's collar so the birds get an early warning? I mean, it's obvious that there's not much one could do about their hunting instinct. A noisy bell/trinket will at least help lessen their stalking skills a bit.

I dunno how much that really helps, we've belled one of our cats in the past and the birds just ignored it for the most part. Besides that, you could only hear it when he broke out of stalking to run in for the kill, he could stalk so effectively that the bell wouldn't ring.

EDIT for messed-up quotes

 

[sparklefuzz]

I want to speak for the rapidly diminishing population of worms, that the birds are eating. It is a disgrace!

Seriously though, its the way of the world, the food chain. You're only really safe from being eaten as a human. Birds have wings and can fly, cats can't. That is a pretty good defense IMHO.

 

[Synirr]

Again, the argument that it's the foodchain and natural way of things is plain and simple BS when we're talking about a species that is not natural in the first place. I don't feel I need to explain why again.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Neutering cats and keeping them in at night does helps a lot in controlling their killing instincts and hunting opprtunities...

How does keeping them in at night benefit birds? Isn't this thread primarily about the safety of songbirds? They are roosting at night, it's during the daytime that they are in danger from cats...

A cats predatory instincts are most active at night, i used to think that cats only caught birds during the day time until i went to a neighbours party at around 10 or 11 o'clock at night and her cat brought in a half alive bird which it had just caught (it had has been dark for many hours).

I don't see cats as anymore superior than any common farm animal- afterall, we eat millions of animals a day across the world, humanely euthanising unwanted cats is for the best in the long run. There will never be enough people to support all of the population of cats if things continue togo the way they are.

I work in cat rescue, and I think that is the sickest thing I have heard yet. That disgusts me.

Why? I mean seriously, if you eat meat, you eat animals. How can you go on about how terrible it is to euthanise stray cats when you live off eating dead animals anyway? Or do you honestly believe that cats are better than pigs, cows, sheep, chickens etc? Why?

LMAO WHO WOULD BE SO WORRIED ABOUT BIRDS!?!?!?!?!? ITS PART FO THE FOOD CHIAN MAN!

I have to agree, the food chain is important. Maybe they should make a bird-flavored cat food to satisfy their tastes, but cats are far more important than birds. I feel sorry for the birds when my cat kills a small one, but you simply cannot say a cat shouldn't kill a large, annoying bird such as a crow. Besides, an eagle can take a kitten away and no one gets annoyed by that. It's the food chain. Without it, we would be starved, probably, and left with no important vitamins to support us.

Domestic cats are not part of any natural food chains, they are a man bred/made animal- otherwise its like saying animals like poodles or bull dogs are part of natural food chains, which they aren't.
Secondly domestic cats would not exist in the wild in the numbers they current exist in if it weren't for us, and they would not be so widespread across the world either.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I want to speak for the rapidly diminishing population of worms, that the birds are eating. It is a disgrace!

Seriously though, its the way of the world, the food chain. You're only really safe from being eaten as a human. Birds have wings and can fly, cats can't. That is a pretty good defense IMHO.

Read the thread more carefully, domestic cats are not part of natural food chains .

 

[KathyM]

I want to speak for the rapidly diminishing population of worms, that the birds are eating. It is a disgrace!

Seriously though, its the way of the world, the food chain. You're only really safe from being eaten as a human. Birds have wings and can fly, cats can't. That is a pretty good defense IMHO.

Read the thread more carefully, domestic cats are not part of natural food chains .

They may not be part of the "natural" food chain, but they are part of the general food chain now whether we like it or not.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I want to speak for the rapidly diminishing population of worms, that the birds are eating. It is a disgrace!

Seriously though, its the way of the world, the food chain. You're only really safe from being eaten as a human. Birds have wings and can fly, cats can't. That is a pretty good defense IMHO.

Read the thread more carefully, domestic cats are not part of natural food chains .

They may not be part of the "natural" food chain, but they are part of the general food chain now whether we like it or not.

Does that mean we should just accept things though? Thats like saying rabbits are just part of the food chain in australia, so despite the massive ammounts of damage they cause to the environment, we should just accept it.

The only way to really solve the cat population killing wildlife problem we have over here is to try and discourage people from buying cats, but instead also incourage people to neuter their cats and be more vigilant of stray cat populations.
There are other small steps we can take to help sort out the domestic cats versus nature problem, but although they are a part of food chains, they certainly aren't a part of natural food chains (cats don't just threaten the animals they prey on, because cats kill rodents and birds they also use up the food sources of native predators like foxs or birds of prey).

 

[K.J.]

Does that mean we should just accept things though? Thats like saying rabbits are just part of the food chain in australia, so despite the massive ammounts of damage they cause to the environment, we should just accept it.

The only way to really solve the cat population killing wildlife problem we have over here is to try and discourage people from buying cats, but instead also incourage people to neuter their cats and be more vigilant of stray cat populations.
There are other small steps we can take to help sort out the domestic cats versus nature problem, but although they are a part of food chains, they certainly aren't a part of natural food chains (cats don't just threaten the animals they prey on, because cats kill rodents and birds they also use up the food sources of native predators like foxs or birds of prey).

Well, yes. Songbirds are quickly repopulated every spring; they're not going extinct, hon, and even at the rate we're going they won't be. And perhaps by the time they've become mostly extinct, cats will move onto another prey because songbirds are not easily found. They may start killing rabbits, but what have rabbits ever done for us? Not the domesticated kind - but the wild hares that invade out garden, eat out carrots? The food chain has changed. According to Adam and Eve (not meant to be offensive if you don't believe in this), animals existed before them, so maybe we aren't part of the natural food chain either? Maybe we shouldn't eat any meat then, or vegetables, and do the same for our cats.

I keep my cats spayed, and they go in at night, but 1/2 the time I see birds lying around. (And my maine coon kitten keeps on bringing them in when we're not watching... ) But it's the birds fault, they are entirely unaware, which is why our cats always stalk them instead of moles, rats, mice.

 

[KathyM]

Does that mean we should just accept things though? Thats like saying rabbits are just part of the food chain in australia, so despite the massive ammounts of damage they cause to the environment, we should just accept it.

I didn't say we should "just accept it", you're putting words in my mouth that weren't there. I was merely pointing out that you'd corrected a couple of people for saying cats are part of the food chain because they're not "naturally" endemic to our habitat. The fact remains that cats are and probably always will be part of the food chain in this country, whether "naturally" so or not.

 

[The-Wolf]

The fact remains that cats are and probably always will be part of the food chain in this country, whether "naturally" so or not.

not just this country but on all continents that cats are found,
I think the only one is Antartica where cats havn't made their presence felt.

just remember this
Cats were once worshipped as gods
and they havn't let us forget this fact

 

[wodesorel]

Or do you honestly believe that cats are better than pigs, cows, sheep, chickens etc? Why?

They're on the same level as dogs, domesticated, intelligence, and companion wise.

Would you really compare a dog to a sheep?