Attracting cats!
There are live traps,Havahart makes them,even for mice.
In some areas feral cats are a serious problem for native species.Like the Galapagos Islands and other islands where the native animals have no natural defense against feral animals.I like kitties,but they really should not be outdoors.Some areas trap them,neuter and spay and release.In some areas this sadly isn't an option.
On the other hand cats that are fixed and can't reproduce could be a boon in some urban areas with large amounts of pigeons and rodent problems.Nothing native left there for the cats to devour.
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Why???????
I have no idea. Perhaps he didn't want me to domesticate them. You know, "you are responsible tor what you domesticated". The kittens could easily got used to our home. We already have had 2 cats at home at the time so we couldn't take care of next 3 or 4. Cat food is expensive too. I was stealing the food from out cats supplies so we had to buy more.
Or perhaps he just didn't want any more cats near our home since they are often loud at night and they pee on stuffs. You could always castrate them but it is expensive in our country (100-200PLN while average monthly wage in our area is 1600PLN). We couldn't pay for it.
I disagree, being a pampered pet is far superior to being a feral cat. Also, after a relatively short time, kittens get weaned, which means the mother rejects them.
Exactly. Even a 3 months old feral cat is able to survive on its own in area full of food, such as human neighborhoods with open garbage bins. 4-5 months old feral kittens are usually already abandoned by mothers because they are already busy raising newborn kittens.
How to attract cats?
Confidence? Haha.
Many years ago there was a cat and her 2 kittens who made a home under a truck that was parked in the back yard here. I got the kittens' trust slowly just by sitting in the yard reading a book and basically ignoring them. Every day they'd creep a little closer than the day before, so I just kept doing it until they were sniffing next to my feet. Then I started putting food out for them, and not long after that I could pet them a little.
They never became completely tame, though. If I tried to feed them inside and closed the door behind them they'd panic and start running around like crazy trying to find a way out.
I had a juvenile cat walk up onto the back veranda here. As soon as I went out to check on it, it ran away.
I also had an adult feral cat attempt to stalk me (it was a big ball of white fluff, so it didn't really blend in well with the forest). As soon as it got within 10 meters or so it realized I was a little too big (I spotted it about 50 meters away). Heh. It retreated slowly.
I'm kinda on the fence regarding taking them out. Sure, they have no predators and they kill off the local critters, but they, to quote my mother, have the right to live like any other animal (and it's not their fault that they're here).
I guess if they were after farm animals I had, then yeah, boom bang pow. But, I'm kinda too soft to do that when I just see them.
This does raise a somewhat important point about people letting their cats roam the neighbourhood. The problem with this is that cats have no choice but to hunt and this is affecting bird populations negatively. I dont believe bells are the right choice because the cats are hunting out of necessity. We really ought to consistently apply standards of care to dogs and cats. We dont allow dogs to roam about unattended because they could pose a threat to humans. Cats really create a dent in bird populations because they are often locked out of their home all day with no means of feeding themselves.
Breeding then creates feral cats and territorial instincts dont help. I'll concede that traps and spaying/neutering are probably our only recourse, but we are creating the problem in the first place. Cat owners need to either leave sufficient food in their gardens or opt for house cats such as the sphynx breed.
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I also had an adult feral cat attempt to stalk me (it was a big ball of white fluff, so it didn't really blend in well with the forest). As soon as it got within 10 meters or so it realized I was a little too big (I spotted it about 50 meters away). Heh. It retreated slowly.
I'm kinda on the fence regarding taking them out. Sure, they have no predators and they kill off the local critters, but they, to quote my mother, have the right to live like any other animal (and it's not their fault that they're here).
I guess if they were after farm animals I had, then yeah, boom bang pow. But, I'm kinda too soft to do that when I just see them.
Taking them out? If you HAVE to do something and I mean if its crunch time and there's a feline insurrection just leave sedatives in kitty chow and humanely RELOCATE them. Ooooooor use a tranq gun. But ffs hunting them down and killing them?
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IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ! !
My history on this forum preserves my old and unregenerate self. In the years since I posted here I have undergone many changes. I accept responsibility for my posts but I no longer stand behind them.
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And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Hebrews 1:3
Sadly, relocating them doesn't work as they can't be pets.
So, you either have to take them in (and the government destroys them), you do it yourself, or you leave them be.
As I said, I'm on the fence, as it's the morons that dump them out here who're to blame, but the cats kill the local wildlife and there's nowhere for them to go.
The government baits the hell out of them too (the lethal kind); they do it with wild dogs too.
So, it's shooting a cat (which is humane), trapping them and letting someone else do the dirty work, or leaving them be. Save local critters, or save the cat but condemn the local critters.
Yeah, feral cats and dogs are often shot, which is a shame since it is HUMANS who caused the problem, not the cats and dogs. Since humans domesticated them and then out of sloppiness made them go feral, they should provide for these animals. Neuter them and put them back. One problem of feral cats is that they often breed faster than the native wildcat population, and of course interbreed with them. Domestic/feral cats can often get two litters a year, while wildcats generally don't.
Its probably really hard to attract strays, since they are not used to human company, unless you bribe them with food or something. Its not totally impossible cuz about 4 years ago I had a friend who took in a stray, and then she later had a litter of kittens, then afterwards they took her to get spayed and vaccinated. I've been to her house before and the cat was pretty friendly, considering the fact that she was probably living on the streets for most of her life. I don't know how she got the cat to come to her though. Maybe she left some food out.....
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They're actually really funky things:
They beef/bulk up in weight (lots of food for them + moving around a lot; no lazy house kitties), and their fur tends to bunch up in locks. Their way of hunting is quite adapt too with the low and slow crawl.
I recall reading a paper that if the feral population is left unchecked here in Oz, they'll eventually end up like the American bobcat in short order (size).
