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Posted on 08/07/2012 8:19:10 PM PDT by george76
Cast aside all fantasies of your house cat frolicking through flower-filled fields in the afternoon sun. When kitty scratches at the door begging to go outside, it's the killing hour.
...
cats ate about 30 percent of their kills, brought home another 25 percent and left 49 percent of their prey to simply decay.
So what are cats killing?
Lizards, snakes and frogs (41 percent); chipmunks and vols (25 percent); insects and worms (20 percent) and, of course, birds (12 percent).
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
This is news?
My inside cat is always looking at the bird feeder licking his chops.
I believe mice are underrepresented in this poll of “likely victims”.
If it moves, a cat will attack it, if it taste good, a cat will eat it. Primal instincts in practice.
Breaking News!!!
Water is WET!
Whe was always very friendly and very cute inside, but having watched her alter ego enough, I always used to tell her how glad I was that I was so much bigger than her........
Any frogs my cats catch they eat entirely.
Same thing with mice and bugs. Moles, rarely eat. Must taste weird. No birds for the blind cats and the other one isn’t interested in hunting. They did clean the property from being over run with rats and mice. Did a good job.
I’m not sure what they were using for metrics, but I read an article once that said the most efficient predator in the entire animal kingdom was a mother cat, with kittens to feed.
I’m not sure what they were using for metrics, but I read an article once that said the most efficient predator in the entire animal kingdom was a mother cat, with kittens to feed.
Groundhogs are nasty when cornered.
But that looks like a youngster.
Still I give the dog credit for taking one. They are not that easy to surprise.
My cats used to kill everything that moved, but now they like to sit in the shade with the squirrels. They think everything in the yard is a fellow pet.
Jack Russells and Rat Terriers give cats a good run for the money on killing game.
Duh! What’s next? Government funding for “Birdcams” to see if they fly?
We had a dragonfly swarm recently. My cats had a field day. My male cat actually killed and ate a hummingbird once. I couldn’t believe it. Feeder was in the wrong place. I’ll never give up cats. They serve their purpose making out home mouse free. Haven’t had any chipmunk holes in my lawn in years either. >:)
As an added benefit, cats will keep your lawn free of moles. Love cats. Limited maintenance maximum love and will keep your household free of rodents ... what is not to love.
My cat has earned herself a place on the survival homestead. We let her out on a leash sometimes if someone’s outside with her, there are too many coyotes around to leave her unsupervised. A few weeks ago she was out with me, and she went out of my sight for one second, just one, and came back with a rabbit in her mouth. She’d managed to kill it without breaking the skin.
It was pretty good roasted with potatoes.
Our cat killed mostly mice and rabbits.
When she got older, she would sometimes bring them in the house. I had to chase a rabbit all over my family room to get it out of the house. My wife found a mouse in a coat pocket in a closet.
She was a little calico who lived to almost 18 years.
We had a tortoise shell cat who had several litters of kittens before we fixed her. As the kittens got bigger, we would notice piles of feathers in our back yard. The cat was obviously eating out to supplement her regular meals.
The litter box.
People forget that ALL the terriers are ratters—even the great beauties among them. But they’re not as fun to watch in action as the cats. Dogs just do it. With cats, it’s an art.
(Love your tagline.)
You’re right about moles. I watched one of my cats follow a mole (poor thing, I really thought he was a goner) step-by-step, hip-sway to hip-sway. Cleo nudged him once or twice, then walked away rather disgustedly. I think cats believe moles are just too far beneath their skill-level.
"...so?"
My sister had a dog that could run down birds.
My brother- in law’s Rhodesian Ridgeback did that.
He never killed them; he just seemed to do it for the sport. Catch and release I guess.
The dog did it with squirrels as well.
He pinned them with his paws like a cat rather than catching them in his mouth. I always thought that an odd thing for a dog to do.
Yep they are Born To Kill!
I have had many labs that would catch and eat birds.
You know sometimes the bird just asks for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He_4QP1OHic&feature=related
They needed a study for this? Our cat would probably kill me if I didn’t fight back (he and my husband FIGHT - biting, hitting, etc. for play, but I have had to teach him I AM NOT game....)He has tried....I have the scars to prove it. (We got him as a feral kitten.)
Is that a Norfolk? My Westie used to give chase to anything in sight that wasn’t human. He even injured a cat once but not because he bit it, he chased it off a 2nd floor balcony and the cat jumped, landed on its feet and just kind of limped away. Poor kitty. But he has killed mice, squirrels, possums, always chases cats. But like some terrier breeds he will not chase down birds. He seems to like hangin’ with the sparrows and the starlings and the jays. And they like him around because they know he keeps the cats away. Will chase pigeons tho’. I notice now since he has turned 10 y.o. critters will come into our yard and he is happy to just hang and watch.
Is that a Norfolk? My Westie used to give chase to anything in sight that wasn’t human. He even injured a cat once but not because he bit it, he chased it off a 2nd floor balcony and the cat jumped, landed on its feet and just kind of limped away. Poor kitty. But he has killed mice, squirrels, possums, always chases cats. But like some terrier breeds he will not chase down birds. He seems to like hangin’ with the sparrows and the starlings and the jays. And they like him around because they know he keeps the cats away. Will chase pigeons tho’. I notice now since he has turned 10 y.o. critters will come into our yard and he is happy to just hang and watch.
Cool catcam in HD.
http://www.keysvoices.com/%E2%80%9Ckey-west-six-toed-cat-cam%E2%80%9D-offers-unique-purr-spective/
My current cat, Smokey, must have a non-aggresion pact with the household mouse. He doesn’t bother it. He has brought home a baby rabbit and a mole, to leave on our doorstep, ‘tho’. A former cat, since passed on to the great Animals’ Fiddlers’ Green, used to catch them and bring them still alive to us...at 3 AM in our bed!
Australian Terrier and if he wasn’t so cute I’d of killed him. I’m spoiled because our other dog is a German Shepard. So our family has an Einstein and a kid with ADHD.... the Shepard is smart as heck and the Aussie is a killing little thug, but so spunky and cute. It always needs to be at your feet touching you. very cool dog. The Shepard just kind of shrugs and I can just here her thinking, “ I could kill that , but I don’t FEEL like it.” hahahahaha
This is a true story.
I was posting on FR around 3 AM in my basement lair two years ago, waiting for the cat to come in so I could lock the back door. I herd a thump in the upstairs landing and thought, "Great, Kitty just came in." Then I heard two frantic screech-growls and thought, "Oh. Not so good, he's chased another cat into the house, and they're fighting in the landing."
Imagine my surprise when I opened the basement door and gazed upon a whirling cartoon-ball of fur, claws and screaming noise consisting of our cat, another cat, and a raccoon. As soon as the two cats saw me they skyrocketed out of the room, leaving me to face a very angry, but fortunately somewhat dazed raccoon in my pajamas.
What happened next involved the raccoon jumping on top of our china cabinet (and subsequently pushing it over, destroying most of my wife's dishes) as I frantically broomed the critter into the garage, where, cornered, she managed to destroy most of our Christmas decorations and a set of curtains before I got the garage door open, forcing her out. Since most of the skunks in our area are rabid -- and 'coons have a similar reputation -- I was none-too-pleased to be wearing my natural feet instead of steel-toed boots throughout the process.
During the entire fracas none of my three children or wife heard a peep.
The next day my wife told me that Kitty had been treeing a pregnant raccoon routinely for about a week, and evidently the 'coon had gotten between the cat and the house with nowhere to go but inside.
I have never seen him run from anything but a very large (HUGE, in fact: 350 pounds by the look of him) black bear who strayed into our cookout at dusk on Memorial Day 2012. Lucky thing, I'm not sure what my wife would've done if the cat had attacked the bear, and my shotgun was upstairs in the cabinet.
Exactly. And with 4 cats I’ve got 4 boxes to clean and after so many years I’m getting sick. of. it.
Plus they leave little piles of throw-up and hairballs and scratch up our carpet till it’s threadbare and claw at the door trim....
Other than that I love kitty cats:)
“leaving me to face a very angry, but fortunately somewhat dazed raccoon in my pajamas.”
What was a raccoon doing in your pajamas? :-)
I had a ‘mutt’ that killed at least 43 woodchucks one summer. The dog was always with me while I worked in the apple orchards near home.
They (dogs) can make good hunters. While managing an apple picking crew, there was one man who always brought his dalmatian, that dog was a good ‘mouser’ - 20-50 mice a day.
Did the woodchucks ever manage to get a piece of your dog?
With their teeth and claws they have been known to take a chunk out of a dog.
That’s unusual. You don’t typically have two cats forming alliances to take on a larger animal.
So what happened to the strange cat?
My Ham ate the face off a baby rabbit the other day. He likes to bring things into the house for us. Sometimes alive, sometimes defaced or debacked or beheaded. It’s just in them no matter how well they are fed.
I hate cats.
Seriously.
And I am sure one of their mindless flunkies will report that to their feline overlords.
Again, seriously.
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