Texas veterinarian who shot cat with bow and arrow is facing police probe

nola.com ^ | William LaRue, National Desk

[normbal]

My personal view is, an outdoor cat is an abandoned cat and is fair game no matter how you want to kill it within local/legal means.

This vet deserves a medal.

Hey, cat people. Your cats are a major non-native invasive species, are responsible for the collapse of song bird populations (an subsequent increases in insect-borne diseases, especially arboviruses) everywhere they’ve been introduced, they CAUSE asthma (look it up) they carry a disturbing variety of diseases they can and do pass to humans: bartonella, yersinia, lyme, rabies, cryptosporidium and many more.

I love cats - I can never eat a whole one though.
I care for people more.

Keep your cats inside.

[GladesGuru]

” I don’t see the linkage between a well fed pet and a feral cat.”

Cats attack moving things, it is their nature. Also in their nature is toying with a captured prey animal, letting it run, and catching it again, and again, and again.

Cats practice catch and No Release.

A case can be made that feral and/or un-confined cats are why man invented .22 ammo.

[PA Engineer]

First of all, it’s unclear that the cat was feral. Secondly, as someone who feeds 2 feral cats, the ASPCA traps them, neuters/spays them and releases them to homeowners to feed and shelter them. That is the way to go - not horribly killing one. By a vet!

That is what we do. Every May (after the foliage grows in) we get our share of dumped pets. The old "lets dump them in the woods and let them live wild" idiots.

A cat living out in the wild has a very short and brutal life, especially if they have been domesticated. Three of our four cats were dumps that found their way to our house. Many more over the years were too shy and paid for it horribly.

I don't believe many cats are necessarily feral as abandoned. My experience trapping and taking them to the vet would indicate this. Feral cats are not fixed without an ear nick. This is a reason many Vets want under the skin tags. Either to return them to the owners, or seek prosecution.

We keep a heated igloo for those that are not adoptable and provide food. Food brings raccoons and we have had our share of rabies here. I have shot a few rabid raccoons over the last couple of years. This has become a problem in our area.

Ironic, city pest control companies have been busted and fined here for trapping raccoons and dumping them in the "country."

[PA Engineer]

Why didn’t you just spay and neuter them? Surely, someone would have come out and trapped them for you.

Agreed. We found a vet that provides a significant discount for outdoor cats.

[GladesGuru]

What we call house cats/feral cats are not “natural” to Europe or America.

They were imported, and like all too many aliens, went rogue.

[Fawn]

God forbid you should be inconvenienced if a cat poops in your yard (cats cover their poop by the way so that’s bs). Because, after all, it’s all about you. Screw any homeless animal that needs help.....you’ll just kill it.

[Fawn]

That’s right because people dump cats and because they were meant to be outside to begin with. So, a stray lost homeless community cat walks or God forbid poops in YOUR backyard...the horror. Instead of helping it, just follow your conscience and kill it. Twisted heart. Sad soul.

[PA Engineer]

That’s a lie. I feed TONS of homeless community cats for many years.. and they aren’t killing things because they are being fed healthy food. Only once have I see a dead RAT head...a gift to me i suppose.

I agree. LOL. We just had one of the outdoor cats bring the backside of a rat to us and the front to our neighbor (who works with strays too). I couldn't figure out where the cat found a rat out here.

[Jeff Chandler]

Do you yell at neighbor kids when they walk on your lawn too

Only when they shit on it.

[GladesGuru]

Fawn is just ‘fawning’ again.

It has long been known that well fed house cats will attack and kill smaller animals for amusement, often letting the wounded prey ‘escape’ and then pouncing on it again. This sadistic behavior continues until either the prey dies or the cat gets bored and kills the prey animal.

[GladesGuru]

“By the way, Birds carry over 60 diseases to your backyard. Yet, you don’t care about that?”

TRUE DAT!

If it were not psitacosis, America’s pigeon population would be much smaller.

[laplata]

I’m glad you found a Vet.

We shot the few that got out of hand. We paid our Vet very well to take care of horses and cattle.

I don’t think he would have driven 60 plus miles to spay a few cats and if he did it would have been very expensive.

[Chode]

then she and her ilk shouldn't whine if my dog eats said cats or i collect and fling their cat's scat back on their property then...

another persons rights end a foot from my nose and at my property line

[MayflowerMadam]

“dogs aren’t allowed to roam free, why should cats?”

Maybe dogs aren’t “allowed” to roam free, but many do. In our neck of the woods in Tennessee, pet owners are the worst I’ve ever seen, and I’ve lived all over the country including Alaska and Hawaii. We’re in a “good”, semi-rural neighborhood and dogs are everywhere.

We have cats (feral, rescued, spayed, tamed) and they’re 100% indoor cats. We have to contend with neighbor dogs’ feces all over the yard and roads. (Did you know that dogs, as well as cats, poop?) Although we don’t have any, we love dogs and one of our biggest fears is that we’ll back a car over one of them one day. The owners are dispicable to risk their pets’ lives the way they do.

[Roos_Girl]

You need some help. You think my hunting dogs can’t smell a pile of cat crap that’s been “buried”? You think I should have to smell cat urine sprayed? As I said, the cat rescue wouldn’t take them. I guess it’s kinder to let them get eaten by coyotes or starve to death or any other number of diseases or horrible endings.

And yes, on MY property it is all about what I want and that includes keeping my own animals communicable disease free. YOU can do whatever YOU like on YOUR property. If you lived close I’d be happy to drop every stray animal at your house for you to take care of.

Why shouldn’t cat owners be required to keep their cats on their own property?

[windcliff]

I’m with you. Several times my cat will catch a mouse or lizard and I make her drop it and the critter goes on its way. She is skilled in mouthing her prey instead of biting it.

[tet68]

Feral cats are to house cats as feral pigs
are to house pigs...

[Chode]

prolly raise their kids the same way... call animal control to deal with them or if they are really out of hand, SSS

[Fury]

"This vet deserves a medal."

Well, she won't be getting one. Is aggravated animal cruelty a felony in Texas?

[PA Engineer]

I don’t think he would have driven 60 plus miles to spay a few cats and if he did it would have been very expensive.

DID YOU CONSIDER PUTING OUT A TRAP, CATCHING THEM AND DRIVING THEM TO THE CLINIC.

I call BS on your story.

I don't know any rancher or farmer in my neck of the woods that does not have a trap. I don't know any in my neighborhood that does not have a trap.