[South40]

I keep many cats as they’re the best method I have found to control the ratlesnake population on my property. The cats aren’t pets they just live here. On several occaisions over the years I've heard my cats get snatched up by owls. I’ve never seen it happen but I have a friend who has. He said the owl first landed on his barn then swooped down and took a cat as it was being distracted by others.

The cats do a good job of avoiding the coyotes around here but they don't do as well with the owls.

[gov_bean_ counter]

We have around a 1/4 acre of wooded back yard. Our neighbor two doors down has a cat that is simply a hunting machine. For the reasons you just described he is welcome to sashay through my back yard any time.

[Thermalseeker]

The cats do a good job of avoiding the coyotes around here but they don't do as well with the owls.

A few years ago my female lab had a litter of puppies. When the pups were about 5 weeks old I started putting them outside in the yard in a kennel in the grass. One evening I was sitting in the living room looking out the window and a barred owl came to roost in a tree above the kennel. The owl was obviously eyeballing the puppies for dinner. If I hadn't been there I'm sure one or more of the pups would have been eaten. We had a neighbor with a chihuahua that was taken away by a red tailed hawk some years ago, too.

[giotto]

We live in a semi-rural area with raptors of all kinds. Our large cat goes out at dawn to hunt, but he always stands in the open door for a while before venturing out. Sometimes, he backs back into the room, having sensed something out there. I have heard Great Horned Owls in the yard. I read that they can carry off an animal that is three times their own weight, so I don’t doubt that one could carry off our 11 lb. cat. My husband laughed at me when I told him this, but your sad experience would seem to prove me right.

[Blagden Alley]

Your standard 25 lb Maine Coon Cat would take a really big owl.