Dear cat owners

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

Edit: feanelwasuggested that it's more likely to be a squirrel-squirrel affair. I like that idea better than the cat one, especially as our local cats previously seemed to be mostly gentle specimens.

Please control your beasts. Today I discovered a dead squirrel in our garden. It wasn't in sight of the door, and I don't have a cat, so it was pure luck that I found it when I was out by myself, and that Judith didnt find it first. She loves squirrels - I'm sure it would have been both upsetting and a health risk if she'd found it first.

I feel faintly sick. I wish I had some way of knowing which house the cat in question came from, I'd go and ask them to clean it up.

Comments

[briggsy.livejournal.com]

Sure it wasn't a fox?

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I have never seen a fox in my neighbourhood and my garden is tiny.

[absinthecity.livejournal.com]

Nature can be so cruel...

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I don't mind nature. If it was a fox or another squirrel, then I don't mind as much. It's people who choose to have pets and then allow those pets to cause problems for other people that I object to.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how you prevent a cat from killing rodents, short of keeping it indoors or tying it up - neither of which are generally considered good for cats! It's not like you can train them, and since they were basically domesticated for killing vermin, that killer instinct when encountering anything small and fluffy/feathery has never been bred out.

[absinthecity.livejournal.com]

*nod* 'Controlling' a cat isn't really...a thing.

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

Why is keeping cats indoors bad, as a matter of interest? My husband is very against letting ours out, and I've always vaguely believed that's wrong, but never been able to give a reason why.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I think opinions are divided on this, but as I understand it unless a cat has been raised from a kitten to be an 'indoor cat', it's likely to be quite unhappy if it can't get out.

[mooncat75.livejournal.com]

Untrue. My two cats were born feral and lived feral, taught by 'cat-mom' how to hunt, hide, and stalk. My friends and I managed to catch my two and I have raised them indoors and they are quite happy. They like to sit in the windows and taunt the neighbor dog.

The key to happy indoor cats is keeping them entertained so they don't get bored. Have a second cat to keep them company, toys, and interactive play with their human.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Um, could have been a fox, or a lost fight with another squirrel - more probably one of those things, since squirrels can easily escape cats by running up to a thinner branch than the cat can climb to, and can put up enough of a fight that a cat would probably decide quickly not to bother.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

(Not that they couldn't escape a fox in exactly the same way, but the size, teeth and hunger difference means it's easier for a fox to actually kill a squirrel once it's got it cornered rather than get bitten and let it escape like a cat would, and then come limping in for £££ of vet treatment)

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

I's be very surprised if it was a fox. It had hardly been touched, and anyway, the distance from the house and the fact that there are no known foxes in the area precludes that. Wouldn't a fox eat the squirrel? It might be a squirrel fight I suppose. I didn't think of that because the squirrel was some distance from the tree.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

A cat might equally have a bit of a nibble before getting bored - or, whatever killed it might have been scared off before it got chance to tuck in.

I object less to cats that kill things than those dog owners who leave their poo all over parks and let them bark their heads off at anybody who walks within thirty yards of their house (or, who leave them at home to cry pitifully all day - but they don't always know they make that much noise). At least the cat problem happens every now and again rather than every time you leave the house. Having said that, I generally dislike dogs and like cats, so maybe I'm biased.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

The dog poo thing I find at least equally objectionable. There's no excuse for it. Again, it's a matter of controlling your pets and cleaning up after them.

[absinthecity.livejournal.com]

Fair point, I've never seen a cat catch a squirrel. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but squirrels are not afraid of cats which ought to be a bit of a give-away!

[sparrowsion]

I've seen Teasel chasing squirrels. This is a cat that brings down pigeons for fun, yet the squirrels have the edge on him.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

At least Teasel brings his presents home for you to clean up.

[sphyg.livejournal.com]

Ceb was saying yesterday about seeing 3 cats stalking an injured squirrel.

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

This does suggest that normally, squirrels have the upper hand in the cat-squirrel battle, if it required the squirrel to be injured before the cats would stalk it.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

*nod* I guess I was wrong about the cause of squirrel death.

[ceb.livejournal.com]

It's true, they were staking it out. I don't know what had injured it, could have been them.