Barn Cat?

[MossRoad]

Yep. Worldwide, only five (5) people have survived documented cases of rabies. That makes it statistically, 100% fatal in humans.

Kind of like nature.... except domestic house cats don't occur in nature in concentrated populations. They are technically, an invasive species. And concentrated, they spread disease among themselves, inbreed, etc... spay, neuter, vaccinate, release.

If you have kids and don't vaccinate your animals for rabies.... yikes!

 

[MikePA]

From a simple suggestion to spay/neuter and 3 vaccinations...

...spay or neuter and vaccinate for lukemia, FIV and rabies.

To 'hundreds of pills, shots...'

Doctors/veterinarians and pharmaceutical industries who push all these "NEEDS" onto people (and Pets) attempting to get people to blindly follow their directions of taking hundreds of pills, shots etc...

 

[tcreeley]

All of this talk about owls had me thinking "Where would one procure a barn owl?" because they seem like an idea solution but I have never seen one around here. Then I saw your eagle comment and that would explain it. We have a number of bald eagles here and see them soaring over the fields all of the time. If the eagles didn't get them, they would probably leave to seek safer neighbours anyway.

Too cold in NS for Barn Owls. Local owls to you are the barred owl and the great horned owl. The great horned will kill and eat skunks! Listen for them at night. These owls overlap ranges with eagles. We have all 3 in the area - the owls can handle the brush in the woods where the eagle would have a tough time flying. And it's daytime vs nightime. An eagle could pick off a perched owl.

- Most stray cats keep you at an out of sight distance- hard to vaccinate. We feed strays- all that come into the house have been trapped, spayed/neutered, rabies - etc.. The others haven't been. Our best hunters are the ones that get the most to eat. The hungry cats that come round for krunchies and leave before I put the wet food out- look hungry, and in the winter - sickly at times. They struggle to stay alive. It is the indoor sleeping cats who are the hunters- energy to burn. They are the ones climbing grabbing birds. routing out mice from the snow. Hunger may make a cat want to hunt, but a weak cat is an ineffective hunter. Cats as they get older slow down, sleep more, hang around more. Cats are also very territorial. One male cat will claim the area and fight all comers (except females). The lessor males sneak in for food when he is not active. A spayed young female makes a great hunter. She is left alone by the other cats, eats well, and is bored so goes and hunts. A neutered male is always looking over his shoulder because he can still be a target of dominant males. A family unit of cats can be peaceful.



---It was around 0F last night. I just passed through the living room and noticed two good sized dead mice stretched out that the cats had left us, from outside. They like to bring them in to play with.

 

[Country Geek]

Hunger may make a cat want to hunt, but a weak cat is an ineffective hunter.

"A city is made of brick, Pharaoh. The strong make many. The weak make few. The dead make none."

 

[/pine]

Yep. Worldwide, only five (5) people have survived documented cases of rabies. That makes it statistically, 100% fatal in humans.

Kind of like nature.... except domestic house cats don't occur in nature in concentrated populations. They are technically, an invasive species. And concentrated, they spread disease among themselves, inbreed, etc... spay, neuter, vaccinate, release.

If you have kids and don't vaccinate your animals for rabies.... yikes!

I agree with everything but this: "spay, neuter, vaccinate, release."...IMO the organizations that trap, spay/neuter and then release cats in the wild are criminals (or should be considered so)...

domesticated/feral cats are one of the most detrimental (non-native) species in the US...period!
Kill them all!

 

[SPIKER]

From a simple suggestion to spay/neuter and 3 vaccinations...



To 'hundreds of pills, shots...'

When he spoke of having a large number of Cats then yes, each one needs several vaccines several times in their (cats) lifetime (some say yearly shots are needed.) So YES hundreds of shots, not to mention the costs involved in catching each of them caging and taking them to vet... Again take a look at the (USA) Pet Care industry profits (~60 billion for 2014) and 17Billion in 94. Go back to 74 that number would be WAY less I'm sure list 20 year in link, I'm sure we have similar population of pets as back then...
Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics

The latest trends are Health insurance for pets, yep pay monthly charge and then get life insurance along with it in many cases... The costs are a lot for someone who just wants mouse protection, someone said they had 30 some cats (to me that seems excessive for a small farm. (I did not look at his acreage or number of buildings etc.) but had they not had them fixed would be population growth happens quickly if 3 or 4 female cats pop out 4~6 kittens at a time.

M

 

[Country Geek]

I agree with everything but this: "spay, neuter, vaccinate, release."...IMO the organizations that trap, spay/neuter and then release cats in the wild are criminals (or should be considered so)...

domesticated/feral cats are one of the most detrimental (non-native) species in the US...period!
Kill them all!

It's also documented that trap-neuter-release (TNR) is the only method that actually works to control feral cat populations. Trap and kill only results in more cats moving in to replace the ones removed, it's a never ending cycle. We've been using that method for decades without success. With TNR the released ones defend the territory and keep others from moving in, but don't breed so the population stabilizes and gradually goes down as they die off. Also since they are fixed bad behaviors like spraying, fighting and marking decrease.

 

[/pine]

It's also documented that trap-neuter-release (TNR) is the only method that actually works to control feral cat populations. Trap and kill only results in more cats moving in to replace the ones removed, it's a never ending cycle. We've been using that method for decades without success. With TNR the released ones defend the territory and keep others from moving in, but don't breed so the population stabilizes and gradually goes down as they die off. Also since they are fixed bad behaviors like spraying, fighting and marking decrease.

That's why I said kill them ALL!

 

[Country Geek]

That's why I said kill them ALL!

You can't. That's been tried for the last 50+ years. TNR is the only method that actually works to reduce populations.

 

[MikePA]

When he spoke of having a large number of Cats then yes, each one needs several vaccines several times in their (cats) lifetime (some say yearly shots are needed.) So YES hundreds of shots, not to mention the costs involved in catching each of them caging and taking them to vet... Again take a look at the (USA) Pet Care industry profits (~60 billion for 2014) and 17Billion in 94. Go back to 74 that number would be WAY less I'm sure list 20 year in link, I'm sure we have similar population of pets as back then...
Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics

The latest trends are Health insurance for pets, yep pay monthly charge and then get life insurance along with it in many cases... The costs are a lot for someone who just wants mouse protection, someone said they had 30 some cats (to me that seems excessive for a small farm. (I did not look at his acreage or number of buildings etc.) but had they not had them fixed would be population growth happens quickly if 3 or 4 female cats pop out 4~6 kittens at a time.

M

No one is asking the OP to save the entire feline population in his area, just try and make a difference. Nor did anyone suggest he buy pet insurance for all the cats.

Also, the spending you've referenced twice now is for all spending related to pets, not just vaccinations, which are a fraction of the Vet care total.