Cats and rabbits

[Bird]

animals do some amazing things

Yes, they do. When I was 12 or 13 years old, I wanted a deodorized skunk for a pet. We had a cat with a newborn litter of kittens in the barn when someone gave me a newborn skunk; didn't have its eyes open yet. I decided to see if that mother cat would let it nurse, and she did. The first day, I didn't go off and leave it with her, but she seemed to be taking care of it just like she was caring for her kittens, and the next day everything was fine. So I thought I had it made. But about the 3rd or 4th morning I went out to the barn and only found a little fur an toenails. Apparently she just fattened up that skunk for a few days, then ate him.

 

[Western]

Apparently she just fattened up that skunk for a few days, then ate him.

Sounds like Democracy in action going on in the barn Bird!

 

[MossRoad]

It's amazing what some animals will do.

So far I've read 2 stories ( from other countries.. 3rd world..e tc.. ) where a mother burried her newborn baby right after birth in a shallow grave, and a dog went and dug it up and alerted other people to it.

I've also seens pics/read a story of a cat that had just lost a litter of kittens that spontaniously adopted a litter of hedgehogs that were orphaned when the mom was killed crossing the road with them. Cat went and got the HH's and took them to live under the trailer of her owner. owner found them later and took pics. i had wondered abouth that story.. but guess it's plausable.... there were plenty of pics of the cat nursing and cleaning the HH's.. .. animals do some amazing things..

It's people that usually disappoint me..

soundguy

There was just a story the other day about a dog with 6 pups taking on 6 kittens. All 12 of them were nursing side by side.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Feed the rats and the cats will have enough other game to play. Do not forget to spay and neuter.

 

[Charlesaf3]

I don't mind the rabbits getting killed - varmints to my mind.

But outside cats are killing all the songbirds, and that is sad.

 

[lopezian]

Your cats will almost certainly kill all the rabbits they find, especially in the Spring when the babies are born.

This is an unretouched picture of what our adopted feral cat (fixed, thank you) left on our door mat one morning. I did not move or rearrange a single thing. Very artistic, I think.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Your cats will almost certainly kill all the rabbits they find, especially in the Spring when the babies are born.

This is an unretouched picture of what our adopted feral cat (fixed, thank you) left on our door mat one morning. I did not move or rearrange a single thing. Very artistic, I think.

Heck, it left you the best parts, that cat really likes you!!!!

 

[MossRoad]

I don't mind the rabbits getting killed - varmints to my mind.

But outside cats are killing all the songbirds, and that is sad.

I tend to agree... the nutty old lady across the street and down a few houses probalby has 10 cats that roam the neighborhood like a pack of wild monkeys. I find them under our bird feeder and watching the nests all the time. The only thing I have handy when I see them is ice from the freezer. I've hit a few, but they keep coming back. I may step up to a soft air gun.

 

[Bird]

One of my wife's brothers and his wife bought a mobil home in a mobil home park a few years ago and soon learned that the old lady across the street worked in a restaurant and brought scraps home every evening to put out for the stray cats. She not only scattered them in her own yard, but in neighbors' yards. My brother-in-law borrowed a live trap from the city, set it next to his front porch, and trapped 15 or 20 cats. Every time he'd have one in the trap, he'd call the city and they'd come get it.

 

[Charlesaf3]

One of my wife's brothers and his wife bought a mobil home in a mobil home park a few years ago and soon learned that the old lady across the street worked in a restaurant and brought scraps home every evening to put out for the stray cats. She not only scattered them in her own yard, but in neighbors' yards. My brother-in-law borrowed a live trap from the city, set it next to his front porch, and trapped 15 or 20 cats. Every time he'd have one in the trap, he'd call the city and they'd come get it.

Now theres a good idea!

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah. The neighbor did that and trapped a few cats, but the humane society wasn't too friendly, wanting donations and stuff to take the cats off his hands. If you walk by the house, from the road, about 50 feet away, and if the wind is right, you can smell the house . I know it cannot be sanitary in there. The guy across the street from her keeps his window open and the cats go in and out of his house all day long, too. YUK!

I have two cats and keep them indoors. When I was a kid, we always had a cat or two that was free to come and go as they pleased. Man, those cats killed everything. Mice, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, birds, you name it. I saw the destruction a couple cats can do and that's why I keep them indoors. If I had a farm or rodent problem, I can see having a working cat or two outdoors. But in a residential setting, with good sanitation (garbage cans with lids) I see no reason at all to let a cat outside. They just kill anything that moves because that is what they do.

 

[MossRoad]

Oh, and someone mentioned cats bringing them "presents". When I was a kid we had this cranky old cat that bit everyone but me. Sometimes she would turn around and see her own tail and attack it! She looked like a little tornado trying to catch it. (think tazmanian devil tornados from the cartoons). She thought I was her kitten or something. She was about three years old when I was born and slept in my crib every night. I remember treating her like a stuffed animal, snuggling up with her every night. Well, sometimes in the middle of the night she would bring me "presents". I'd wake up to this weird "special" meow and just knew if I opened my eyes there would be a dead mouse or some other unfortunate creature laying dead on my stomach.
YUK! ICK! EWW!..... MOMMMY!!!!



She put a dead rabbit in my sister's bookbag. She dragged in a dead opossum that was bigger than her and layed it in the hall. My sister stepped on it. I came home one day and she was eating a crow on the front doormat. We'd find live, half chewed rabbits and squirrels running around inside the house, scared birds sitting on the bookshelves, and various other animals that were well on their way to eternal rest. That cranky old cat lived to be 21 years old and out moused our younger cats up until a few months before she passed away. But she is exactly the reason I have never let any of my cats outdoors and probably never will.

 

[BobRip]

Our cats would sometimes bring live animals in through the cat door and turn them loose. We might not capture them for a few days. Once there was a chipmonk in the house and it was watching my wife dry her hair. I think it was mesmorized by the sound of the hair dryer. I was able to sneak up on it and put a shoe box over it. I then slid the lid under the shoe box and trapped the animal. We have used this trick many times since them. Never had a dead animal dropped on my chest though. We do always have a cat door though. Generally we do not need a litter box.

 

[4720 OWNER]

This so reminds me of a story of the neighbor. I will give the bones and take it where you want. Scene: house with cat door. Time: sometime after 1a, bar closing. Opening: cat bringing in large rabbit thru the cat door. Groggy wife letting cat into bed room so can sleep. Action: the rabbit comes alive and starts doing laps in a dark bedroom with a door that is somehow stuck. Wife screaming at the top of her lungs since she cannot see which is the rabbit (or whatever) and which is the cat. Flick the lites on. Rabbit and cat still doing laps. On the bed down one side around the foot and up the other and across the bed again. Kind of like furry nascar, with more screaming. Door to bedroom open, rabbit makes a break with the cat in tow. Husband opens the back door and rabbit makes a clean get away with the cat. Door is closed, pet door locked. Cat sleeps outside. Husband gets couch for laughing too much at the situation and at wife. Wife gets bed that is covered with more fur than was on the cat and rabbit put together.

Hmmm. Maybe we should get a dog? A nice retriever!

 

[MrMagoo]

I say it depends on the cat. We have these cats that just showed up at the house and hung around long enough to get fixed. The male cat is so lazy he would catch anything. The female leaves lots of various body pieces on the back porch. One morning she was eating a rat tail while we were eating breakfast. Lets just say that didnt set well with the wife's stomach.

The other night I heard the most God awful squeal coming from the front yard while in my office. I jumped up and turned on the porch light. The female cat had a baby rabbit by the back. I grabbed a shoe and threw it at her and yelled and chased her to the edge of the woods. She had a death grip on that rabbit. I stopped at the edge of the woods, looked down and noticed that all I had on was my dew dampened socks and underpants. Yikes!!! I crept back into the house. That rabbit was gone man.

 

[txdon]

I posted earlier that the cat will chase the rabbit, well, he caught it last night and only left the rear portion in the screened-in porch. The rabbit was almost as big as our very full cat!

 

[LBrown59]

I have seen cats kill young cottontails. The cats have nothing to fear from the rabbits, tho.

Our Miss Kitty don't bother the adult rabbits but has caught a few ot the baby ones.

 

[LBrown59]

It's people that usually disappoint me..

soundguy

Sad but true.

 

[Soundguy]

Sad but true.

Moreso every day..

soundguy

 

[Bird]

For the last few months, we've had a stray white cat roaming the neighborhood. One of the neighbors said she thinks she knows who it belonged to before they moved off and left it. But when it visits our yard, our chihuahua wanted to be friends with it, but it would swat at her if she got too close. Then the darned thing started occasionally sleeping in my chair on the patio. Of course we have no idea if it's ever been vaccinated or neutered.

So two weeks ago, on a Saturday morning my wife happened to be out in the front yard when the city animal control truck came by. I think the lady in the truck was looking for a dog that had been reported running loose. Anyway, she stopped to talk to my wife and my wife asked about a trap. The lady took a opposum out of a Havahart trap and left the trap with my wife. After a few days of being baited with dry cat food and nothing happening, I put a sardine in the trap and caught a really wild gray feral cat instead of the white one we were after.

My wife called and the animal control truck came promptly to get the cat. The man on the truck said the weekend lady failed to get the required deposit on the trap. They provide the trap, but you give them a $50 check for a deposit. They don't cash it unless the trap is lost or stolen; just keep it in the truck and return it to you when they pickup the trap. (I have no idea how long they'll leave the trap before cashing the check) So after several more days of nothing happening, I put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the trap, so an animal would not have to step on the wires in the bottom, then put a little bit of canned tuna in it for bait, and that evening caught that white cat.

Of course this is the city, not the humane society, and they do supposedly try to find homes for the animals, but I suspect many of them are simply euthanized.