S
Snowman
Guest
My place is a Bermuda Triangle for cats.... If you love your cat keep it the hell off my property.
Actually, I'm not aware of anything that kills for fun like humans do... The reason cats kill things and bring them into the house is actually a behaviour that has been studied quite closely. They believe that the behaviour they are demonstrating is the same as what a mother would do for her kittens. In other words, your cats are bringing you dinner. Ever wonder why they see fit to bring in a rabbit or a rat (or a bird) and release it still alive into the house? Well they have decided its time for you to learn to hunt.
So why do cameras on wild feral cats show them killing and leaving the prey??
Does that make all carnivores who eat omnivores/vegetarians not full carnivores if their prey have consumed vegetable matter?
There was this cat that kept coming in our yard, annoying the dogs. I didn't think the dogs would ever be quick enough for it.. Then one day..Poor kitty..nawt
despite the fact that it could have been someone's beloved pet? How would you feel If your dogs or reptiles got out and someone/something killed them?
IMO the ONLY GOOD CAT is A DEAD ONE.
Right up there with foxes, rats , mice and rabbits , as vermin , and as bad as foxes.
Dogs are not true carnivores as they require the vegetable matter in their preys stomach to remain healthy, well that's what I heard a qualified person on the radio say.
Cats are not natural born killers. Although they do have a natural prey response the act of killings is learnt, generally from their mothers, however they are intelligent animals and can learn to kill in other ways. It is possible at a young age to expose kittens to various prey items and teach them not to see these as prey, effectively eliminating their prey response. With exposure to a uncontrolled environment cats inevitably learn some degree of hunting, cats that play with mice and appear to torture them are generally the result of a missing link in there learning the killing act.
It is also true that some cats do develop behaviours that include bringing dead and live prey back to there homes. They often also being live prey home and kill it in front of there owners. This is very much a natural behaviour, and it is commonly used to teach kittens the act of killing. To generalise that this is common amongst all cats is very much untrue. It is usually limited to mature female cats and very few male cats display this behaviour, so by simple statistic at least 50% of cats do not display this type of behaviour.
Between 1 and 3 out of 10 domestic cats routinely kill prey. A lot of responsible cats owners are in fact telling the truth when they say 'my cat does not kill bird' etc. The biggest trouble arises when a cat develops a rouge killing nature. These types of cats are responsible for killing large numbers of prey, and while it's impossible to determine their motive, it is generally accepted they do it to satisfy their natural prey drive as they lack other things in there environment to stimulate them, effectively they do it because they are bored.
Some domesticated cats do pose a threat to the environment however the feral cat population is by far the biggest issue. Estimates put feral cat populations at numbers exceeding humans in Australia and they kill massive numbers of our native fauna. The feral cat population is unfortunately continually fed by unwanted pets and a large percentage of pet cats do survive once left to the wild.
In conclusion, I do not believe cats are natural born killers. Like almost all animal related problems in society they are a direct result of poor ownership. Because of there nature, I firmly believe cats have no place in Australia other than confined to there home environment.
Personally, I have been on the blunt end of a few cats that devestated my finch collection. I caught hundreds of cats over the years in my yard and turned them over to rescue centres, the vast majority end up being euthanased. I have also seen first hand the feral problems in the western Australian and south Australian country regions having humanely destroyed thousands. Cat ownership should require registration and mandatory desexing, with any funds raised from registration being used to control feral populations.
Kind regards
Wing_Nut
Cats are not natural born killers. Although they do have a natural prey response the act of killings is learnt, generally from their mothers, however they are intelligent animals and can learn to kill in other ways.
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