Best caliber for cats?

Can 'o tuna and a decent pellet gun.

Silent but deadly. No phart jokes please.

I don't think I am touching this one.

While I don't particularly like cats (a dog person here), I live in mortal fear of rabidly fanatical cat-lovers.


-- John

Poor shooting tactics, he should have finished off the cat and employed the three "S"s, Shoot, Shovel, Shut Up.

poor kitty. it was just hunting wild birds. even if it was ferel, it has a right to eat.
bottem line: the cat was doing something natural, and scince the guy who shot the cat wasn't planning to eat the cat, he was in the wrong.

What an ass hat that dude is. I don't have a problem with protection of bird species within reasonable limits, but the d***head was not legally empowered to do what he did - whether or not the cat was legally considered feral. Nowhere on my Texas hunting license does it say anything about how many cats I can bag this season.

Here's the list of animals that can be hunted in Texas. Cats aren't on it.

I don't see jackalope or chucacabra on that list, I'm disappointed.

nuke it from orbit it's the only way to be sure.

Depends on the cat

I have 2 cats, one an over 20 pound Maine Coon with skeletal structure like a piece of heavy equipment and paws about the size of my Labrador's. He can shoot most any handgun, even heavy .44 loads in my 629. His favorite load is the Buffalo Bore Heavy .357 (180gr) out of a 4" S&W 686.

The other cat is long, lean and weighs 8 pounds on a heavy day. He is much more recoil sensitive, and sticks to .22 lr, .380 and occasionally some light 9mm loads. While he is limited to less effective calibers, he makes up for it with his stealthy ability to sneak up onto the back of your chair and have the muzzle pressed against the back of your neck before you know he is around.

Clever critters, those cats.

107mm ought to do it...

If the cat was clearly threatening an endangered species, I think that this man was within his rights to stop the cat from preying upon said species.
But firearms did not have to be used at all. Relocation of the cat, adoption maybe, or give its "owner" a stern warning about allowing his pet to kill an endangered species.
If he did really think that the only possible way to protect the birds was to kill the cat, then indeed shoot shovel and shut up would have been his best route. He also should not have let the cat suffer, he should have used a second shot to stop it from experiencing a slow death.
Indeed, it is sad that the cat died, doing something only natural. But for some humans, defense of an endangered species is also natural.

While I don't particularly like cats (a dog person here), I live in mortal fear of rabidly fanatical cat-lovers.

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As well you should John, as well you should.

crunker, while i appreciate and understand the sentiment, its not hard to trap cats and deal with the issue humanley. for an animal lover that wishes to protect a species, to shoot another animal? that is the work of a fanatic, not an animal lover. he could have gone to the proper athorities, rented a human animal trap and gotten the cat to the SPCA. ferel animals are a problem, but that particular solution that this man choose was not the best solution in any way.

Feral cats and dogs are pest species. I don't believe in shooting animals just for the enjoyment of killing them; but there is no bad karma from eliminating a feral cat.

I'm a dog person myself also. I don't think I'd mess with them since Oleg showed cats can shoot back now

I've "relocated" a few problem cats, a couple that were wont to get at my daughters show rabbits and one that insisted on attempting to take up residence in my house against my wishes. .22 LR works nicely.

Poor Kitties!

A feral cat can do a lot of damage on a farmstead, I've seen them kill new born pigs and grown chickens. They aren't tough to kill, .22 rimfire works well, I have used a 30/30 when it was all that was handy.

I forgot to answer the OP. I've used a .22, .17HMR, .243, and 16 gauge all with good effect. The .22 was perfectly adequate. I used the others just because they happened to be at hand.

bluestarlizzard, I agree that shooting the cat was not the best solution. All I said was that if he really was lusting for the cat's blood, he should have not allowed people to find out about it.

If it matters, I own a cat.

I think it would have to be pretty low caliber. I don't think they can handle the recoil very well.

6' blowgun and piano wire darts.

It'll knock a cat right off the top of a house... I hear.

He should have just brought a dog with him.

using a .22-caliber rifle fitted with a scope to kill the cat

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I wonder if it was fitted for a shoulder thing that goes up too...

But if you trying to kill cats(feral I suppose) an airgun should work fine, for the smaller ones and maybe sub sonic .22lr for the larger-is ones...But for getting rid of feral cats, my dad uses have a heart traps. Sure they may come back, but it saves you a big world of trouble.

They will put this guy in jail for two years and some child molester or rapist will walk. Talk about a waste of the judicial system and the cop should be ashamed of himself for arresting him. He should have been trying to solve some real crime...