I almost killed a feral cat

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nathan

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This is the feral cat that digs and poops in my mulch (front lawn ) for many years. He does this every few nights and when daylight comes and I go out to check my small bushy plants, theres the smelly crap laying around. Yuck ! I have to cleaned it up thats for sure.
I have been wanting to eliminate this cat for good but just can t see him in the daytime. Now for some strange reason cat was laying behind the bushes in my front yard enjoying the cool temp we had today. I slowly grabbed my Marlin 22 lr loaded with subsonic and aim right at his head, distance was 5 yds away. Wow, it would have been a dead cat but i didnt pull the trigger bec the bullet will zip into my neighbor's house in the backdrop. So i just scared the cat away instead.

Now me thinking back, why would i kill a cat? They are predators, too, that helps keep mice and vermin in control in my neighborhood. Maybe Ill coexist with him for a good while, LOL
 
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They kill a lot of songbirds, rabbits, quail, etc, also. I used to shoot them when I was a kid, because we lived 25 miles from a big city and people dumped unwanted litters around until we were overrun with them. I couldn't do it now though.
 
Used to live on a farm, town people would dump their cats thinking " well there's a farm, they need a good barn cat ",not true, we had out own cats, very good ones which we fed and took care of. Feral cats will kill song birds. baby quail, baby chickens, ducks and any other damn thing they can catch. It was a shame because no one likes to kill just for the killing, but we had to do to the feral cats the same as if we caught a pack of dogs running our stock. Deep six.:cuss: Just once I wished I could have caught one of the fools who dumped their cats and dogs.
 
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Set a trap, Humane Society might loan you one, have them pick it up and remove it, safer than discharging a firearm in a neighborhood. Note, I love my cats, but I can see feral cats needed to be eliminated, so no slam for taking care of what is really a varmint/pest/predator.
 
well isnt it a good thing he is providing u with maneur for u lovley flowers?:p just put a little soil/dirt on top of his hill of choclitz
 
They (feral cats ) are natural born killers! They prey on everythnig.
You said," why would I kill a cat?" Their not cats there feral cats!
Cat fans think of cats in a different vain..........not I. If you can`t/won`t deal with the problem, then don`t complain. Co-Exist. :)
 
Wise choice Nathan, one ricochet and you could have a big problem! Always no what lays beyond your target. We have a feral cat close at hand. He takes care of moles, mice and chipmunks. We caught him in a live trap, but decided to turn him back out. Just kind of cool to watch him stalk.
 
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Many animal-shelter places want you to go through an interview process equal to adopting a Russian orphan to borrow one of their Havahart traps.

To heck with that.

If you have enough money for a mortgage, you have enough money to buy your own trap.
You need a size large.

What you do with the contents of the trap should be decided based on local law and practice.

If local law doesn't allow shooting in your neighborhood, you need to put away the gun before you get in some real trouble. Shot animals have an amazing habit of going onto the neighbor's porch to howl and bleed. The amount of blood that can come out of one adult possum is simply amazing. You don't want that.
 
Feed the cat.

In time, as it learns to trust you, it will be your cat.

Then you won't mind it fertilizing your flowers.

I feel very sad about abandoned animals. They are just trying to survive in a world full of irresponsible humans.:cuss:
 
If it is legal in your area to shoot feral cats, then S.S and S. Just do it safely like nathan and not endanger your neighbors. If they're not legal to shoot, trap them and call the humane society. Feral cats are one of the most efficient killing machines on earth and are one of the few animals besides humans that kill, just for the thrill. The prey on songbirds we train to come to our feeders and then leave us little presents in the sandbox for our grandkids to play with. They are not pets and they are not cute.
 
Triple S, shoot, shovel and shut up. Feral or pet don't matter, they all kill just to be killing period. Nature of the cat.
 
Some of 'em ARE cute. I had one hanging around the house once that would actually come up and rub on me. He ws still small, guess he was one of those abandon kittens from a litter in town. I'd find parts of birds he'd eaten when i cleaned my pontoon boat. I kept a tarp over it and he took up living there. :D I had no cats at the time, just a retriever I hunted with.

I've never had to worry about getting a cat, they just sort of show up here and I take 'em in. My current house cat's name is "Lucky" 'cause we figure he was lucky to find us first. He's a pretty cat, sorta colored like an Ocelot. We were getting in the van a couple of year ago at 4AM heading out on a goose hunt when I heard him across the street and thought it was one of my barn cats, called, and he came running up, so I fed him. We got back home from the hunt and he was still here. He's been here ever since. He spends most of his time in the house, has adapted.

The outside cats get killed off one way or another. I'll get litters now and then, but the dogs take 'em out most often. The two I have now never leave the yard. Heck, they never leave from about 25 feet of the front door! Weird cats. They do take care of things back in the old shop, though. Don't see the rats like I used to.

Some people seem to have a hatred of cats. I think that probably comes from all the witch, cauldron of eye of newt, broomstick Halloween superstitions of western society. Feral dogs are just as killer in the wild, pick on bigger animals, yet the cats get the worst of it. I don't mind feeding 'em, they're cool pals. They can eat a bird now and then, plenty to go around. The only time it's legal to kill one in Texas is if they're after your chickens. I don't have chickens anymore, were too big a PITA when I had 'em.
 
Not exactly feral cats but my mom and dad think these guys helped the flower beds. They had a pretty big problem with rabbits for years before nature came over to balance things out.

bob.jpg
 
jmorris
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Join Date: September 30, 2005
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Not exactly feral cats but my mom and dad think these guys helped the flower beds. They had a pretty big problem with rabbits for years before nature came over to balance things out.
bob.jpg
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WOW givin birth on the fence. those kittens will have a hard time deciding things in theyre life. (being born on the fence n' all :D)
 
I used to have a snake problem and mentioned that I needed to buy a cat. Buddy of mine said something to the effect of "you are the dumbest person in the world. You just need to buy some cat food."

He was right.

I started putting out food and attracted a little cat that had been through the program (they worm them, fix tham and cut a chunk out of the ear so that they can identify them)

Have not seen a snake since MC (my cat) started hanging around. One 33 cent can of food per day.
 
Cats (felix domesticus) have been living together with humans for nearly 10,000 years. It cannot have been easy for creatures so wild at heart to override their instincts and come into close proximity with us. With dogs, it's a different story - they committed to bonding with us 100 percent. But cats, they still have some misgivings about this whole "trust the humans" business. But for the most part, they are willing to give it a try.

So, looking back at all this, I think that killing a cat for expediency's sake kind of violates The Agreement we have with them. Trap the cat and take it to the humane society, or feed it and give it a home.
 
No, I'm sorry, I have to disagree with most of the responses, the irresponsible people who dump their no longer wanted pets are the ones who need to be trapped, neutered and or put down.:scrutiny:
 
Have not seen a snake since MC (my cat) started hanging around. One 33 cent can of food per day.
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Awe. you named him after ME? I'm touched! :D

I think cats probably came around the grain storage areas what attracted the rats. Early farmers (agriculture started about 10K years ago very roughly) must have understood the benefits of having cats around their grain storage and the bond was sealed.

Now, I'd like to have a pet bobcat in the yard. It'd work better than a doberman. Watch cat. :D Danged sure wouldn't have to worry about feral dogs with a bobcat around. Be the last cat chase in their lives. :D
 
This reminds me of when I saw a cat out on my back porch one night and in my front yard a couple days later. I was going to sit out with the bb gun one night to scare him away, but then I heard it outside real early one morning and later that afternoon I found a dead rat. I decided we can coexist after that. At least until we get some chickens or ducks. To bad cats don't take out the damn mongoose.
 
Every time I see a cat in somebody's window looking out at the birds in the trees I am reminded that animals are never 100% domesticated.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
I believe in owning cats to take care of your out buildings, yards and near fields but these are cats that you own and care for. Otherwise there is no such thing as a good cat. I mean, how could you tell?

Cats that are feral, stalking, killing, breeding like crazy and being a pest should be dispatched in whatever safe way possible.

I hate cats like that and will shoot them when safely possible.
 
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