Feral cats in Los Angeles go to work

Kreisleriana wrote:

There are also cultures that valued cats for their ratting skills. Many
Italian towns recognized that cats killed rats, and gave cats the freedom
of the town for protecting them from the plague. So if you go to Italy,
you see "gatti" everywhere. And there is really something about Italy that
goes well with cats-- the "bella figura," the love of beautiful things, the
sunniness, the food, the determination to work to live, not live to work.

I remember several years ago there was a tour, put on by some travel group,
called "Cats and Culture", which was a trip through Italy to check out
various museums and historical sites, as well as to visit areas that had
large cat colonies, such as in Rome. I thought that was a great travel idea,
and toyed with going, but alas, I didn't have enough money for it.

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

Magic Mood Jeep wrote:

There are some historians that believe the 'black death' (Bubonic plague)
was helped along because of people's superstition about cats. They didn't
want the cats around as they were associated as being a witch's familiar.
No cats around = more rats around. Rats carried fleas... fleas carried
plague... and leas don't care who they bite.

I've heard this a lot, and at first glance, it makes a lot of sense. But
then it occurred to me that, as every cat slave knows, cats also carry
fleas. So how does keeping cats around reduce the flea population? They
didn't have Advantage back then.

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

Lesley wrote:

In England prior to the Middle Ages, a person could be fined for
killing a cat but only once a kittens eyes opened since before then
the kitten was not useful as a rat catcher.

Not very good at looking forward, were they?

Joyce

--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

wrote in message
...
Magic Mood Jeep wrote:

There are some historians that believe the 'black death' (Bubonic
plague)
was helped along because of people's superstition about cats. They
didn't
want the cats around as they were associated as being a witch's
familiar.
No cats around = more rats around. Rats carried fleas... fleas carried
plague... and leas don't care who they bite.

I've heard this a lot, and at first glance, it makes a lot of sense. But
then it occurred to me that, as every cat slave knows, cats also carry
fleas. So how does keeping cats around reduce the flea population? They
didn't have Advantage back then.

Joyce

They also didn't let the cats into their living quarters or their beds like
we are inclined to.

Jo

On Jan 5, 5:27*pm, "jofirey" wrote:

They also didn't let the cats into their living quarters or their beds like
we are inclined to.

Inclined to? Remind me when we had a choice!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

jofirey wrote:

wrote in message

I've heard this a lot, and at first glance, it makes a lot of sense. But
then it occurred to me that, as every cat slave knows, cats also carry
fleas. So how does keeping cats around reduce the flea population? They
didn't have Advantage back then.

They also didn't let the cats into their living quarters or their beds
like we are inclined to.

I'm sure they didn't choose to let rats in, either. Rats would just come
in, but if someone discovered rats in the house, wouldn't they kill them
or shoo them out?

I'm actually curious about this.

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

wrote in message
...
jofirey wrote:

wrote in message

I've heard this a lot, and at first glance, it makes a lot of sense.
But
then it occurred to me that, as every cat slave knows, cats also carry
fleas. So how does keeping cats around reduce the flea population? They
didn't have Advantage back then.

They also didn't let the cats into their living quarters or their beds
like we are inclined to.

I'm sure they didn't choose to let rats in, either. Rats would just come
in, but if someone discovered rats in the house, wouldn't they kill them
or shoo them out?

Rats don't just 'shoo' away. They may run from a human, but as soon as the
human vacates the room, they are back.

I'm actually curious about this.

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.



--
--
The ONE and ONLY
lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy former-blonde
in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)©
email me at nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com
http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep

Magic Mood Jeep wrote:

wrote in message

I'm sure they didn't choose to let rats in, either. Rats would just come
in, but if someone discovered rats in the house, wouldn't they kill them
or shoo them out?

Rats don't just 'shoo' away. They may run from a human, but as soon as the
human vacates the room, they are back.

As you can tell, I've never had rats. There are apparently some rats in
or around the building I live in, maybe in the basement, because Smudge
has delivered a couple of dead ones to my front door. But thankfully I've
never seen on *in* my apartment. So I've never had to shoo one, or attempt
to shoo one, at least!

I don't mean to be a smartass about this, I'm really just wondering. I've
heard a lot that the mass killing of cats during the Middle Ages (and as
part of the widespread witchhunt) helped to spread the plague, because with
fewer cats around, there were more rats, and more fleas. I just don't
understand why having more cats around wouldn't also mean more fleas.
Wouldn't cats and rats hang out in pretty much the same places? Where the
rats go, the cats would follow.

Joyce
--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

wrote in message
...
Magic Mood Jeep wrote:

wrote in message

I'm sure they didn't choose to let rats in, either. Rats would just
come
in, but if someone discovered rats in the house, wouldn't they kill
them
or shoo them out?

Rats don't just 'shoo' away. They may run from a human, but as soon as
the
human vacates the room, they are back.

As you can tell, I've never had rats. There are apparently some rats in
or around the building I live in, maybe in the basement, because Smudge
has delivered a couple of dead ones to my front door. But thankfully I've
never seen on *in* my apartment. So I've never had to shoo one, or attempt
to shoo one, at least!

I don't mean to be a smartass about this, I'm really just wondering. I've
heard a lot that the mass killing of cats during the Middle Ages (and as
part of the widespread witchhunt) helped to spread the plague, because
with
fewer cats around, there were more rats, and more fleas. I just don't
understand why having more cats around wouldn't also mean more fleas.
Wouldn't cats and rats hang out in pretty much the same places? Where the
rats go, the cats would follow.

Joyce


Think in terms of how many rats and mice one cat can kill in a lifetime.
Especially one that depends on them for food. Now think how many rats and
mice that is over ten years if they aren't killed by that single cat but are
allowed to reproduce at will for that period of time.

Jo

wrote in message
...
Magic Mood Jeep wrote:

wrote in message

I'm sure they didn't choose to let rats in, either. Rats would just
come
in, but if someone discovered rats in the house, wouldn't they kill
them
or shoo them out?

Rats don't just 'shoo' away. They may run from a human, but as soon as
the
human vacates the room, they are back.

As you can tell, I've never had rats. There are apparently some rats in
or around the building I live in, maybe in the basement, because Smudge
has delivered a couple of dead ones to my front door. But thankfully I've
never seen on *in* my apartment. So I've never had to shoo one, or attempt
to shoo one, at least!

I don't mean to be a smartass about this, I'm really just wondering. I've
heard a lot that the mass killing of cats during the Middle Ages (and as
part of the widespread witchhunt) helped to spread the plague, because
with
fewer cats around, there were more rats, and more fleas. I just don't
understand why having more cats around wouldn't also mean more fleas.
Wouldn't cats and rats hang out in pretty much the same places? Where the
rats go, the cats would follow.

Joyce

I think they're different types of fleas.

Also, rats are very prolific. I imagine they were breeding and were located
in lots of places. They probably outnumbered the cats by quite a bit,
especially after so many cats were killed off, so the cats couldn't cover
every place where there were rats.

Joy