I'm cross

Christina Websell wrote:
Livid even.
Yes, I know cats catch wild birds and that's why I didn't want any
cats, because I love birdwatching.
Boyfriend lost his posh tapestry collar the other day, the one he
arrived here with, so I bought him a reflective one yesterday with a
bell on as he fancies himself as quite a hunter of birds, I hoped it
would give them a chance.
It's pitch black here now, 9.50 p.m. and what was he just doing? He
was in the kitchen holding the body of a wren, still warm.

http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/wren.htm

Aargh .sob

Yes, I *know* cats eat birds, I don't like it, and that's why I
didn't want any.

I've picked the wren up a couple of times to warm it to see if it
will come back to life. It isn't going to. It's so small that if I
put it on my palm with it's tail by my thumb, it's long insecting
eating beak doesn't reach to the bottom of my little finger.
Boyfriend has gone out again. If he is starting to search roosts for
birds at night for fun, I shall keep him in from evening until
morning. He isn't hungry.
I know it's in a cat's nature to hunt, but I set up my large garden a
few years ago as a refuge for birds. :-(

Tweed

I'm sorry to hear that, Tweed. I had become rather complacent before I
got Bagheera, Snoopy hadn't caught anything for twelve years. Baggy
catches more, about three weeks ago I was very upset when he caught a
Goldcrest, this was only the second one I'd ever seen. Not the cats
fault, but last night a Greenfinch flew into the window with such force
I was surprised it didn't break, the poor thing was stunned so I put him
in a box overnight hoping he'd recover. He must have been brain damaged
as he died this morning. I'm still feeling sad about that.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

As well as the bell on the collar - put a small ID tag (metal) nest to it.
Makes for a bit of extra noise when the cat pounces and can be the difference
between bird getting away or being a snack. This works well on my three - they
get hardly any birds but concentrate on small rodents (who must be deaf....)

Also - I do keep the cats in from dusk to dawn as during dusk & dawn is where
much feeding goes on by the birds.

*Important* - do *not* get angry at the cat as and when he brings you a bird. I
praise my three and that way, I've found I can get them to happily give me any
prey and quite a few of the few birds they have caught and given me have
subsequently recovered and got a second chance at life. I've also invested in a
small budgie cage which I use as my "rescue cage" for birds, and a small clear
box I use as same for small rodents.

I feed the birds year round in my garden, so have lots of visitors, bear in
mind that there's been far more birds destroyed by loss of habitat than cats
get. The main predator is *us*, not cats. Also - your local bird population
will become adept at keeping out of the way of the cat.

At the front of my house I have hanging basket brackets. During the summer
these have hanging baskets of flowers on them. In the colder months I have nut
& seed feeders hanging off them. I can get blue tits, great tits, robins,
greenfinches, chaffinches etc., feeding off them, *inches* away from the cat -
the birds can see the cat - it just happens the cat is behind the glass of the
window sitting on the window sill. Those birds *know* the cat is there. Yet if
the cat steps paw outside where the birds can see it, the birds fly off. The
birds are not stupid ;-)

And a magpie is a far more vicious and wanton killer of small birds than many a
cat... I've seen magpies at work killing small birds - wanton - they kill the
chicks and leave - clean out an entire nest - and don't eat what they've
killed.

Cheers, helen s










--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
**$om $

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off--

As well as the bell on the collar - put a small ID tag (metal) nest to it.
Makes for a bit of extra noise when the cat pounces and can be the difference
between bird getting away or being a snack. This works well on my three - they
get hardly any birds but concentrate on small rodents (who must be deaf....)

Also - I do keep the cats in from dusk to dawn as during dusk & dawn is where
much feeding goes on by the birds.

*Important* - do *not* get angry at the cat as and when he brings you a bird. I
praise my three and that way, I've found I can get them to happily give me any
prey and quite a few of the few birds they have caught and given me have
subsequently recovered and got a second chance at life. I've also invested in a
small budgie cage which I use as my "rescue cage" for birds, and a small clear
box I use as same for small rodents.

I feed the birds year round in my garden, so have lots of visitors, bear in
mind that there's been far more birds destroyed by loss of habitat than cats
get. The main predator is *us*, not cats. Also - your local bird population
will become adept at keeping out of the way of the cat.

At the front of my house I have hanging basket brackets. During the summer
these have hanging baskets of flowers on them. In the colder months I have nut
& seed feeders hanging off them. I can get blue tits, great tits, robins,
greenfinches, chaffinches etc., feeding off them, *inches* away from the cat -
the birds can see the cat - it just happens the cat is behind the glass of the
window sitting on the window sill. Those birds *know* the cat is there. Yet if
the cat steps paw outside where the birds can see it, the birds fly off. The
birds are not stupid ;-)

And a magpie is a far more vicious and wanton killer of small birds than many a
cat... I've seen magpies at work killing small birds - wanton - they kill the
chicks and leave - clean out an entire nest - and don't eat what they've
killed.

Cheers, helen s










--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
**$om $

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off--

in article , Jeanette at
wrote on 10/2/04 5:11AM:


Marina wrote in message
...
Jo Firey wrote:

The difference in pet culture in the UK had slipped my mind. I'm sure
there
are lots of other folks cats out there hunting in addition to Boyfriend.
Even a warm body brought in isn't necessarily his kill. Since things
are
not likely to change, there is really not a lot of point in keeping your
cat
in if he really wants OUT. Birds and cats have co-existed in the UK for
a
long time and one little cat isn't likely to change the balance of
things.
Bet he figures out you don't care for the birds and at least stops
bringing
them home for praise.

Nikki has learned that it's not a good idea to bring home birds. I'm
pretty sure she does kill some every summer on the island, though. She
just eats them somewhere else.


My 'new' cat, Cav, is very bright. It only took him a couple of 'catches' to
find out that I really did not approve of him catching birds. A few weeks
ago I heard a thud as a bird hit the conservatory window, and even as I
stood up to investigate, Cav came running into the house doing his best
'Timmy's in the well' Lassie impression. I could swear he wanted me to know
that he had NOTHING to do with the dead bird on the patio.

Jeanette



LOL!!

in article , Jeanette at
wrote on 10/2/04 5:11AM:


Marina wrote in message
...
Jo Firey wrote:

The difference in pet culture in the UK had slipped my mind. I'm sure
there
are lots of other folks cats out there hunting in addition to Boyfriend.
Even a warm body brought in isn't necessarily his kill. Since things
are
not likely to change, there is really not a lot of point in keeping your
cat
in if he really wants OUT. Birds and cats have co-existed in the UK for
a
long time and one little cat isn't likely to change the balance of
things.
Bet he figures out you don't care for the birds and at least stops
bringing
them home for praise.

Nikki has learned that it's not a good idea to bring home birds. I'm
pretty sure she does kill some every summer on the island, though. She
just eats them somewhere else.


My 'new' cat, Cav, is very bright. It only took him a couple of 'catches' to
find out that I really did not approve of him catching birds. A few weeks
ago I heard a thud as a bird hit the conservatory window, and even as I
stood up to investigate, Cav came running into the house doing his best
'Timmy's in the well' Lassie impression. I could swear he wanted me to know
that he had NOTHING to do with the dead bird on the patio.

Jeanette



LOL!!

in article , Marina at
wrote on 10/2/04 6:31AM:

Jeanette wrote:


My 'new' cat, Cav, is very bright. It only took him a couple of 'catches' to
find out that I really did not approve of him catching birds. A few weeks
ago I heard a thud as a bird hit the conservatory window, and even as I
stood up to investigate, Cav came running into the house doing his best
'Timmy's in the well' Lassie impression. I could swear he wanted me to know
that he had NOTHING to do with the dead bird on the patio.

LOL! The exact opposite of Frank's father, Panther, who came proudly
bearing a blackbird to my sister. Since my sister had just seen the
blackbird lying beneath a window after obviously have met its death by
hitting said window, she didn't praise him (or scold him) for his 'catch'.

Panther was "retrieving".

in article , Marina at
wrote on 10/2/04 6:31AM:

Jeanette wrote:


My 'new' cat, Cav, is very bright. It only took him a couple of 'catches' to
find out that I really did not approve of him catching birds. A few weeks
ago I heard a thud as a bird hit the conservatory window, and even as I
stood up to investigate, Cav came running into the house doing his best
'Timmy's in the well' Lassie impression. I could swear he wanted me to know
that he had NOTHING to do with the dead bird on the patio.

LOL! The exact opposite of Frank's father, Panther, who came proudly
bearing a blackbird to my sister. Since my sister had just seen the
blackbird lying beneath a window after obviously have met its death by
hitting said window, she didn't praise him (or scold him) for his 'catch'.

Panther was "retrieving".

in article , Sherry at
itty wrote on 10/2/04 8:24AM:


I know it's in a cat's nature to hunt, but I set up my large garden a few
years ago as a refuge for birds. :-(

Tweed

This is so weird. I keep reading about other people's cats catching birds. OUt
of these four, the *Only* bird I've ever seen them catch is, Yoda caught a
Blue
Jay about eight years ago. Are they just really inept hunters? I don't want
them to catch birds, but it's just odd. I also read about people complaining
that outdoor cats reduce the songbird population. Not here for sure.
Bootie is a real gopher-girl, but even she has never caught a bird.
Sherry

We had a lot of indoor outdoor cats when I was growing up, and only a couple
of them were hunters. Even then, we got far more grasshoppers brought to us
than birds. I can only remember one or two birds. Several mousies. But
overall, since they ate regularly they didn't bother. They mostly enjoyed
watching. I will say our cat Dimples, who I referred to earlier, probably
did hunt and eat birds her whole life. But she sure never brought them up to
the house if she did. It really, I believe, depends on how strong the urge
is. Definitely as they got older and figured out they didn't have to, they
didn't do it. I suspect Boyfriend will grow out of getting the birds when he
figures out Tweed doesn't like it, and he has regular meals.

in article , Sherry at
itty wrote on 10/2/04 8:24AM:


I know it's in a cat's nature to hunt, but I set up my large garden a few
years ago as a refuge for birds. :-(

Tweed

This is so weird. I keep reading about other people's cats catching birds. OUt
of these four, the *Only* bird I've ever seen them catch is, Yoda caught a
Blue
Jay about eight years ago. Are they just really inept hunters? I don't want
them to catch birds, but it's just odd. I also read about people complaining
that outdoor cats reduce the songbird population. Not here for sure.
Bootie is a real gopher-girl, but even she has never caught a bird.
Sherry

We had a lot of indoor outdoor cats when I was growing up, and only a couple
of them were hunters. Even then, we got far more grasshoppers brought to us
than birds. I can only remember one or two birds. Several mousies. But
overall, since they ate regularly they didn't bother. They mostly enjoyed
watching. I will say our cat Dimples, who I referred to earlier, probably
did hunt and eat birds her whole life. But she sure never brought them up to
the house if she did. It really, I believe, depends on how strong the urge
is. Definitely as they got older and figured out they didn't have to, they
didn't do it. I suspect Boyfriend will grow out of getting the birds when he
figures out Tweed doesn't like it, and he has regular meals.

in article , Adrian at wrote
on 10/2/04 8:46AM:

Christina Websell wrote:
Livid even.
Yes, I know cats catch wild birds and that's why I didn't want any
cats, because I love birdwatching.
Boyfriend lost his posh tapestry collar the other day, the one he
arrived here with, so I bought him a reflective one yesterday with a
bell on as he fancies himself as quite a hunter of birds, I hoped it
would give them a chance.
It's pitch black here now, 9.50 p.m. and what was he just doing? He
was in the kitchen holding the body of a wren, still warm.

http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/wren.htm

Aargh .sob

Yes, I *know* cats eat birds, I don't like it, and that's why I
didn't want any.

I've picked the wren up a couple of times to warm it to see if it
will come back to life. It isn't going to. It's so small that if I
put it on my palm with it's tail by my thumb, it's long insecting
eating beak doesn't reach to the bottom of my little finger.
Boyfriend has gone out again. If he is starting to search roosts for
birds at night for fun, I shall keep him in from evening until
morning. He isn't hungry.
I know it's in a cat's nature to hunt, but I set up my large garden a
few years ago as a refuge for birds. :-(

Tweed

I'm sorry to hear that, Tweed. I had become rather complacent before I
got Bagheera, Snoopy hadn't caught anything for twelve years. Baggy
catches more, about three weeks ago I was very upset when he caught a
Goldcrest, this was only the second one I'd ever seen. Not the cats
fault, but last night a Greenfinch flew into the window with such force
I was surprised it didn't break, the poor thing was stunned so I put him
in a box overnight hoping he'd recover. He must have been brain damaged
as he died this morning. I'm still feeling sad about that.

The house I grew up in has a porch with BIG glass windows. I remember that
my mom stopped cleaning them when I was little because birds would fly into
them and stun themselves. We were usually quite lucky and if we propped them
up on the roof or the car roof, they would recover and fly away, but mom had
enough and just let the windows stay spotty with rain residue etc. I can't
even remember the last time a bird flew into them. So it seems to work!