Tuesday, August 02, 2016

Murder in the Suburbs

This cat lives in my daughter's neighborhood.  He has a buddy that is just as lovely as he is with longer fur.  Both are very healthy looking and very friendly.  My granddaughter greets them each morning as they stroll like panthers into her yard.  She play with them briefly before she heads off to school.  They belong to someone down the street and are allowed out a good part of the day to roam free.  They have their chips and ID and know to avoid automobiles and are wary of loud teenagers.


Unfortunately they have a routine in the suburban jungle.  Each day they go out to stalk the feather residents and with many still fledging, the two cats certainly have it easy.   My granddaughter has gotten a new dog and spends more time with him than these two morning visitors.  The dog is a puppy and very small and the cats eye it in a predatory way when she plays with it on the porch.  The cats are jealous so they brought her a present to win her back to their side.



It looks like young robin with the soft gray.  Not sure with my limited ID skills.  But the point is, please keep your cats inside unless you are watching them like a hawk.  This is not the only songbird killed by these two.

15 comments:

  1. awww. Sometimes I hate 'survival of the fittest.' :(

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cats are predators and will kill just for the fun of it. I totally agree with you that they should not be allowed to roam free. My cat would sometimes bring a bird through her cat door and I would come home to absolute mayhem inside my apartment. :-(

    ReplyDelete
  3. All they need to do it bell the cats. That warns the birds before the cats can catch them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really like cats, but they can be a nuisance in gardens as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The bell sounds like a great idea. There is a cat in our neighbourhood but she spends her time in the meadow across the street. Otherwise, birds wouldn't be nesting in our hedge.

    ReplyDelete
  6. A few years ago, one of the feral kittens that I had become attached to was up on my deck. I petted her for a bit and then she ran down the steps and reappeared a few minutes late with a goldfinch in her mouth. I let out a scream and she opened her mouth and the bird flew away. Some gifts are not appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The cat is beautiful. Since these cats have the taste for the hunt, I think it might be difficult to keep them indoors. I do think indoor cats are safer all around though. Outdoor cats in my neighborhood have to contend with coyotes, fishers, and traffic.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love watching chipmunks. Years ago at another house we had zillions of chipmunks. Then a neighbor got a cat. We named it Killer. In a year, I hardly ever saw a chipmunk.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cats eat almost anything, or they bring it home to show you how to hunt. One of ours used to bring home lizards and pigeons. I had one once that ate jack rabbits. In our later years with cats, we did keep them inside.

    ReplyDelete
  10. We also keep our cats inside (for their own safety), but there are ferals out there and it is their nature to hunt. Although we'd rather they didn't hunt birds, they do keep the rat population down. Nature isn't always kind... but it has a purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I guess cats will be cats and act on millions of years of predatory instincts.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cats will always want to hunt. Better to raise them to stay indoors, and teach them to hunt The Red Dot.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Put bells on them, how hard is that to do, not hard at all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. It is a beautiful looking cat. I can admire a lovely looking animal while still waging war on feral cats. They are such pests where I live and the forest next door is so much quieter than it should be. The birds are gone and that is just not right.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous7:49 PM

    Cats kill millions of songbirds every year. Our cats have never been outside except when they're going to visit their vet.

    ReplyDelete

Take your time...take a deep breath...then hit me with your best shot.