I'd like to tell a story about cats that is so gross, I think it drove BlatantAnimalRelatedIdiocy into running a private blog. I wrote this in her comments, poor thing. I got to thinking about this story again, after reading about the closure/re-opening of the kitten nursery at THS.
I was acquainted with a couple up the road from us, here in mostly country land. She owned a couple of old horses and he liked to build stuff. Highly intelligent, both of them. She was very into animals, he was not into animals at all. She owned a beautiful Doberman, loved that dog to bits. She had a few screws loose, but her history explained/excused that. Believe me. She truly had an evil mother. She was sweet, funny, blonde, pretty.
She had a couple of barn cats, and did not neuter them, any of them, for four years. At the end of those years, her little barn was literally swamped/crawling with cats. EVERYwhere. Inbred, sickly, feral, wormy. Breeding, breeding, breeding. Kittens, kittens, kittens.
Her husband begged her to do something, as the stench coming from the little barn was starting to infiltrate the house, 300 yards away. She kept putting it off. Finally, husband snapped. He took his gun out to the barn, and not-very-humanely killed all of the cats, but one.
He brought the little female that had started the explosion into the house, sparing her, and ordered his wife to spay her immediately.
She told me this story, sitting at her kitchen table, smiling at her sole survivor.
I've never forgotten her expression. Dreamy. I wonder what my expression was.
Horrified, no doubt.
Remember how I said you can do anything you want with your animals?
That includes breeding them to their deaths. Private homes are still private, you know.
This was/is not a cruel woman. She adored all of the cats. Why she couldn't spay them is unknown.
Kittens are SOOO cute/helpless/adorable. Funny. They turn into cats, and bingo, they are not wanted. It saddens me terribly. Nothing more pitiful than a sick kitten. They fire up our motherly (hopefully!) nurturing instincts, and that's great. But where will the cats go?
There are not enough educated, caring homes out there as it is.
Of course, I'd love to say save them all. But saving them for what quality of life ahead, is the question.
Animals deserve a quality to their life.
Just my opinion.
15 comments:
There seems to be a lot of that...and word verf is thornian...must be describing the problem!
My word verif is lepresho. Let's presh on... maybe?
That is a sad story for the cats, in that it could have sooo easily been prevented. Spaying and neutering may be a bit of money for the inital outlay, but it saves so much more in the long run considering feeding the volume produced.
I can't imagine the odor of that many cats in the barn. Or anywhere for that matter. I know the people I bought my first horse from had nearly 30 cats, all kept in the house. Some were closed into this bedroom because they didn't get along with a few others kept in that bedroom...
Their house did not smell of cats like you would expect, but what kind of life is that for the cats? And a few of them had reproduced....
Spaying would have been extremely helpful, but one question is where do you draw the line with barn cats? People drop them off, and some strays just wander through and take up residence. If your original females were spayed, you're ok...and if your neutered Tom is still aggressive enough, he might keep other males out...but in the country, you sometimes get a population explosion just by virtue of the fact that you had a warm barn. (By explosion, I mean a litter or two of feral kittens birthed by stray females in your hayloft.)
My relatives solve this problem the way the husband in the story did...shooting or drowning the kittens. There is no joy in this, let me tell you. They have to lure the feral kitties out with meat and shoot them like fish in a barrel. Even the best shot can miss a feral kitty though. But if you DON'T do it...well then, the problem just propagates to the next barn, and the next, until it finds a crazy cat lady to set up with. Then the crazy cat lady calls my relatives to please come over and "help her out" with her cat problem.
I really wish people didn't view farms as personal dumping grounds for their kittens/cats/strays. They really AREN'T going to a "happy life on a farm." Farmers usually see the merit of a cat or two, and USUALLY HAVE THEIR OWN.
How many randoms and drop offs are you required to spay/neuter before you pull out the .22? My relatives set the limit at 5. If they could tame them enough to catch them. The wild ones? Not so much.
One more quick note, unlike "rescuers"...your average farmer's wife DOES NOT get spaying/neutering at a discount from the vet. If you are a responsible adult with an income, most vets expect you to...PAY THE BILL FOR SERVICES RENDERED.
Your average vet is now charging from $250-$500 for a spaying. Even IF you whine that people keep dropping them off. Which most farmer's wives I know would not consider doing, out of pride.
S&B -
Bingo. We have a "dropped off" one in the barn right now. Not feral, although took me about 3 months to pet it. Now it follows me around. However, I can't have it in my house, we have 2 cats that won't tolerate it. My mother is feeding it in her pantry, but she's allergic - no cats. I've posted flyers and ad in newspaper, "lost a cat?" Not likely, probably dumped. Thought about taking it to the shelter but our local one is overwhelmed with cats at the moment and begging for adoptions. I'm broke enough right now with responsibilities to my own animals. What to do????
And this is long line of animals dropped off at our farm. We've had whole litters of kittens (cute, long-hair ones too!) left, multiple dogs, and even once, about 40 chickens.
Thanks! And yes, that is when the shotgun, quick death in the water trough, is a blessing.
We had mice issues for a while. AS in catching 7 of them in the kitchen trash in one shot, kind of mice issues...
Tossing something in the garbage can without a bag and they got in but couldn't get out, seemed to work the best.
We tried the humane traps.
We tried the old fashined traps.
We used the snap traps that look like giant plastic clothespins.
We also used the new D-con things that look like hockey pucks.
We trapped them and if you caught more than 1 expect them to eat each other. Gross!
We put the traps in the bed of the truck and drove them out to the edge of the 'hood, turning them loose in the desert.
Our neighbors were dropping the humane traps in a bucket of water to drown the 10 or more mice they caught in each one per day. Or they held the trap in front of the cars exhaust pipe and gassed them.
We finally got to the point we were sick of seeing mouse crap on everything, sick of wiping mouse pee off everything. Sick of finding everything under the sun chewed, nibbled on or destroyed by the mice. We got a cat, but the cat didn't last long and couldn't keep up with the mice.
So as much as we hated the idea, we bought bait blocks. We didn't want to go that route, but the girls were coming and we had to do something. At last count we had caught, trapped or killed 45 mice in our house over the short span of 3 months.
Although we are in a neighborhood, we also get the drop offs. The pound in the city where my mom lives- they charge YOU $65 per cat if you trap them and bring them in. $65 so they can spay/neuter them and then bring them back to your area and turn them loose again. I didn't want the damn cat, that's why I trapped it and brought it in!
Oh, we have major mice, too, CNJ. MAJOR, major. We use the bait blocks, I swear, they have developed resistance to them. Surprise, surprise.
I remember when I first started thinking, the THS is NutttY.
They wouldn't let you adopt a cat from the shelter, as a a mouser.
My husband is allergic to cats, and my house...
well, it's bad enough without a cat. I take the drop-offs to the shelter, and cry all the way home.
Oh, there was one I'd have divorced my husband and kept..
She broke my heart.
Funny thing is, you need a cat that knows how to mouse, number one. My two cats couldn't catch mice to save their lives. Raised from sick week old sickly kittens, from the shelter. Jethro liked to catch beetles and sing to them as he carried them around. Mices, never. Simon figured mice out when he was about 10, after Jethro's sad passing. But old Simon just carried them around, singing to them.
A half-feral cat will know how.
My old cat Emily (a feral who came in from the cold) taught my roomie's kitten how to mouse, it was SO cool to watch. She was such a cool cat.
I think Flip dog would mouse.
She does mole.
Blaze would need a Frisbee shaped mouse..
For sure, SB, for sure.
They were a very well off couple. It was weird..
sorry for the blither, I'm trying to remain patient.
GL the cat we got was a made mouser. She caught 3 the first day! WTG gabby cat. Then 1 or 2 here and there and at the end of two weeks, she would let them cruise around the house with no problems. Just like the 4 dogs.
The dogs had to stay outside at night because of the cat. Nobody got along and the cat was there for a reason. Then Gabby cat got out one day and wouldn't come back inside. So much for that idea. We still see her once in a while out in our yard or the neighbors.
My mom was trapping them because they were using her flower beds as litter boxes. Plus she doesn't like cats. They all belong or did to the neighbors. Plenty of strays running around. The HS & AC will tell you they are predatory animals and can fend for themselves so they won't help trap them. But call them about a dog... Johnny on the spot.
I have several barn cats here, none of which started out to be mine and most are buck wild , drop offs or the neighbors cats wandered over for food and safe haven . When I say several ,I mean around 6 or so. some wander off some stay , and as often as possible I fingd homes for the extra's. Spay/neuter is great idea, and I am happy to do thet for the ones I can catch.We too have been known to deal with them , shall I say quickly?
But you are right GL Quality of life for animals is key
On the mouser situation, the cats we do have in the house are for mice (well, my girls think they are for them, but I know better). I get them at the local "stray cat" farm down the road. Was, until recently, a dairy. They REALLY got a lot of cat drop offs! It was cat nirvana. They tried to control them, within reason. They have a vet in the family so he would about 2x a year go through and spay/neuter whoever they could catch for free, worm them, etc...But of course, they still have plenty of cats.
Interestingly enough, they are quite the healthy bunch. They have two distinct lines - a big, rangy, bold either slightly tortoiseshell gray or orangish color and then a smaller, shy, grey stripey line. Really distinct genetics when you look at the cats together. Anyways, over the last 10 years, any cats we've gotten I've gotten from there. As kittens. Wild as hell. I lock them in my kids bedroom for a week and by the time they are done hiding under the bed they are tame and love the girls, plus have dealt with the ridiculously insane mouse problem in girls bedroom (mess of clothes/toys never completely cleaned up, snuck away snack foods...mouse heaven). They've all been excellent mousers - except for sometimes too good and like to bring things inside the house! Like baby rabbits! Grr...
The new "stray" cat in the barn is also catching mice and rats! I've noticed...so I just might have to haul her off to the vet and try and keep her around. Sigh...
What a sad story, GL. I am willing to bet it happens more often than you know.
Incredible news.
Miss Kitty, the formerly useless cat, accidentally declawed by my well-meaning parents, picked out of the shelter ONLY for cuteness...
Miss Kitty
HAS CAUGHT HER SECOND MOUSE. And left it on the doorstep, proper.
We thought the first one might have been a fluke, you know, a mouse that just up and died beside her. Nope, this cinches it. She's officially a real cat now.
Her best friend not so much...
Disco Fuzzy, as a kitten
SB, adorable ! I love calico cats
word verf pardoncy?
Taking mice or other captured vermin elsewhere to release isnt such a good idea.
They travel much further than you think. MIce will go a mile or more ot return home, bigger animals(like raccon or groudnhogs) even further.
IF you do get them far enough chances are they will be bullied to starvation by whoever's territory they are dumped in, plus they may spread disease. This is why dumping wild-caught pests is illegal in some places.
A quick ugly death is tougher on the humans but kinder to the vermin. The only method I hate is glue paper. They either starve while stuck to it, or you have ot do something to kill them.
I've had 8 cats so far and all but 2 have been mousers.
Eeaoo was an indoor cat and never lived in a mouse infested home. Little Kitty I think was brain-damaged by illness and malnutrition as a kitten. She never seemed in touch with reality, and her favorite prey was sunbeams on the rug.
Leela and Rudy were superb mousers. And Buster, Reka Mao, Kimmy, and Lydia have all caught at least a few.
Leela coudl kill with one swat. BUster would play with it till it broke-his kills were slobbered on and mangled. Poor dim Reka Mao was low on the pecking order and never got to keep hers-some other cat would steal it. Usually Kimmy, who hated and bullied her.
Someone woudl eat all but one unidentified inner organ. Another ate all but the tail. Buster and Lydia didnt eat them at all. And Rudy liked ot carry live mice around and drop them on our faces while we slept. Well, he tried it once. Our ingratitude stopped him from doing it again.
We had an electric stove ful of mice once, and store dthe cooking pots on the burners. Rudy would wait at nigh titll a mouse came out, then charge, sending pots clatterin all over the floor just feet from our bed.
You'd think it woudl be easier tp sleep now that Rudy's gone, but missing his snuggles is way worse than the noise and faceful of mice was.(especially since it was the hubs who almost got a mous ein the face)
Little Gator- we took the mice out to the edge of the neighborhood. They may attempt to come back, but there were plenty of houses between us and the drop off point. Let them take up residence at any one of them.
Besides, as much as I don't like snakes- we have them around here and they need to eat too.
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