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Conference misery::feline_v1

Title:	Meower Power is Valuing Differences
Notice:	FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY
Moderator:	MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO

Created:	Sun Feb 09 1986
Last Modified:	Tue Jan 11 1994
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5089
Total number of notes:	60366

3285.0. "help with cat & rodents..." by GIAMEM::M_CLEMENT () Thu Jan 25 1990 13:26

    I wonder if anyone can help us resolve out cat problem...
    
    My 1.5 year old female fixed tiger cat is causing us some
    trouble, and I am looking for suggestions to deal with the
    situation.
    
    She has a little door in the basement that I built to let
    her come and go as she pleases.  She spends her time inside
    and outside about 50/50.  She loves to hunt and often was
    catching and killing/mutilating birds and rodents, and often
    bringing them into the basement.  Well we put a collar with a
    bell to try and prevent her suprise attacks on birds.  She is
    now up to 3 bells on her collar and the bird catching has for
    the most part ended.  Our problem now is with rodents...
    
    She has become such a good hunter that she now catches rodents
    without killing (and usually not injuring) these mice,moles,and
    larger rodents (small chipmunck once).  She plays with them in
    the basement, we usually know when this is happening because our
    dog starts freaking out and starts asking to go down to the basement.
    When we get down there, we find her with a rodent in her mouth and
    she'll start hiding from the dog and us, and do her growling noise
    while holding the rodent as we approach her.  
    
    Well as of last nite my wife decided that we should close her door,
    and I did.  She can no longer come and go as she pleases.
    
    Well, what I would like to know... Is there anyway of preventing
    her rodent catching, so that I can re-activate her door?  Has
    anyone gone thru a similar experience?   What did you do?
    
    What we now plan to do is to re-activate the litter box in the
    basement and just let her out thru the back door when she wants
    to go out, and then we can make sure nothing is in her mouth when
    she comes in.
    
    But, I'd really like to have the cat door available to her.
    
    Thanks, Mark.
    
    BTW, a funny story for you.  About a month ago around 5:30 in the
    morning we hear her coming up the stairs and we her a repetitive
    squeking noise.  My wife and I wake up, and my wife says Jesse (our
    cat) has brought a mouse upstairs, "go get it", I say it sounds
    more like a bird to me.  Well, I drag myself out of bed, my wife
    refuses to get out of bed until I find and get whatever it is. 
    I go to the bathroom, because I am not about to go searching without
    a visit to the bathroom to relieve myself and splash some water
    on my face and get my eyes fully open...  As I pickup the lid to
    the toilet I do a double take to the floor next to the toilet and
    there is two creatures staring me right in the eyes.  My cat is
    sitting there and in front of her a full size blue jay is standing
    there ( and they are both just looking at me, like I am the one
    out of place ).  Well here comes the dog and before you know it
    I am trying to keep the cat away from the bird, and the dog away
    from the cat and the bird, and I am calling my wife to come in and
    shut the door before the bird takes off into the rest of the house.
    
    We finally get the cat and dog out of the bathroom, the door is
    closed, and the bird is perched on our shower curtain rod.  I finally
    go to the bathroom, wash my face, catch the bird ( which is unharmed),
    and throw the bird out the bathroom window.  
    
    Two hours later I find the bird sleeping next to the back of the
    house where the cat door is... So I catch the bird again, while
    it was asleep ( it never saw me coming, and now I can see how easy
    it is for my cat to catch him)  I take the bird down the road to
    a wooded area, let him go, and he finally flies away majestically.
    
    Mark

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
3285.1	Great story, but a real dumb bird!	WORDY::GRACE	Wait, I'm LIVING in Grace-land!	`Thu Jan 25 1990 15:01`	1

3285.2		SANFAN::FOSSATJU		`Fri Jan 26 1990 15:15`	8
	This day started out on the bummer side but your story has still got me laughing. =.1 Ditto - a real dumb bird. Giudi
3285.3	Keep the door shut!	FSTVAX::HULL		`Mon Jan 29 1990 18:27`	23
	Last year when my husband & I went away for vacation we rigged up a cat door through the basement for our cat Louie. Since the cat-sitter was only coming once a day we figured it would be nice for him to come and go as he pleases. Well that was in January and there was not a whole of wild life for him to hunt at that time of year. As time went on we thought "Oh how lovely - we don't have to let the cat in and out all the time". HA!!!!! As soon as spring sprung he started bringing in all his kills.... and since I am the first one home from work, guess who found all these good things. First it was a dead snake in the bathroom. Then a live one...luckily only little garter snakes. Then one day I came home and it looked like Charles Manson had been on a killing spree in the bathroom. But it was Louie and this huge black bird (unfortunately he was too far gone when I got home.) That was the final straw!!! No more cat door for Louie!! He does have a little room that he can get into if he's cold or something, but it does not lead into the house. Soooooo.... from my experience with cat doors - I'd say the only way to keep critters out is to keep the door SHUT!! Judie
3285.4	Oliver caught a rat	SUBURB::ODONNELLJ		`Tue Jan 30 1990 14:30`	20
	I have a related problem that is worrying me with Oliver. On Sunday, Oliver brought home his first kill (and presented it to my mother as she was hanging out the washing!). It was a rat. Not a very large one, admittedly, but definately a rat. Mum fought down the shrieks and accepted it (and threw it into the bin at the first opportunity!). The problem is that, where there is one small rat, the odds are that there are going to be other, larger rats around. Large rats are dangerous and Oliver isn't fully grown yet. I'm worried he might get hurt or even killed. We have a fairly good idea where he might have got it from (we live on an estate and there is a small field which people dump their rubbish just out the back). Does anyone have any idea about what I could do (call the Council out, for example - would I have grounds?)? As I said, I am worried he'll get hurt, and also rats are a health hazard, aren't they?
3285.5		STNING::DSM_SEC	Rainbow In The Dark	`Tue Jan 30 1990 14:58`	8
	It seems that people shouldn't be dumping trash in a field like that. Don't you have sanitary landfills or rubbish collection or something. I should think that they should be able to do something about that. Rats are a health hazard, and bring with them a lot of diseases. I'd watch Oliver carefully.
3285.6		SUBURB::ODONNELLJ		`Tue Jan 30 1990 15:31`	5
	Oh we have the collections etc - and we also have laws against dumping, but it doesn't seem to stop some people. I'll keep an eye on Oliver for signs of illness, but short of following him around on his excursions, I can't think of anything else I can do.
3285.7	Rats!	XNOGOV::LISA		`Tue Jan 30 1990 16:10`	5
	If you're in the UK (? are you ?), contact your local environmental health officer, they are very helpful. Lisa.
3285.8		CIRCUS::KOLLING	Karen/Sweetie/Holly/Little Bit Ca.	`Tue Jan 30 1990 16:34`	5
	Possibly the council might decide to get rid of the rats by puttin gout rat poison, which would be even more dangerous to Oliver, I would think. Maybe you can convince them to clean the area up?
3285.9		CRUISE::NDC	DTN: 297-2313	`Tue Jan 30 1990 16:45`	2
	If you aren't in the UK, I hope Oliver has had his rabies shot.
3285.10		SUBURB::ODONNELLJ		`Tue Jan 30 1990 18:14`	5
	I'm in the UK - No rabies, thank God!! I'll get onto the Council first thing and see whether they can do anything. If I get no satisfaction from them, I'll phone the Environment place up. I'll let you know how I get on.
3285.11	Indoor Only???	POCUS::FCOLLINS		`Wed Jan 31 1990 15:19`	5
	I certainly seem to have a personal interest in your Oliver, I'm worried too. Could you convert him to an indoor only cat? He's still young. Flo with an Oliver too.
3285.12		SUBURB::ODONNELLJ		`Thu Feb 01 1990 14:23`	16
	I have tried to get through to the Pest Control Officer at the Council offices, but have only got through to an answer-phone so far. I shall keep trying, though. re. -1 Thank you for your concern, Flo - I'll let you know how I get on. I think converting him to an indoor cat would be TOO much to expect - you see, he was a stray at one time. We had to keep him in when we first got him because he hadn't had his 'flu vaccinations - and it was almost impossible. In fact, he even escaped out of the bathroom window once! He loves going out (except when it's wet!) and I don't think we could deprive him now, even for his own interests. I don't think he'd be too happy about parting from the lady tabby kitten down the road, either!!!
3285.13	Got through to them	SUBURB::ODONNELLJ		`Tue Feb 06 1990 21:35`	13
	Finally got through to someone at the Environment office today. They were very nice and understood my concern, but they said the rat could have come from anywhere really, even from the official dump, as cat, particularly males, often roamed quite a way. He said that if Oliver comes home with another present or if I see rats on the site myself, to get into contact at once. They also said they'd look into the rubbish dumping there. Oliver is under close watch. I suppose I am proud of him for managing to catch a rat all by himself, but I will be glad when they are gone. Can cats REALLY go that far away?!!
3285.14		WR2FOR::CORDESBRO_JO	set home/cat_max=infinity	`Tue Feb 06 1990 21:50`	4
	You would be amazed to find out the scope of your cat's territory. Many cat books say that the territory can encompass many miles. Jo
3285.15		SUBURB::ODONNELLJ		`Tue Feb 06 1990 22:49`	10
	MILES???!!!! He's only a kitten!!!!! I think we'll have to keep an eye on this one! I wondered why he seemed so absolutely shattered on the occasions that he goes missing all day. I suppose you tend to forget that the little furry bundle is growing up.
3285.16	Cats do travel a loooong way.	HAMPS::PATTISON_M		`Wed Feb 07 1990 09:21`	7
	I saw a documentary a few years ago in England, where a group of farm cats were tagged with tiny radio transmitters and tracked over a few months, they found that some of the males sometimes covered up to 21 miles, I suppose this is 10 miles each side of the home. M.