# Feral Cats



## bulltrout (Apr 27, 2004)

I was listening to a Vetrenarian (sp) on the radio today talking about feral cats and the problems that have risen due to their presence. Then she started talking about how to solve the problem and it just ticked me off to no end. She tried saying that the only way to solve this problem was to use what she called the "TNR" system (meaning Trap, Neuter, Release) which is being used in other states. What she is trying to say is that Animal Control should be called so each cat can be trapped, checked out by a Vet, spayed or neutered, and released back to where it came from:yikes: . Not sure about you guys but this sound pretty expensive. Who would be paying for this.....lemme guess.....us as taxpayers. 

I have not seen the results of this technique so i am by no means an expert, but if it works maybe we should impliment this to help get rid of all of our non-native species. Everyone could get together and round up all of the gobies, lampreys, and zebra mussels so we can have them fixed and released back to the wild.:lol: 

I know there are many different viewpoints on this issue and I am not trying to starting anything here I just think this idea sounded ridiculously expensive and time consuming.


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## johnhunter (Jun 17, 2000)

I am certain, that somehow, there must be a cheaper and more effective means of dealing with feral cats than the method descibed. I might suggest a hefty federal research grant to a major university, to study this vexing issue.

I've got a perpetual feral cat problem at my farm, related, no doubt, to the activities of some "cat people" in the vicinity. Oh, what to do.


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## 2PawsRiver (Aug 4, 2002)

Actually they do capture, sterilize and release Sea Lampreys as a part of population reduction. The sterile males compete for a mate, hopefully win, however do not reproduce.

As for the cat problem, and I agree it is a problem, while sounding cruel, the population should be and could be reduced by beating people that don't have their cat sterilized or controlled.......or we could just start shooting cats.


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## Rondevous (Mar 14, 2005)

I've neutered and spayed several cats with a 12 ga.

I'm still working on the failed recovery times though.


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## THETOOLMAN (Oct 23, 2003)

Rondevous said:


> I've neutered and spayed several cats with a 12 ga.
> 
> I'm still working on the failed recovery times though.


 A .22 works also. Both are really fun /. & saves on the bird population. I learned to shoot with a .22 at rats in the dump.. dump is OFF LIMITS NOW .. so take a kid CAT POPPIN & save the game in your area :xzicon_sm  a.


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## dogwhistle (Oct 31, 2004)

i have found that the most effective way of ridding an area of feral cats is to live trap them, particuarly since they are mostly nocturnal. 

i then administer an injection of 40 grains of lead and release them into a drainage ditch.

i find that today far too many veterinarians buy into the animal rights agenda. this is mostly true of small animal vets and not often found among large animal vets. equine vets can go either way on the subject. spaying animals and releasing them or "finding homes" for them is ridulous and very expensive. whether it is a cat or dog, my belief is that if it is picked up as a stray, it should be held for a reasonable time for the owner to claim and then if not put down. there are plenty of good to excellent dogs available to buy for those that want them. many of the dogs i see available for "adoption" today are pit bull crosses. cat or dog, they are of no value and should be put down.


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## skulldugary (Apr 12, 2003)

I sure hope that the PETA folks are'nt monitoring this thread.If you feel you have to"thin them out",then do so and keep it under your hat.Sorry but I'll never take a kid Cat Poppin.I agree that something has to be done about feral cats but to just shoot them and fling them in a ditch is the kind of thing that said publicly does'nt look good for hunters or this site.


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## Rondevous (Mar 14, 2005)

Somewhere there is a study posted on the net that states over 800 thousand songbirds fall victim to cats each year.

Nuthatches, wrens, robins, ground sparrows, bluebirds, goldfinches, flickers, plovers and the list goes on.....

Dreaming up a way to neuter a cat, won't save the non game animals at all.
I agree it may not be correct to teach a kid to pop a cat or at least mention it out loud 
However, we need to control the cat problems and stop pretending there is a peaceful solution.

My dog tends to control every wild cat we find in the woods and he does it extremely effectively.

If you love your cats please keep them controlled and indoors if you can.

I wandering cat, is just another form of pollution created by careless people.


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## Tammy (Aug 24, 2005)

I have seen the feral cat problem grow to epidemic proportions. I get about 30 calls a week in my little town. I tried to think of a solution, the only one I have found to work is the trap-neuter-release, the reason is, they breed faster than they can be trapped, one female and her kittens can produce 420,000 cats in 7 yrs. I did a test barn where there were 19 cats, now after 1 yr the farmer is down to about 8, they get hit by cars and eaten by predators.if they can't reproduce their numbers can only go down. I trapped and destroyed aprox. 20 cats behind a public bldg. l yr ago and now there are about 40 cats back, it creates a vaccum effect, when they are removed, it leaves "slots" open for more to move in. This problem is everywhere. It dosen't matter if people feed them,they are still here. The humane society's and the pounds have been destroying them for years, if that worked why are the numbers still so high? and getting higher. I just can't think of any other solution, the cat problem over the years has been very maddening for me. 
T


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## dogwhistle (Oct 31, 2004)

i used to see a fair number of wild cats on and around my property. i trapped and destroyed quite a few. i also used to see a lot along the roadsides at night. now i hardly see any. and i havent seen one on my property in a long time. next time you are driving through the country at night, look for yourself, cat eyes along side the road are pretty scarce.

my opinion is that the coyotes are taking care of the problem. i've been living in the country and patrolled suburban and country roads for a long time. that's the only difference i can see.

spay and release makes no sense. think about it. first it's manpower intensive and expensive. and even if the theory that neutered cats keep the others out of a territory is true , the "others" will just live somewhere else. and they are all effefient predators of birds. i've trapped cats out of a couple places, my barn here in Mich and my home in FL where they decimated a covey of quail. they never returned to either location.

there is some truth that anti hunters would use this activity for their own purposes. however, that's anthropomorphic thinking. trapping a cat or a dog is no different than trapping a rat or a mouse. cats and dogs are not endangered species, they carry disease and they are a threat to both game and non game species.

years ago i had a racoon come up to the yard during the day and was fighting with my dogs through the fence. i promptly shot him. AC didnt want him so i burned him but i have never tolerated any animal, wild, feral, or stray within a "deadline" of my kennels. if i knew it to be a neighbors, i would confine it and contanct them. other than that, i use more drastic methods.

animal control facitlities are full of junk animals- to be blunt. strays and also ones people drop off so someone can "find a good home for them". and we all support these operations so animals can be held, neutered and "adopted". we dont do this very much with other animals- livestock and horses. either the owners take care of putting them down or they go for meat. but people get very sentimental over stray cats and dogs.


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## Tammy (Aug 24, 2005)

trust me there are plenty of stray horse's too. I just picked up one at 4am, so far no one has claimed him. At the end of summer is when people decide they can no longer take care of the horse, they dump them like a cat or dog. I only do a TNR program for the people that own their own property, if thats what they want. Every where else in the city they get trapped and sent to the pound where they are destroyed. The people that want them TNR'ed pay for the spays and neuters themselves, which, I get for them very cheap. The feral cats don't bother most people, because they don't see them in the day and they keep down the rodent population at their farms and homes.
As far as the cats destroying the wild life, I am sure that is the problem in alot of cities and states, here it is the bulldozer's that have knocked down all the wood's for 900 homes on every corner. I am the farthest from PETA that you can get, I think they are whacked, but, I will certainly help a domestic stray animal get a home if I can. My biggest issue is that people take care of the animals they own and that no animals be tortured for fun.
T


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## stinger63 (Nov 25, 2003)

I dont ever think that you will see a pack of wild feral cats attacking humans,pretty much a wAste of time and money to me trying to have them spadednuetered,and round up and collected.People should just let them be they cause no harm to anyone unless captured.If you must capture them because of population control then export them to china as Im sure they will see that get put to good use.


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## dogwhistle (Oct 31, 2004)

Tammy, i was a supervisor for a fairly large sheriffs dept for 27 yrs, know the animal control division people well and am pretty well imbedded in the horse culture. horses get out into the road- fairly common- and some people neglect them for a variety of reasons. but i have never heard of anyone turning one into the road to get rid of it. i think your imagination got the best of you.

nor can i nor have i ever heard of anyone going to the expense of having a large amount of feral cats rounded up, neutered and then rereleased.

people say all kinds of things on internet forums, common sense and experience lets one sort the wheat from the chaff.


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## Oldgrandman (Nov 16, 2004)

A ferral cat is about as anti-nature as you can get. You spare much more desirable native wildlife by "dispatching", shall we say, a ferral cat than you can probably imagine. Just the city cats people let out for a day do plenty of damage. I'd rather hear a cardinal chirping than a howling cat in heat any time.
Bust a cap in their @$$ if you see em out hunting.


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## Banditto (Jun 9, 2000)

My hunting partner lives in a fairly busy part of livonia but with a large back yard. He found he had a population of feral cats living around his yard so the city gave him a live trap and said to call them when it was filled. Well 27 cats/possums/skunks later it sorta slowed down. In the end they said he had such a bad problem to keep the trap. Now what did animal control do with all those cats? I am pretty sure they didn't nueter or release them...


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## Mickey Finn (Jan 21, 2005)

Banditto said:


> Now what did animal control do with all those cats? I am pretty sure they didn't nueter or release them...


Pretty sure. 

I'm with dogwhistle, I have not seen many feral cats in the woods and fields. Other small game populations have also declined in some of the areas I hunt.
Could be wolves in the U.P. But it's coyotes down here.(or mountain lions of course )


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

Still plenty of feral cats in the woods I frequent. Not many cats left roaming my neighborhood, Domesticated or feral. At least not many stupid enough to come into my back yard when the dogs out. He still gets one a month or so. Then I get to see the "Have you seen this cat?" posters at the corner store and on phone poles. I don't have the heart to call and say "Yea, I saw your cat. Last I saw it I was dropping it into a garbage bag. My dog killed it while it had its attention focused on the hummingbirds feeding on the tupelos in my fenced in backyard. Keep your cats on your property."


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## Creek-Chub (Apr 15, 2004)

Who cares about feral cats? I'm more interested in this feral horse epidemic! Please tell me this gal is yanking out chains. Feral horses? And you rounded one up just this morning? I'm just curious - did it have wings and a big horn sticking out of it's forehead?


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## stinger63 (Nov 25, 2003)

Instead of worring feral cats we should start elimating feral seagulls.Their populations keep exploding every year.They are more of nuesance than any cat I have ever seen.Cats dont crap on your car or you for that matter.They also dont have an ear peircing shrieking sound that can rattle a persons cage either.I say let the cats be free get rid of the gulls please they are nothing but flying rats that eat,shreik,crap,carry lice,spread west nile and loiter in parkinglots.


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## jeremy L (Sep 19, 2002)

i say live trap all feral cats and release them in areas with large populations of feral comerants.


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