The Oatmeal: How much do cats actually kill?

[geardaddy]

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill



More at link.

[onehandle]

1. We had a cat dying of Kidney Disease. He had about three weeks left to live.

He spent at least fourteen of his sixteen years indoors with us. He always wanted to go outside, but we kept him indoors.

With three weeks left, we figured we might as well let him out sometimes. This was in early Spring.

For the last seven months of his life, he decimated our chipmunk population. It kept him alive until they went underground for Winter.

[geardaddy]

2. Wow.

That's some serious hunting!

[onehandle]

3. This was five years ago. The chipmunks came back in greater numbers than ever.

Pretty sure the older ones scare the younger ones with tales of the 'tuxedo wearing monster.'

[geardaddy]

5. Haha!

Nice one!

[HopeHoops]

4. We take my big boy out on a leash. He knows he can slip out of his collar.

For the most part he just crashes in the grass and purrs. I drop the leash and he usually stays put but will sometimes find another spot. His worst offense was sneaking over to the neighbor's house and entering through the open garage. I found him and lugged him home. He got time-out for that one.

The dogs act like we have an electric fence (we don't). They're out with us most of the time we hit the garden. The kittens need harnesses to go out. Peter figured out how to take off his collar at 8 weeks and he takes off Tink's too.

[Loryn]

6. Kitty is only playing!

I think my cat just plays with the chipmunks until they stop playing.

Then he gets bored and puts them on the porch.

[murielm99]

8. That sounds like my cat.

She plays with her toys (mice) until they are broken. Then, bored, she walks away.

[Ikonoklast]

7. Momma Cat, the feral we took in two years ago, lived under our deck.

We have had six of her litters go through our house to forever homes before we finally coaxed her inside one bitterly cold day, and still have five of her kids from three different litters.

My son has her sibling sister.

Anyway, her hunting skills were a sight to behold; she looked like a brown torpedo streaking across the lawn into an explosion of feathers. We didn't have a mole in our mulch beds for years.

And now she is the most gentle, happy indoor kitty surrounded by her offspring.

[LWolf]

9. I have my first

100% indoor kitty right now; she's about 6 months old. I've taken her out on a leash, but not very often. She draws a hell of a lot of blood getting a harness on her, and once outside she wants to skulk behind and under things, and constantly gets the leash tangled up. She IS determined to get out on her own; I've had to recapture her a few times. Right now she's sitting in the window, wondering about the changes she sees; first snowfall was yesterday.

She is the most energetic, aggressive cat I've had in many decades of cats. She plays intensely, and wants to consider hands, arms, and feet "prey." She bites HARD. Nothing I've tried so far has convinced her not to bite, other than making sure I don't pet her when she wants to cuddle, and kicking her out of my lap when she starts to bite.

I've wondered if her extra aggressiveness might be because she doesn't get out to climb, pounce, and take out her hunting instincts on more natural prey.

Her predecessor, who died of old age last spring, fit the pie chart quite well. She hunted moles, voles, mice, and birds, but her favorite prey was the local over-population of cotton tails. I was fine with that; there were enough rodents that she didn't often bother the birds, and, as far as I was concerned, she was welcome to clear the 6 acres of ALL rodents. Of course, she didn't; that's way too many for any one cat.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. She's still a kitten, which is why she's bitey.

I expect she'll get over it in a few months.

[LWolf]

11. I am hoping so.

She snuck up to the door behind the dogs and blasted out with them this morning; it took me 40 minutes to recover her.

She didn't want to be out there alone, but she stayed out of reach. I spent a bunch of time crawling around on my hands and knees in the snow, and under snow-covered shrubs, before I got her trapped and snatched her up. She was not appreciative.

My last cat was cautious; while a fine hunter, she was also aware that she was, in her own turn, prey. I've lost enough here to hawks, owls, and coyotes, though, to have promised myself never to have an outdoor cat here again; and, if I were in town, I wouldn't have an outdoor cat either, unless I could rig a cat-proof fence.