I like Jonathan's statement "not sure own is the right word." Cats are like weird college roommates. Some choose to move in. Others accept they live where they do but barely care. All of them set up idiosyncratic habits. How warm they are to you can vary widely.
My aunt and uncle were adopted by two kittens, separately and roughly six months apart, about fifteen years ago. Each kitten turned up at the back door one night, had a look around, decided they liked the place, and moved in.
My cat Burger came in with my dog as a storm was approaching. 14 years ago. He was a tiny little thing, about 6 weeks old. I went to let the dog in, and he came in right on her heels. Been here ever since. My dog probably said to him"these people are pushovers, just follow me". (Jan Griffiths)..@@tavdy79
My cat Burt legit moved out when I got a puppy. He didn’t even attempt to get along with her so he packed his shit and moved next door. I had to walk over to my 70 year old neighbors and tell them my son is an asshole and refuses to get along with his new sister🤦♂️. Thankfully they thought it was hilarious and took him lol.
Had farm cat/outdoor cats growing up my older sisters tamed. The numbers would vary from 4-36 depending on kittens each year. I fed them each morning some cat food and table scraps. My mother swore they didn't do anything around the house. After we all left, my parents of got rid of them slowly (spay, neuter, give away). After no issues for literal decades, they suddenly had mouse issues in the house. They were doing something, that's for sure.
My cats are indoor/outdoor (I have a large cat run). They hunt in the house, mostly bugs and scorpions. Once in a while, one will catch a mouse or wood rat out in the run. I let them play with their prize, but not eat it. They get treats instead, and I dispose of their prize without them seeing me. One of my cats is the scorpion specialist. I do let eat them. She is so happy afterward. Cats do have some immunity to scorpion venom. (Jan Griffiths).
😂😂😂 “overconfident moths” 😅 that’s too funny. Once in a while I bring a good sturdy flappy moth inside so mine can play with it for hours before it’s so damaged it’s no longer flinching, then she eats it. Afterward she finds a nice cozy spot and sleeps for a cpl hours. Happy times.
@@notpocky9806 I always WANTED my kitty to go get spiders for me she kept anything with wings down but when it came to spiders her attitude was "? the hells your problem? Live and let live." lol
My cat Gary got lost few years ago so after panicking and calling neighbors for 24 hours straight I went in the basement and grabbed my other cat Burt, who’s a 21lb death machine, by his chubby cheeks and told him to get his big ass outside and find his brother and don’t come home without him. 4 hours later they both comes strolling in the house looking for treats. Cats are ridiculous lol.
Yo... I dealt with this before... My cat took off for 3 weeks. I was ready to give up on him.... Then he showed up outta nowhere... He's been around ever since. I wonder where he was for three weeks
I am so sorry for your eyes. but, thanks for the great content. Our older cat used to be inside/outside, she killed many rats. Now, she is inside all the time because the neighborhood got too dangerous for pets. We live near a place that used to have livestock occasionally. So the rat/mice population used to be huge.
My two cats are strict indoor cats...well, exept for when they want to go outside to roll around on the patio. I always thoroughly supervise them though, I value the wildlife in my area and hate when people just turn their cats loose with no regard for the enviorment.
It's cruel to keep force your cat to be inside all day. If you don't live in an area where cats can go outside w/o harming the natural environment, then you don't need to own a cat.
@@LePedant Just teach the cat to walk on a leash. there's no reason to let a cat out unsupervised. Not only is it bad for the local wildlife, its dangerous for the cat. I know so many cats who've been grabbed by coyotes or ran over.
@LePedant how do you figure this? What makes you think cats can't have a full happy life indoors? Plenty of animals, including dogs, live just fine indoors
@@1Fresh_Water Yes there is, it's for their mental health. Cats have a natural tendency to explore, so allowing them access to the outside world gives them mental stimulation and reduces stress. If live near rare animals the cat can prey on, or if you live in a city where they can get ran over. It's not responsible to get a cat.
Two old sisters that owned a farm near me decided to start feeding the feral cats and after more than a decade there numbers grew to around 100 living all around there farm. They decimated the wild ground birds, rabbits, squirrels and what ever else they could hunt in all the surrounding wild forests and countryside. the sisters both passed away a few years ago and since no one is feeding them things are starting to find some sort of minor balance again slowly. just this year we finally saw a few red squirrels back but still no woodcock, rabbits, partridge and the likes yet.
That's what Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Release programs, which are often low cost because they are funded by donations, are for. A small, healthy, non-breeding population will keep out ferals, and they won't be overpopulating the area.
my little female cat is an incredible mouser. She's indoor/outdoor (has her own door and ledge outside the window to survey her kingdom). She only eats the mouse head - she can get as many mice as she wants, she can afford to be selective. She brings me up to three a day (these are the excess and gifts). She has several times come in at 6 a.m. and put a live mouse in my bed -- as a special gift.
@@nickirmen6671 Birds, lizards, mice. Feral cats take down a shocking amount of small animals in a month. Our first used to kill a couple or three birds a week, everything from finches to pigeons. And that was just the ones we witnessed or found the carcasses of. There's a reason in confined areas like islands, they can clear out pretty much anything they hunt.
2 stories and a basement. 18 rooms and 5 closets. And it's an porous old farm house that mice love trying to colonize. Plenty of hunting for them to do.@@Dima-xu2qw
My cats are never allowed outside without supervision, ie, on a leash. I adore that they're such perfect little killing machines, but that doesn't mean I want them terrorizing the neighborhood. I also happen to like watching birds and squirrels outside and too many cats means I don't get to enjoy the rest of nature I also enjoy.
I have a cat run, and my cats go out in there to watch the birds and other critters. They can't get at them at all. Everyone stays safe. (Jan Griffiths).
The last part was pretty interesting about an AI adapting alarm. As much as I love my cat Mackerel, I agree cats have done huge damage to wild ecosystems. There was a study and a documentary, I remember watching from the UK where it was a whole study on tracking cats and seeing what and where they end up/do during the day and night outdoors.
That's part of the reason I have a cat run. The cats can go out in the run whenever they want. They stay safe, and so does the native wildlife. (Jan Griffiths).
This was an amazing segment @PBS Keep this kind of work up, this is what we need you for! Thank you to the cast and crew working on this. You do impressive work.
I got the wrong cats, we have a mouse problem and the cats kill fewer mice than I do. They're afraid of mice, killing mice is supposed to be their main pirpose.
I so miss having a pet cat. R.I.P., Little Rip, Big Meow, and, Poopy Cat. Big Meow lived 18 years. Poopy cat? Cancer. Lil Rip?? Sadly... road kill. I buried them with tombstones. 💯❤️❤️❤️
I firmly believe that cats should never be let outside (except when leashed or in a catio). I hope this research helps convince people to keep their cats indoors, though they don't seem to care about the safety of their own pet so it might too much to ask for
People care But we r Allowed to have different beliefs. I keep my cat indoors But I know cats that go outside have Very active brains. Their brains r wired to see things, it is Amazing.
As a feral cat trapper, this statement is very ignorant. 80% of the cat population lives outdoors in colonies. First there’s more cats than homes for cats. Second, many cats do not have the personality to be an indoor cat. It’s quality of life vs quantity of life. If you were to NEVER leave your home but could live longer, or go outside and experience life and have a shorter life. Which would you choose? Chances are most people/ animals choose the latter.
@@tinakaminskadickinson3328you did watch the video, right? bc cats are an invasive species and really should be treated as such. I have an indoor cat, she's healthy, happy, and has a lot of enrichment, including going outside on a leash, same as my dogs get! What she doesn't get is injured or sick the way that cats who are allowed outside unsupervised get. Not my fault you don't know how to provide safe enrichment for your cat. also tnr is only so helpful and doesn't protect native species from cat based extinction
Well cats have to spend 5-6 months inside during winter anyways so why wouldn’t you let them do what they naturally do when it’s not winter. Cats are predators no matter how cute and fluffy they may be. There’s a reason even predominately indoor cats stare out the window all the time, cuz they inherently know it’s where they should be.
Feral cats don't play with their prey. That is pet cat behavior. The cats probably aren't being cruel. They are unlikely to realize that prey has feelings.
@@Catlily5 Correct; "cruelty" is a higher evolutionary feature. Very few animals have been observed practicing what can be interpreted as true sadism. One classic example is Orcas tossing a seal around before eating it.
@@Catlily5 that’s because pet cats are basically just overgrown kittens. Because they are always fed they assume that your their parent so they’ll have their adult hunting characteristics but then won’t know what to do when they’ve actually caught something and will just play around with it until it dies. My cats used to do that all the time but they’ve stopped now. Now whenever they catch something they kill it quickly as possible and eat it.
My cats murdered a mouse by knocking a picture frame over on it. I had leaned it against a dresser to take away later. I found it flat on the floor the next morning. On setting it back up, I found the very flat mouse.
A few of my cats love to hunt. They'd bring mice, rats, birds, lizards (often still alive) but never eat them. It's all just play and fun for them. They'd use their hunted animals as a toy. One time I saw them on the CCTV, passing around this tiny mouse like a soccer ball, and proceeded to eat their kibbles once they're bored. There's no more rats and mice problems on my street because of my cats, making me appreciate and love them even more 💕
They don't just kill rats, the large population has become a nightmare to wildlife. It is like we that have infested the world and asked domestic species to help out decimating what is left. I just wish we coudl be as compassionate about wildlife as we are with our pets.
Please keep your cats indoors, guys. Our wildlife, especially the less common songbirds, cannot withstand so many careless cat owners :( I love cats. I've had them all my life. ❤ Just don't let them out unsupervised.
It's cruel to keep force your cat to be inside all day. If you don't live in an area where cats can go outside w/o harming the natural environment, then you don't need to own a cat.
@@LePedantno one should own a cat then, because there is nowhere where they won't effect the wildlife. Let's euthanize all cats because some people don't understand what cruel means
@@LePedantin other words, _no one_ should own a cat, since there are *no* places where a cat outdoors cannot harm local wildlife. Holding any kind of animal hostage in one’s home is cruel, pet ownership is cruelty to animals.
@@jpe1 Predators eat other animals, that's how nature works. When a predator kills another animal, they are not "harming" the local wildlife. If you don't want a pet that kills other animals, and that needs to go outside, don't get a cat. That's like getting a pet snake, then being upset you have to feed it live mice.
@@LePedant you are confused about *why* cats are harming local wildlife. The problem isn’t that cats are predators and predators eat prey, no one is arguing that; the problem is that cats don’t belong in any North or South American ecosystem, they are an invasive predator (like the Burmese Pythons in Florida are an invasive predator) and just as people leaving their pet pythons loose to wreck havoc in Florida is wrong, leaving cats loose to kill birds, small mammals, small reptiles, small fish etc etc, is wrong. The fact that some people think cats are cute or cuddly doesn’t change the harm they do, and they don’t belong in the wild in the Americas.
My cat sure loved this! He's not a huge TV guy, but got really into this! (He wants me to tell you that he's an indoor cat since 3mos, born feral, but says he's never killed a bird. Uh... is possible...but where did he learn to jump like that? 🙀).
In Norway there has been outdoor cats for thousands of years. At this point, I feel sure that they are a part of the eco system. Besides, we also have the lynx
Yes, domesticated cats are more of a problem in the Americas or Oceania. Though they could still cause problems anywhere if their population is too high.
That is why I don't let my cats go out. Also, they will live much longer as indoor cat. I warmed my neighbour there is a bobcat in the area. She even said her pigeons went missing. Yet, she still left her cat go out. Now the cat is long gone.
My neighbors have bird feeders in their yard. They were aghast when I suggested putting a bell on their cat's collar. That cat regularly catches songibrds, bats, mice, lizards.. who knows what else. Then, after leaving small carcasses and cat poop aroud the neighborhood, it comes home and eats kibbles. I take exception with the closing statement that "cats are evolutionary winners." I prefer to say that humans are wildlife destroyers and cats are just one of the ways they destroy.
When we had cats, we trained the on an Invisible Fence system that we had installed to keep them in our yard. We also did NOT have bird feeders or bird baths, etc… while also having cats as family members (aka pets).
Found a newborn kitten when I was a kid couldn't find the mother so I gave him to our mama cat and he grew frighteningly large scared our friends and guest whenever he entered the room left a serial killer number of dead animals in our home on a daily basis Squirrels , Rabbits , Mice , Rats , kittens , puppies and all kinds of birds Everytime he came in he brought in something he killed angry Neighbors hanged him he killed neighbors pets and attacked children in the neighborhood and possibly killed other cats don't know why he was unusually aggressive or large if i had to guess he might have had a Bobcat father .
Cat owner in the US southeast here - I live inside the city limits now but both my cats are allowed to spend short amounts of time outside. They have demonstrated a pattern of NOT bothering the birds, preferring the rodents instead. This has worked out not just in favor of my family but most of my neighbors, since no one has mice or rat trouble. It's an unusual case I suppose, and anecdotal rather than hard evidence, but in many places in my own city there are feral and "part time" outside cats, and we're not seeing a bird shortage. (However this area is not particularly known for ANY "rare species" of bird, so that may have more to do with it.) In a more general sense, I feel like we've learned quite a lot over the last decade or two - studies done with urban cats where the owner gets a Go-Pro attached to the cat somehow, other studies using microchip type RFID to track colonies of feral cats. Locally there's a fairly strong program for catch-neuter-release, and for a while there they were also chipping the animals to help track which ones had already been "processed," and get a rough estimate of population growth rate - which did indeed slow down significantly. I feel like cats - just as with EVERY species we humans have domesticated - aren't so much "to blame" for the trouble they cause. They're just being cats. It's up to us humans to figure out ways to re-balance ecologies and restore things; same as it's our responsibility to handle lots of other such issues. Unfortunately it's not gonna be as simple as "convince all feral cats to only eat house sparrows." (Though that WOULD be rather efficient, wouldn't it)
Best way to stop a cat from killing native species without the bells and whistles of a collar that calls a bird alarm is to keep them inside in the first place. Outside of hunting, this video doesn't mention the diseases that cats can spread to other native felids. Keeping your cat indoors is safer for them, wild cats, and songbirds.
And keeping them inside is cruelty. Forces them into an unnatural life as our subjects and our toys. Like every other animal including humans they need sunshine, fresh grass and fresh air. And they need to be what they are not what we want them to be. I keep my girls claws trimmed dull, I supervise her outdoors and I warn the birds myself when they don’t already see her. And I let her hunt the rodents because they’re overpopulated too. And because that’s her job, to keep our home free of vermin and the diseases they carry.
@@mischevious It's not cruelty to keep them indoors if you actually put effort into your cat care. You know what's cruel? Your cat getting eaten by a coyote or hit by a car, dying a horrible way away from their owners. Speaking from peer reviewed papers, cats are one of the less effective means of pest control and do more harm than they do helping whatever native animals you feel are overpopulated. You know what's better than a cat? An owl, snakes, foxes, hawks, falcons, racoons, and literally every other animal that depends on the population of rodents to survive - none of which are your cat. Stop projecting human concepts of freedom and cruelty onto animals when you're the one making the decision to release a non-native animal, a pet, into your local ecosystem. Keeping them inside isn't cruel if you're actually an active part of your cat's life and exercise it, do your god damn job. You watch her when she goes outside? Good, upgrade it to harness training. Keeping your cats and animals safe doesn't mean depriving them of the outdoors, but it's naïve to say they need it when there are many, many cat owners - one of which is me, who have happy and extraordinarily healthy cats who are stimulated by their lives indoors because I'm not a negligent owner. Grow up, do your damn job as a pet owner, and stop projecting your feelings onto an animal. Your cats are healthier inside and so is wildlife. There is no excuses and no data to back up the "cruelty" of keeping them inside; so get off your moral high ground and do something good for once in your life. That's such a selfish perspective. "My cat likes to feel her whiskers in the wind therefore I don't care about every single other animal who is affected by it, including other cats, because mine is a very special girl. Who cares about the economic impact, the spread of diseases, the mere presence of a cat scaring birds into not laying eggs, the amount of animals they kill, and the horrible ways she could die being outdoors!" I literally despise people like you, you're a horrible lazy cat owner who is complacent in your own poor care and ignorant of your impact.
My cat lives with my pet parrot , she brings home rats and mice but shows no interest in birds. ! Obvoiusly I never leave her alone with the parrot the same as I would never leave a dog with him , instinct is instinct.
Cats can go through a population of birds or mice, but equally a can can be the victim of any medium sized raptor in the suburbs or the country or a muskelid (weasel family) animal. My friend found her cat's remains and her other cats are indoor cats now.
No mustelids kill cats. Domestic cats are natural predators of smaller mustelids like stoats and weasels, polecats, pine martens and badgers ignore them. Medium sized raptors (I assume your talking buzzard sized?) only take kittens, hence the reason cats are kept inside until they are adult. If a cat gets hit by an irresponsible driver they might be taken by birds of prey like white tailed eagles or kites just like all road kill.
I take care of a very LARGE ferrule cat. He's definitely the king of the neighborhood. I have a nice little set up outside that includes a heated house. But he only goes in there on the coldest days/nights. The other day, I found a 25lb. raccoon lying face down in his house. I thought maybe the raccoon figured out that it's warm in there and wanted to "take a break." All that was visible was the raccoon's tale hanging outside of the house. I figured that I would take a broomstick and bang on top of the house a few times and the raccoon would run out. After doing that a few times.... nothing. There is an "escape" door on the opposite side of the cat house (from where the tail was hanging out). So, I slowly raised it up and saw the raccoon lying face down with blood trickling out of its mouth.... dead as a door nail. I said something like "holy sh*t" and looked over to my cat who was sitting near me watching the whole thing. And he gave me a look like "yep, I had to take care of business." lol It was like a crime scene investigation at that point. The only logical explanation is that my cat was in there, the raccoon poked his head in there to investigate/or possibly attack and my cat pounced on him and took care of his business. Keep in mind, he isn't a "normal" housecat, but I digress.....the racoon probably outweighed him by 10 pounds. But cats are sly, and he obviously knows how to kill. I'll bet the cat shocked him big time. They are amazing animals.
I grew up in the country with my grandparents. We used to work on the corn, strip it by hand and move it around. The mice infesting it would run out and hide under the wooden planks. But we had our friend with us, this beautiful, spotted black and white cat named Fifi. And Fifi was an absolute destroyer. She hunted them down, killed dozens of mice a day. Nothing could escape her. I used to watch her catch birds too low, snatch them out of the air, and all kinds of other animals. She was just on a mission every day. I loved her and she loved me so much too, every morning waking up to her licking my hair. It's been decades and I still think of you, our little lady.
"I thank the good Lord for antihistamines." Preach. I love animals, and we have three cats (plus five very pretty peafowl and a plethora of other critters), but allergies. They are rough.
I wish during the conversation about an AI alarm that you had asked about predators. Because during the interview with the one cat owner, you guys brought up the danger of larger predators like coyotes, but it doesn't seem like there was any consideration for how the AI alarm could endanger a cat. Maybe you did have that discussion and it just didn't make it into the video?
It's not always that simple. For example, my mother adopted two 7 month old kittens from next door who had lived outdoors their whole life up until that point. She used 1/2" hardware cloth to screen in her porch after the cats shredded the regular screen, and within two weeks, they figured out how to get out with the steel hardware cloth, too. She tried for 2 years to keep them confined to the porch and inside the house without success. They're both 6 years old now and still go hunting every morning and evening. Additionally, that notion about dogs on a leash isn't right, either. I use a leash once per year with my dog when she gets her vaccinations. She's never leashed otherwise. I've never leashed any dog I've had while walking... so that concept is strange to me. Don't have a fence around the yard, either. They naturally stay in or near their yard and near their owner when walking.
@VirginiaBronson If you can't contain the animals then you shouldn't have them. It's about danger to the ecosystem and danger to the animal, euthanasia is best (even if it's sad). The fact that you don't leash your dog means you don't care about their safety or the safety and health of the animals nearby. Sorry, but that's the truth.
@@VirginiaBronson If she can't keep them inside, she shouldn't have a cat. Inability to solve that issue is a telltale sign that you don't have the proper environment for owning a cat. "Additionally", dogs should be kept on a leash and the fact that you don't keep your dog on a leash is breaking dog owner 101. I literally hate irresponsible dog owners that don't have the common decency to leash your dog and you should be shamed for it. You are not a special case, you are literally part of the problem, your opinion is not to be trusted.
Really depends on where. In Europe, they're part of the ecosystem, and just taking them away would be a bad idea. They are, however, invasive species in other parts of the world, where tbh, you shouldn't be having them at all.
@@wiwersewindemer4437 I don't know how to tell you this, they're not part of the ecosystem in Europe either. They are an invasive there and are very much responsible for the decline of native songbirds. In the UK more than half of the bird population is in extreme decline and in Scotland, their endangered Scottish Wildcat's genes are being diluted by interbreeding with domestic cats. This is making them less resistant to the cold and sometimes sterile. If you want to say they aren't invasive somewhere, you could say Africa since they are domesticated African Wildcats. It does not 'depend on where', they are NOT part of the European ecosystem, "liking them there" ≠ non-invasive. There is not an ecological role they fulfil that doesn't already exist, they are displacing native predators.
I'm a cat owner and a bird watcher, so these numbers are fascinating to me. It means that the outdoor cats that I and my house cat hate seeing in the yard- are probably coming from someone we know.
Not secret at all… we had many gifts left or brought in by ‘mama’ kitty while growing up in the 80’s - she was very proud of herself. Beautiful gray Burmese - she was perfect
That's why they need to be kept indoors. We don't allow murdered to roam free, we don't allow other predators we've introduced to be areas roam free, we shouldn't let cats roam free.
My college graduation paper was a literature compilation on all the threatened, endangered, and extinct species that had been put in that status at least in part by domestic cats. The numbers were honestly staggering and all of my cats have been strictly indoor cats since and I try to encourage other cat owners to keep their cats indoors as well (I’m a vet tech and pet sitter professionally). Only cats I encourage staying outdoor cats are barn cats that have been spayed or neutered because their job is to hunt to protect livestock. Pets should be pets that don’t impact other lives.
I have a large cat run which keeps the native wildlife and my cats both safe. I do not believe cats should be able to roam at large. They are a predator, but also prey. (Jan Griffiths).
A lot of people are saying keep your cats indoors, and in the city I agree. However in rural areas where some farmers use the assistance of cats to protect their crops/fields it's not possible. My cats have always been indoor cats, honestly for their safety as we have coyotes and foxs roaming around all the time, and of course cars to. The issue in places like Australia is the fault of humans, and it's not just letting their pets out, but abandoning cats that then can quickly multiply in the wild and of course will hunt. So even if the majority kept their pet cats indoors or on a leash we'd still see a large amount of deaths to prey populations. Most domesticated house cats, don't stray far from the house and are not as successful hunters as feral/street cats.
It's acceptable if you ignore the diseases they spread like feline leukemia and the fact that the mere presence of them is enough to stress birds out of nesting. Cats aren't even a very effective form of pest control on farms. House cats are just as successful as feral cats, I don't know where you got that data from, but it is incorrect.
@@Earthtail25 I'll take the diseases cats bring over the ones rodents and birds bring. There is not a lot of study on cats in relation to hunting among domestic cats, but studies in Australia among the feral cat population, show a higher success rate in open fields with less or low vegetation. So an urban environment can be more challenging. There are certain breeds of cats that tend to be better hunters, and it's been documented that cats are good rodent deterrents. Cats can also be positive to certain ecosystems in dealing with invasive species or small animals that multiply quickly. For some reason people seem to think it's ok to just abandon cats, and if people do let their pet cats out it would be helpful if they are fixed to lessen the street population.
The bird alert would only be attached to pet cats. Stray and feral cats are free to hunt. I don't want to make my cats lame like that. But maybe that's just me.
My cat is an outdoor cat, but he comes inside sometimes to hang out, but none of his stuff is indoors. He is really overweight, because he eats the food we give him, but then when he’s done he hunts getting double the food. He’s the sweetest cat I’ve ever met, and he has beautiful long fur.
Collars are dangerous for cats. They can get caught on something, and choke the cat, or break his neck. Breakaway collars are safe. Most cats though can use their back feet to flip the collar off. (Jan Griffiths).
as someone allergic to cats i feel very sorry for you. and as a human who loves birds (don't mind the trenchcoat and no, i didn't hear any chirps) i would implore all cat owners to keep their cats inside.
Having a guy who doesn’t like cats host, then a guy who studies bite sized animals.. that still lets his cats outside. Y’all.. where the cat ladies busy?
Crazy cat lady here. I have 3, 2 are strictly indoors and one is leash trained. Anyone have a recommendation for a harness he can’t wiggle out of? I have to really watch him when we’re out. I leash walk him because I’ve lost so many outdoor/indoor cats. I also try to be a good neighbor. I don’t like the three that constantly shit in my flowerbeds and spray all over my yard, so I follow the golden rule.
The domestic house cat is not a native species and does NOT BELONG OUTSIDE / I remember when I first saw a cat carrying a mutilated bird in its mouth. Made me hate cats to this day.
My cat is THE Apex predator, as soon as he gets outside he starts hunting to kill any small animal he can get his paws on. I'm constantly trying to rescue a lizard, bird or squirrel from him
Here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with temperatures in Winter going down to -32 C, there is a wild cat in my local Garden Centre. I guarantee it's there to get away from coyotes. I am worried if it can survive?
Once cats are in an area, even Trap/Neuter/Release (and where possible, adopt) is only partially effective. I live in farm country. The best way to keep the feline population stable here (read: low enough not to become a serious detriment to local wildlife) is to spay/neuter, then care for your indoor/ outdoor or barn cats. There will ALWAYS be cats in the area trying to take your cats' territory, but healthy, well fed cats will maintain a fairly extensive territory, and keep out weaker or ill cats. Our area has few ferals because we and our neighbors all keep to this practice. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, but from my lived experience, it is the most effective way to keep everything balanced. The cats are here. That's not changing. How we deal with it is more important now.
Is it really ethical to keep anything indoors forever? It’s not really fair to just say “keep your cat inside” when not every cat is the same. Cats are more wild then some pet owners realize, with proper conditions certain cats can do just fine outdoors and be relatively safe(there will always be some risk). I think they’re doing great work trying to come up with a solution for cats to coexists with ecosystems instead of either decimating them or being completely excluded from them.
We have to keep our cat indoors during fledgling season in early summer. He is one cat, and we have a wonderfully abundant bird population, but he goes for the babies. He will also happily take down a parent defending a fledgling, too, which often means death for the whole brood. Not cool.
A research was conducted in the UK and the cats were not hunting. They were roaming and sometimes finished another cat's meal, either inside or outside the house. The cats covered some distances, not in straight line...
One timr years ago, I was walking home from work and I saw this cat just sitting and staring at the sewer opening in front of a sidewalk. Sure enough, a minute or less later, he jumped INTO the sewer and I heard some other animal scream. lol Probably a mouse or a rat or something.
Keep your cats indoors. If they need to get out, leash-train them. Don't just let them run around. Not just for the other animals' sake, but also for your own cats' safety.
Is the tracking study still open? I live in a rural area with an abundance and variety of native wildlife. My one cat is indoor/outdoor. I would be really interested to see how his adventures compare to a suburban or urban cat. Our other two cats, much to their chagrin, are indoor only. Obviously all are neutered and vaccinated.
When I was a kid, a long time ago, it was natural for a cat to go outside & hunt. No one thought twice about that. I don’t remember my cats bringing dead things home. But by the time i graduated high school, my mom started declawing the cats & keeping them inside, more for their safety than the birds. I hate the declawing part & refuse to do it to my own cats but I do keep them inside. There are two stray cats that I see a lot but only once eating a squirrel he’d caught. They get fed so hopefully they don’t have to hunt much. I plan on catching them, though, and taking them to a no-kill shelter.
Cats will hunt regardless of how well they’re fed. It’s in their nature, and it’s our job to prevent that by keeping them indoors, or culling the ferals that cannot be adopted.
Many shelters cannot afford to be no kill because of how many cats they have and continue to receive, its nearly impossible to get them all adopted unfortunately. This is why it’s so important to spay and neuter.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I like Jonathan's statement "not sure own is the right word." Cats are like weird college roommates. Some choose to move in. Others accept they live where they do but barely care. All of them set up idiosyncratic habits. How warm they are to you can vary widely.
Cats domesticated *us*
My aunt and uncle were adopted by two kittens, separately and roughly six months apart, about fifteen years ago. Each kitten turned up at the back door one night, had a look around, decided they liked the place, and moved in.
My cat Burger came in with my dog as a storm was approaching. 14 years ago. He was a tiny little thing, about 6 weeks old. I went to let the dog in, and he came in right on her heels. Been here ever since. My dog probably said to him"these people are pushovers, just follow me". (Jan Griffiths)..@@tavdy79
Lol, that's because we never truly domesticated cats, they just decided to move in one day. Many times. 😋
My cat Burt legit moved out when I got a puppy. He didn’t even attempt to get along with her so he packed his shit and moved next door. I had to walk over to my 70 year old neighbors and tell them my son is an asshole and refuses to get along with his new sister🤦♂️. Thankfully they thought it was hilarious and took him lol.
Had farm cat/outdoor cats growing up my older sisters tamed. The numbers would vary from 4-36 depending on kittens each year. I fed them each morning some cat food and table scraps. My mother swore they didn't do anything around the house. After we all left, my parents of got rid of them slowly (spay, neuter, give away). After no issues for literal decades, they suddenly had mouse issues in the house. They were doing something, that's for sure.
Mouser cats are so helpful!
My cats are indoor/outdoor (I have a large cat run). They hunt in the house, mostly bugs and scorpions. Once in a while, one will catch a mouse or wood rat out in the run. I let them play with their prize, but not eat it. They get treats instead, and I dispose of their prize without them seeing me. One of my cats is the scorpion specialist. I do let eat them. She is so happy afterward. Cats do have some immunity to scorpion venom. (Jan Griffiths).
@@douglasgriffiths3534Scorpions? Where do you live? Texas? Arizona?
I mean mice tend to stay away from cat urine I mean just a cat box itself is a deterrent and I got two
I agree. However my current cat is scared of his own shadow, I've seen him run from over confident moths.
😂😂😂 “overconfident moths” 😅 that’s too funny. Once in a while I bring a good sturdy flappy moth inside so mine can play with it for hours before it’s so damaged it’s no longer flinching, then she eats it. Afterward she finds a nice cozy spot and sleeps for a cpl hours. Happy times.
@@notpocky9806 I always WANTED my kitty to go get spiders for me she kept anything with wings down but when it came to spiders her attitude was "? the hells your problem? Live and let live." lol
One of my cats eats scorpions. The venom dosen't bother cats. (Jan Griffiths).@@larrymunn5279
My cat Gary got lost few years ago so after panicking and calling neighbors for 24 hours straight I went in the basement and grabbed my other cat Burt, who’s a 21lb death machine, by his chubby cheeks and told him to get his big ass outside and find his brother and don’t come home without him. 4 hours later they both comes strolling in the house looking for treats. Cats are ridiculous lol.
Glad cat brother knew the job I kept a keen eye on my other cat then Blackie knocked on the door three days later
Yo... I dealt with this before... My cat took off for 3 weeks. I was ready to give up on him.... Then he showed up outta nowhere... He's been around ever since. I wonder where he was for three weeks
@@DJREZEREKTwhen cats get hurt outside sometimes they go further to find somewhere secluded to rest and heal
"Yeah let's send the guy with the allergy to the thing to do a story on the thing." Bro, did you lose a bet, or piss someone off? I feel for ya.
I am so sorry for your eyes. but, thanks for the great content. Our older cat used to be inside/outside, she killed many rats. Now, she is inside all the time because the neighborhood got too dangerous for pets. We live near a place that used to have livestock occasionally. So the rat/mice population used to be huge.
My two cats are strict indoor cats...well, exept for when they want to go outside to roll around on the patio. I always thoroughly supervise them though, I value the wildlife in my area and hate when people just turn their cats loose with no regard for the enviorment.
It's cruel to keep force your cat to be inside all day. If you don't live in an area where cats can go outside w/o harming the natural environment, then you don't need to own a cat.
@@LePedant Just teach the cat to walk on a leash. there's no reason to let a cat out unsupervised. Not only is it bad for the local wildlife, its dangerous for the cat. I know so many cats who've been grabbed by coyotes or ran over.
@LePedant how do you figure this? What makes you think cats can't have a full happy life indoors? Plenty of animals, including dogs, live just fine indoors
@@1Fresh_Water Yes there is, it's for their mental health. Cats have a natural tendency to explore, so allowing them access to the outside world gives them mental stimulation and reduces stress.
If live near rare animals the cat can prey on, or if you live in a city where they can get ran over. It's not responsible to get a cat.
@@LePedantyou didn't watch the video huh? Apparently most stay within a very small area of "home".
Two old sisters that owned a farm near me decided to start feeding the feral cats and after more than a decade there numbers grew to around 100 living all around there farm. They decimated the wild ground birds, rabbits, squirrels and what ever else they could hunt in all the surrounding wild forests and countryside. the sisters both passed away a few years ago and since no one is feeding them things are starting to find some sort of minor balance again slowly. just this year we finally saw a few red squirrels back but still no woodcock, rabbits, partridge and the likes yet.
their
The importance of affordable vet services on controlling the population.
That's what Trap/Neuter/Vaccinate/Release programs, which are often low cost because they are funded by donations, are for. A small, healthy, non-breeding population will keep out ferals, and they won't be overpopulating the area.
my little female cat is an incredible mouser. She's indoor/outdoor (has her own door and ledge outside the window to survey her kingdom). She only eats the mouse head - she can get as many mice as she wants, she can afford to be selective. She brings me up to three a day (these are the excess and gifts). She has several times come in at 6 a.m. and put a live mouse in my bed -- as a special gift.
Grateful that ours are all indoors. Safer for them, better for the environment.
They would have a field day with field mice
@@nickirmen6671 Birds, lizards, mice. Feral cats take down a shocking amount of small animals in a month. Our first used to kill a couple or three birds a week, everything from finches to pigeons. And that was just the ones we witnessed or found the carcasses of. There's a reason in confined areas like islands, they can clear out pretty much anything they hunt.
Who assigned the guy with the cat allergies to host the video about cats?
Pretty damned stupid if you ask me.
He was probably interested enough in the project to volunteer.
I think it’s because he’s the main host of the whole human footprint series 😂
6-7 football fields… is a lot of roads to cross. There are ‘Lost Cat’ signs all over my neighbourhood at the moment.
People cry wolf when their precious baby goes missing. Well why would you put your precious baby in dangers way? So fucked up for the cat.
A way to help is have your cats only go out on a leash or have an screened-in patio or gazebo for them. Cats do great as indoor only pets, too
Dude said, he never got out smarted by a cat, yet he's been studying them lol.
Cats got us figured out ages ago
My cats never go outside. They can hunt as much as they'd like inside the house.
I wish my neighbors did the same w their cats! They are always crying outside
That's sad...
2 stories and a basement. 18 rooms and 5 closets. And it's an porous old farm house that mice love trying to colonize. Plenty of hunting for them to do.@@Dima-xu2qw
I cant imagine a life without ever feeling fresh air and sunlight on your skin
If my kid was a serial killer, would you want him locked up? Or be allowed to run free?@@malice4422
My cats are never allowed outside without supervision, ie, on a leash. I adore that they're such perfect little killing machines, but that doesn't mean I want them terrorizing the neighborhood. I also happen to like watching birds and squirrels outside and too many cats means I don't get to enjoy the rest of nature I also enjoy.
This gives me hope there are ethical people in the World!
I have a cat run, and my cats go out in there to watch the birds and other critters. They can't get at them at all. Everyone stays safe. (Jan Griffiths).
The last part was pretty interesting about an AI adapting alarm. As much as I love my cat Mackerel, I agree cats have done huge damage to wild ecosystems. There was a study and a documentary, I remember watching from the UK where it was a whole study on tracking cats and seeing what and where they end up/do during the day and night outdoors.
Yes, that was a good video as well.
That's part of the reason I have a cat run. The cats can go out in the run whenever they want. They stay safe, and so does the native wildlife. (Jan Griffiths).
In my experience it isn't so secret. They tend to leave trophies on the porch.
Not all cats leave trophies. Our childhood cat killed birds but didn't bring them to the house.
mine killed birds / frogs / lizards and leave them on the porch all the time
This was an amazing segment @PBS Keep this kind of work up, this is what we need you for! Thank you to the cast and crew working on this. You do impressive work.
I got the wrong cats, we have a mouse problem and the cats kill fewer mice than I do. They're afraid of mice, killing mice is supposed to be their main pirpose.
"You own cats." 😂😂😂😂😂 OMG! That's adorable.
I so miss having a pet cat. R.I.P., Little Rip, Big Meow, and, Poopy Cat. Big Meow lived 18 years. Poopy cat? Cancer. Lil Rip?? Sadly... road kill. I buried them with tombstones. 💯❤️❤️❤️
how dare you say those 6 first words in a video about cats?!
I agree with him.
I firmly believe that cats should never be let outside (except when leashed or in a catio). I hope this research helps convince people to keep their cats indoors, though they don't seem to care about the safety of their own pet so it might too much to ask for
People care But we r Allowed to have different beliefs. I keep my cat indoors But I know cats that go outside have Very active brains. Their brains r wired to see things, it is Amazing.
Or people who let their cats out don’t need to control the lives of other living beings.
As a feral cat trapper, this statement is very ignorant. 80% of the cat population lives outdoors in colonies. First there’s more cats than homes for cats. Second, many cats do not have the personality to be an indoor cat. It’s quality of life vs quantity of life. If you were to NEVER leave your home but could live longer, or go outside and experience life and have a shorter life. Which would you choose? Chances are most people/ animals choose the latter.
@@tinakaminskadickinson3328you did watch the video, right? bc cats are an invasive species and really should be treated as such. I have an indoor cat, she's healthy, happy, and has a lot of enrichment, including going outside on a leash, same as my dogs get! What she doesn't get is injured or sick the way that cats who are allowed outside unsupervised get. Not my fault you don't know how to provide safe enrichment for your cat. also tnr is only so helpful and doesn't protect native species from cat based extinction
Well cats have to spend 5-6 months inside during winter anyways so why wouldn’t you let them do what they naturally do when it’s not winter. Cats are predators no matter how cute and fluffy they may be. There’s a reason even predominately indoor cats stare out the window all the time, cuz they inherently know it’s where they should be.
I find it hard to believe that scientists cant figure out what cats are doing outside.
Easy answer is theyre killing things but which things are being killed, how many, how far from home etc... needs to be researched
@@scottabc72 and also they didn't just kill things to eat but just play with them which very cruel and unnecessary.
Feral cats don't play with their prey. That is pet cat behavior. The cats probably aren't being cruel. They are unlikely to realize that prey has feelings.
@@Catlily5 Correct; "cruelty" is a higher evolutionary feature. Very few animals have been observed practicing what can be interpreted as true sadism. One classic example is Orcas tossing a seal around before eating it.
@@Catlily5 that’s because pet cats are basically just overgrown kittens. Because they are always fed they assume that your their parent so they’ll have their adult hunting characteristics but then won’t know what to do when they’ve actually caught something and will just play around with it until it dies. My cats used to do that all the time but they’ve stopped now. Now whenever they catch something they kill it quickly as possible and eat it.
We have been home to many cats over the last 50 years. The one thing I can tell you for sure.... Its no secret. A 12 lb murder machine.
My cats murdered a mouse by knocking a picture frame over on it. I had leaned it against a dresser to take away later. I found it flat on the floor the next morning. On setting it back up, I found the very flat mouse.
Murder machine yes... make no mistake, a 12 lb house cat could kill an adult human if it REALLY wanted to. Those kitty claws are no joke.
A few of my cats love to hunt. They'd bring mice, rats, birds, lizards (often still alive) but never eat them. It's all just play and fun for them. They'd use their hunted animals as a toy. One time I saw them on the CCTV, passing around this tiny mouse like a soccer ball, and proceeded to eat their kibbles once they're bored. There's no more rats and mice problems on my street because of my cats, making me appreciate and love them even more 💕
They don't just kill rats, the large population has become a nightmare to wildlife. It is like we that have infested the world and asked domestic species to help out decimating what is left. I just wish we coudl be as compassionate about wildlife as we are with our pets.
Please keep your cats indoors, guys. Our wildlife, especially the less common songbirds, cannot withstand so many careless cat owners :(
I love cats. I've had them all my life. ❤ Just don't let them out unsupervised.
It's cruel to keep force your cat to be inside all day. If you don't live in an area where cats can go outside w/o harming the natural environment, then you don't need to own a cat.
@@LePedantno one should own a cat then, because there is nowhere where they won't effect the wildlife.
Let's euthanize all cats because some people don't understand what cruel means
@@LePedantin other words, _no one_ should own a cat, since there are *no* places where a cat outdoors cannot harm local wildlife.
Holding any kind of animal hostage in one’s home is cruel, pet ownership is cruelty to animals.
@@jpe1 Predators eat other animals, that's how nature works. When a predator kills another animal, they are not "harming" the local wildlife.
If you don't want a pet that kills other animals, and that needs to go outside, don't get a cat. That's like getting a pet snake, then being upset you have to feed it live mice.
@@LePedant you are confused about *why* cats are harming local wildlife. The problem isn’t that cats are predators and predators eat prey, no one is arguing that; the problem is that cats don’t belong in any North or South American ecosystem, they are an invasive predator (like the Burmese Pythons in Florida are an invasive predator) and just as people leaving their pet pythons loose to wreck havoc in Florida is wrong, leaving cats loose to kill birds, small mammals, small reptiles, small fish etc etc, is wrong. The fact that some people think cats are cute or cuddly doesn’t change the harm they do, and they don’t belong in the wild in the Americas.
My cat sure loved this! He's not a huge TV guy, but got really into this! (He wants me to tell you that he's an indoor cat since 3mos, born feral, but says he's never killed a bird. Uh... is possible...but where did he learn to jump like that? 🙀).
If cats were as big as lions, they'd be more ferocious than lions and tigers combined.
In Norway there has been outdoor cats for thousands of years. At this point, I feel sure that they are a part of the eco system. Besides, we also have the lynx
Yes, domesticated cats are more of a problem in the Americas or Oceania. Though they could still cause problems anywhere if their population is too high.
@@Catlily5 I agree they are a disaster in Australia, probably also most other non-Eurasia-Africa countries
guess norway wasnt affected by the black death
@@bevs9995 It very very much was. Ødegård is a common last name. Norwegian history would be wildly different without the plague
@@SotraEngine4 what does the name odegard mean?
Glad someone finally brought up this critical problem to the table. Wish we could stop bringing pain to other species, both cats and wildlife.
That is why I don't let my cats go out. Also, they will live much longer as indoor cat.
I warmed my neighbour there is a bobcat in the area. She even said her pigeons went missing. Yet, she still left her cat go out. Now the cat is long gone.
My neighbors have bird feeders in their yard. They were aghast when I suggested putting a bell on their cat's collar. That cat regularly catches songibrds, bats, mice, lizards.. who knows what else. Then, after leaving small carcasses and cat poop aroud the neighborhood, it comes home and eats kibbles. I take exception with the closing statement that "cats are evolutionary winners." I prefer to say that humans are wildlife destroyers and cats are just one of the ways they destroy.
When we had cats, we trained the on an Invisible Fence system that we had installed to keep them in our yard. We also did NOT have bird feeders or bird baths, etc… while also having cats as family members (aka pets).
Very enlightening! Thanks
I noticed the more cats in my neighborhood, the less bird poop on my car
Found a newborn kitten when I was a kid couldn't find the mother so I gave him to our mama cat and he grew frighteningly large scared our friends and guest whenever he entered the room left a serial killer number of dead animals in our home on a daily basis Squirrels , Rabbits , Mice , Rats , kittens , puppies and all kinds of birds Everytime he came in he brought in something he killed angry Neighbors hanged him he killed neighbors pets and attacked children in the neighborhood and possibly killed other cats don't know why he was unusually aggressive or large if i had to guess he might have had a Bobcat father .
Bit harsh in my opinion.
Cat owner in the US southeast here - I live inside the city limits now but both my cats are allowed to spend short amounts of time outside. They have demonstrated a pattern of NOT bothering the birds, preferring the rodents instead. This has worked out not just in favor of my family but most of my neighbors, since no one has mice or rat trouble. It's an unusual case I suppose, and anecdotal rather than hard evidence, but in many places in my own city there are feral and "part time" outside cats, and we're not seeing a bird shortage. (However this area is not particularly known for ANY "rare species" of bird, so that may have more to do with it.)
In a more general sense, I feel like we've learned quite a lot over the last decade or two - studies done with urban cats where the owner gets a Go-Pro attached to the cat somehow, other studies using microchip type RFID to track colonies of feral cats. Locally there's a fairly strong program for catch-neuter-release, and for a while there they were also chipping the animals to help track which ones had already been "processed," and get a rough estimate of population growth rate - which did indeed slow down significantly.
I feel like cats - just as with EVERY species we humans have domesticated - aren't so much "to blame" for the trouble they cause. They're just being cats. It's up to us humans to figure out ways to re-balance ecologies and restore things; same as it's our responsibility to handle lots of other such issues. Unfortunately it's not gonna be as simple as "convince all feral cats to only eat house sparrows." (Though that WOULD be rather efficient, wouldn't it)
Best way to stop a cat from killing native species without the bells and whistles of a collar that calls a bird alarm is to keep them inside in the first place. Outside of hunting, this video doesn't mention the diseases that cats can spread to other native felids. Keeping your cat indoors is safer for them, wild cats, and songbirds.
Spot on!
And keeping them inside is cruelty. Forces them into an unnatural life as our subjects and our toys. Like every other animal including humans they need sunshine, fresh grass and fresh air. And they need to be what they are not what we want them to be.
I keep my girls claws trimmed dull, I supervise her outdoors and I warn the birds myself when they don’t already see her.
And I let her hunt the rodents because they’re overpopulated too. And because that’s her job, to keep our home free of vermin and the diseases they carry.
@@mischeviousyou clean teach a cat walk on a leach. Going outside with your pet is healthy for both.
@@mischeviousdon't have pet cats then. Problem solved.
@@mischevious It's not cruelty to keep them indoors if you actually put effort into your cat care. You know what's cruel? Your cat getting eaten by a coyote or hit by a car, dying a horrible way away from their owners. Speaking from peer reviewed papers, cats are one of the less effective means of pest control and do more harm than they do helping whatever native animals you feel are overpopulated.
You know what's better than a cat? An owl, snakes, foxes, hawks, falcons, racoons, and literally every other animal that depends on the population of rodents to survive - none of which are your cat.
Stop projecting human concepts of freedom and cruelty onto animals when you're the one making the decision to release a non-native animal, a pet, into your local ecosystem. Keeping them inside isn't cruel if you're actually an active part of your cat's life and exercise it, do your god damn job.
You watch her when she goes outside? Good, upgrade it to harness training. Keeping your cats and animals safe doesn't mean depriving them of the outdoors, but it's naïve to say they need it when there are many, many cat owners - one of which is me, who have happy and extraordinarily healthy cats who are stimulated by their lives indoors because I'm not a negligent owner.
Grow up, do your damn job as a pet owner, and stop projecting your feelings onto an animal. Your cats are healthier inside and so is wildlife. There is no excuses and no data to back up the "cruelty" of keeping them inside; so get off your moral high ground and do something good for once in your life.
That's such a selfish perspective. "My cat likes to feel her whiskers in the wind therefore I don't care about every single other animal who is affected by it, including other cats, because mine is a very special girl. Who cares about the economic impact, the spread of diseases, the mere presence of a cat scaring birds into not laying eggs, the amount of animals they kill, and the horrible ways she could die being outdoors!" I literally despise people like you, you're a horrible lazy cat owner who is complacent in your own poor care and ignorant of your impact.
At least they're not mauling children
the downside of the alarm on the cat is if it is being hunted (by another animal or harmful human(s)), that alarm on its collar is its death
My cat lives with my pet parrot , she brings home rats and mice but shows no interest in birds. ! Obvoiusly I never leave her alone with the parrot the same as I would never leave a dog with him , instinct is instinct.
If your parrot is a big one (like a macaw), he probably can take good care of himself. They can take people's fingers off. (Jan Griffiths).
Beyond an AI the alarm calls could go off at periodic intervals regardless of whether the cat is hunting
Cats can go through a population of birds or mice, but equally a can can be the victim of any medium sized raptor in the suburbs or the country or a muskelid (weasel family) animal. My friend found her cat's remains and her other cats are indoor cats now.
No mustelids kill cats. Domestic cats are natural predators of smaller mustelids like stoats and weasels, polecats, pine martens and badgers ignore them.
Medium sized raptors (I assume your talking buzzard sized?) only take kittens, hence the reason cats are kept inside until they are adult. If a cat gets hit by an irresponsible driver they might be taken by birds of prey like white tailed eagles or kites just like all road kill.
I take care of a very LARGE ferrule cat. He's definitely the king of the neighborhood. I have a nice little set up outside that includes a heated house. But he only goes in there on the coldest days/nights. The other day, I found a 25lb. raccoon lying face down in his house. I thought maybe the raccoon figured out that it's warm in there and wanted to "take a break." All that was visible was the raccoon's tale hanging outside of the house. I figured that I would take a broomstick and bang on top of the house a few times and the raccoon would run out. After doing that a few times.... nothing. There is an "escape" door on the opposite side of the cat house (from where the tail was hanging out). So, I slowly raised it up and saw the raccoon lying face down with blood trickling out of its mouth.... dead as a door nail. I said something like "holy sh*t" and looked over to my cat who was sitting near me watching the whole thing. And he gave me a look like "yep, I had to take care of business." lol It was like a crime scene investigation at that point. The only logical explanation is that my cat was in there, the raccoon poked his head in there to investigate/or possibly attack and my cat pounced on him and took care of his business. Keep in mind, he isn't a "normal" housecat, but I digress.....the racoon probably outweighed him by 10 pounds. But cats are sly, and he obviously knows how to kill. I'll bet the cat shocked him big time. They are amazing animals.
I grew up in the country with my grandparents. We used to work on the corn, strip it by hand and move it around. The mice infesting it would run out and hide under the wooden planks. But we had our friend with us, this beautiful, spotted black and white cat named Fifi. And Fifi was an absolute destroyer. She hunted them down, killed dozens of mice a day. Nothing could escape her. I used to watch her catch birds too low, snatch them out of the air, and all kinds of other animals. She was just on a mission every day. I loved her and she loved me so much too, every morning waking up to her licking my hair. It's been decades and I still think of you, our little lady.
Isn't it funny how many people don't understand that cats are not owned. They agree to cohabit. They do run the show.
Yup exactly !!
My cat is the boss !!
"I thank the good Lord for antihistamines."
Preach. I love animals, and we have three cats (plus five very pretty peafowl and a plethora of other critters), but allergies. They are rough.
The AI idea is great and all, but what if they conspire with the cats?
Pound For Pound Cats are The Best Hunters in The Animal World
I wish during the conversation about an AI alarm that you had asked about predators. Because during the interview with the one cat owner, you guys brought up the danger of larger predators like coyotes, but it doesn't seem like there was any consideration for how the AI alarm could endanger a cat. Maybe you did have that discussion and it just didn't make it into the video?
Keep. Your cats. Indoors.
If they want to go outside, take them out on a leash. We do it for dogs, we should be doing it for cats.
It's not always that simple. For example, my mother adopted two 7 month old kittens from next door who had lived outdoors their whole life up until that point. She used 1/2" hardware cloth to screen in her porch after the cats shredded the regular screen, and within two weeks, they figured out how to get out with the steel hardware cloth, too. She tried for 2 years to keep them confined to the porch and inside the house without success. They're both 6 years old now and still go hunting every morning and evening.
Additionally, that notion about dogs on a leash isn't right, either. I use a leash once per year with my dog when she gets her vaccinations. She's never leashed otherwise. I've never leashed any dog I've had while walking... so that concept is strange to me. Don't have a fence around the yard, either. They naturally stay in or near their yard and near their owner when walking.
@VirginiaBronson
If you can't contain the animals then you shouldn't have them. It's about danger to the ecosystem and danger to the animal, euthanasia is best (even if it's sad).
The fact that you don't leash your dog means you don't care about their safety or the safety and health of the animals nearby. Sorry, but that's the truth.
@@VirginiaBronson If she can't keep them inside, she shouldn't have a cat. Inability to solve that issue is a telltale sign that you don't have the proper environment for owning a cat.
"Additionally", dogs should be kept on a leash and the fact that you don't keep your dog on a leash is breaking dog owner 101. I literally hate irresponsible dog owners that don't have the common decency to leash your dog and you should be shamed for it. You are not a special case, you are literally part of the problem, your opinion is not to be trusted.
Really depends on where. In Europe, they're part of the ecosystem, and just taking them away would be a bad idea. They are, however, invasive species in other parts of the world, where tbh, you shouldn't be having them at all.
@@wiwersewindemer4437 I don't know how to tell you this, they're not part of the ecosystem in Europe either. They are an invasive there and are very much responsible for the decline of native songbirds. In the UK more than half of the bird population is in extreme decline and in Scotland, their endangered Scottish Wildcat's genes are being diluted by interbreeding with domestic cats. This is making them less resistant to the cold and sometimes sterile. If you want to say they aren't invasive somewhere, you could say Africa since they are domesticated African Wildcats. It does not 'depend on where', they are NOT part of the European ecosystem, "liking them there" ≠ non-invasive. There is not an ecological role they fulfil that doesn't already exist, they are displacing native predators.
I'm a cat owner and a bird watcher, so these numbers are fascinating to me. It means that the outdoor cats that I and my house cat hate seeing in the yard- are probably coming from someone we know.
Yes 🙌 . I don’t own cats, either.
I’m a caregiver of cats, their butler, waitstaff, cast member, and, 24/7 nanny 😂
Not secret at all… we had many gifts left or brought in by ‘mama’ kitty while growing up in the 80’s - she was very proud of herself. Beautiful gray Burmese - she was perfect
I once saw my cat bathing in the blood of his enemies...
Our cat just removed his collar when we put a bell on it to warn the birds (got the stretchy kind so he wouldn't be trapped by his own collar...).
Cats hate that thing, imagine a bell make noise to every fucking move he does.
@@leonardoschmittalves5845
Especially when they're a hunter as ours is, though I've seen cats that are fine with it.
That's why they need to be kept indoors. We don't allow murdered to roam free, we don't allow other predators we've introduced to be areas roam free, we shouldn't let cats roam free.
@@lugedWow, even convicted murderers get to spend time outside in a fenced prison yard!
@@luged
It was there to catch rodents, you need that on a ranch.
It is my dream to be adopted by a cat.
😂
My college graduation paper was a literature compilation on all the threatened, endangered, and extinct species that had been put in that status at least in part by domestic cats. The numbers were honestly staggering and all of my cats have been strictly indoor cats since and I try to encourage other cat owners to keep their cats indoors as well (I’m a vet tech and pet sitter professionally). Only cats I encourage staying outdoor cats are barn cats that have been spayed or neutered because their job is to hunt to protect livestock. Pets should be pets that don’t impact other lives.
I have a large cat run which keeps the native wildlife and my cats both safe. I do not believe cats should be able to roam at large. They are a predator, but also prey. (Jan Griffiths).
I let my cats outside on a leash.
They'd end up figuring out a way to ditch the collars.
A lot of people are saying keep your cats indoors, and in the city I agree. However in rural areas where some farmers use the assistance of cats to protect their crops/fields it's not possible. My cats have always been indoor cats, honestly for their safety as we have coyotes and foxs roaming around all the time, and of course cars to. The issue in places like Australia is the fault of humans, and it's not just letting their pets out, but abandoning cats that then can quickly multiply in the wild and of course will hunt. So even if the majority kept their pet cats indoors or on a leash we'd still see a large amount of deaths to prey populations. Most domesticated house cats, don't stray far from the house and are not as successful hunters as feral/street cats.
It's acceptable if you ignore the diseases they spread like feline leukemia and the fact that the mere presence of them is enough to stress birds out of nesting. Cats aren't even a very effective form of pest control on farms. House cats are just as successful as feral cats, I don't know where you got that data from, but it is incorrect.
@@Earthtail25 I'll take the diseases cats bring over the ones rodents and birds bring. There is not a lot of study on cats in relation to hunting among domestic cats, but studies in Australia among the feral cat population, show a higher success rate in open fields with less or low vegetation. So an urban environment can be more challenging. There are certain breeds of cats that tend to be better hunters, and it's been documented that cats are good rodent deterrents. Cats can also be positive to certain ecosystems in dealing with invasive species or small animals that multiply quickly. For some reason people seem to think it's ok to just abandon cats, and if people do let their pet cats out it would be helpful if they are fixed to lessen the street population.
Cats will find a way.
The bird alert would only be attached to pet cats. Stray and feral cats are free to hunt.
I don't want to make my cats lame like that. But maybe that's just me.
My cat is an outdoor cat, but he comes inside sometimes to hang out, but none of his stuff is indoors. He is really overweight, because he eats the food we give him, but then when he’s done he hunts getting double the food. He’s the sweetest cat I’ve ever met, and he has beautiful long fur.
No matter what collar I put on my cat, he figures out how to get rid of it within a day
Collars are dangerous for cats. They can get caught on something, and choke the cat, or break his neck. Breakaway collars are safe. Most cats though can use their back feet to flip the collar off. (Jan Griffiths).
as someone allergic to cats i feel very sorry for you.
and as a human who loves birds (don't mind the trenchcoat and no, i didn't hear any chirps) i would implore all cat owners to keep their cats inside.
These people seriously said cats were the the most invasive species and not looking in the mirror huh?
👍🎯
The self snitching collar is a hot take.
Great energy in this video! Thanks
My cat allergy is severe but I wouldn't give up my cat for anything
Having a guy who doesn’t like cats host, then a guy who studies bite sized animals.. that still lets his cats outside. Y’all.. where the cat ladies busy?
My cats are not allowed outside EVER
My cat has no clue what she's supposed to do when "hunting." She's good at hiding and wiggling her butt, but she never makes a move.
Crazy cat lady here. I have 3, 2 are strictly indoors and one is leash trained. Anyone have a recommendation for a harness he can’t wiggle out of? I have to really watch him when we’re out. I leash walk him because I’ve lost so many outdoor/indoor cats. I also try to be a good neighbor. I don’t like the three that constantly shit in my flowerbeds and spray all over my yard, so I follow the golden rule.
Better fitting harness. If ours are loose on the girls they can manage to back out in a panic. We're looking for a better harness too.
Nice shout out to Purr Cup Cafe in Raleigh. Great quick stop for coffee also.
The domestic house cat is not a native species and does NOT BELONG OUTSIDE / I remember when I first saw a cat carrying a mutilated bird in its mouth. Made me hate cats to this day.
Farm cats for the most part are working cats. House cats are great pets if kept in the house. Feral cats are invasive species.
i dont like that they kill birds . birds are dying all the time. we need to do more for bird survival
Agreed! One reason Y, but not the only reason, is b/c birds (spp) are pollinators too.
My cat is THE Apex predator, as soon as he gets outside he starts hunting to kill any small animal he can get his paws on. I'm constantly trying to rescue a lizard, bird or squirrel from him
Maybe stop letting him outside
Here in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, with temperatures in Winter going down to -32 C, there is a wild cat in my local Garden Centre. I guarantee it's there to get away from coyotes. I am worried if it can survive?
3:51 I’ll be damn, I’ve been to that cafe quite a few times. Lovely people, and they make a great hot chocolate!
New york city needs cats. rats kill birds, and cats hunt primarily rats.
I saw a documentary years ago on the bbc. Tv. (I emigrated 14 yrs ago).
Where they tracked cats. And came up with similar information.
“I tawt I taw a puddy tat!” 😢
My cats stay inside. Their are feral cats outside. They keep snakes and rats away. They don't bother me at all.
Once cats are in an area, even Trap/Neuter/Release (and where possible, adopt) is only partially effective. I live in farm country. The best way to keep the feline population stable here (read: low enough not to become a serious detriment to local wildlife) is to spay/neuter, then care for your indoor/ outdoor or barn cats. There will ALWAYS be cats in the area trying to take your cats' territory, but healthy, well fed cats will maintain a fairly extensive territory, and keep out weaker or ill cats. Our area has few ferals because we and our neighbors all keep to this practice. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, but from my lived experience, it is the most effective way to keep everything balanced. The cats are here. That's not changing. How we deal with it is more important now.
I live in AZ, and it's a law in my state that barn cats be sterilized. I'm glad this law was passed. (Jan Griffiths).
Why did you guys give the cat story to the guy who is allergic? That seems unnecessary.
in Australia, our wild cats are becoming bigger. weve found a 7kg damn cat
Is it really ethical to keep anything indoors forever? It’s not really fair to just say “keep your cat inside” when not every cat is the same. Cats are more wild then some pet owners realize, with proper conditions certain cats can do just fine outdoors and be relatively safe(there will always be some risk). I think they’re doing great work trying to come up with a solution for cats to coexists with ecosystems instead of either decimating them or being completely excluded from them.
We have to keep our cat indoors during fledgling season in early summer. He is one cat, and we have a wonderfully abundant bird population, but he goes for the babies. He will also happily take down a parent defending a fledgling, too, which often means death for the whole brood. Not cool.
A research was conducted in the UK and the cats were not hunting. They were roaming and sometimes finished another cat's meal, either inside or outside the house. The cats covered some distances, not in straight line...
one study doesn't erase the thousands more and the fact that domestic cats have wiped over 60 species to extinction already.
I feel your pain sir. Antihistamines are great. 😂
Who the hell is allergic to cats and decides to do a documentary of them
My indoor baby didn't have enough time with his cat family to gain any hunting skills so don't think he'd do well hunting?
One timr years ago, I was walking home from work and I saw this cat just sitting and staring at the sewer opening in front of a sidewalk.
Sure enough, a minute or less later, he jumped INTO the sewer and I heard some other animal scream. lol Probably a mouse or a rat or something.
Extremely cat allergy club unite! (but seriously, my face would have swollen up twice its size if i got as close to a cat as you did
Keep your cats indoors. If they need to get out, leash-train them. Don't just let them run around. Not just for the other animals' sake, but also for your own cats' safety.
Is the tracking study still open? I live in a rural area with an abundance and variety of native wildlife. My one cat is indoor/outdoor. I would be really interested to see how his adventures compare to a suburban or urban cat. Our other two cats, much to their chagrin, are indoor only. Obviously all are neutered and vaccinated.
My cat is so cool (as a deadly predator) I love that for them
Yes thank you . . .
Goods I'an program the missing .for your The energy . .
Thanks much . .
You are part of the problem.
When I was a kid, a long time ago, it was natural for a cat to go outside & hunt. No one thought twice about that. I don’t remember my cats bringing dead things home. But by the time i graduated high school, my mom started declawing the cats & keeping them inside, more for their safety than the birds. I hate the declawing part & refuse to do it to my own cats but I do keep them inside. There are two stray cats that I see a lot but only once eating a squirrel he’d caught. They get fed so hopefully they don’t have to hunt much. I plan on catching them, though, and taking them to a no-kill shelter.
Cats will hunt regardless of how well they’re fed. It’s in their nature, and it’s our job to prevent that by keeping them indoors, or culling the ferals that cannot be adopted.
Many shelters cannot afford to be no kill because of how many cats they have and continue to receive, its nearly impossible to get them all adopted unfortunately. This is why it’s so important to spay and neuter.