domestic cat predation

Brightly coloured collar help to protect birds from cat predation

Cat owners are unconcerned about wildlife predation by their cats

There is a lot of talk nowadays about the killing of small mammals, marsupials and reptiles plus birds by unsupervised domestic cats outdoors, stray cats and feral cats. This topic highlights the biggest negative against domestic cat ownership currently on the agenda. Since 2005 there have been discussions about how to minimise the impact of …

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Confine your cat to stop him bringing mice into the home

Does feeding a domestic cat blunt their desire to hunt?

To rephrase the title, you might ask the following question: “Do well-fed domestic cats hunt as much and with the same conviction as cats that aren’t fed?” The best answer that I can find on this topic is from Dr. Jon Bradshaw in his book Cat Sense. He is far more nuanced in his response …

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Cat hunting birds

‘Food preparation’ for easy swallowing by domestic cats is rarely seen

In the modern world, as the pampered domestic cat is provided with wet cat food from pouches or dry cat food from bags, you rarely see them engaging in their own ‘food preparation’ so I’ll describe it here if I may. The point is that domestic cats are in effect scavengers, a behavioural trait which …

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Cats banned from new housing developments in New Zealand

New Zealand is banning cats from new communities. Thin end of the wedge?

The New Zealand website stuff.co.nz quite often publishes articles about cats and they are all negative. The basic MO is to get rid of them because their native species are being gobbled up by the evil devils. I get it but it is a bit OTT to an outsider. The Kiwis and Aussies are far …

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Domestic cat home range in Australia

Why do domestic cats still wish to maintain a home range?

The reason why the domestic cat’s wildcat ancestor maintains a home range i.e. a section of landscape that they call home, is because they want to protect a food resource. This makes sense. It’s about survival. The domestic cat, in a typical home where they are well looked after, has a ready-made food source. Technically …

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Cat feeding

Feeding your cat well should reduce the area over which they patrol

Indoor/outdoor cats do not need to patrol their territory in order to find food when they are well fed. But domestic cats still, instinctively, patrol their ‘home range’ (the area they call home). Domestic cats are attached to their territory as much as they are attached to their human caregiver. It’s about habits and what …

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Don't trust newspaper journalists to get cat predation rates correct!

Example of how a journalist carelessly distorts information on domestic and feral cat predation

I think that this is important. I have been digging around because I know that journalists writing for respected websites including news media website often distort the facts. They make claims and hard statements which simply are not true. They quote scientific reports but in doing so they actually misquote them. This is a very …

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Curious and seriously cute kitten

We need to selectively breed moggies to reduce predation

We know that most domestic cats are “moggies” i.e., non-purebred cats. They been created through natural selection whereas purebred cats are created through artificial selection a.k.a. selective breeding. We also know that domestic cats are wonderful predators. It is their raison d’être. They are built to hunt and kill. It is a problem for humankind. …

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Noticeable, brightly coloured, cat collar protects birds from cat predation (47 – 54% reduction)

There is a product on the market called Birdsbesafe®. They are fluffy cat collars in very bright colours. They are deliberately bright because songbirds see bright colours especially well. You can immediately understand the idea. The cat stalks a bird. The movement of his collar is picked up by the bird. The bird flies away. …

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Huntsman spider

Cat owner relies on her two cats to kill venomous huntsman spiders (video)

NEWS AND COMMENT-SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: The first point to make is that although huntsman spiders use venom to immobilise prey and can reach up to 5 inches across, based upon my careful research they do not cause harm to domestic cats who kill them and perhaps sometimes devour them. If a cat devours a huntsman spider …

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Outdoor cat caught a mouse

Targeted domestic cat confinement a better solution to protecting wildlife

Usually, the discussion about protecting wildlife from predation by domestic cats is binary: either you confine them to the home or you allow them to be free-roaming. A lot of people think domestic cat should be allowed to roam freely in the interests of their cat’s health. People generally prioritise their cat companion’s health over …

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Mouse and cat

3 reasons why cats play with their prey, apparently torturing them

There are 3 reasons why domestic cats apparently torture their prey by playing with them. I list and discuss them here. It is a form of feline behaviour which at best irritates their human caregiver and at worst disgusts them. It does, however, provide the cat’s owner with an opportunity to save the mouse. That …

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Cat Wars

The inherent bias and unhelpfulness in the book ‘Cat Wars’ by Peter Marra and Chris Santella

You can buy the book Cat Wars by Peter Marra and Chris Santella on Amazon. They describe cats as “environmental contaminants like DDT”. They claim that they spread disease and disrupt the ecological balance of the environment. They have a chapter lewdly entitled “Zombie Makers”. They describe how domestic, stray and feral cats spread rabies, …

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Note: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified.
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