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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA sad story ..but thought i would share.
My sister lives on top of a hill. She had two cats, my niece two cats, they are cat people. About a week ago my dog was barking and barking and the cat was screaming. I came around the side of the house to see what was going on. Mercy my dog showed me where Lacy was. Found in a berry bramble, trapped and had to be cut out. Scott my brother in law ran out and gently clipped her out. She could not move and we put her on a small bed. Scott and my sister Cindy rushed her to the vet, but nothing could be done. The vet found three talon marks which meant it was probably a hawk.. her back and neck were broken. The vet gently helped her go. I was very upset by all this, but it turned out hawks and eagles go after cats. My niece said thats why she keeps her cats inside. My sister told me this was the third cat they lost to hawks. We all cried. It as very sad.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)avebury
(10,946 posts)to the hawks than she has no business owning cats. She should at least look into getting a coyote vest for her cats to protect them from predators, build a catio attached to her house so that cats can safely go outside, or just plain leave them indoors.
You may not want to hear it but lets be blunt, your sister is just as much to blame for the loss of each one of those three cats due to owner negligence. One loss you could blame for ignorance, three is well past that.
MineralMan
(146,190 posts)Not the time or place for it, I think. I'd self-delete if I were you.
avebury
(10,946 posts)The hard cold reality is that three dead cats at the hands of hawks does depict a pattern of poor pet ownership. There is nothing in the original post that would indicate that her sister has learned her lesson. Hearing that the sister has lost 3 cats to hawks is infuriating. Do your really expect that, if this family continues to take in cats that their fate will be any different if they do not make any changes? There are some changes that could be made to safeguard their pets but do they even care enough to make those changes?
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
MineralMan, your response is just like the Rethugs saying that it is too soon to talk about gun control after a mass shooting. I will always first and foremost take the side of the animals. Someone has to fight for them. I have had friends that, based upon their pet ownership history, I have looked them right in the eye and told them they had no business owning any more pets.
MineralMan
(146,190 posts)thread about a cat that died is insensitive and cruel.
I'm a cat owner. My cats are indoor cats now, but my cats in California were indoor/outdoor creatures, with a cat door they could go in and out of at their pleasure. In Minnesota, that doesn't make much sense.
I've never had a cat killed by a predator, and I've owned a couple dozen of them.
If I lived in a place with predators that killed cats, I would not allow mine outdoors, of course.
There is a place for posts about keeping cats indoors. That place is not a thread about someone whose sister just lost a cat to a predator. To insert such a post, stated as you stated it, is unkind. Being blunt to the point of causing emotional harm is not appropriate in any way.
I"m sorry, but I stand by my post.
Beringia
(4,313 posts)He can relay that to his sister. How else to give feedback on this? Hope for the best that the person will see some random post by accident on the subject at some time in the future?
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)After not one, not two, but three easily preventable deaths, my sympathy for the owner has now been superseded by concern for the next cat unfortunate enough to wind up in that household. If this person hasn't yet displayed the ability to correlate cause and effect, perchance it is time someone spelled it out for them.
Raine
(30,540 posts)there are all kinds of predators here both four legged asnd two legged also speeding vehicles.
mountain grammy
(26,568 posts)If you love your pets you protect them as best you can. Once she was aware of the danger, the next two were definitely her fault.
I've had friends lose small dogs to cyotes right outside their back door. My little one never goes out after dark by himself.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Ive never lost a cat to any of them. Never heard of a cat being taken by a bird. That seems very odd to me.
MineralMan
(146,190 posts)Not full grown cats.
There were hawks and owls where I lived in California, too, but never had a problem with them and my cats. I didn't let kittens outdoors, though.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)No babies of any species here now, but my chickens are free range. Ive lost them to foxes occasionally, but never to raptors.
Funny, two of my youngest dogs are small, and when I brought them home as puppies last July, I was terrified of that very thing. But theyre fine (though still small compared to the larger ones), and I dont expect to lose them to birds of prey. Knock on wood.
notdarkyet
(2,226 posts)procon
(15,805 posts)and not learning a lesson about keeping your cats safe and protected inside, she shouldn't even have one anymore.
Tears and sympathies are meaningless to the cats she's already killed through negligence, and they sure won't help save any remaining cats.
People like that don't need pets.
Raine
(30,540 posts)outside there is too much danger,. I live in the suburbs of Los Angeles but there are coyotes rooming the hillsides that have killed people's cats and dogs. I'm so sorry about Lacy.
ET Awful
(24,753 posts)1. You never forget things like that and they are as traumatic for the humans as they are for the animals.
2. Cats should be indoor animals. They are at huge risk outoors since they tend to wander. Everything from predators (both birds and land borne predators are threats) to cars can hurt them badly. Cats also present a danger to other animals, as they target songbirds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. as prey. It's much safer for everyone to keep them indoors. At least with dogs, if you let them out in a fence yard, they're likely to stay in the fenced area (usually, some . . . not so much). Cats can and will go where they want.
Not trying to be callous or insulting - I've been there and know how traumatic it can be, but please people keep your cats indoors. If you have small dogs - keep an eye on them while they're outside (I've seen small dogs attacked by hawks and such as well). Keep your pets safe.