Kat Klub

[dualstow]

^ My cat’s bathing in a blanket on my lap right now, and she paused to look at Lily!

[Smith1776]

^ My cat’s bathing in a blanket on my lap right now, and she paused to look at Lily!

It seems to me that PP enthusiasts tend to be cat enthusiasts!

I'd like to see some data visualizations with correlations.

[dualstow]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

[Mountaineer]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

I like cats, just not as much as dogs. But what do I know, apparently I'm the only extrovert on this entire forum.

Well, there is one of us who disclosed they go both ways.

[dualstow]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

I like cats, just not as much as dogs. But what do I know, apparently I'm the only extrovert on this entire forum.

I was going to write in an answer- "go away", but I decided it might not be taken as a joke.

[Kriegsspiel]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

The other day, I was talking with a neighbor about how much I wish I had a silenced .22. He said they were a lot of fun and very quiet and that the cats may not be with us much longer.

[Kriegsspiel]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

I like cats, just not as much as dogs. But what do I know, apparently I'm the only extrovert on this entire forum.

Well, there is one of us who disclosed they go both ways.

Filthy fence sitter, reporting in.

[dualstow]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

The other day, I was talking with a neighbor about how much I wish I had a silenced .22. He said they were a lot of fun and very quiet and that the cats may not be with us much longer.

https://media.giphy.com/media/JltOMwYmi0VrO/giphy.gif

Boooo. Hope you guys get rats.

[yankees60]

Or perhaps a few vocal ones. Not kriegs, not Xan. Not Pugchief(?)
Kriegs, send me your feral cats. There was no frost this year and now my entire neighborhood has mice in their backyards.

The other day, I was talking with a neighbor about how much I wish I had a silenced .22. He said they were a lot of fun and very quiet and that the cats may not be with us much longer.

https://media.giphy.com/media/JltOMwYmi0VrO/giphy.gif

Boooo. Hope you guys get rats.

Cats and rats peacefully co-exist. Cats are NOT rat killers.

Vinny

[dualstow]

Whatever. Some Domestic/urban ones may have lost their touch but not feral cats. I've seem them at work in public gardens, and:

Cats are no strangers to killing rats. Their work as vermin exterminators helped them to sail the seven seas, eliminating rats on ships as far back as 9,000 years ago.

Centuries of domestication have not dulled cats' desire to kill rats, and as rat populations swell in some cities, those cities are turning to feral cats to keep the rats in check.

One Chicagoan, Victoria Thomas, told CNN in 2016 that once she hired Tree House Cats at Work, she "instantly saw the rat holes just, they were vanishing." Prior to housing the colony, Thomas spent close to $4,000 on various efforts to stop rats from overtaking her yard to no avail, including wire fences and poisoned cinnamon rolls.

https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories ... festations

[WiseOne]

That's fat, spoiled indoor cats. Feral cats have to get their own food so I'm pretty sure they wouldn't pass up a nice, juicy rat. We could use a few more predators around here, come to think of it, but there are too many cat rescue enthusiasts here.

Chai (the white cat with the cute kitten-y face) happens to love to have his upper chest rubbed (belly not so much unless he's really relaxed). He's been known to find unsuspecting visitors inclined to pet cats, lay himself out in front of them, and demand incessant petting as his due.

Here's Charlie being, well, Charlie. From the Cat in the Bag series. Enjoy!

Charlie in bag.png (1.94 MiB) Viewed 5342 times

[yankees60]

Whatever. Some Domestic/urban ones may have lost their touch but not feral cats. I've seem them at work in public gardens, and:

Cats are no strangers to killing rats. Their work as vermin exterminators helped them to sail the seven seas, eliminating rats on ships as far back as 9,000 years ago.

Centuries of domestication have not dulled cats' desire to kill rats, and as rat populations swell in some cities, those cities are turning to feral cats to keep the rats in check.

One Chicagoan, Victoria Thomas, told CNN in 2016 that once she hired Tree House Cats at Work, she "instantly saw the rat holes just, they were vanishing." Prior to housing the colony, Thomas spent close to $4,000 on various efforts to stop rats from overtaking her yard to no avail, including wire fences and poisoned cinnamon rolls.

https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories ... festations

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CO34KU6/?c ... _lig_dp_it

The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

….and, after you read it tell me if you believe the same.

In it they describe videos of cats and rats in alleys peacefully co-existing.

Cats and mice, yes! BIG mis-match. Cats and rats? Not so much a mismatch.

VInny

[yankees60]

That's fat, spoiled indoor cats. Feral cats have to get their own food so I'm pretty sure they wouldn't pass up a nice, juicy rat. We could use a few more predators around here, come to think of it, but there are too many cat rescue enthusiasts here.

https://wildlife.org/rats-feral-cats-fa ... t-control/

Rats! Feral cats fail at urban rodent control

"All the feral cats (Felis catus) running free in New York City have some people thinking that at least these strays are helping control rat (Rattus spp.) populations. But despite all the pop culture references of cats preying on mice, do feral city cats really prey on these much larger rodents? Researchers say no.

In a study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers set out to find out whether cats actually kill rats at a waste recycling center in Manhattan."

Vinny

[Kriegsspiel]

Apparently his Jack Russell loves nothing as much as killing rats.

[CT-Scott]

It's noon here and i'm exhausted. This lockdown has seriously messed up my sleep schedule.

Isn't that what cats are for?

Mine get me out of bed every morning by 6:30am, and remind me of stuff I do with them before going to bed sometime around 10 or 11 (i.e. I brush their teeth and play with them). They are great for keeping me on a regular schedule no matter what.

Smith and WiseOne posted this in the Daily check-in thread the other day and I wanted to respond to it then. I was reminded of it today when my daughter shared a TikTok video with me of someone brushing their cat's teeth, so I came back to resurrect and reply to it, but am "moving" it to this thread:
https://www.tiktok.com/@betch/video/681 ... ource=h5_m

[yankees60]

Apparently his Jack Russell loves nothing as much as killing rats.

Dogs different story.

I had non-pet rats. Actually called in an exterminator after they were attacking (chewing wires) in the two Honda Accords I owned at the time.

I'm a big live and let live person but once they did that they'd somewhat declared war on me.

Around that same time I was in my backyard with Logan, my White German Shepherd.

All of a sudden a white rat was running in the backyard. Before I could even think Logan was on it in a flash and had the rat in her mouth. The rat Is screaming. I really don't want to witness this carnage in front of me plus was worried that the rat might bite Logan. I had a rake in my hand so I used it to pry the rat out of Logan's mouth. Mercifully it quickly died after that and I buried it.

Shortly after I saw another rat but Logan did not notice and I did not inform on the rat. I was not prepared to so soon witness that same scene all over again.

After the exterminator finished with his work, I never saw any more evidence of rats in my garage, in my cars, or on my property. They never made it into my living space.

Of course a major reason for that was I changed my behavior. I used to do one of those dump all the dog food bag contents into the rubber barrel. I had not realized that the rats had discovered that barrel and chewed a hole in the bottom of it. And, then told all the other rats in the neighborhood that there were unlimited amounts of food available in this guy's garage.

And, now I'm further remembering that shortly before I discovered their damage to my cars, I'd seen one of the them in my garage but at the time my only reaction was, "Wow! That is one fat mouse!"

Vinny

[dualstow]

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CO34KU6/?c ... _lig_dp_it
The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

https://wildlife.org/rats-feral-cats-fa ... t-control/
Rats! Feral cats fail at urban rodent control

Vinny, you’re 0 for 2.
I’ve seen the show based on Lion in the Living Room. Your first clue that they’re not feral is “living room.”
2nd, I specifically ruled out urban cats. You select Manhattan.

However, I maintain that feral cats that don’t live in the big city do in fact catch, kill and eat rats, as they’ve been doing for thousands upon thousands of years. They were built for it.

[yankees60]

Read this book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CO34KU6/?c ... _lig_dp_it
The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World

https://wildlife.org/rats-feral-cats-fa ... t-control/
Rats! Feral cats fail at urban rodent control

Vinny, you’re 0 for 2.
I’ve seen the show based on Lion in the Living Room. Your first clue that they’re not feral is “living room.”
2nd, I specifically ruled out urban cats. You select Manhattan.

However, I maintain that feral cats that don’t live in the big city do in fact catch, kill and eat rats, as they’ve been doing for thousands upon thousands of years. They were built for it.

The book is not just based upon domestic cats. It traces how the cat arrived to live in our living rooms, which included touching upon how cats in the wild aka feral cats behave towards rats. Try reading the book rather than a show. I'm sure the show left out a lot that was in the book as is the same for any movie based upon a book.

Why wouldn't urban feral cats kill rats while rural ones do? I'm sure that they have plenty of more opportunities to find rats in an urban environment than what they'd fine in a rural environment.

Vinny

[dualstow]

The book is not just based upon domestic cats. It traces how the cat arrived to live in our living rooms, which included touching upon how cats in the wild aka feral cats behave towards rats. Try reading the book rather than a show. I'm sure the show left out a lot that was in the book as is the same for any movie based upon a book.

Why wouldn't urban feral cats kill rats while rural ones do? I'm sure that they have plenty of more opportunities to find rats in an urban environment than what they'd fine in a rural environment.

Maybe someday, but I’ve got dozens of books to go through first, and I don’t have your reading speed. (Although I got Mountaineer’s joke so something’s working).
Your question is a fair one. The answer is twofold. One: garbage. Before all the restaurants closed, cats in the Big City had access to all kinds of delicious food that they didn’t have to chase and kill. Now, the rodents themselves are so hungry that they’re turning cannibalistic according to one article I read. So, if this goes on long enough, we may in fact see desperate urban cats giving it a shot. But that’s a brand new special situation.

And two: rats in New York City are positively ginormous. I don’t know if all cats can handle them. These are not field mice.

[Kriegsspiel]

Plus, the odds are more likely in cities that aspiring cat ladies will feed the ferals, as my elderly neighbor does.

[dualstow]

Plus, the odds are more likely in cities that aspiring cat ladies will feed the ferals, as my elderly neighbor does.

Yes, I know of a lady who runs a kind of makeshift shelter, and she feeds hundreds of cats that she cannot house. I don’t know how she does it. Here’s one. It really doesn’t even look like a street cat.

[yankees60]

Plus, the odds are more likely in cities that aspiring cat ladies will feed the ferals, as my elderly neighbor does.

Yes, I know of a lady who runs a kind of makeshift shelter, and she feeds hundreds of cats that she cannot house. I don’t know how she does it. Here’s one. It really doesn’t even look like a street cat.

Totally beautiful cat!

Vinny

[dualstow]

I agree.

[Smith1776]

All hail tuxedo cats!!!

[Smith1776]

No more studying!! Come pet me!!

lily.png (3.75 MiB) Viewed 5707 times