Should domestic cats be eradicated to protect wildlife?

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Right now I am working at keeping one cat healthy. As I said they eat and use their liter box downstairs. At times they hang out down there more than they should and with life you do not see them as much as you would like.

I noticed one cat was losing a bit of weight. I kept watching and it kept getting worse. We took him to the vet and his thyroid went into overdrive (happens a lot when cats get old). Him being an older cat now has to be fed seperated from the others animals at leat 3 times a day in order to keep his weight up. He cannot seem to stomach the pills three times a day and the food (special food for this problem) he does not like either. We tried a different medicine that you rub in his ears but that seems to irritate them.

However, making sure he is eating as much as he does seems to be helping. But really we need to find a good medicine for him. He has started to gain some of his weight back. Working with the vet to get him healthy though is a lot of work (and not very cheap either). Right now the vets wants to let all the medicine get out of his system and try it a different way.

That being said he is the only one who eats outside of the basement and he eats in the bathroom (makes it easy to keep others out of his food).

There are good and bad in all pet owners. Look at Florida and all the exotic pets that are taking over habitat and destroying native species. Also there were the tiger fish tat escaped there due to storms. Those are now starting to set up dangerous populations in the reefs there also. More so I think destruction of habitat is a great cause, what are we humans doing to destroy the places these birds live? It all adds up together, there is not one single cause to the decline of birds. People are playing a part in it as well.


Raist

reply to post by Creep Thumper



I don't disagree with you, and man also upsets it with not taking care of and dumping their pets.

Originally posted by butcherguy

Originally posted by Creep Thumper
I suppose we should eradicate otters: Otter eats goldfish

There was a case in Pennsylvania where a man was convicted of killing a bald eagle, it was raiding a fish hatchery and eating their trout.

My uncle raised koi in a pond at his farm. Great Blue herons came in and ate the koi. He would scare them off, they would come right back and gobble some more.

It's called the law of nature or, if you prefer, the food chain.

What do you expect them to do? They're animals. They don't know any better. They just know they're hungry. They don't distinguish between wild and pet.

Don't anthropomorpize animal behavior. That is illogical.

reply to post by Raist

There are good and bad in all pet owners. Look at Florida and all the exotic pets that are taking over habitat and destroying native species. Also there were the tiger fish tat escaped there due to storms. Those are now starting to set up dangerous populations in the reefs there also. More so I think destruction of habitat is a great cause, what are we humans doing to destroy the places these birds live? It all adds up together, there is not one single cause to the decline of birds. People are playing a part in it as well.

I don't disagree with that at all, even animals in the natural can upset their own ecosystem as you have pointed out,

Let's face it the earth is beautiful place to visit but not a safe place to inhabit, mother nature destroys more then we ever will.

Natural disasters and all.

Weird and wild world we have been stranded on, and you don't get off alive.

reply to post by Creep Thumper

Don't anthropomorpize animal behavior. That is illogical.

Point out where I did so.

Mr. Logical.

Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by Creep Thumper

 

Don't anthropomorpize animal behavior. That is illogical.

Point out where I did so.

Mr. Logical.

Mrs.

You did so in expecting animals to differentiate between wild food and domestic pets. A heron doesn't know it's eating someone's pet koi. It only knows they are an available food source.

reply to post by Creep Thumper

You did so in expecting animals to differentiate between wild food and domestic pets.

So sorry, Mrs. Logical.

Could you tell me where I expected animals to differentiate wild food and domestic pets? I made no such claims.

Their are no pets involved in it anyway. The koi were being raised in a commercial farming operation. The trout were being raised to be stocked in streams.

Originally posted by Creep Thumper
Mrs.

You did so in expecting animals to differentiate between wild food and domestic pets. A heron doesn't know it's eating someone's pet koi. It only knows they are an available food source.

I take the same philosophy. That is why I don’t differentiate between threat sources. If a wild animal threatens anything on my property, I will shoot them all equally and without prejudice.

reply to post by butcherguy


I reread your post. So you were just citing an example.

I apologize. I took it differently than you intended.

Originally posted by Creep Thumper
reply to post by butcherguy

 

I reread your post. So you were just citing an example.

I apologize. I took it differently than you intended.

No problem, all is well. No need to apologize.
You know that I don't go around killing cats all willy nilly for fun, right?
I am a happy fellow, I just don't care for cats. The people in New Zealand and Australia do have a valid point, as Felis catus is an introduced species there, and has wreaked havoc on native species.

16 dog lovers flagged this thread..

Originally posted by butcherguy
The people in New Zealand and Australia do have a valid point, as Felis catus is an introduced species there, and has wreaked havoc on native species.

This I can understand. The problem is the feral animals, but that is anywhere.

The problem I have and I assume others do is that some in this thread and in our lives would rather see all cats gone completely. As the title suggests eradication. Completely destroying any species is wrong even when it comes to mosquitoes. They serve a role, it would be niec to see them reduced a bit but we can do that by upping our bat populations. Mosquitoes are a top food source of bats. If we destroy them we could lose bats.

Each and everything plays its role and many do not think of the long term effects of the destruction of a species.

I am not saying you are calling for their complete eradication but many are. Reducing the number of feral animals is a positive thing though. It would be a happy merging point for both sides here. Even allowing some feral but just making it so that they can no longer breed would be helpful as well.

Raist

You touch my cat, you're going to leave here limping funny, impaled on a broken hockey stick.

/warning

Originally posted by HIWATT
You touch my cat, you're going to leave here limping funny, impaled on a broken hockey stick.

/warning

Limping? They are still able to limp, and you stopped beating?
First law of an altercation.
If they are still moving, then you need to keep beating/shooting.

Originally posted by Mr Tranny

Originally posted by HIWATT
You touch my cat, you're going to leave here limping funny, impaled on a broken hockey stick.

/warning

Limping? They are still able to limp, and you stopped beating?
First law of an altercation.
If they are still moving, then you need to keep beating/shooting.

They are rendered harmless after the blade-end of a mothballed Sherwood is buried deep into their....

So with regards to the severity of punishment, sometimes less is more. And the joy I feel seeing my cat smile as the would be assailant waddles like a duck off my property, is enough

Originally posted by butcherguy

Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Only a complete slob would make a sandwich on a counter that they even suspect a cat has walked on without cleaning it first. Most cat owners I know with any sense already have our cats trained to stay off counters, but we still clean our counters before doing food prep work because it is just smart sanitation to do so and takes just a minute or two. Those of us with kids and cats and dogs (who also have been known to get up on counters and also lick faucets and even drink out of toilets) make extra effort to keep our kitchens clean.

Let me rephrase this...only a complete slob or most husbands would make a sandwich on a counter that....(insert the rest of the above paragraph here). I've seen men prepare and eat sandwiches on filthy workshop tables while their hands were grubby with engine grease and God knows what else. Don't be telling me about no crazy cat ladies and their kitchen counters after how, when and where I've witnessed men eat.

Yes, I guess you have proven that it is not possible for feline poop in a box in your house to transmit disease to a person living in your house.

You do realize that small bits of infected dry fecal matter can become airborne and even find its way into the cupboards and land on a plate, right?

How about when the cat licks his butt and nuts, then hops into the kitchen sink to lick the faucet? (I've watched cats do it, even when they have a bowl full of water to drink) I guess only slobs get a drink of water from the sink without disinfecting it each time they use it, eh?

You do know that there is a certain amount of ground up insects including roaches and rodent fecal matter in most foods we consume (unless we take great pains to grow everything ourselves and control every aspect of the food from seedling to finished product on our plates. And then there are bugs and microscopic rodent poop bits and mold spores on pretty much everything we come into contact with. www.fda.gov...

As a college student I had a job where I saw the warehouses and back storage areas of a wide range of grocery stores along the east coast. Rats rats everywhere. Dead rats, live rats, baby rats. You would think inspections would keep that from happening. Shockingly it does not. I remember stepping around a rat carcass sprawled across a drainage grate of some sort in the storage area of a grocery store on the outskirts of Washington, DC. This was about 25 years ago and I do hope facilities management has improved since then, but I wouldn't be surprised if it hasn't. Not when I can now see the rats brazenly waddling around outdoors in the parking lots. That sort of thing is such a problem it made the local news more than once.

Yet most of us seem to survive it all. It's the man made crap in our food and water that is making us sick with autoimmune disease and cancers and endocrine disruption. It is food service workers not washing their hands after using the restroom or taking smoke breaks that transfer a lot of food borne illness. Or further back in the supply chain, unwise farming practices like using poop as fertilizer or having field workers defecate in the fields they are working, or sometimes, it is just the way it rolls with produce...they trap bacteria from the environment in their leaves. It just happens and the produce just wasn't cleaned off well enough somewhere along the line.

I know we obsess over toxoplasmosis, but you can get that from undercooked meats, especially pork. When I was pregnant I was tested for this disease and didn't show any sign in antibody testing that I'd ever even been exposed to it despite my work with hundreds of cats over the course of ten years.

But go ahead and obsess about cats...one aspect of all the many things that make life gritty and messy. Yes, it was gross that your ex's cat pooped outside the litter box. Yes go ahead and feel sick about it, I would too if my cats peed on my child's backpacks...I would certainly not send my child to school in such a sorry state. You have every right to want to avoid cats after that sort of experience. But try to understand extending your point of view to condemning all cat owners and all cats based on the weird standards and behavior of your ex is a bit...much. I like you overall in other parts of ATS, which is why I took a light tone with you, and I think you are capable of being fair and balanced to quote Fox. But in this case you have a very strong bias that colors your posts to a degree that makes it hard to meet you part way.

selective genocide is always a bad move, under any circumstances. my adored cat died in december. a noble and beautiful animal, he was my constant companion for many years. here's the slideshow i made when i couldn't sleep after he died. he was a house cat. he got fresh air and daylight on the balcony, but was never exposed to the dangers and temptations of the outside world beyond. and a handsome devil to boot.

reply to post by RoScoLaz


My cat, Rex, is hanging with Linus. They hunt mice together and play and in the afternoons they lay in the sun.

He's okay, Ro. You'll see him again.

reply to post by Creep Thumper


that's a nice thought. thank you

On the face of it, it seems like a joke issue, but i guess there is a reason.

I doubt it will ever happen though. Too many people like cats.

I only like kittens..... cats are rarely ever truly a "pet" You just give them a place to stay and eat.