Just shot a cat ~ I hate when that happens!

Oh the joys of rural living miles outside of town.

We keep Misha in a fenced area on our property when she is allowed outside. She is a VERY territorial dog. Its the nature of the breed. In fact it is one of the prized traits of the breed that so endeared them to the Japanese royalty that they were used to guard the imperial palaces.

So Misha has 'her' yard. On very rare occasions an animal will get into 'her' yard. Misha believes that that animal, whatever it is, is her prey. And she is a very good huntress, even with arthritis in her rear legs, she is darn fast. She is also very powerful.

Well tonight one of the feral cats had an unlucky encounter. Misha got her. My wife let the dogs out and I heard noises that were not right. Grabbed the spotlight and ran out, called the dog. She obeyed but it was too late.

Honestly I'd have rather that she had finished the job. She broke the cat's hips/back. I had no choice but to put it down. I really hate that. I know it has to be done. I know its a wild cat and doesn't belong. But its a senseless killing and that is the part I dislike. Had it been a coyote killing it for food it would be fine with me.

You did what was right, considering the circumstances.
Don't beat yourself up over it.

Melensdad,

You did the local ecology a favor. Ferrel cats are not indiginus to your area or mine....They do a lot of distruction to small native game. Here it's our pheasants they are soo hard on. Cats hunt, regardless if they are being fed or not. In our state the conservation folks claim every ferrel cat costs our state 7 pheasant per year. For this reason, many of us have taken to dispatching them, when they are no where near a farm site. Not an easy thing to do, but it is the right thing, as they are a predator species, and take advantage of the local wildlife.

Like PG said, Don't beat yourself up over it.

Regards, Kirk

Oh, I'm not beating myself up. I slept pretty well. I just hate the pointless loss of the life.

As for the whole feral cat thing, as far as I'm concerned they don't belong in the wild. They destroy the game bird and the song bird populations. Its just such an unpleasant task, especially just before bedtime. Misha is back out in 'her' yard now, no doubt looking for her prey (I disposed of it into the woods). She did what she does naturally, obeyed when ordered to obey, and unfortunately it was too late for the calico cat.

Melensdad said:

Oh the joys of rural living miles outside of town.

We keep Misha in a fenced area on our property when she is allowed outside. She is a VERY territorial dog. Its the nature of the breed. In fact it is one of the prized traits of the breed that so endeared them to the Japanese royalty that they were used to guard the imperial palaces.

So Misha has 'her' yard. On very rare occasions an animal will get into 'her' yard. Misha believes that that animal, whatever it is, is her prey. And she is a very good huntress, even with arthritis in her rear legs, she is darn fast. She is also very powerful.

Well tonight one of the feral cats had an unlucky encounter. Misha got her. My wife let the dogs out and I heard noises that were not right. Grabbed the spotlight and ran out, called the dog. She obeyed but it was too late.

Honestly I'd have rather that she had finished the job. She broke the cat's hips/back.

1. I had no choice but to put it down. I really hate that. I know it has to be done.

2. I know its a wild cat and doesn't belong. But its a senseless killing and that is the part I dislike.

3. Had it been a coyote killing it for food it would be fine with me.

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1. Yup I agree MD & kudos for doing the humane thing, its never an easy thing to do and sadly most folks dont have the balls to do it.

2. I have to disagree a bit on this part, allthough Feral cats can be destructive to nature, its not really their fault because most were former pets or decendants that were disguarded by their owners and dumped in the country.
In a lot of cases if they are fed and watered regularly they can be quite usefull in keeping down the rodent population and will not roam or hurt the normal wildlife population IMHO.

FYI, as far as the coyotes killing them for food that is also BS IMHO , I have witnessed far more that kill just for fun and leave the carcus then for feeding their own, coyotes are "killing machines" that are more destructive to small game animals and everyone should be put down IMO, much like the worthless city folks that dump their pets in the country when they are tired of them.

2. Feral cats are a known ecological problem and throw off natures balance. If people want "barn cats" then I won't complain as long as their cat stays on their property. But when the cats spread into the wild and live in the woods they become very destructive. So destructive that some states consider cat hunts => http://www.legalzoom.com/everyday-law/home-leisure/wisconsin-considers-legalizing-cat-hunting

3. Re-read exactly what I wrote. Don't read more into it than I wrote. It was simply an example of a natural occurrence.

It's a dog eat cat world.

The same thing has happened in my yard - cats don't last long.

AAAARGH!!! SITTING HERE LOOKING OUT OVER THE BACK PATIO and drinking a cup of coffee (facing the woods) and another feral cat walks up, walks across the patio, jumps up onto a brick ledge and into a raised planter that runs along the back of our house.

The cat was pretty thin and a bit rough looking, clearly not a house cat.

PBinWA said:

It's a dog eat cat world.

The same thing has happened in my yard - cats don't last long.

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I feel the same way about people.

Melensdad said:

2. Feral cats are a known ecological problem and throw off natures balance. If people want "barn cats" then I won't complain as long as their cat stays on their property. But when the cats spread into the wild and live in the woods they become very destructive. So destructive that some states consider cat hunts => http://www.legalzoom.com/everyday-law/home-leisure/wisconsin-considers-legalizing-cat-hunting

3. Re-read exactly what I wrote. Don't read more into it than I wrote. It was simply an example of a natural occurrence.

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I am sure in some areas they are that big of a problem MD, I was merely giving my point of view from my personal experiences, and I wasn't reading more into it then you wrote.

The same goes for dogs in my area as far as roaming free, and I am not talking about packs of wild dogs but peoples pets that cant keep them on their own fuckin property.

But again its not the dogs fault, so I just send them on their merry way in a much more respectfull way then some folks would do, WITHOUT buckshot in their butts.

A few months back we had a cat wander up to the house. It was pretty thin and straggly looking. It was obviously somebodies house cat that got loose or was dumped. I tried to chase it off a couple of times but it always came back. In the end i felt sorry for it and started feeding it. It's hung around outside ever since and it's turned out to be pretty territorial. It'll defend it's "home" against other things or strangers that show up.

Anyway, it's food started to disappear pretty fast. Pre-cat, it was always a raccoon or a possum that was the culprit. Since we've had the cat we've not had a problem as it'll defend it's food against interlopers and it's sneeky. Well, I got the trap down anyway and was totally surprised in the morning that I had caught the biggest, wildest feral cat that I've ever seen. It was a monster. I couldn't get near the trap without this thing trying to attack me and tear chunks out of me. It was one mean SOB. It was my intention to take it down back and let it loose but there was no way I could handle the trap to do that. In the end I had to use the FEL to move it down back and had to shoot it to get it out of the trap. I hate it when I have to do that but sometimes there is no alternative. I don't like killing things just for the sake of killing them but if they are being a nuisance and making a pest of themselves then I have no qualms.