I have trail cam photos of several house cats roaming my place day and night. Some don’t make it home. I know they kill mice, but they are hell on songbirds and quail too I’m sure. Felines kill for sport, whether they are hungry or not. If their owners really loved them, they would keep them away from here.
I dont automatically give all cats the pass. I get pictures of cats - but more dogs - infrequently on game cam. I know housecats can be a vicious predator and I deal with some of them as such. It was interesting to me that in 12 years, I have never got a picture of my own cat. I have two different feeders - one 1/4 mile from the house and one a 1/2 mile from the house that birds and squirrels are at all day long. If I was a housecat - that is where I would be. But then again, this cat has never, ever, been seen with any kind of a wild animal - dead or alive - no mice, rats, birds, snakes, baby rabbits or squirrels - nothing. It wont even eat a piece of raw or cooked fish. I had to get a couple dump cats because when you live where I live and buy seed and feed by the ton, you cant help but have rats and mice - and this cat has never had one in its paws in 12 years. But that said - I would not have guessed this cat would have been 3/4 mile from the house. Not only that it is the laziest, good for nothing cat I have ever seen - he is old, slow, weighs 18 lbs and would have a difficult time climbing a tree or escaping a predator - how has he eluded death in the wild? Of course, I was baiting the trap with his food. But it also illustrates how far these house pets can stray from their homes. He is lucky I am judge, jury, and executioner on my own ground. If he gets on someone else’s ground - he has to deal with the judge, jury, and executioner on their ground. My dogs are confined to the yard with a wireless containment system. I dont know how to confine an outside cat to the yard.
