A neighbor down the street moved, abandoning a cat colony sheâd been feeding for years. (At least 9 cats.)
[Edit: Keep reading for happy ending.]
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I had noticed cats hanging around there looking forlorn and anxious during my walks for several days, but a car was parked there, so I was unsure. I called a former neighbor, a good friend of mine who knows this lady, and learned that sheâs already in Florida. (The landlord had parked a car there to make the house less likely to be vandalized.)
After learning this, on my next walk I paused, looking at the cats sympathetically. Thereâs a new young couple in the adjacent house (which recently had been inhabited by a guy I used to give most of my leftovers to - lots of changes around here); Iâve often seen them new couple walking their dogs, and we wave. The husband approached me and we discussed the abandoned cats. Though heâs never had anything to do with cats, he too had been feeling concerned, and had put a bowl of water in his backyard for them. Aha!
I was soon back, loaded down with 2 bags of cat food. To my relief, the young fellow & his wife accepted the food, and pledged to take up feeding the group of worried, starving kitties.
Honestly I felt a little guilty at roping in innocents unaware of the depth of the long-term commitment they were taking on - the image came to mind of a drug pusher giving school kids free drugs to get them hooked! But hey - kitties.
He told me later that they looked very relieved the first time he gave them food.
[Minor edits for clarity]
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The friend who gave me info, Myra, used to live across the street from there. Sheâs a cat rescuer, and had been very worried about the cats. (Myra said she got a bunch of them spayed or neutered in recent years, prior to moving out of Charlotte last year, and knows some of the cats by name.) She expressed anger at the lady who just abandoned them, though the lady did take some with her. They both had tried to find someone willing to feed the remaining cats, without success.
I, too, felt aggrieved at the woman who left the cats to starve, but decided to be gracious, and asked Myra to let her know that the cats are being cared for, in case worry for them had been weighing on her.
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Introducing the Queen of our household ⊠âLong Purr Puss Pussâ pictured on her throne where she can survey the humans and wildlife in and around the reserve across the road. Itâs her favourite spot. The photo captures one of the rare times she is awake during daylight hours. 
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About time she made an appearance here!
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A neighborâs Siamese cat, Max, on the windshield of my motherâs car. (Mom had stopped just briefly). He kinda lives here.
Last night I made the mistake of getting close to Max while doing walking meditation in the carport, and Max snatched my robe in a playful gotcha, lol
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The first photo is of my granddaughterâs little blue parrot Loise. It was very cheeky and could talk, but did not live long. One day while they went away, it got out of its cage and was snatched by their big dog to play with.
Next 3 photos are of my daughterâs 2 Conures. Their story has a happier ending, so far. While their mother sat on their eggs, their father escaped from the aviary with other 3 Conures. The mother managed to hatch them, but could not feed the chicks enough. So my daughter took them, kept them in a warm place, and fed them first using a dropper, a few time each day like babies, until they could peck and feed themselves. One of them grew very slowly, we were not sure if it would survive. But the last photo shows them well and happy, about 3 months after hatching. Now these two have whole upstairs sun-room to fly in, and they are cheeky and bite me when I visit, they chirp but donât talk. Their cat is allowed only to look through the glass door. But can a cat be trusted if they escape and canât fly up quickly enough?⊠I doubt it.
Can cats understand they would get into big trouble if they killed family pets? Or are their instincts just too strong for them to resist? Even well-fed cats will catch lizards and insects when feeling bored and given an opportunity.
It is a difficult issue, what to do dependent on a situation. I try to keep out of it as much as I can, by not having any pets, not even seed-eating parrots. But I give treats to my free-flying visitors â Rainbow Lorikeets.
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Of the 4 cats that live near me and go outside regularly only one seems to have a strong hunting instinct. Iâve seen him eating mice, or have seen the left over bits he didnât want, a few times. Iâve also seen him go after birds and squirrels. He canât help himself. But why is he such a hunter, but the other cats canât be bothered? The birds around my apartment seem to be able to tell the cats apart. Iâve seen them walking around the other cats, totally unconcerned. But if the hunter cat is outside, the birds wonât land anywhere near him.
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I would too!
The only ever time my cat killed a bird was when he was about 8 yrs. He was leashed outside, a chickadee was circling and badgering him. The cat was just lounging flat on the ground, not interested ( at least in my eyes). Then out of nowhere, as the bird was flying away, he leapt over 6 ft in the air and caught him.
. Needless to say, no bird ever did that to him again and he hasnât killed another since.
I have seen some lovely cats getting along with birds very well, but I would differ to this unfortunate scenario
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My neighbor who walks her cat every day. She doesnât always hold the leash, since the cat, whose name is Lava, usually doesnât run off. However, over the weekend Lava took off after the red cat. A search and rescue operation was undertaken, but Lava showed up outside her apartment building by herself a short time later.
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Teen shoved away a bear - video that made my heart pound. Shove off: California teen pushes away bear on top of backyard fence | California | The Guardian
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Wow, that girl is really lucky the bear didnât charge over the fence and literally chew her face off. I think the fact that the cubs were able to run away helped. If one of them had fallen into the yard, it would have been a blood bath. I lived in Alaska for two years, and heard some really horrifying stories about bears. Luckily I never ran into any. Ironically, moose attack more people than bears in Alaska.
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My favorite local cat was doing the same thing during a recent Swedish heat wave. A Swedish heat wave is when itâs 20 degrees C.
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A lot of insects and spiders get stuck in my bathtub so I use my Snapy (marvelous device) to take them outside. Here is an Eastern Parson spider.
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I use a plastic cup or glass jar to trap insects in my house and release them outdoors. I just place the cup or jar over the insect and then slide a piece of paper or cardboard between the cup/jar and the surface to trap the insect inside and then transfer the insect outside. Now then, it should be noted that there is no guarantee that, once outside, the insect does not become a meal for a bird, reptile, or mammal, but at least I have done my part to uphold the First Precept.
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I believe a cat can learn to not harm a creature if itâs brought up with that sort of creature from when itâs a kitten. As a child we had cats that did not ever try to harm our guinea pig, because they learnt from early on the guinea pig was a friend.
Even so, I would never leave a cat unsupervised with a potential prey animal, but do believe it is possible for them to learn not to hunt a creature they usually would.
Aside from that, according to research a cat will hunt less if itâs fed a high protein (i.e. rich in meat) diet and has a chance to indulge its hunting instincts through play. So it really is up to the owners to suppress this behaviour, itâs not a given that cats will hunt. [research: Play and meaty food reduce hunting by cats | ScienceDaily]
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