Hehehhe, Wil, Shadow does the same things. You should have heard the mouse scream the other night. I never knew they could as most cats kill them fairly swiftly.

Oh no, my litter hunter delights in filling them full of bite marks, then killing them. He was rescued from a garage, so I'm guessing exhaust fumes explain his behavior.

BTW, can I have an autographed copy of your sonnets? :)

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OMG, that cat in the pic is soooooooooo much like my cat, Avril, who does the same thing except with birds. She tortures them first, kills them slowly, then sniffs them like she actullay would eat them, and when she ends up not knowing what to do with them, she gives them to me!

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Chris B., all hail to thee, furry child of Bast! Surely you know some cats demand both? They want to live inside, and have a wilder side to life.

I assure you my temple kittys eat better than I do. They have fine beds, treats, and toys a plenty. They are played with, groomed, and pampered.

But they demand to be out on a leash and harness to enjoy the outdoors. While there they have a fine shelter with clean straw and blankets.

There is a further shelter for the so-called feral cats. Humans as you have guessed are lazy, and short-tempered.

Instead of knowing that all cats do as they please, they wish for dog-like obedience. Hopefully your humans demand no such thing.

As priestess to Bast it is my duty to protect all cats. Some enjoy the food, warmth and shelter. Some choose to live free. These precious ones have been far too abused by humans to come indoors.

That, and for health reasons, many humans cannot host as many former ferals as we wish. Here the law is six or less.

Which is good, but still leaves some little ones out in the cold. Until humans love cats enough to "fix" them, TNR is humane.

I'd far rather see a happy living feral then a feline snuffed out in a horrible shelter. True life in the wild is hard, but many loving humans do provide shelter, food, water & medical care for your cousins outside.

I am pleased you are happy inside. And all cats deserve a loving home. Trust me, the humans who abandon cats are on my short list.

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I don't think anyone has worked out yet that I am a cat fairly unusual I grant you but have been learning the human language and find your wish to place me somewhere I can kill and hunt fascinating why don't you feed me properly and then I can do what cats do best lounge around and be happy my feral friends would love a warm bed to lay atop and disturb the owner. They have to have TNS and whilst the don't mind two much as they get a bit of fuss and some food they don't care too much for being in the cold and damp outdoors or even the hot and scorching places some of them were once tame house cats and when their owners/keepers/carers could not anymore for what ever reason they left us behind and feral they are called not because they have done ought wrong but their carers don't anymore so content with the odd handout they line up at the soup kitchen for cats and thats it really there not really feral at all just waiting in line for something better. Keep up the TNS and don't make your domestic puddys join us keep them in and save the creatures and prevent traffic accidents to them and if your Chinese please do not stew them! Support TNS for feral humans, ban guns, plant trees, save lives! Please don't promote ignorance cats don't like it!

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Well then, Chris, if the fault is of their keepers (I don't own my cats; I only keep them) then THEY should be the ones who are punished - not the cats! As for the feral cat question, I firmly believe in TNR - but where I come from, in Los Angeles, the cats who are altered in a TNR program aren't returned to the wild. They are given a new home in a feral cat colony, that is managed by a loving keeper - and most of these keepers are volunteers. The cats are fed nourishing food regularly, and in some colonies people have supplied them with homes - usually large doghouses where several cats can sleep and keep each other warm.

If you have a feral cat colony in your area, visit it. Look up in the sky, and in the trees. Would you see any birds nesting in those trees? I have never seen a one - not even flying over a feral cat colony! Birds aren't stupid, after all. They know who their predators are! Nor have I seen any squirrels - and the cats surely don't mind, because they're fed daily.

And as for the rich? Most of the animal-lover contributors in my area are glad to share their wealth to save the lives of animals - cats, birds, and squirrels alike. I'm all for TNR - and for the establishment of more feral cat colonies. Hopefully, since these animals have all been neutered, they won't give rise to any offspring, and the feral cat as we know it will eventually die out. That's the whole idea. That's why I support TNR. There might still be some glitches - but not forever.

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Oh, since so many people stop here, please help ACA and alley cats by signing this:

http://capwiz.com/alleycat/issues/alert/?alertid=14223211&PROCESS=Take+Action&external_id=10519.-6141838

Seems shooting cats is apparently not punishable. WTF? You shoot a dog and folks will lynch you. But a cat has no rights?!?

I'd like time alone with the shooters. We'd play my favorite game: human vivisection. :)

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See what I mean? Rant, rant rant. Foam, foam foam. All animals belong outside. What we humans prefer as habitats are not natural. That we drag critters in does not in any way mean the belong there.

Cats will still do natural behaviors inside. So they clearly don't see a home as the holy of holies some humans do.

Cats belong in the wild. And yes I do kill things. There are at least five bodies in my basement. I caught them killing cats you see...

TNR is the only honorable and humane solution humans can have. We royally screwed cats over. We've bred cats that cannot birth, deficate, or even live normally. Cats on pills, cats with behavior problems, cats dying of breed related diseases are our fault.

Allowing the only cats smart enough to get the hell away from people to live is something we owe them.

Winter apparently both you and I are Hitler. I am of course better at it than you. My word, I've run over animals, poisoned bugs, killed weeds, and shudder, eaten meat!

Ohhh, I'm the evil meat-eating boogeyman. Rrrrrahhhh! And I've killed mice, Chris. And liked it, Mwhahahahahha!

As for protecting one animal but killing another: that's human culture for you. Some people eat cats and wonder why we keep livestock as pampered pets.

So I'll continue protecting cats and whale and eating deer and liddle furry bunny wabbits.

C'mon Winter. Let's eat! Meat for everyone!!! :)

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Feral humans, and Hitler cats. Chris, you seem to be all over the map here. Bear in mind the original article was entitled "Why Cats Leave Gifts", not "Chris' Stand Against Cats in Nature".

There have always been predators in the wild, and there have been billions of species which have gone extinct, with no thanks to the little kitty cats. It is all part of the divine plan.

If I had a farm I would be very grateful for any and all help my felines gave me to rid the corn crib of vermin. If they also ate the occasional sparrow, well so be it. Life is hard, and nature is unsentimental. Cats will hunt, that is what they do. Lock them inside all you want, but cats will remain hunters.

Instead of crying foul that the poor moggies are eating up all the birdies, think instead of the innocent little cats who are abandoned, and the lucky few who are able to adapt to an outside, people free environment. Do you think the ferals simply opted out of a stress ridden life?

Probably you do. More is the pity.

Cats hunt, and when they like their people, they bring them gifts.

I think I've said all that I need to say on this point. It has now gone totally off track.

My cat brings me gifts because she likes me. Her favorite thing is to bring in a living creature, and have us both hunt it around the house. I am useful for lifting furniture, so she can crawl underneath. Her joy is in the hunt, and this way she shares it with me. I am no longer tracking co

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Perhaps I can enlarge on my previous post as the last word was for some reason incomplete and should have read "Dont't add your cat to the equation".
Nature is a cruel environment at the best of times without exacerbating it! This morning I watched an obvously ill collared dove sitting in the sun and not doing much else on the ground it had been behaving oddly for a while and all of a sudden a sparrow hawk descended from on high landed on the hapless dove's back killed it plucked it and dragged it into the trees to devour it not a pretty sight but nature in action as a top of the pile avian predator took an ill bird almost the same size as itself when normally the take smaller prey like finches sparrows and the like along with larger blackbirds and thrushes etc.That is nature, putting your well fed cat into that situation is as abnormal and cruel as a rich man going on a canned hunt! Changing farming methods using every larger machinery is a daily fact of life in my village as the John Deeres, Claas crawlers and such machinery rattle the very foundations of my house as they pass by! One side benefit of the larger machinery is the sizeable areas left wild in the corners and edges of fields because the machinery can't get into those edges and corners! Our urban sprawl is precipitated by our over population combined with living longer now I'm not suggested a cull of the elderly but it would be prudent to improve sex education in all it's aspects and feral humans should be TNS!

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Mary D, I understand your comments about cats not being the sole reason for diminishing birds etc. Man of course is the largest destroyer of habitat & all animals by urban sprawl, overpopulation, inconsiderate driving, idiot policies, removal of hedgerows etc! However cats and more specifically their owners are to blame for a number of small animals and birds killed. The RSPB probably one of the most learned bird/animal/environment savvy organisations in the world is suggesting a UK kill per annum of 250 million a year 55 million of those being birds. The problem is greater for garden nesting birds and those that live in heathland or woods near housing developments and it is these species that are in decline. If that statistic was translated to the US then a figure of half a billion birds roughly one for every human member of the human population of the US would be killed per annum by cats. By anyones reckoning that is an awful lot of birds and if you also happen to be a Christian which both the UK and US are nominally then to add to that would be contrary to the teaching of Christ who as you may recall told us that not a sparrow falls with out His Father being aware of it! To me therefore to place an able predator in a situation where it does not need to hunt is cruel wasteful and entirely unneccessary. It belongs with the same logic of a dog owner who says they let their dog have one litter before having it spayed! Priceless stupidity.So don't add your cat to the equati

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