Chinese cities have too many cats. It means there are hardly any birds, lizards, etc. They should be killing off strays rather than keeping them alive.
Also probably hardly any mice. With a population density that high the public health benefits from severely limiting the rodent population probably outweigh any benefit from having more lizards and birds.
Lizards eat insects. So they are important. However the GPs idea that cats kill to many lizards is nonsense. While cats have impressive wall climbing skills, Lizards are better. And the idea that cats hunt everything that moves is nonsense anyway..
What are the health hazards of insects typically on a lizard's diet? For most problem insects (termites, roaches, silverfish, bed-bugs, fleas, lice, etc.) house centipedes are about the best predator you can hope for, and completely harmless to humans.
>and the idea that cats hunt everything that moves is nonsense anyway.. Having had cats all my life I must agree. They only hunt anything substantially smaller than them, that they haven't learned will bite back or taste vile. And that's house cats that
They only hunt anything substantially smaller than them Actually no. My cats in Thailand only hunt rats, mice and unfortunately lizards/geckos.
They leave chickens and other birds alone (with chickens I mean small ones in this case), never saw them hunting a bid. But the birds usually are out in pairs or small swarms and one or a few keep watch while the others are on the ground.
And that's house cats that are driven only by instinct, It does not look like it:D it looks more like if thy had a contract with us
I have rarely seen a cat that doesn't stalk small birds - not all of them can actually catch them, but they'll certainly try. Small being the active word - they tend to learn quickly that a bird the size of a rat is actually a formidable opponent.
I seriously doubt there's any "contract" established - small animals are food, if we don't feed them that's their only option for survival. And if we do feed them, the hunting instincts don't go away.
It is possible though that actually being raised around chicken
Well, I was thinking to write a book about the cat.
You miss read: she has a contract. if we feed her, then she hunts rats. If we don't fee her she goes outside searching for food. And she does not eat anything she kills, she has not even the dignity to bring the catch, she lets it rot where she kills it. I have no idea how she came to that idea of "contract", she does the exact same thing in the next house. She eats a bit, if she likes the food, she starts hunting. If she does not like it, she goes elsewher
Ah, I understand you. That's quite interesting behavior. Is this a contract she volunteered, or something you negotiated?
Leaving the kills is odd. But I guess, what's she going to do with them if she prefers home-cooked meals? It sounds like she probably doesn't really regard you as part of her colony yet, and seems to have a firm idea of how she earns her keep. It sounds like this is a cat that was already an adult when it found you? Perhaps someone in her past managed to communicate that such gifts w
Is this a contract she volunteered, or something you negotiated? It is more like she enforces it on us.
It sounds like this is a cat that was already an adult when it found you? Yes. We assume one once captured her to kill (eat/skin) her and she escaped. She likes to stay around, and sits sometimes demanding at her bowl to get some food. But because she is scared, she often sits there out of sight, behind the corner of the door etc.
But if we eat as 5 or 6, she comes... walks around us in about 2m distance. Takes food we throw to her or place 1m behind our back. If the food is to big to eat at once, she takes it and runs outside and comes back a few minutes later.
After she ate enough, she starts prowling in front of our eyes the rice sacks, climbs the walls and looks into every room, goes onto the roof, comes back down, goes into the toilet to drink water, then goes to the door and as the Thais say: "makes her dress", while she is looking at us.
If she is in our house she has special spotting places, she sits there for 20 minutes and watches to "suspicious regions". Then she shifts position to another spot. Then she prowls again and sniffs everywhere, after a time she thinks fitting for the meal she got, she goes. Some hours later she comes again.
The only affection she shows is: she sleeps under my chair... when I'm not there. Or sometimes on top of it. But she never comes closer (unless food is involved) then about 2m when I'm sitting there working.
You could really write a book abut her... she is the strangest being I ever have seen.
That does sound like she's got a clear idea of what your relationship should be, at least for now. Cats can certainly be extremely complex individuals.
Time is an illusion perpetrated by the manufacturers of space.
Too many damn cats (Score:2, Interesting)
Chinese cities have too many cats. It means there are hardly any birds, lizards, etc. They should be killing off strays rather than keeping them alive.
Re: (Score:2)
Also probably hardly any mice. With a population density that high the public health benefits from severely limiting the rodent population probably outweigh any benefit from having more lizards and birds.
Re: (Score:2)
Lizards eat insects. So they are important. ..
However the GPs idea that cats kill to many lizards is nonsense. While cats have impressive wall climbing skills, Lizards are better.
And the idea that cats hunt everything that moves is nonsense anyway
Re: (Score:2)
What are the health hazards of insects typically on a lizard's diet? For most problem insects (termites, roaches, silverfish, bed-bugs, fleas, lice, etc.) house centipedes are about the best predator you can hope for, and completely harmless to humans.
>and the idea that cats hunt everything that moves is nonsense anyway ..
Having had cats all my life I must agree. They only hunt anything substantially smaller than them, that they haven't learned will bite back or taste vile. And that's house cats that
Re: (Score:2)
They only hunt anything substantially smaller than them
Actually no. My cats in Thailand only hunt rats, mice and unfortunately lizards/geckos.
They leave chickens and other birds alone (with chickens I mean small ones in this case), never saw them hunting a bid. But the birds usually are out in pairs or small swarms and one or a few keep watch while the others are on the ground.
And that's house cats that are driven only by instinct, :D it looks more like if thy had a contract with us
It does not look like it
Re: (Score:2)
I have rarely seen a cat that doesn't stalk small birds - not all of them can actually catch them, but they'll certainly try. Small being the active word - they tend to learn quickly that a bird the size of a rat is actually a formidable opponent.
I seriously doubt there's any "contract" established - small animals are food, if we don't feed them that's their only option for survival. And if we do feed them, the hunting instincts don't go away.
It is possible though that actually being raised around chicken
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I was thinking to write a book about the cat.
You miss read: she has a contract. if we feed her, then she hunts rats. If we don't fee her she goes outside searching for food. And she does not eat anything she kills, she has not even the dignity to bring the catch, she lets it rot where she kills it. I have no idea how she came to that idea of "contract", she does the exact same thing in the next house. She eats a bit, if she likes the food, she starts hunting. If she does not like it, she goes elsewher
Re: (Score:2)
Ah, I understand you. That's quite interesting behavior. Is this a contract she volunteered, or something you negotiated?
Leaving the kills is odd. But I guess, what's she going to do with them if she prefers home-cooked meals? It sounds like she probably doesn't really regard you as part of her colony yet, and seems to have a firm idea of how she earns her keep. It sounds like this is a cat that was already an adult when it found you? Perhaps someone in her past managed to communicate that such gifts w
Re:Too many damn cats (Score:2)
Is this a contract she volunteered, or something you negotiated?
It is more like she enforces it on us.
It sounds like this is a cat that was already an adult when it found you?
Yes. We assume one once captured her to kill (eat/skin) her and she escaped.
She likes to stay around, and sits sometimes demanding at her bowl to get some food.
But because she is scared, she often sits there out of sight, behind the corner of the door etc.
But if we eat as 5 or 6, she comes ... walks around us in about 2m distance. Takes food we throw to her or place 1m behind our back. If the food is to big to eat at once, she takes it and runs outside and comes back a few minutes later.
After she ate enough, she starts prowling in front of our eyes the rice sacks, climbs the walls and looks into every room, goes onto the roof, comes back down, goes into the toilet to drink water, then goes to the door and as the Thais say: "makes her dress", while she is looking at us.
If she is in our house she has special spotting places, she sits there for 20 minutes and watches to "suspicious regions". Then she shifts position to another spot. Then she prowls again and sniffs everywhere, after a time she thinks fitting for the meal she got, she goes. Some hours later she comes again.
The only affection she shows is: she sleeps under my chair ... when I'm not there. Or sometimes on top of it. But she never comes closer (unless food is involved) then about 2m when I'm sitting there working.
You could really write a book abut her ... she is the strangest being I ever have seen.
Re: (Score:2)
That does sound like she's got a clear idea of what your relationship should be, at least for now. Cats can certainly be extremely complex individuals.