in article , TBird at
wrote on 7/10/04 10:16AM:

Well, ya' see, I like living healthy cats. I'm kinda partial to that
version over the half eaten by foxes variety that comes home as a bloodied
collar.

I did not steal my neighbors cat, although the little thing really wanted to
be mine. I knew where he belonged, and while I'm personally not an advocate
of outside kitties, some folks are and that's up to them. I have in the
past had an outdoor kitty, Franny, and she was more than capable of handling
all 7 pounds of herself. But even Franny knew when not to be outside, and
when we moved from Mass. to Colorado, she made herself an indoor kitty.

So, back to the neighbors cat. I did not steal him, though he wanted me
too. In the end, I probably should have stolen him. One day, what was left
of him was found in the manicured field in the middle of a suburban
neighborhood, and found by small children at that. His collar was returned
to these neighbors.

Now - we KNOW there are foxes in the area, and maybe coyotes. We can hear
them, we can see them. These people now had first hand experience of what
happens to outdoor kitties in that neighborhood. Which, of course caused
them to go right back out and get another kitty and let it out. ARGH.

Okay fine. I didn't steal that one either. My neighbor from the Audubon
Society did put a flier in their mailbox on why kitties should be kept as
indoor pets.

That Audubon neighbor also took note of yet another cat, obviously young,
laying in the middle of the street (thank god we were on a quiet circle).
He was out there for several days, and then one day she opened her door and
the kitty dashed in at top speed. She's allergic, so she sent her daughter
over to my house with the cat, and before I could open my mouth, my kids had
named him Joe Kitty. (I think I have told this story already.)

Anyway - I put in only a half hearted attempt to find if he had owners. He
was not chipped and had no collar and was out where there were foxes. A
couple of posters out, called the Humane Society, and then let it go.
Stolen kitty.

Then we moved up here to 6 acres of land including a barn and two horses.
And way more coyotes, I've seen them come up to the house. We also have
barn mice, and thought about making these two into barn cats, and when we
got finished laughing we realized how stupid *that* would be. (Joe has been
known to get "trapped" in a paper bag, I don't think he live in the wild
more than about 2 hours.)

This year, we had a bazillion and a half mice in the barn. In the past, the
neighbors had outside cats that took care of this, but they seem to have
been coyote-ized and we never saw them again. So we resorted to mice traps.
(Animal cruelty my ass, ever been bitten by a mouse?)

Just now, I went to bring the horses in and was pleasantly surprised to
find... *a barn cat*!!! WAHOOOO! A gorgeous calico medium hair feral.
S/he was terrified of me, did not respond to trills at all, and ran at the
earliest opportunity. I put out a bowl of water - it's going to be 98F here
today. I'm so excited! Another cat, and a mouse catcher! I'm so excited!
I'm gonna work on stealing this cat, wherever s/he came from. Gonna lure
the cat with fresh water and maybe a cozy nest.

I should be ashamed of myself, but I'm not. Because I know that A) cats
pick their own humans, and B) I take really good care of the cats in my
life. So there. I confess. And you can't stop me.

TBird --- cat thief


You could put out a leeetle bit of catfood for the extra nutrients, but not
enough to keep from catching mice, eh? I don't know nothin' about barn cats,
Miz Scarlett. Maybe that's a nono. Still, I hope kitty takes up barn
residence and is not coyoteized. Can't you put lion dung around or something
to reduce the possibility of coyotes?