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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!qantel!hplabs!hao!noao!terak!suze
From: suze@terak.UUCP (Suzanne Barnett)
Newsgroups: net.pets
Subject: Re: Re: Cats killing birds
Message-ID: <855@terak.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Nov-85 11:35:41 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.855
Posted: Wed Nov  6 11:35:41 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Nov-85 05:27:27 EST
References: <301@drutx.UUCP> <554@kitty.UUCP>
Organization: Calcomp Display Products Division, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Lines: 42

> > Is there any way to disuade him from this practice?  I have 
> > seen people put bells on cats for this--but that would probably
> > drive me up the wall.  We feed the birds in the winter--I hate
> > to attract them to their deaths.

> 	I also question the efficacy of `equipping' a cat with a bell.  If
> you have ever watched a cat sit in or near a tree and wait for birds, and
> then CATCH one, you would see how fast the cat was.  I don't believe that most
> birds would react to the bell fast enough to preclude being caught by the cat.
> 	The only reasonable solution would be to keep your cat indoors.

I have had cats practically all my life. Most have had bells
on their collars. They generally don't work very well. The
bells are usually too small and muffled by the cats fur,
even when it's a short haired cat.

However, I have found in the past couple of years, that
several tags on the collar, identity, rabies and
license isn't muffled, even by semi-long haired cats. One tag
isn't noisy, but two or more are. But only when the cat moves.

Cats tend to stare at and hypnotise a bird before going in for
the kill. This is done from a fair distance (up to about 50
feet, possibly even more). Once the bird is hypnotised, teh
cat never moves its eyes from staring into the birds eyes
until the last pounce. I don't think the tag's noise would free the
bird from the cat's hypnosis.

Unless you keep the cat strictly indoors, I wouldn't feed the
birds. That attracts them to your house and the cat. Quit
feeding them and that, plus the cat's presence will discourage
them from coming around; if they aren't there, the cat can't
catch them.
-- 
**************************************************************
Suzanne Barnett-Scott

uucp:	 ...{decvax,ihnp4,noao,savax,seismo}!terak!suze
phone:	 (602) 998-4800
us mail: CalComp/Sanders Display Products Division
	 (Formerly Terak Corporation)
	 14151 N 76th street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260