As an owner of several generations of tomcats, I must add my
twopence worth to John’s remarks. No tomcat of mine (desexed or
not) ever showed the slightest interest in birding. However, female cats
are bird killers. After discovering that, several years ago, I took the chauvanist
route and chose to acquire only male cats. My present cat, Possum, sits idly by
while 50 feral pigeons and numerous parrots are fed daily on the front
lawn. Needless to say, male cats, at least until desexed, are more
interested in catering to their libidinal demands than chasing after birdies. Even
after desexing, they show little interest. Of course, other members may have
vastly different experiences with male felines. Maybe I, too, have only
owned sooky cats.
Ray Drew
From: John Layton
[
Sent: Tuesday, 2 October 2007 7:22 PM
To: Canberra Birds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Bogongs reach Holt
Just a few minutes ago, the porch light being on, Inky-pink,
our cat started batting at something on the outside of the screen door. I
investigated and saw three Bogong Moths.
I think a few words of qualification are called for here,
this being a birders' chat line. I-pink, although fully-grown, is a diminutive,
de-sexed tomcat and he's bird-friendly, or maybe it's bird-scared, he's
definitely bird-scarred. When he was a little kitten he was beaten up by
currawongs and left bloodied and battered, but a trip to the veterinarian,
followed up with a bill for $180 set him straight. Five years on, he still
hares for cover when big birds are calling.
One time, I dropped a freshly-killed House Sparrow next to
his brekky bowl (it had been shredding our lettuce seedlings and no
further details regarding its demise will be divulged, suffice to say it died
by my hands, not by the paws of Inky-pink) but he merely sniffed it
disdainfully and returned to his cat chow and milk.
Finally, Welcome Swallows are nest-building in the
ladies' loo behind the Kippax shops. I know this because a lady told me so,
Smarty-sox.
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