There are greater than 90 million pet cats within the U.S., nearly all of which roam outdoors not less than a part of the time. As well as, there are an estimated 60 million stray and feral cats that roam our cities, suburbs, and rural areas. So, how a lot of an issue are these feline predators to our feathered associates? Nicely, fairly a bit. Nevertheless, particular person cats differ of their risk to birds. Cats which might be home certain aren’t any menace (though my spouse’s cat ate my cockatiel years in the past); home cats which have entry to the outside have no need for wild meals sources; feral cats, alternatively, are completely depending on wild meals.

Feral cats’ diets are about 70 % small mammals, about 20 % birds, and 10 % different animals. There isn’t any clear information, however it seems that cats, feral and home, kill 1.3 to 4 billion birds a 12 months within the U.S. A examine in England through which cameras have been placed on cats demonstrated that for each prey object introduced house to current to the cat proprietor, not less than one different animal was killed. Feral cats kill about 500 million birds a 12 months and billions extra mice, moles, voles, squirrels, chipmunks, reptiles, and amphibians.

There are greater than 80 million pet cats within the U.S., and solely 35% of them are restricted to the indoors. My spouse and I’ve had cats that roamed outdoors, and some of them did a little bit of looking, which irritated me, however it was uncommon. We had one cat that merely caught a fowl often and by no means harm it. A mysterious buzzing within the storage someday turned out to be Bob the Cat holding a hummingbird by the invoice, wings buzzing. It was launched unhurt.

So what can cat homeowners do? Wild birds are fairly good at avoiding predators underneath pure circumstances. However fowl feeders focus birds in a small space and supply good looking. So, put the feeder a number of ft from the home (to keep away from fowl collisions with home windows), not less than 4 to 5 ft excessive on a put up a cat can’t climb, and close to some bushes or dense timber the place the birds can conceal. Entry to the feeder must be open so the birds can see any approaching cats. Bells on a cat’s collar have been decided to be ineffective as birds don’t interpret a tinkling bell as hazard, and cats method prey stealthily anyway.

I feel declawing cats is merciless, but when a cat is a critical fowl killer, you may contemplate options resembling trimming the nails brief or overlaying them with acrylic or vinyl pads.

Feral cats, although, are the most important predatory risk to birds. I’ve trapped a number of feral cats in my yard, and a few have been the most important, nastiest cats I’ve ever seen. One was so sturdy I watched it bend the bars of the lure and escape—the identical lure a 20-pound raccoon couldn’t escape from. These are predators that don’t belong within the atmosphere. Hold them inside if you happen to can.