I reckon as how I love all animals, but dogs are my very favorite. I find myself nearly always carrying on about dogs, not on purpose, really.
I love cats, but just find dogs ar best friends to me. Boy, cat people will chastize me for that remark. So, in memory of "Tizzie," this article will be just for you and Sandra Swain. She will argue the love of cats, but she, like me, loves dogs, as well.
While "Tizzie" was a loved indoor cat -- I wanna tell you about feral cats, or at least give some insight on how feral cats live. Outdoors is the home for feral cats -- while they fear even a feeding hand, they will accept a can of food or cup of dry food. They can thrive in any landscape from inner city to rural farmland. Face it -- there are millions of feral cats in this nation. They are not adoptable and should not go to shelters, ever!
Keep in mind they are protected under state anti-cruelty laws. They are a nuisance to neighbors. Seems like lately I read a letter to the editor regarding what I am fixin' to tell you. Cats live in colonies, and when that colony gets crowded, they move to the next food source. Kindly folks feed them because they don't want them to starve. I do it myself! They have chewed a hole in my deck, the approach to my garage, and they dine there and have kittens there. SO WHAT! I didn't invite them there, but I am not gonna let them starve. If I can get the kittens soon enough, I can socialize them -- this does not happen often because the wary ole mammy hides them.
Now, there's ways around having to put up with them messing in your flower bed or yard. In the big cities, they have a trap-neuter-return.(TNR) The cat is trapped, checked for disease, then neutered and put back where they were captured. Cats have a function other than being pets -- they keep the rodent population down. In New York, they do this through Alley Cat Allies (had a course on this one time). We can't offer this to the public here because of lack of volunteers and dollars to create the program, much less provide traps!
Now, simply put, if you don't give a fig if they live or die and you just want them to leave you alone, try one or more of these rememdies. Scatter fresh orange and lemon peels or spray with citrus-scented fragrances. Scatter coffee grounds, spray vinegar, sprinkle pipe tobacco or oil of lavender, lemon grass, citronella or eucalyptus will work. You can plant the herb rue to repel them or sprinkle area with dried rue. There is a thing called Cat Scat, a non-chemical cat and wildlife repellent consisting of plastic mats that are cut in small pieces pressed into the soil to keep them out of your flower beds (discourages digging). To combat urine smell, spray with white vinegar -- it's cheap and also keeps down the odor. There are products at pet stores called Nature's Miracle Fizzon Pet Stain, or odor removal. Also something called Simple Solution. Never heard of either one, but I betcha you could find it if everything else failed.
We have put many a cat in a barn -- farmers like them because they keep the rodent population down. Catch and kill doesn't get it. It is a gross misuse of tax dollars. Also, removing animals from an area creates what is called a vacuum. Catching and killing feral cats is animal control in many areas' approach, not here. Several things happen, when catching and killling occurs. Intact survivors continue to breed, and other cats move in available territory. It is a phenomenon known as the vacuum effect and is documented worldwide. We need more volunteers, more traps, more money to practice the best of all theories TNR and let the cats back out to do their work.
As Jazz would say: (In the words of Mark Twain) "Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made the slave of the lash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve the man, but would deterioate the cat."
Thought for the week: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" Psalms 133:1