For the Love of Cats and Birds

 

      If you love cats, if you love birds, or if you love both, you should make sure your cat watches the birds in your yard from an inside window!  Your cat will live longer if you keep it inside. 5.4 million cats are hit by cars every year in the US, and 97% of those cats die from their injuries. One recent Sunday I was driving to church when I saw a woman standing guard over a cat lying in the middle of the road. I stopped to see if the woman needed assistance, thinking that the cat might need a trip to the vet. Its eyes were open, but it lay motionless. With tears in her eyes, the woman told me the neighbors would soon be burying their beloved pet.

    Many years ago I owned a black and white cat named Margie who taught me the pros and cons of letting cats roam around the neighborhood.  Because she spent a lot of time outside I didn't have to provide a kitty litter box for her. (It didn't occur to me that she was probably using the neighbors' gardens to do her business, but that would be a con if I'd thought about it.) I didn't have to provide a scratching post for her either, because she sharpened her claws on the tree trunks in our yard. She used those sharp claws to torture the baby bunnies and birds that I sometimes found half-dead on our doorstep. That was one of the downsides. The other downside came after three years of life with Margie when she failed to return home. Whether she had been hit by a car or catnapped by someone who needed a good mouser, I will never know. 

    If you love birds you probably know how important it is to keep your cats in the house.  In the lower 48 states of the United States alone, cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion small mammals every year.  Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild and continue to adversely impact a wide variety of other species, including those at risk of extinction. 

    I understand the love of cats. There is nothing else like having a soft, warm, furry kitty purring in your lap. But I love birds, too! For the sake of birds, other small animals, and the longevity of your own dear cat - please keep it in the house if you don't already. (And let's keep our cats and birds off the Rainbow Bridge as long as possible!)

For more on this topic see: For the Love of Birds