Enticing Feral Cats to Hunt Locally

[fidowanttobe]

I am surrounded by 40 acres of gopher infested hay land with crop land and prairie beyond that. Often we see feral cats off in the distance, but never close. My dogs complain about them but never chase and are always locked up at night. Is there a trick to get them to hunt closer without attracting every rodent and varmint also?

 

[2manyrocks]

Maybe try putting some food and water out. The problem with feral cats is they reproduce. I couldn't say if you would be trading one problem for another one.

 

[jaxs]

I don't know that you can entice pet cats to hunt,much less a feral one. Maybe you can entice your dogs to catch the gophers?

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

I would prefer the rodents to the cats.

And hello neighbor.

 

[/pine]

Trying to use non native, invasive predators to deal with a natural, indigenous species...is ludicrous at best and down right effing stupid at worst...

We wouldn't have a feral cat problem if all the morons that allow non spayed or neutered cats to run loose (i.e., barn cats)...and the gov. would find the cajones to come up with an eradication plan for the existing herds...

and BTW a non neutered tom will roam for miles from "their barn" to breed with feral females and other non spayed cats that end up just adding to the number of feral cats overall...

Anyone caught owning (if you feed it you own it) non spayed or neutered cats that are allowed to run free...should be guilty of a felony punishable by no less than 10 years of hard labor and nothing but bread and water for the full 10 years...! (if you die of malnutrition tuff...!)

 

[PuffyC]

Can’t really comment on attracting feral cats but if you want a critter to get rid of mice, rats, and gophers, a cat is a poor choice. Get yourself a miniature dachshund or a rat terrier. That’s what they were created to do and will out hunt a cat 10:1. We have a mini dachshund and she’s a varmint killing machine.

 

[newbury]

if you want a critter to get rid of mice, rats, and gophers,

Get a snake! A big snake. Maybe a Bullsnake.

 

[ponytug]

While not being personally able to comment on the relative talents of cats and dogs generally, leaving food and water out helps the feral cats around us. The problem is that almost all of them get taken out by the hawks, owls and coyotes pretty quickly. We had a pair of ranch cats that made it to 15 and 18 despite ranging widely in our pastures. They were great at keeping the vermin down and the rattlesnakes out, which is out main goal.

I will say that not every cat or dog that I have owned has the same predator drive. For some it is very strong. We fostered one German shepherd that ran down, jumped, and caught flying birds on two separate occasions. The first one I thought was a total fluke and then saw her do it again a couple of weeks later.

YMMV...

All the best,

Peter

 

[jaxs]

Anyone caught owning (if you feed it you own it) non spayed or neutered cats that are allowed to run free...should be guilty of a felony punishable by no less than 10 years of hard labor and nothing but bread and water for the full 10 years...! (if you die of malnutrition tuff...!)

Good afternoon piney,glad to see out and about. I've wondered about you recently.

 

[lman]

My wife has barn cats but there are no ferel cats around here. The cats do take care of mice around our horse barn. The only wild cats around here are bobcats.
Pine, where are you at with this cat problem?