Wild birds and Cats - never the twain?

[angieh]

I wonder what you all think?

I love my cat and he comes first but I also love the wild birds that come into my garden. My old Merlin is now no threat to them at all (and never has been) but the neighbourhood has many cats which occasionally visit our garden, most as welcome guests. Our nextdoor neighbour's cats, Cleo and Smokey Joe are both sturdy good tempered cats, well loved and cared for, but Cleo in particular is a perfect predator. I once saw her with a woodpecker in her mouth.

I know the RSPB's view is that you should not put up bird feeders in places where cats are around. I have lived here now for 11 years and have always had bird feeders, so how can I call myself a bird lover? Obviously the feeders are hung up out of easy reach of a cat, but an agile young feline could well get to them, especially if the cat was light weight. They could not however "creep up" on a bird.

I once heard about some research that concluded that convalescent cats got better quicker when stimulated by the sight and sound of birds on a video. Some of my bird feeders are therefore hung in the window and when my cat was younger both he and Smudge (gone but never forgotten) would sit on the inside windowsill and chatter like monkeys at the birds!

So what do you think - should bird feeders be hung (obviously sited with risk in mind) by households with cats, or not?????

I look forward to your views. :cat10

[EmmaG]

I have birdfeeders, but my cats only go out at the weekends and when we are about, they haven't got a bird in years. So overall I think I have helped far more birds than the cats have killed.

[Kim]

I have bird feeders in the front and back gardens. My cats so rarely catch a bird and I'm sure that by feeding the birds regularly I have helped them.

[Moli]

I have bird feeders all year round, and have 5 cats,but very seldom do the cats catch a bird......think my birds are wise to the cats now...

[Kazz]

I never fed the birds when the cats were young you could almost see Oscar linning up with his knife and fork at the ready. But feed them now

[Jane]

We used to feed the birds but when we got Patch we decided not to anymore. He catches loads of birds already so don't wanna help him do it :(

[Tinker]

I have bird feeders and get lots of lovely birds. Chaffinches, green finches, goldfinches, blue tits, great tits, jays, coal tits, and one winter we had a resident green woodpecker, he was magnificent!

I keep the feeders hung in places where the birds have good visibility so that if a cat approaches they can scarper quickly if a cat approaches. My 19 year old cat is no real threat to birds anyway! The sparrowhawk is more of a threat and another good reason to site feeders where the birds can see what is around them easily.

Bobby used to be really funny, I would put any old stale bread on the lawn for the birds, and he would sit on the lawn and eat the bread :smt043 he had a much better way of catching birds than bothering to chase them. He would wait until a bird flew into the conservatory window and bashed it's head, them catch it when it was stunned. Even when he was almost blind he could manage that.

[MrsH]

My bird-feeders are hung from metal poles and do not hang low enough for the cats to reach. They are also in the middle of the lawn, well away from shrub cover, so if the birds are pecking on the ground they have a good chance of spotting a cat.

The birds are a bit more vulnerable at the bird bath to be honest as they get excited and lose their sense of caution. For that reason we have the bird bath and some more feeders in the front garden where the cats don't go.

[John]

I feed birds have done for many years..the feeders are hung out of the reach of the cats..Millie just sits on the ground looking at them..she,s 12 now and makes no attempt to catch them.if she decides to go for a walk she just walks past them,taking no notice..

[dandysmom]

I've had feeders front and back for years; my cats are/were indoor only; out on harnesses. Although my Aby did catch a sparrow once while on lead .......:oops:
We do not have very many free-roaming cats in the neighborhood because of the City traffic; so do not worry about that! The peregrine is more of a problem. have seen him twice getting a bird.....

[Grete]

I think it depends a lot on the cats you have, some just aren't bothered by birds :)

I'd love to feed the birds but I know full well what Bubbles is like and it would do more harm than good ;) Fizz isn't too sure about the whole outside thing yet but I think when she gets more confident, she will be a hunter.

[angieh]

Thanks so much for your comments. They all seem very well balanced. It would be a shame not to feed the birds if we consider that the number taken by our cats is so small. I agree about the sparrowhawks and peregrines. We get the Chichester Cathedral peregrine brood over here - not very holy either!!!
:)

[TraceyR]

I cannot put bird feeders up Paws would be in heaven! We already get too many dead birds in the garden :(