Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Pet cats are a pleasure until they leave a half-eaten bird on the welcome mat.

02—You can’t take the killer out of a cat.

Ornithologist and cat owner, Cliff Shackelford, says cats always follow their natural instincts.

05—Even a well-fed cat is going to still kill things, and it won’t even eat it; it’s very wasteful.

Cats take a big bite out of bird populations annually, which is why they’re better as indoor-only pets.

11—The estimate is in the millions of birds killed per year in the US by cats. And that’s feral cats and pet cats combined.

Cats are not bad; they’re simply out of place in the natural environment. And, bird-loving cat owners sometimes unwittingly enable their outdoor cat’s brutish behavior.

17—Sometimes we encourage them by putting the feeder a little too close to the shrubs, and the tall grass, where the cat can hide in to pounce on the bird at the feeder. So, you want to make sure you keep your feeders away where the cats can’t get to the birds, or the birds have a chance to flee.

Not convinced it’s best to keep kitty inside? Well, animal experts agree that indoor cats have better, longer lives.

13—If you love your cat keep it indoors; it will live longer, it won’t fight with other cats, it won’t get run over. So, I have cats and they stay inside. They like to look at birds; they just do it on the inside of the glass—looking out—like I do.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.