[bjh]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I don't really care either if they wouldn't be a threat to my dog, tear open the garbage, poop on my car - yes, the hood, yowl at the window, leave a dead field rat in the garden and make my backyard their own. We currently have no loose cats in the neighborhood that I know of but over the past years, they have been a problem. Our neighborhood is a suburban one and I have never even seen a rat in real life until I saw the partially eaten one in my own garden! Yuck! I know a cat dragged it there as we've never had possums, raccoons, etc., here. I cannot tell you what I went through getting up the nerve to(2.5 mg. Valium) and trying to dispose of that item. I lost a good pair of rubber gloves, a grabber stick and a robe to that disposal job as they all had to go in the garbage bag after that - and it still took me days to stop shuddering and feel clean again no matter how many showers I took. But mainly, cats are a potential threat to my Tibbe. I guess I could learn to put up with the rest of their antics from time to time but it is those that try to or jump in my backyard that worry me.

We have feral cats around here. When we first moved here about 10 years ago we were always seeing snakes. After someone dropped of some cats and the cats started multiplying we quit seeing snakes except for an occasional dead snake that the cats killed. I have mixed emotions about cats. They serve their purpose but I hated that they kill off all the squirrels and they would catch and kill birds. I am also terrified of cat bites. Cat bites are full of germs and often if a person is bit by a cat the person will end up with a bad infection that sometimes requires a visit to the doctor or even the hospital. Last year all the cats started disappearing when we noticed some coyotes in the area. I really think the coyotes or perhaps the owls started getting them. Now we only have two outside cats and that is plenty for me.