Hunting cats doing what comes naturally
Housecats are believed responsible for hundreds of millions of kills annually

Moe Milstein, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, December 26, 2005

There is a thrush lying on the ground outside our patio doors. Curled against it is a mouse, sleek, and brown. They have been placed there by Beverage, our cat who hunted them down and brought them back to her house. Beverage is fat -- not plump -- but fat. She doesn't need the food. She will never eat these two animals. Instead, she is satisfying another need -- the need to hunt.

To some, this is an example of a perfectly natural phenomenon--cats behaving like cats. Others challenge both the naturalness of the act as well as its consequences.

Although reliable data is hard to come by, estimates of the carnage perpetrated by cats, both wild and owned, suggest that the number of birds, small mammals and reptiles killed annually by cats is in the hundreds of millions.

Cats are opportunistic hunters and will catch whatever is available in their habitat. And, like Beverage, they will hunt even when they are not hungry. In the wild, they typically eat 10 to 20 small meals a day. One mouse supplies only eight per cent of the cat's daily energy requirements, so repeated cycles of hunting are required. The pet tabby at home replicates this behaviour, visiting its food dish numerous times throughout the day and night.

Critics of cat predation argue that there is no such thing as a natural cat, there are only owned and unowned cats. The kitty of today, Felis catus, is believed to have evolved from Felis sylvestris, its African and European ancestors. With no truly wild free-living relatives, our cats can be considered to be non-native invaders of ecosystems wherever they happen to live.

Successful ones, too. There are some 80 million owned cats and another 80 million unowned or feral cats in North America.

There is no denying that such a large population of predatory animals will have effects on wildlife, public health and the quality of life of cats themselves. What to do about the problem is a matter of sometimes-heated debate between wildlife associations, humane organizations, veterinarians and neighbours.

The American Bird Conservancy urges people to keep their cats indoors, voicing the conviction that bird predation threatens the survival of already diminishing bird populations. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) acknowledges the concerns but argues that there is no evidence that predation is affecting the numbers of birds overall. The RSPB cites studies showing that threatened species are not the ones hunted and the ones hunted are not decreasing in number.

The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Feline Practitioners maintain that pet cats should be kept indoors at all times. This is indeed becoming the preferred method of cat ownership, due in part to increasing urbanization but probably more so by the desire of cat owners to keep their cats out of trouble.

Many cat owners have told me that they would not have a cat if they could not allow it to go outdoors. They argue that a life spent indoors is a form of sensory deprivation, and that preventing the natural expression of instinct is a form of cruelty.

Just as many people opt to keep their cats indoors throughout their lives, noting that, once used to living indoors, the cats do not to want to venture outside at all. The average lifespan of an outdoor cat is about five years compared to the 15 years of age indoor cats routinely reach.

Cats seem to do well in both environments. As to which lifestyle the cat would prefer, scientists to date have been unable to figure out what is going through a cat's mind.

Dr. Moe Milstein runs the Blueridge-Cove Animal Hospital in North Vancouver.