Poll: Cat Person or Dog Person? - A lite topic

Evo-Cat PersonShadoe to the left, Outside cats-Lady(all white) and Josie (gray tiger), Inside-K.C., the old man (also a gray tiger) and two foster kittens in the basement (Tigs and Migs)yellow tiger stripes.My neighbor stops by whenever she needs a kitten fix.

I used to foster cats for the animal shelter. I usually ended up with litters or siblings they didn't want to split up. I'm always fascinated by the various personalities. Two of them were adopted by my neighbor. They grew into gorgeous (spoiled) golden cats.This winter we did take in a kitten starving in the cold. He grew like a weed once we got some food into him. He is all boy. When the weather gets warmer he will be an outside cat. He is too wild for indoors. He needs more space.My old white cat will stay in the house and retire from mouse duty. My "barn" cats are spoiled. I always bring them in when the weather is extreme, whether heat or cold. Needless to say they have both been inside this winter.Josie, my mouser, is getting along with Bugzy, the kitten, so they will both be outside and Lady, the old white cat, will stay in the house and retire. Lady is about 15 years old and sleeps most of the time.Bugzy is a classic tabby and bursting with energy. He loves playing with grandson though, which is nice. Lady just hides.I haven't been able to get him to stop biting though. It's playful biting, but it gets a bit rough sometimes. He also likes to grab at legs and tends to get underfoot. He's like a road block. My mother was going to take him, but he causes me to trip and lose balance. I don't need him tripping my mother who is already a bit unsteady. So he's stuck with us.He's a beautiful cat. I told my daughter when our old cat died, that I didn't need to go looking for cats.
Those in need manage to find me.

We tied a 2x4 to a pole in the basement. My cats have been great at keeping to the 2x4 for scratching. Bugzy is still learning. Of course the 2x4 doesn't really mix with the decor, but it does save my furniture.I keep cats to keep mice out of the house and convince the chipmunks to relocate. That's why I have cats outside and at least one cat inside.The barn cats eat what they catch, which is probably better food for them than the dry food we give them. My Mom uses chemicals to keep chipmunks and mice, but she's losing the battle. That's why she thought of taking Bugzy.My cats have a job. In our 15+ years here we haven't had one mouse in the house. One squirrel ran into our garage right into our two big cats and realized his error just in time. I figure a dog will be good when I'm old and just walking is actually exciting.

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What's really galling is that before we got the pair we were plagued with mice and I had images of dashing cats slaying the vermin left, right and centre: not one mouse has shown it's face since the cats moved in.

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So are the mice gone or just hiding? I have cats to keep the vermin out of the house. We haven't had any mice in 15 years. We have more chipmunk issues than mice. The chipmunks were moving in closer to the house as the barn cats got older. (12 and 15) Then a starving kitten found its way to our door. Gave him some food and a year later he is a big beautiful classic tabby. He is fast. The chippies have moved back to the field and the rabbits stay out of my garden. Yay cats!Unfortunately the cats can only get mice when they come out of hiding in a house. They have to wait for the mice to get careless.

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Strange your cats do not go out on the field and sit by a mouse hole until the mouse comes out.

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My house cats aren't usually outside. The barn cats outside do sit and watch for moles, mice, chipmunks, etc. So it depends on whether a house cat is allowed outside or not. When the mice are living in the house, the cat has to wait for the mouse to come out, just like the outdoor cat has to wait by the hole. The problem for the house cat is that the mouse in the house doesn't always have to travel across an open floor.Our current house cat is a retired barn cat.One of our old barn cats (she was our best mouser, she's waiting for house retirement) was sitting by her favorite chipmunk hole and across the yard a chipmunk is up on its hind legs watching her. They're all dashing about on the other side of the yard while she's watching a quiet hole. Now we have the young cat outside and the chippies aren't as cocky anymore.

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I'm glad he's having a good time chasing chipmunks (are they squirrel analogues?).

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Most of what we have left are the thirteen striped ground squirrels and a few of the standard chipmunks which are also ground squirrels.As long as they aren't armed we're fine.See photo of armed chipmunk.