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Lastly, outdoor cats are synonymous with the word disposable. They only survive for about 2 years before they are eaten by a coyote or they get the Goodyear tat.

Yep. Around here, we don't see any outdoor cats hang around longer than 6-12 months. Never to be seen again...

I’ve had a few cats that used to lay waste to the squirrel population.

Some do and most wont bother with squirrels.

Of note, Ms Kitty... she was death on four paws.

Waking to the shrieks of dying squirrels is no fun either... be careful what you wish for.

Coup de grace at 2am is a PITA.

All of our outdoor cats were from people dumping them.
They never stayed around long enough to breed as they either got taken by coyotes, owls or spread out on the highway.
If you really liked kitty then you kept it inside. Same with small dogs.

After having my stuff tore up by squirrels I did a little culling and they seem to spread the word that's it's unhealthy in that area.

I grew up in the Upper Midwest. We had 26 oak trees on the lot, the whole neighborhood was full of oak trees, and it was backed up to a state game forest full of oak trees. There was a big squirrel population since the oaks produced metric shit tons of acorns.

We had a cat that was 90% outdoor spring thru fall and 90% indoor in the winter (she hated AC but loved heat). She was an accomplished hunter and took down chipmunks, rabbits, birds, etc. and liked to show her worth by leaving her kill on the landing in the garage. To my recollection there was never an adult squirrel on the landing.

She was fearless too. She had a litter of kittens before we got her fixed and a neighbor's golden retriever escaped one day and got too close to the kittens. She was on him like white on rice, and rode that golden retriever like a seasoned bareback bronc rider as he raced down the block with her on his back with her claws dug in.

She lived to be 16 years old.

If that cat didn't take down the squirrel population then very, very few will.

My dogs keep squirrels out of our yard ... and the nutter neighbor lady's "Cats have a RIGHT to roam free", outdoor cats (except one stupid cat that's still IN my backyard, you just can't see it) ... possums, turtles, a fox, and most everything else on 2-16 legs ... except birds. Dogs have learned they can't catch birds and leave them alone. Well an old dog I had, did snatch one bird out of the air that was diving on him. My dogs are in a fenced yard and NEVER roam or EVER off lead in public.

The nutter neighbor lady's cats across the street aren't effective against squirrels over there either. Only thing they're good for is maybe mice, small harmless snakes and the birds that come for seeds from the "cat feeder" she put out.

What do you need to know? ... Don't get domestic animals you can't maintain positive control of. Period. If squirrels are a problem, get a pellet gun. Worked well for my grandfather when I was a kid and he had a couple of pecan trees in his backyard.

EDIT: If you can think of reasons for not getting a pellet gun, I can think of a few reasons not to get an outdoor cat. For one, an outdoor cat is like a free roaming loaded pellet gun ... with bad aim ... and not effective against squirrel problems.

Sounds like a job a Jack Russell Terrier would be perfect for.

We tried to have our 90% outdoor cat Rocky get rid of the well dressed 'rats' in the yard...

he mostly let them eat peanuts while he watched.

Our dog hates squirrels. Our two cats ignore them completely

Please don't get a cat and think you're going to keep it outside to do your bidding. As others have said they tend to have short lives. That being said I have adopted several outdoor strays over the years. I live in a small development and from time to time bad people abandon their pets or they're genuine strays. Anyway, feed them, give them a little house to sleep in, and you'd be supprised how much hunting they'll do on your property.

quote:

Originally posted by Z06:
We tried to have our 90% outdoor cat Rocky get rid of the well dressed 'rats' in the yard...

he mostly let them eat peanuts while he watched.

Now, thats just funny! Looks like Rocky is just tossing them the peanuts to watch the show, like TV's Animal Planet or something up close and in person.

My former cat was a great mouser and brought me a few young squirrels as well as voles, snakes, and pest birds. No adult squirrels though. And not all cats will be good hunters/mousers.

I saw our cat go after a squirrel once. She missed. Never saw her try it again. Then again, she doesn't do anything about the occasional rat either. Nails a small bird once in a great while. My car is usually covered in bird shit during the summer. She's NOT earning her keep from the critter control standpoint.

She makes a pretty decent lap-warmer though.

I don't have a solution to your Varmint Cong problem, but I can say with certainty that this isn't it.