Prize

[mmcirvin]

We started letting Nestor outside during the day a while ago (and keeping him in the basement at night), to reduce the chance that he'll pee on something important. The other cats sometimes follow him out there. They seem to have a good time. I don't like the extra risks they're incurring by going out--I am generally in favor of keeping cats indoors if you can--but it's a pretty quiet neighborhood and the alternative is basically getting Nestor put down.

(There are rumors of fishers invading the neighborhood and chowing down on pet cats. It may happen in some communities around here, but I suspect that the rumors are vastly overblown and that most of the claimed fisher sightings and noises are really just cats--our next-door neighbors' cat Buddy has a particularly eldritch cry. Some people don't even seem to know that a "fisher cat" is not a cat and doesn't look anything like one. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that local coyotes do eat pet cats sometimes. I guess it's a risk we take; probably cars are a bigger danger.)

Yesterday, we had our first instance of bloody entrails horked up on the patio by an unknown entity. I guess it was inevitable.

Comments

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

an unknown entity

Gotta have that CCTV system put in so you can find out who is the mighty hunter! ;-)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

From the sheer size of the meal, I think it was Nestor.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Fishers?

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_(animal)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Here you go... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_(animal))

It's a type of marten, sort of a weaselly animal, carnivorous and distinguished by its willingness to eat porcupines (but not fish, particularly).

It seems to be strangely shrouded in rumor and legend.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

I looked that up before checking the comments. Also had to look up the word eldritch, which I've seen as a name (I can't think of what, a street perhaps) but never seen used in a sentence. Good word!

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Probably the Phil Dick title The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Normally, though, use of the word means you are writing an H. P. Lovecraft parody.

[paracelsvs.livejournal.com]

Anybody who thinks a pipsqueak like that could take on a cat and keep all its body parts, much less prey on cats, is insane. It even eats much the same animals a cat does, so they'd be about evenly matched. No predator would go for those odds.

I grew up with cats that went outdoors when they wanted, and it taught me one thing, that cats should be let outside. A cat outside is a very different beast from a cat indoors. They jump into an entirely different frame of mind when they're on the prowl, and it always seemed cruel to me to deny a cat that. I think whatever the risks are, the cats will greatly appreciate being let outside. They'll probably love any danger they end up facing.

This (and a bit of an allergy) is why I don't keep a cat myself - I live in a city apartment, and the logistics to have a cat go outside just don't work out.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

My personal guess is that the incidents of alleged "fisher cat" predation of house cats were really by dogs or coyotes. Still, mustelids can be pretty tough animals.

[paracelsvs.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure even most dogs would think twice before taking on a cat. Not sure about coyotes, though.

I'm pretty sure that in most situations like these, animals will be pretty good at weighing their odds, and just avoiding each other.