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Pond life and cats

Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
in Problem solving
As above, do cats pose problems when having a pond, what about frogs/ toads other pond life?   They very very rarely catch birds, too fat, lazy and well fed.  Would love to have one.......but don't like the thought that they would kill frogs, which would hopefully come......
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Posts

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    cats kill frogs with gay abandon
    Devon.
  • Singing GardenerSinging Gardener Posts: 1,237
    When I had cats they never caught frogs or birds but were excellent at catching rabbits, mice and the occasional rat. Oh and they brought back a pheasant once but I don't think they'd caught it themselves.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited June 2020
    Next door’s cats catch frogs ... lots of them ... they also take them in the house through the Catalan and then lose them while they’re still alive. 

    Sometimes NDN finds them hopping around indoors. Sometimes they’re dead. Sometimes NDN steps on them with her bare feet. She said it’s horrible but she can’t stop them. 😢 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286
    Probably best to ask a non cat owner who has observed how somebody else's cats behave in a wildlife garden.

    Unfortunately cats will decimate reptile and amphibian populations in gardens. That is from first hand experience. Also reptiles and amphibians have poor directional hearing, so bells on the cats will make no difference at all.

    Cats are not stupid enough on the whole to show their owners what they really get up to, so we often hear that not all cats do this. They unfortunately in my experience do when the owner is not around.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    Over the last 40 years I would guess our cats, we usually have two, have caught about four frogs, one toad, six dragonflies and no newts or fish between them. Most were released unharmed and, as Pansyface implies, the toad resulted in a vet’s bill. In my experience our cats have always brought their trophies home, there being no evidence of a killing fields in the garden. 

    Other cats are more likely to be predators. I have not researched it, but my gut feeling is that tabbies, especially lithe female ones, are the most likely to be hunters though it is largely down to chance.

    I would advise, both for the safety of your cat and local wildlife, keeping the cat indoors from dusk till morning.
    Rutland, England
  • GemmaJFGemmaJF Posts: 2,286
    BenCotto said:
    Over the last 40 years I would guess our cats, we usually have two, have caught about four frogs, one toad, six dragonflies and no newts or fish between them. Most were released unharmed and, as Pansyface implies, the toad resulted in a vet’s bill. In my experience our cats have always brought their trophies home, there being no evidence of a killing fields in the garden. 

    Other cats are more likely to be predators. I have not researched it, but my gut feeling is that tabbies, especially lithe female ones, are the most likely to be hunters though it is largely down to chance.

    I would advise, both for the safety of your cat and local wildlife, keeping the cat indoors from dusk till morning.
    Try fitting a camera to the cat for a true picture as has been done in studies in the US, which revealed the carnage was magnitudes higher than had been estimated from 'presentation' studies.

    Cats that are prevented from hunting at night, hunt in the day. I have hours of footage proving it. Cats present very few of the animals that they kill or maul to their owners. 

    I don't want to get into a cat argument, so I will simply recommend a book, 'Cat Wars' by Peter P.Marra and Chris Santella for those who want a real insight into the devastating effect of free roaming cats on wildlife from scientific studies, the statistics are shocking.

    None of us know how much more common wildlife species would be without cats, I can though say it would be a 'different world' to the one we have now.
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    Hmm......thought provoking comments, thanks everyone 
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    It never fails to surprise me as to the denial of the carnage caused by cats by those who keep them.
    Devon.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    It’s hard to believe the worst of those you love @Hostafan1 .... every bad lad has a mum who thinks the sun shines out of ........

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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