Love, love, LOVE Cats! There is NOTHING cuter than a kitten! Karen it's good that your Momma cat has nice warm, loving home in which to raise her babies. There's a feral female in our neighborhood that has kittens every year. It's heartbreaking. DH and I tried to trap her and her babies last spring. We wanted to get her spayed and eventually let her go again. We are in an apartment and pets are limited here. Anyway, she was too smart for us, but we ended up trapping one of her kittens. We watched in frustration as she sniffed around the trap, then gathered the rest of the litter and disappeared into the greenbelt. Needless to say, we kept the little guy and we love(and spoil)him. We've been beating ourselves up about not getting Mom cat, as she had a fall litter and I assume she's going to have another this spring. But at least we got one Tom off the street. All the authorities will do is transport any strays to the humane society after someone traps them and takes them to the local veterinary for a health check. At least the local humane society is a no-kill shelter. Many are not. Keep those pictures coming...we need those regular 'Awwww' fixes!

I'm sorry. Cruelty is keeping bird feeders and letting your cats out. Remember this, too: each time your cat kills one adult bird with nestlings in the nest, the entire brood dies. Maiming a bird kills it, too. one superficial puncture causes infection and death. How do I know this? I used to do avian rehab, and I had to deal with the corpses. The following birds were injured by cats and brought to The Raptor Trust in May and June of 2003. The outcome of their injuries are listed as follows: D/24 = The bird died within 24 hours of its injuries. E = Euthanized; the bird was injured so badly that it would never recover. D = The bird died of its injuries. R = The bird was released 1. 5/2 Mourning dove D on arrival 2. 5/7 Mourning dove nestling D/24 3. 5/11 Baltimore oriole Severely infected wound R 6/28 4. 5/14 Mourning dove Infected wing fracture E 5/26 5. 5/14 Carolina wren Compound left wing fracture in the joint. E 6. 5/15 Mourning dove juvenile Gasping blood R 6/15 7. 5/17 Magnolia warbler R 7/11 8. 5/20 Mourning dove R wing destroyed E 9. 5/18 Tufted titmouse Right wing destroyed E 10. 5/27 Cardinal D on 6/4 11. 5/24 Grackle fledgling D/24 12. 5/24 House finch fledgling D on 5/27 13. 5/27 Mourning dove fledgling D/24 14. 5/27 Cardinal nestling E 6/4 15. 5/29 Mourning dove fledgling Severe R wing fracture E 16. 5/30 Grey catbird Feather loss D 6/12 17. 5/30 Ovenbird Puncture R 6/9 18. 6/2 Robin fledgling D/24 19. 6/2 Robin nestling Laceration D/24 20. 6/3 Downy woodpecker fledgling Head and eye injuries D/24 21. 6/3 Blue jay L wing destroyed E 22. 6/3 Mourning dove juvenile L wrist injured R 6/15 23. 6/5 Mourning dove nestling Spinal damage D/24 24. 6/5 Red-bellied woodpecker nestling Fractured leg R 7/19 25. 6/8 Mourning dove D/24 26. 6/8 Mourning dove juvenile Laceration D/24 27. 6/8 Mourning dove Puncture D/24 28. 6/9 Starling Fractured shoulder E 29. 6/10 Mourning dove Fractured wing E 30. 6/10 Cardinal juvenile Spinal damage D/24 31. 6/11 Catbird D/24 32. 6/11 Mourning dove fledgling Head and neck lacerations E 33. 6/12 Robin nestling Belly ruptured E 34. 6/12 Mourning dove Lacerations and punctures D/24 35. 6/12 Mourning dove Neck lacerations R 6/30 36. 6/13 Blue jay fledgling Punctures D 6/17 37. 6/13 Baltimore oriole Internal damage E 38. 6/14 Blue jay fledgling Lacerations R 7/28 39. 6/16 Rose-breasted grosbeak nestling Punctures E 6/20 40. 6/16 Mourning dove nestling R shoulder fracture E 41. 6/16 Mourning dove fledgling Punctures and feather loss R 7/19 42. 6/17 Common grackle juvenile Spinal damage E 6/28 43. 6/19 Mourning dove nestling Punctures D 8/22 44. 6/22 Downy woodpecker D/24 45. 6/22 Robin fledgling Lacerations D/24 46. 6/23 Mourning dove juvenile R wrist destroyed E 47. 6/24 Blue jay fledgling R 8/4 48. 6/24 Cardinal nestling L leg fractured D/24 49. 6/26 Robin juvenile Punctures R 8/20 50. 6/26 Cardinal fledgling R 7/25 51. 6/27 Mourning dove fledgling D/24 52. 6/29 Common grackle fledgling Spinal damage D/24 53. 6/30 Robin R wing fracture E 54. 6/30 Robin R wing fracture E Cat-caught birds released: 12 (22%) Cat-caught birds died: 24 (45%) Cat-caught birds euthanised: 18 (33%) Young birds caught (nestling, fledgling and juveniles): 32 (59%) Adult birds caught: 22 (41%) These notes do not include the dozens of birds that showed symptoms of being cat-caught (i.e. suffered from puncture wounds or ripped apart); only birds that were seen by the finders in the cats mouth were listed in our informal study. It is also possible that some of the birds in our study were injured previously (i.e. collided with a vehicle or window) and subsequently grabbed by a cat. However, the notes do confirm some sad facts: 1. Most birds caught by cats are young birds, not yet able to fly or fly well. 2. Most birds caught by cats (78%) are killed.

I really enjoy reading about your squirrels, Jackie. Our ground squirrels aren't nearly as interesting or trusting. However, their home is on a steep hill across from several windows so we can watch their antics. One of the funniest ones was a squirrel trying to carry a huge piece of packing paper up the steep hillside which she must have thought would make good nesting material. Another time a squirrel was trying to carry a large grapefruit up said hill and he'd lose his grip and it would roll all they way to the bottom. It took five tries but he finally managed to wrestle his treasure all the way up to his ground burrow.

I have lost hundreds of dollars to squirrels. They love to dig up my plants, especially the newly planted ones with nice, soft soil. I have tried putting rocks as a top dressing and actually witnessed the squirrels picking them up and tossing them out. They don't like human hair, so I have put some among the rocks and it helped some. I also have used animal repellant and that works for only a couple of days. Besides, I don't like the smell, either. I built cages around my plants made of netting used for trellises. That worked, but it's time consuming and the plants grow through the holes, making it hard to re-pot and to clean up the dead leaves. It also blocks the natural beauty of the plants. Now the squirrels have figured out how to find openings in the netting and they can get in anyway. I'm very stubborn and determined not to let the squirrels win.