Which animals prey on cats

Coyotes can be deadly, and they're especially known for killing domestic dogs and cats. Worse still, coyotes live all over North America, often hiding out in parks and areas with tree or bush coverage -- even cemeteries. To safeguard your cat from coyotes, make sure they stay indoors during the night, and ensure your garbage cans are shut tight so those discarded morsels of food don't attract coyotes.

Also, don't leave pet food outside, as this is highly attractive to wildlife. If you hop on YouTube, you'll find many videos of cats seeming to tackle and defeat snakes. But these slippery creatures are a real threat to your domestic kitty.

Venomous snakes, including water moccasins and copperheads, can be found in abundance all over North America. If you suspect that a snake has bitten your cat, you'll want to speed straight off to your local vet.

If you live in the west or the southwest of America, you and your cat need to be on the lookout for cougars -- often also referred to as mountain lions. They also appear in rural Florida. Normally, a cougar will target livestock for a snack, but if a domestic cat comes on the radar, they'll happily switch up their menu. While rare, attacks on humans have been reported, as well.

Off-leash dog parks are a recent innovation and created by responsible pet owners. They need to go somewhere. One was near the back edge of Bloedel where we trapped and removed over 60 feral cats. There was another group near Day Road and Lovegren where we removed upwards of 40 cats, and we have been working with veterinarians in the area as we tracked an outbreak of Feline Infection Peritonitis FIP.

Typically we have been seeing one to two cases of this a year, and we noticed a spike both within the paws program and with local veterinarians. We tracked the disease back to this one source near Day Road, and proceeded to remove over 40 cats. Another colony in Rolling Bay had over 30 cats.

Removing these colonies greatly impacts wildlife. Another thing that PAWS has done is instituted a policy where all our kitten adoptions — and we do over adoptions a year — go only to indoor-only homes. We have coordinated our work with other organizations, including the Kitsap Humane Society, Rescue Every Dog, and Animal Rescue family to promote the indoor cat policy.

We have been getting a lot of good responses from this policy, and providing a lot of education to those interested in adding a kitten to the family that has never considered the indoor vs. PAWS realizes that, as instinctive predators, cats need outlets for their hunting behavior to avoid channeling those instincts down destructive paths. We have plans available for building enclosures at our Adoption Center.

You can build a safe cat enclosure if your cat has to absolutely to go outside. Nowak, Domestic cats are highly valued as pets and as working animals throughout the world. They help to control rodent populations and have been used as animal subjects in behavioral and physiological research. Wild cats are important members of natural ecosystems. They are instrumental in controlling populations of small mammals throughout their range. Domestic cats are not threatened.

In fact, population control mechanisms are needed in most areas. African and Asiatic wild cats remain fairly common throughout their range. As habitat destruction continues, they may run out of suitable habitats.

European wildcats are critically endangered in their native range. They were largely exterminated from western and central Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries because they were considered a danger to game and domestic animals. They continue to be threatened by habitat loss, but populations are making a recovery in many parts of their former range. Other threats to European wildcats include population isolation, deaths from being hit by automobiles, and vulnerability to diseases transmitted by domestic cats.

They are currently protected throughout Europe and several re-introduction efforts are underway. The main threat to all wild cat populations, especially those of European wildcats, is continuing hybridization inter-breeding with domestic forms. Hybridization results in decreased genetic purity of the wild forms. Some researchers believe that genetically pure European wild cats are already extinct as a result of extensive hybridization.

African wild cats were present in towns in the middle east at least 7, years ago. They were domesticated in Egypt about 4, years ago and began to be introduced outside of that area about 2, years ago. Domestic cats were probably attracted to the high rodent populations near human settlements and were welcomed as a way of controlling rodent populations. However, true domestication may have had a religious basis.

An Egyptian cult centered in the ancient city of Bubastis worshiped cats. Followers of the goddess Bast created sanctuaries with bronze statues of cats. They even mummified hundreds of thousands of cats! Nowak, R. Walker's Mammals of the World. Animal Diversity Web Cybertracker Tools. All rights reserved. Skip directly to main content. Kids' Inquiry of Diverse Species.

Critter Catalog. Information Pictures Specimens Classification. Other Physical Features endothermic homoiothermic bilateral symmetry Sexual Dimorphism male larger Range mass 3. Biogeographic Regions nearctic introduced palearctic introduced native oriental introduced ethiopian introduced neotropical introduced australian introduced oceanic islands introduced Other Geographic Terms cosmopolitan What kind of habitat do they need?

These animals are found in the following types of habitat temperate terrestrial Terrestrial Biomes savanna or grassland chaparral forest scrub forest Other Habitat Features urban suburban agricultural Range elevation high m Mating System polygynous Breeding in wild cats occurs at different times of the year, depending on local climate.

Many animals are nocturnal and do their hunting and prowling at night. As well, it's not so easy for Tabby to just scamper up a tree away from her hunter -- a coyote can easily hop a 6-foot fence if he's motivated to have her for dinner. The best course of action is to keep Tabby indoors where she is safe. There are many benefits to keeping her inside: she'll be healthier because she won't be vulnerable to parasites and disease or at risk for being hit by a car; she won't annoy neighbors who dislike her prowling in their yards; it will help minimize fleas and keep her from getting into fights with other cats, which can lead to injury.

An additional benefit is that your neighbors who enjoy songbirds and dislike Tabby's hunting habits will appreciate that she's not killing birds.

If Tabby hasn't been spayed or neutered , it will help her adjust to life indoors. She'll appreciate a spot near a window. Cats enjoy basking in the sun and watching the activity outside can help her pass the time as she normally would outside.