Walking your cat on a leash, or rather, your cat walking you while on a leash, is a great alternative to letting your feline companions roam free. Photo: Patrick O'Rourke/Postmedia Cats are a special kind of pet.
Unlike often over-eager dogs, owners have to earn their cat’s trust and affection and strive for the privilege to even pet them. Cat and human relationships are a different and often more rewarding kind of connection than what people experience with other pets, and because of this they’ve become very popular and common animal companions in North America.
Despite years of research, scientists and animal behavior specialists still don’t understand why felines frequently act so strange. But one thing is for sure, outdoor cats kill wildlife in great numbers simply just for fun, severely impacting natural ecosystems across North America.
A recent Environment Canada study revealed that of the 270 million birds killed every year as the result of human-related activity, including cats owned and poorly controlled by people, felines are the number one cause of bird deaths, especially when it comes to defenseless baby birds, a common victim of cats.
After our beloved cats, the most deadly things birds face are collisions with tall structures and vehicles on roads. The oil and gas industry, as well as wind turbines, two factors many people commonly believe are the main causes of bird death, aren’t even in the top list of killers. Canada’s entire bird population amounts to a total of 10 billion, and we kill 270 million of them every year with the help of our feline friends.
Outdoor Cats are actually an invasive species that are dealing out wholesale death to almost everything they can.
“The study looks at bird mortality across the country and what it actually concluded is that the number one cause of bird mortality is cats – so it’s a pretty huge issue.” said Nathalie Karvonen, executive director of Toronto Wildlife Centre.
“Killing birds and wildlife? Me? I’d never do such a thing,” says this kitty. Patrick O’Rourke/Postmedia
It’s not just birds either, outdoor cat hunting also impacts rabbits, moles, mice and a variety of other wildlife populations.
There are 8.5 million domestic cats in Canada and 1.4 to 4.2 million of them are stray or wild cats. While feral cats are a smaller segment of Canada’s cat population, they are actually responsible for twice as many bird kills.
This means that by nature, whether a domestic or feral cat, many of our furry friends are essentially adorable serial killers. Many don’t kill animals when they’re hungry but, instead, murder and maim wildlife for fun, as depicted in this amusing and informative The Oatmeal infographic.
The trend means more cat owners should be choosing to keep their animals indoors or at least supervising them properly while they’re outdoors. Allowing your beloved family pet to freely roam the neighborhood where it encounters a number of dangers — from other humans, cars, animals, diseases and feral cats — can also lead to health problems and potentially death.
Many owners also don’t bother with spaying or neutering their pet as it roams the streets, causing feral cat colonies to continue to grow. In Toronto alone there are an estimated 100,000 feral and homeless cats.
“People use the analogy sometimes, if your child was whining and complaining that they wanted to do something dangerous, would you let them? You probably wouldn’t, right? That’s the reason why our Keep Animals Safe website is worded the way it is. There is also an enormous amount of danger to the cat when it goes outdoors. We’ll often get calls that say, ‘I’ve seen a coyote in our neighborhood and I’m worried he’s going to eat my cat’ and our response is, ‘you know, it might,’ and that’s not because they’re bad. A coyote doesn’t understand the difference between a groundhog, rabbit, cat or chihuahua,” says Karovonen.
“I have a cat myself and I love cats but my cat only goes outdoors when I supervise her and when I’m with her. There are so many people who are unbelievably adverse to supervising their pet cats. It’s something we hear time and time again. People often say it’s part of nature but cats are not meant to be on this continent at all. In most places in the world, cats aren’t actually natural predators and certainly not in the numbers of wild cats, like bobcats in Ontario for example.”
Behind that painfully cute face is a bird killing machine. Patrick O’Rourke/Postmedia
If you keep a closer eye on your cat when it’s outdoors it won’t kill wildlife or be killed by the dangers of the outside world. This concept seems to make sense, but it’s hard for many cat owners to actually act on it.
Karovonen explained the messaging people have received over the years has given cat owners the perception that it’s okay to let their beloved family pet run free. Advertisements and films often feature happy cats, roaming freely through a backyard or a cat pawing at a front door to get let in. People see outdoor cats in popular culture and think it’s an acceptable thing to do.
“That kind of imagery is all over the place so people have kind of accepted that as the norm. On our hotline we kind of hear that push-back all the time, ‘I mean well everybody does it – why are you picking on me!’ We need a shift on this thinking. Most animal welfare organizations, humane societies and municipal animal controls are already on board with this issue but some will fight back and say, ‘you know it’s bad for them to be inside.’ It doesn’t have to be black and white, you can take them outside, either on a leash or take the cat out when you are outside,” said Karvonen.
And, contrary to what many cat owners might think, leash training a feline is actually possible. Although, don’t expect to take your feline for a walk like a dog. Cats often take the lead and walk their humans, or follow a specific route, once they feel comfortable with a leash and collar on. Getting your furry companion used to the idea of walking on a leash when they’re younger makes the process much easier. The OSPCA actually has a great guide to leash training your cat on their website. Karovonen also suggests creating a cat enclosure, allowing cats to experience the outdoors in a controlled and protected environment, is a great option for people who don’t have the time to leash train their pet.
To put the dangers cats face when roaming alone in perspective, according to Toronto Humane Society, outdoor cats have a life span of approximately two to five years and in comparison, indoor cats live much longer lives – 13 to 17 years. Also, less than five per cent of stray cats found by the Toronto Humane Society find their way back to their owners, in part because many owners don’t bother making their cats wear collars with an ID tag or get them microchipped.
Turning an outdoor cat into an indoor cat is also a possibility, although Karovonen explain it requires commitment and can be a lengthy process. In order to make the transition, cat owners have to slowly limit the amount of time their feline spends outdoors over the course of about a month.
Walking a cat on a leash is actually very possible. Fotolia
Bringing your cat outside under supervision or leash training, will also help your cat cope with its new lack of outdoor freedom.
Karovonen believes there is a direct conflict between people’s love for their feline companions and their reluctance to take the time to supervise their cat while outdoors, either by leash training, creating an outdoor enclosure, or by supervising their cat while it roams free. Since popular culture encourages people to let their cats roam free and cat owners are often very set in their ways, or see nothing wrong with their pet’s damaging and murderous habbits, it’s very difficult to change this perception.
“What it comes down to is do you love your cat? Do you want your cat to be safe?” said Karovonen
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