<VV> Cats in the Garage

[Tony Underwood]

At 11:21 hours 07/04/2005, Vairtec at optonline.net wrote:
>At 11:08 AM 7/4/05, AKG wrote:
>
>[re my inquiry about controlling mice]
>
>>I've heard that cats are pretty good deterrents.
>
>True enough, and my wife and I care cat lovers, having three inside the 
>house.  But for a "barn cat," I then need to provide some sort of 
>entrance/exit for the cat.  This, while serving the needs of the cat, 
>needs to not become a portal for raccoons, possum, skunks, et al.  How do 
>I accomplish this?
>
>--Bob


Buy a "cat door".   Put it 3-4 ft above the ground (a window is a good 
spot) with a small step in front of it, also one inside etc.   Show the 
cat(s) where it is.    Provide an inside step of some sort (a pair of 
cinderblocks works well) to aid kitty's egress to the door without their 
having to resort to stunt-cat work.    Agree to tolerate little kitty feet 
prints on every Vair you own.

Works for me, the cats come and go as they please with no problems, nothing 
else does (raccoons are poor jumpers and possums are worse and skunks just 
can't be bothered) and all is well.

The trouble is, the cats here have long since demoused the house and the 
other buildings and they feel that they need practice, so they bring 
various creatures IN the house for chase practice.   They bring in birds, 
voles, rabbits, chipmunks, and in one instance a lizard.

Ever try to catch a wild rabbit loose in the house?    If there's carpet, 
they're the quickest greatest broken field runners you could ever 
imagine.   But once they hit linoleum it's all over.

This "practice" thing the cats have going on is how I discovered that if 
you nab a cardinal (the bird, not the boss priest) that's buzzing the 
livingroom, you really need to stay away from its beak.   They bite like 
snapping turtles and can draw blood... little bastard clamped down on the 
fleshy part of the inside of my thumb like vise-grips and would *not* let 
go and in fact dangled from my hand like a cartoon as I tried to sling him 
off, but no luck.   I had to "thump" his head with the free hand to get him 
to turn loose.   I thought I was gonna get pinched right through my hide 
like a paper punch.

Now...  the GOOD part of "country locations" is the storage space for 
Corvair projects.   11 acres of storage... and assorted examples of 
wildlife not counting the cats.    It's how you can own a dozen Vairs (and 
a few others) without the neighbors complaining.


tony..