I’ve got a few friendly semi-stray cats that I feed and I’m worried about them at night. I’ve been hearing a lot of owl calls lately and glimpsed a really big one in a tree a few nights ago. Obviously, I wouldn’t think of hurting the owls and I don’t begrudge them doing what’s natural, but I’d prefer they do it someplace else.
I’ve read that owls prefer dark areas to hunt and have put up a light in the back yard where my cats spend most of their time, but is there anything else I can do?
How much light is needed? I’ve just got a low-power compact fluorescent in a worklight right now. Also, should the light be angled down (bathing the yard in light) or up (to sort of dazzle the owls if they fly overhead)?
Would an owl decoy potentially drive them away?
Thanks for any advice. Like I said, I don’t hold any ill will against them, but most of the advice I’ve found online isn’t helpful. “Keeping pets indoors at night” isn’t an option. My cats have been fixed and had their shots, but they only spend a short time inside before they want back out.
I don’t think the cats have anything to worry about. Too fast, then can fight back or can take cover. Never had a “Cat Vs. Owl” problem yet.
Our turkeys, on the other hand, got decimated over the course of a few nights last month. But these are big, stupid birds that roost right on top of the house. Easy Owl pickins.
Haven’t seen any Owl evidence since. So, to answer the question…
Well, a little screech owl isn’t going to attack a cat, but a Great Horned Own could certainly pose a threat. From Wikipedia:
…The predominant prey group are small to medium-sized mammals such as hares and rabbits, which are statistically the most regular prey … Birds also comprise a large portion of a Great Horned Owl’s diet, ranging in size from kinglets to Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) and young swans…
Rabbits/hares and younger swans are certainly the size of a cat. That said, a cat can defend itself in ways unavailable to rabbits. Unfortunately, this is the tradeoff for cats enjoying being outside - they are exposed to far more dangers than indoors.
The golf course installed cardboard cutouts of a sihlouette of a fox. Mounted on a spring which is planted in the ground and the spring wobbles just enough. They are painted all black. Since they put them in around the lake there has not been one Canadian goose to be found.
Unless you are neutering your stray kitties, they will make kittens which will be even easier prey for the owls. I say the owls would be doing you a favor in that case and keeping the feral cat population down.
It would be better to domesticate and bring the cats inside, but if the OP decides to go that way, it won’t happen overnight. It took me weeks to get to know a feral Siamese well enough to approach him.
I just don’t think she is doing those kitties any favors by feeding them and keeping them around her home if she is worried about predators. Feral cats have it much tougher than house cats and they are going to have shorter life spans. If you feed them you will keep them around and run the risk of losing them. There really isn’t anything you can do about it. Ya know what I mean?
Yup, Great Horned Owls decimated the outdoor cat population in a friend’s town up north, and a few small dogs. A few other species will take cats as well.
For sure. Cats seem to be a little more cautious, however. We’ve lost scads of cats over the years, but have always figured its the Coyotes. I guess a few could have been “Owled”. They seem to hid under things better than the poultry.
These bastards wiped out a whole flock of Heritage Turkeys, probably averaging 10-15lbs apiece. Always evidence in an epic struggle, with feathers all over the place. They tear off the heads to get to the full crops.
Great Horned Owls can certainly predate cats. Needle sharp talons more than an inch long driven at hundreds of pounds per square inch of force will easily puncture a skull and result in almost instantaneous kills. Owls are unafraid of lights and can hunt quite competently in daylight or artificial light. Their superior eyesight, binaural hearing, and virtually silent flight make them superb predators. At night they do not have to compete with diurnal raptors, but they can be quite effective predators around the clock. If anything, rather than discommoding them, I’d expect your lights to work toward the owls’ advantage.
That said, cats are probably unfamiliar prey items for wild GHOs and I wouldn’t expect such predation to be very common. Except, as speculated above, in cases where numbers of kittens would almost invite predation on the smaller, more clumsy and less wary individuals. Owls are capable of taking advantage of opportunities, and I can imagine a resident pair becoming proficient at whatever prey, cats included, may be locally abundant.
The real answer is that cats, as is true with all our companion animals, do much better and live much longer and more comfortable lives indoors than out. Training them to remain inside requires dedication on your part, as well as the provision of sufficient entertainment and stimulation for their mental satisfaction. In addition to protecting your cats from predators, parasites, diseases, accidents, vehicles, nasty neighborhood children, and the host of other life-shortening problems experienced by outdoor cats, it also will save the lives of the hundreds of millions of small animals (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds) that outdoor cats kill annually.
A correct but limited statement. Better perhaps to state that since virtually all domestic cats in the US, including ferals, derive the mainstay of their nutritional needs from deliberate feeding by humans, protecting small animals from cat predation greatly benefits the totality of the natural environment.
My apology for dragging this thread off course though, I didn’t mean to sound like a crusader. To specifically answer the OP, the best protection from owls you can provide your cats is to keep them indoors. Owls are a potential predator of cats, although as stated earlier, that is not their usual diet.
I’m very fortunate. What you describe is exactly my situation.