Does My Cat's Bat Catching Affect Their Diet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ivan Seeking
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around the challenges and experiences of dealing with bats and stray cats. One user shares a humorous yet frustrating experience with their cat, Bun, who catches bats and brings them into the office, leading to a chaotic situation. The conversation highlights the legal protections for bats in the UK, contrasting with the US perspective, where some users mention the complexities of managing stray animals, particularly cats, due to strict laws against abandonment. The discussion also touches on the benefits of having bats around for pest control, with one user suggesting the installation of a bat box to attract them. Additionally, there are anecdotes about stray cats, including the difficulties of managing their population on farms and humorous stories about veterinary experiences. Overall, the thread emphasizes the coexistence of pets and wildlife, the legal implications of animal care, and the ecological benefits of bats.
Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
8,194
Reaction score
2,530
Lucky me; our sweet little kitty, Bun, catches bats. Then she brings them in the office. With the first one, she brought it in and let it go. I opened the door, but after an hour of trying to work with the bat flying around my head, I finally had to bat the bat. The next day I found another little wingless carcass in the office. Apparently the wings are quite tasty, but it seems that breast of bat isn't very good.

They have nasty looking little teeth though...
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Omg, you batted a bat, in the uk the things are protected by law, so if you have bats in the belfry your stuck with them.
 
Bats are protected by law? Is Adam West your PM or something?
edit: In the US it's customary to kill animals protected by law and tell nobody that you did it. It's a lot less hassle than having feds demand you protect them or simply leave your property (refer to that one episode of Penn and Teller Bull****).
 
Here, in Oregon, it is illegal to dump cats in the woods; in fact, it may even be a felony... I know the penalty can be severe. We live along a creek that comes down from hills, and our place is one of the first places to stop when following the creek. So, people go into the hills and illegally dump their cats which then find their way to our place. Unless I want to risk going to jail or paying a stiff fine, we either have to adopt them, find them homes, watch them starve to death, or take them to the pound and pay thirty bucks. We've adopted two, with a third who just comes in late at night to eat, another who we think got sick and died, and we had to take one to the pound. He was really big - perhaps 18 pounds or more, with huge feet and claws - wild, aggressive, and dangerous to the other cats.
 
Ivan Seeking said:
Here, in Oregon, it is illegal to dump cats in the woods; in fact, it may even be a felony... I know the penalty can be severe. We live along a creek that comes down from hills, and our place is one of the first places to stop when following the creek. So, people go into the hills and illegally dump their cats which then find their way to our place. Unless I want to risk going to jail or paying a stiff fine, we either have to adopt them, find them homes, watch them starve to death, or take them to the pound and pay thirty bucks. We've adopted two, with a third who just comes in late at night to eat, another who we think got sick and died, and we had to take one to the pound. He was really big - perhaps 18 pounds or more, with huge feet and claws - wild, aggressive, and dangerous to the other cats.

Poor puddy tats, i have a cat that some times comes to my door and miaows but as soon as i open the door it scarpers, one time it did come in, ran upstaires looked around then left, i can not get within ten feet of it, i
often wonder if it used to live here.
 
All I know is that Bats spread Rabies.
 
I like having bats around. They do a good job eating bugs. There's a light over our lab window that attracts all the bugs at night, and since it's an old building and the window doesn't seal well, they all crawl in. I think the best solution would be a bat box on the building outside the window...but some administrator would probably find a way to get me in trouble for housing animals on campus without an approved protocol if I did that. :rolleyes:

We have a mess load of stray cats on the farm. People see a farm and just assume the people there want to adopt cats. At least now we got some live traps and a vet willing to spay or neuter them as they are caught (or as one friend enjoyed sharing after taking her kitten to a vet..."My cat was spayed AND neutered!" She wound up with a hermaphrodite with both an ovary and a testis...pretty cool.)
 
:smile: I can't say as I've ever encountered a he/she cat. That would be quite a conversation piece.
I like bats. Had a pet one once, that couldn't fly because the cat brought it home. I guess that it had internal injuries as well, because it died after a couple of days. (Or maybe the food that I gave it wasn't suitable, but I think that they're somewhat omnivorous.)
The bug thing is amazing. A 6-oz bat can eat something like 10 oz of insects in one night. Their metabolism is so fast that they're always hungry.
 
Back
Top