I have written about the fact that I grew up rurally. It was also the case that no animals lived inside the house. We had a dog that we would let in on a rug by the door, but she went back outside before bed. All cats were outside cats. They were kind of pets and mostly feral.

I am a big believer that cats have a job around the home. Their job is to keep vermin at bay outside the house. In the picture above, you can see Leo got himself a rat.

Growing up, we had mice and moles. I never remember having them inside the house. Here is seems like we have rats and squirrels (as well as skunks, possum and raccoon). Both like to think that they have the right to come in from time to time. I can say that our one outside cat is a pathetic excuse for a hunter. In the ten years that we have had her, we have had very little production like maybe 5 mice total. I have eliminated more than that myself.

Leo is about a year and a half. He has recently decided that he would like to spend more time outside than inside, which is fine by me. Our only true worry is that we live on a very busy road and we have had more than one cat hit by a car. At this point, it is very difficult to stop him from going out, so I guess we will leave things up to fate.

When we first got married, we got a kitten we named Spunky. Spunky was one tough dude. I one time observed him chasing a fox when we lived in South Carolina. He was a true defender of the home and he saw snakes, lizards, rabbits and bugs as well as mice as his prey. Unfortunately, he got hit by a car about fifteen years ago. Every since then, we have been searching for a cat that would take his job seriously.

I don’t know how to pick them and I don’t know the secret to getting a good cat. I will say both Spunky and Leo were obtained as kittens. But so were others that have done little to nothing. Our one shelter cat was a wreck that peed everywhere and ran off and died after about six months. He had some serious disease issues as we spent hundreds trying to get him right. I guess the secret is to keep trying.

We pay for pest service. I have followed all the advice including eliminating the compost pile. The experts say that vermin can get into a building with a whole the size of a quarter. Part of the problem is animals like squirrels create their own holes. I don’t believe that a cat is going to kill a squirrel, but I do believe that they will chase and hunt them and reduce their presence.

The best cats are the ones that go in and out in my opinion. They have confidence to have some affection like a pet and security that they are going to be OK around humans. The feral cats tend to be extremely skittish around people and will never allow themselves to be caught for things like vet care. They also seem to be relatively low on the pest elimination scale. I don’t know if it is the desire to please the owner or survival instinct that makes them behave that way.

End Your Programming Routine: I have heard that cats outside devastate the bird population as the prime argument for keeping them inside. I have seen birds killed, but I find that to be rare compared to the other animals. Around my house, there are a lot of starlings that I would also like to see killed so I am hoping to see more birds quite frankly. I guess I am not saying that they don’t have a negative impact but I think their overall good outweighs the bad. I am all for keeping the pest control outside, that is worth having a good cat.