Download or read book Feral Cats Changed Our Lives written by Janet E. Swinehart and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2021-08-25 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feral Cats Changed Our Lives: Adopt the Challenge By Janet E. Swinehart and David A. Swinehart While writing this book, Janet E. Swinehart looked to God and knows He has given these wonderful creatures, these feral, rescued cats, Summer, Snippy, and Katie, to her and her husband David to love. Janet and David’s story tells about the patience, love, and disappointments that these friends have brought to their lives. Feral cats are not ordinary cats, and they have a strange nature. On many occasions, Janet found herself praying for herself and her husband, because at times her patience was thin. Summer, Snippy, and Katie are true feral cats, and though Janet was told in books never to try to train them (because it’s almost an impossible mission), she was determined they were going to become cute, cuddly, and friendly babies—but you will soon see that became a significant challenge! There were some very funny, as well as very scary times, and parts of the story may make you want to cry like she did. Though certain things could have been done differently, experience over time helped Janet and Dave to be more successful in their endeavors. Walk with them on this journey of raising feral cats, and learn from these episodes. The Swineharts believe that God gave them pets to keep them company and give them a release from the seriousness of day-to-day life. Hopefully, reading this book will inspire you to find a companion of your own to enrich life by caring for a future friend who needs a helping hand. So, put your kitty boots on, and be on your way!
Download or read book Cat Wars written by Peter P. Marra and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our cats are a danger to species diversity and human health In 1894, a lighthouse keeper named David Lyall arrived on Stephens Island off New Zealand with a cat named Tibbles. In just over a year, the Stephens Island Wren, a rare bird endemic to the island, was rendered extinct. Mounting scientific evidence confirms what many conservationists have suspected for some time—that in the United States alone, free-ranging cats are killing birds and other animals by the billions. Equally alarming are the little-known but potentially devastating public health consequences of rabies and parasitic Toxoplasma passing from cats to humans at rising rates. Cat Wars tells the story of the threats free-ranging cats pose to biodiversity and public health throughout the world, and sheds new light on the controversies surrounding the management of the explosion of these cat populations. This compelling book traces the historical and cultural ties between humans and cats from early domestication to the current boom in pet ownership, along the way accessibly explaining the science of extinction, population modeling, and feline diseases. It charts the developments that have led to our present impasse—from Stan Temple's breakthrough studies on cat predation in Wisconsin to cat-eradication programs underway in Australia today. It describes how a small but vocal minority of cat advocates has campaigned successfully for no action in much the same way that special interest groups have stymied attempts to curtail smoking and climate change. Cat Wars paints a revealing picture of a complex global problem—and proposes solutions that foresee a time when wildlife and humans are no longer vulnerable to the impacts of free-ranging cats.
Download or read book Late Migrations written by Margaret Renkl and published by Milkweed Editions. This book was released on 2019-07-09 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times columnist, a portrait of a family and the cycles of joy and grief that mark the natural world: “Has the makings of an American classic.” —Ann Patchett Growing up in Alabama, Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver. And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds—the natural one and our own—“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.” Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut. “Magnificent . . . Readers will savor each page and the many gems of wisdom they contain.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Download or read book A Cat Named Darwin written by William Jordan and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2003-11-12 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author describes his detachment from animals before meeting a cat whose failing health and winning personality shifted his scientific perspectives and brought about his understanding of the evolutionary significance of kinship.
Download or read book The Lion in the Living Room written by Abigail Tucker and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cats are incredible creatures: they can eat practically anything and live almost anywhere. Tracing their rise from prehistory to the modern cat craze, Abigail Tucker presents an adventure through history, natural science, and pop culture. With keen reporting and lively wit, Tucker investigates the way house cats have used their relationship with humans to become one of the most powerful animals on the planet--
Download or read book Taming Me written by Cathy Unruh and published by Collage Books. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Born in the wild, on a tropical island where food is scarce and predators are plentiful, a tiny kitten struggles to stay alive. When she is captured by humans and taken from her mother, Lucy Miracle's rags-to-riches adventure begins. In this epic tale told by Lucy herself, you will feel her terror when she is trapped in a cage. See through her eyes as she is nursed back to health from the brink of death, and share her joy as she accepts the love of her new human family. Will Lucy ever see her mother again? Can she and her human friends stop the man who wants to murder every cat on the island? If she decides to live in a house with humans, will she miss the freedom of the wild? Experience life as a feral cat in Taming Me."--From back cover.
Download or read book Free ranging Cats written by Stephen Spotte and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-07-16 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feral and stray domestic cats occupy many different habitats. They can resist dehydration for months by relying exclusively on the tissue water of their prey allowing them to colonize remote deserts and other inhospitable places. They thrive and reproduce in humid equatorial rainforests and windswept subantarctic islands. In many areas of the world feral cats have driven some species of birds and mammals to extinction and others to the edge, becoming a huge conservation concern. With the control of feral and stray cats now a top conservation priority, biologists are intensifying efforts to understand cat behaviour, reproductive biology, use of space, intraspecies interaction, dietary requirements, prey preferences, and vulnerability to different management strategies. This book provides the most comprehensive review yet published on the behavior, ecology and management of free-ranging domestic cats, whether they be owned, stray, or feral. It reviews management methods and their progress, and questions several widely accepted views of free-ranging cats, notably that they live within dominance hierarchies and are highly social. Insightful and objective, this book includes: a functional approach, emphasizing sensory biology, reproductive physiology, nutrition, and space partitioning; clear treatment of how free-ranging cats should be managed; extensive critical interpretation of the world's existing literature; results of studies of cats in laboratories under controlled conditions, with data that can also be applied to pet cats. Free-ranging Cats: Behavior, Ecology, Management is valuable to ecologists, conservation scientists, animal behaviorists, wildlife nutritionists, wildlife biologists, research and wildlife veterinarians, clinical veterinarians, mammalogists, and park and game reserve planners and administrators.
Download or read book Citizen Canine written by David Grimm and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2014-04-08 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dogs are getting lawyers. Cats are getting kidney transplants. Could they one day be fellow citizens? Cats and dogs were once wild animals. Today, they are family members and surrogate children. A little over a century ago, pets didn't warrant the meager legal status of property. Now, they have more rights and protections than any other animal in the country. Some say they're even on the verge of becoming legal persons. How did we get here -- and what happens next? In this fascinating exploration of the changing status of dogs and cats in society, pet lover and award-winning journalist David Grimm explores the rich and surprising history of our favorite companion animals. He treks the long and often torturous path from their wild origins to their dark days in the middle ages to their current standing as the most valued animals on Earth. As he travels across the country -- riding along with Los Angeles detectives as they investigate animal cruelty cases, touring the devastation of New Orleans in search of the orphaned pets of Hurricane Katrina, and coming face-to-face with wolves and feral cats -- Grimm reveals the changing social attitudes that have turned pets into family members, and the remarkable laws and court cases that have elevated them to quasi citizens. The journey to citizenship isn't a smooth one, however. As Grimm finds, there's plenty of opposition to the rising status of cats and dogs. From scientists and farmers worried that our affection for pets could spill over to livestock and lab rats to philosophers who say the only way to save society is to wipe cats and dogs from the face of the earth, the battle lines are being drawn. We are entering a new age of pets -- one that is fundamentally transforming our relationship with these animals and reshaping the very fabric of society. For pet lovers or anyone interested in how we decide who gets to be a "person" in today's world, Citizen Canine is a must read. It is a pet book like no other.
Download or read book Cat Sense written by John Bradshaw and published by Basic Books (AZ). This book was released on 2013-09-10 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cats have been popular household pets for thousands of years, and their numbers only continue to rise. Today there are three cats for every dog on the planet, and yet cats remain more mysterious, even to their most adoring owners. Unlike dogs, cats evolved as solitary hunters, and, while many have learned to live alongside humans and even feel affection for us, they still don’t quite “get us” the way dogs do, and perhaps they never will. But cats have rich emotional lives that we need to respect and understand if they are to thrive in our company. In Cat Sense, renowned anthrozoologist John Bradshaw takes us further into the mind of the domestic cat than ever before, using cutting-edge scientific research to dispel the myths and explain the true nature of our feline friends. Tracing the cat’s evolution from lone predator to domesticated companion, Bradshaw shows that although cats and humans have been living together for at least eight thousand years, cats remain independent, predatory, and wary of contact with their own kind, qualities that often clash with our modern lifestyles. Cats still have three out of four paws firmly planted in the wild, and within only a few generations can easily revert back to the independent way of life that was the exclusive preserve of their predecessors some 10,000 years ago. Cats are astonishingly flexible, and given the right environment they can adapt to a life of domesticity with their owners—but to continue do so, they will increasingly need our help. If we’re to live in harmony with our cats, Bradshaw explains, we first need to understand their inherited quirks: understanding their body language, keeping their environments—however small—sufficiently interesting, and becoming more proactive in managing both their natural hunting instincts and their relationships with other cats. A must-read for any cat lover, Cat Sense offers humane, penetrating insights about the domestic cat that challenge our most basic assumptions and promise to dramatically improve our pets’ lives—and ours.
Download or read book Life From A Feral Cat s Perspective written by Janessa O'Brien and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2024-01-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever seen cats on the streets where they are there one minute, and the next time you look, they are not there? Like they just disappeared? Maybe you were seeing something? These cats are called Feral Cats, and they can be found all over the world! There is no shortage of these cats and overpopulation is a big concern. There is also so much more that we can learn about them. If you are interested in learning more about them, please continue to read on. Here is what we will cover in this book: -You will learn the different species of feral cats and how they differ from cats that are considered strays -How feral cats live within our community -The dangers that feral cats face -Feral cats lives in other countries -How you can help control the population of feral cats and why they are the way they are This book gives an insight into why we don't need to fear feral cats as many people think we should. It offers ways to help the feral cat population and how feral cats do not need to be a nuisance.
Download or read book Among the Pigeons written by John L. Read and published by Wakefield Press. This book was released on 2019-05-06 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last century, global domestic cat numbers rocketed past 200 million, along with a surge in cat diseases and numbers of feral cats and sick, injured and malnourished cats. Cat shelters are overflowing. Hundreds of thousands of cats are euthanised every year by despondent animal welfare workers. Misplaced sentimentality, sometimes promoted by corporate greed of cat food companies, has exacerbated this situation through promoting irresponsible feeding of strays. Ecologist and author John Read has travelled the world consulting cat experts and collating the most recent science. In Among the Pigeons he balances the allure of indoor cats with the animal welfare, human health, and conservation issues they create when allowed to roam. But he also presents solutions, from breeding ideal indoor pet cats to development of humane and targeted tools to control feral cats. In striking parallel to the repercussions of human-induced climate change, warnings about the damage wrought by free-ranging cats have been largely denied or overlooked. But we ignore these issues at our peril. For our own mental health and endangered wildlife worldwide, time is running out.
Download or read book Call of the Cats written by Andrew Bloomfield and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2016-10-10 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When aspiring screenwriter Andrew Bloomfield moved into a bungalow in Southern California he soon discovered that he shared the property with a large colony of feral cats — untamed, uninterested in human touch, not purring pets in waiting. But after a midnight attack by predators that decimated yet another litter of kittens, Bloomfield decided to intervene. He began to name and nurse, feed and house, rescue and neuter. Drawing on his time living in Asia among spiritual teachers, he takes us on the contemplative, humorous, and poignant journey of saving these cats, only to find it was they who saved him by revealing a world of meaning beyond his unrealized Hollywood dreams.
Download or read book Community Approaches to Feral Cats written by Margaret R. Slater and published by Humane Society of the U S. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Management strategies for humane societies, lawmakers, animal control agencies, veterinarians, and feral cat caretakers for dealing with feral cats.
Download or read book The State of the Animals III 2005 written by Deborah J. Salem and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Unnatural Companions written by Peter Christie and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2020-05-21 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Highly compelling...page-turning read" — TNC's Cool Green Science We love our pets. Dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, and other species have become an essential part of more families than ever before—in North America today, pets outnumber people. Pet owners are drawn to their animal companions through an innate desire to connect with other species. But there is a dark side to our domestic connection with animal life: the pet industry is contributing to a global conservation crisis for wildlife—often without the knowledge of pet owners. In Unnatural Companions, journalist Peter Christie issues a call to action for pet owners. If we hope to reverse the alarming trend of wildlife decline, pet owners must acknowledge the pets-versus-conservation dilemma and concede that our well-fed and sheltered cats too often prey on small backyard wildlife and seemingly harmless reptiles released into the wild might be the next destructive invasive species. We want our pets to eat nutritionally healthy food, but how does the designer food we feed them impact the environment? Christie's book is a cautionary tale to responsible pet owners about why we must change the ways we love and care for our pets. It concludes with the positive message that the small changes we make at home can foster better practices within the pet industry that will ultimately benefit our pets’ wild brethren.
Download or read book Community Cats written by Anne E. Beall and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2016-07-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It all started when a rat ran over her husband's foot and author, Dr. Anne E. Beall, began a journey into the world of feral cats. The Bealls had experienced rat problems for a long time. Then, a neighbor told them about a program called Cats at Work where one could get feral cats that would take care of the rat problem. In Community Cats, she tells how she and her husband entered the world of feral cats when they signed up for the Chicago Cats at Work program with Tree House Humane Society. Tree House practices TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return), and they trapped, neutered, and relocated a feral cat colony to Beall's home. She narrates what she learned about the unique world of feral cats and about the people who are involved with feral cats and who advocate for them. Community Cats shares the story of what initially began as a creative solution to a rat problem and became a journey that led her to reach out to others in the feral-cat world. Beall interviewed other colony caretakers and leaders in the TNR movement and learned about how feral cats live, how they relate to one another, and how they relate to their caretakers. She also conducted survey research on American's attitudes toward stray cats, TNR programs, and spaying/neutering. Beall learned that feral cat programs have a huge impact on the caretakers of the colonies, on the neighbors, on the community, and on the cats themselves and details those findings in Community Cats.
Download or read book Cats in Australia written by Chris Dickman and published by CSIRO PUBLISHING. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across the world, cats are loved as pets or are kept or tolerated for their role in controlling some animal pests. But cats, both pets and feral, also kill many native animals and this toll can be enormous. Cats have been remarkably successful in Australia, spreading pervasively across the continent and many islands, occurring in all environments, and proving to be adept and adaptable hunters. A large proportion of Australia’s distinctive fauna is threatened and recent research highlights the significant role that cats play in the decline and extinction of native species. Cats in Australia brings this research together, documenting the extent to which cats have subverted, and are continuing to subvert, Australia’s biodiversity. But the book does much more than spotlight the impacts of cats on Australian nature. It describes the origins of cats and their global spread, their long-standing and varying relationship with people, their global impacts and their ecology. It also seeks to describe the challenge of managing cats, and the options available to constrain their impacts.
