(Continued from Part 1.)
Mayoclinic.org has good information on hantavirus, and preventive rodent control (they do not address natural predators). They advise not keeping mice or rats as pets, unless they are tested, and then totally quarantined
HOW TO CHOOSE A CAT OR KITTEN
PHYSICAL ChARACTERISTICS
The longer and leaner the cat is, the better. The more it looks like a cheetah the faster it will be, the higher it can jump, and the better it can hunt. While even a chunky hunk of a cat may be a good hunter, it is fighting against its body type.
My Joyful looks like a cross between a cinder block and a powder puff, but she does a good job hunting. However, she can’t cross the living room in a single leap, as Rascal can – over twelve feet. He looks like a flying silk scarf: an absurdly long body soaring through the air. Relative to the difference in body size, that’s about the same leaping distance as a full-grown cougar.
A long-bodied, long-legged, lean “flying” cat will chase the birds out of your garden, and out of your fruit trees too. Yes, they do kill birds. The weak, slow, and stupid ones. Cats are often accused of killing vast quantities of birds, but somehow there are always the same number of birds every year, century in and century out. Birds are an occasional treat; I did not see feathers every day. Mice are the main course.
If the cats you choose also have big ears (all the better to hear you with), big eyes (all the better to see you with), a long muzzle (all the better to bite prey with), and a long tail (better balance), they have hunting superpowers. The show quality Siamese are the perfection of this type, even if they do look a little odd. But then, how many cats can effortlessly float to the top of an open door, land neatly on the inch-and-a-half-wide top edge, sit down and get comfy? A seven-foot vertical leap is nothing for them.
I once visited one of the top Siamese breeders in the world. As we sat in her living room, we heard the sound of fast-racing feet. A few of her cats were zooming down the hall toward us. They raced into the room at top speed, but shockingly did not slow down as they approached the wall ahead of them. I expected a pile-up of cats on the baseboard. No. As they approached the wall, they angled their bodies, leaped up, and continued racing at top speed ON THE VERTICAL WALL. As they reached the end of it, they angled again, leaped down, and zoomed back out of the room. Centripetal force.
I looked at the breeder in astonishment. She told me it happened all the time. This was true. I noticed a grubby stripe about two feet up, left by cat footprints, running the width of the wall.
Nothing, but nothing, would be able to escape those Siamese.
TEMPERAMENT CHARACTERISTICS
Nonetheless, the most important quality to choose is curiosity. Select the cat or kitten that is quickest to approach you, and looks more curious and interested than fearful. Do not take the shy one in the back. A fearful cat is more likely to bite or scratch, and if this genetic trait is concentrated by breeding with other fearful cats, the result can ultimately be vicious kittens.
The well-known Russian experiment with breeding wild foxes demonstrates this. It has been running for decades now. They bred the least fearful foxes together, and separated this genetic line from the line of the most fearful foxes that were bred together. The scientists continued to select for the least and most fearful foxes in each line. Over several generations the less fearful foxes not only became friendly, but also began to show some dog-like physical characteristics, a wider head, somewhat floppy ears and white spotting. The more fearful foxes became nearly insane. Even their keepers who fed them and who they had known from infancy were greeted with ferocious savagery.
Never choose a fearful cat or kitten. The most curious kitten is the most fearless, and the one that will bond most easily with its human tribe.
You need curious, low-fear, friendly, outgoing stock for your colony, so you can care for them just as you would any of your other livestock. They need to be easy to handle with only minimal socialization. You may need to rescue a lost kitten or a trapped cat, treat a sick or injured one, or help relocate a mother who has put her newborn kittens in a hazardous place. You may need to move. You want them to come over, rub against your leg, and purr, not suddenly slash you up for no reason but genetic, innate fear.
As a Ragdoll cat breeder, I selected for good temperament – that is what Ragdolls are famous for. There are many beautiful breeds of cats, but Ragdolls are not called “puppy cats” for nothing. Generation by generation I watched the changes in behavior of extremely young kittens. They were always easy to socialize, but after a few generations, my one-week-old kittens, eyes still not opened, would creep out of their box to come and greet me! They could not even see me, only hear my voice. Normal kittens that age would ignore me and stay with mama.
And of course, being Ragdolls, none of my cats ever willingly bit or scratched me, not even when I hurt them getting stuck stuff out of their fur. Ragdolls were bred for temperament from the beginning of the breed. There are throwbacks, but they are rare.
Unless your colony is all local volunteers, choose for temperament, and then select for temperament with your cat colony. And foster and support it. This might mean extra food and care for a good cat, or extra protection and milk for a good pregnant or nursing mama; maybe bringing her inside so more of her kittens survive. It can also mean a very long car ride for a nasty one.
A really good cat may even try to protect you if they sense you are in danger. One night, during a snowstorm when the power had failed, I was curled up on the sofa reading a book by headlamp when my big old boy, Merlin, began to growl. He was standing rigidly on the dining table, staring out the window. Merlin never, ever growled at anything or anyone. I got up to look, thinking there might be an animal outside, and saw a strange car with two people in it parked out by the garage. The car was dark. Since the only time strangers come up the mountain here is if they are lost, and since no one would come up at night in a snowstorm, much less sit and park, I was on red alert. My headlamp, aimed their way, was all they could see. They knew that they had been spotted, and after a couple of minutes they turned on their engine and drove away.
If you live in cold winter areas, choose the largest cat or kitten that you can if it meets the criteria, for reasons that will be discussed below. However, a large one absolutely must be very curious and friendly; you do not, not, not want a huge, vicious cat in your colony!
Pound for pound, a cat is at least three times as dangerous as a dog, if not more. I once had to pay a big vet bill because of an eight-week-old kitten of mine that had gotten out, and attacked a full-grown German Shepherd. It used the same strategy as the cat in Little House on the Prairie – leap on the dog’s back, and go for the head. But he was sweet as honey to people.
He got out again as an adult. I found out when people were banging on my door, informing me that he was about to get into a fight with another tomcat. They were roaring at each other, and he stunk to high Heaven. Knowing nothing of cats at that time in my life, I walked over and picked him up! He let me, and lay calmly against my chest as I walked back into the apartment. (Do not do this.)
I was once sliced up by a vicious kitten from a bad line. If your stock doesn’t have good temperament, then it doesn’t matter what else they do have.
Also, if possible, choose one with a thick coat, or a semi-long coat. But stay away from anything that looks like a Persian. They cannot maintain their thick, dense, very long coats themselves, they get matted up, and mothers can’t deliver or care for their kittens well without human help. And their extremely flat faces mean respiratory problems.
In summary, when choosing cats and kittens for a cat colony, outgoing curiosity is the most important trait, followed by a long, long-legged body.
(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 3.)