Tomcat Quite a long time ago, I bought, and began raising chickens and ducks. One day while I was building their coop, I noticed a stray cat lurking in the far back corner of the yard. He was all grey with those raccoon like markings on him, and man was he big. His fur was smooth and it appeared he was well taken care of. Each day at some point while working in the yard, I noticed he was still around. I was a little worried he was waiting to get his paws on the baby chicks. I quickly added a run. A run is a fenced in area, where the birds are safe to roam around without getting caught by any predators. The new run was flimsy, but is would suffice for now, and keep the cat at bay. I didn't see him again after that for quite some time.
The chicks grew and turned into healthy egg layers. Each morning, I would go out back, and feed and water them. I collected the eggs, and around noon, I would let them out to forage the property freely, in search of worms, bugs, and whatever greens they might want to eat. It was wonderful. Nothing ever harmed my birds. I was feeling pretty good about the whole experience, until late one night, or should I say, very early one morning.
It was just after I had collapsed in the yard from heat exhaustion. I was okay, but the doctor told me I had to keep hydrated for now on. No excuses he said, drink lots of water. I did as he ordered and I was in great health. Although now, I always had to pee. I woke up at least twice each night. Once around midnight, and then again around two AM. One morning during my two AM dance, I heard the ducks quacking a bit. I went to the window, and sitting by the run, I saw that big old Tom cat. He wasn't as pretty this time though. His fur was dirty and roughed up, and he looked like he had been fighting. I knew it, I said to myself, that cat wants my birds. I had seen him on occasion early in the morning leaving the yard, but never gave it much thought. Ya know, now thinking back, each time I saw him, he always looked rattier than the time before. He even smelled like a skunk. I put on my pants, boots and shirt, and went out side and shewed him away. He walked over to the edge of the woods, and turned his head toward me. After a glaring look, he turned his head frontwards, and jumped into the woods. Good riddance I thought, you're not getting my ducks or my chickens. You're all safe now girls I said to the flock, go back to sleep. I proceeded back into the house, took another pee and back to bed I went.
I started a new routine. Every time I got up to go, I would pass the window and survey the yard and make sure everything was fine. I began to see the cat every night. I was worried he was gonna get in the run and hurt the girls. Night after night I chased him away and went back to sleep. He was spraying his scent all around the coop and run. It stunk. I guess he was marking his territory. Not on my watch I thought, these are my girls. I was laying restlessly awake, knowing he would just come back,and try and get in the damn run. I should have built it stronger, but winter was setting in and I was too old to do it in the cold all alone. One night after chasing him, I laid in bed thinking. I know, I'll buy a pellet gun and shoot him in the butt. He'll surely get the message then.
The next day I went to the local Walmart and bought a gun. When I got home I practiced shooting old soda cans off a chair down in the back yard. Then I shot some more from the window. I was actually very good at it. I was ready. When I see that damn cat again, I will just give it a good sting.
That night when I woke up for my midnight run to the john, I couldn't get back to sleep. So I sat in my chair by the window with the pellet gun in my hands. Sure enough, just after two, I spot old Tom cat walking around the run from the side behind the coop. I lifted the gun and aimed for his hind section. I just wanted to scare him enough to stay away. When he sat down near the run, I gently squeezed the trigger. Pop. RRRRaaayyyaaaaaooouu screamed the cat, and dashed off faster than ever. I felt a bit bad, but it had to be done. He was a threat to my birds.
The next night I looked outside and he was nowhere in sight. Then the night after that, and the night after that. I did it. My girls were safe again. It was on the fourth night, free of that old scroungy nuisance cat, that it began.
I woke up, and went out to feed and water, when I saw a pile of feathers inside the run. One of my chickens had been eaten alive. I figured the cat had come back for revenge. The following night I stood guard at the window. This cat is not going to get the better of me I thought. I waited until day break, but nothing. Three nights in a row, I sat glued to that window, ready to take him out. But only peace and quiet. I was tired the next night and just slept. When I went out in the morning, one of my ducks was lying on the ground inside the run. The breast and entire neck had been eaten. I have had enough. I have to find this cat and kill it, or trap it maybe and relocate it far away.
I opened the coop door to fill the feeders, and there were mice eating the feed off the floor. They scampered away fast. I noticed also, some weird holes in the dirt inside the run. Maybe a snake I thought. I asked a friend of mine about the holes, and he immediately said, get a cat, you have rats too. It was strange, two years and I never had mice and rats, not that I saw anyway. I thought about old Tom cat. Maybe I was wrong.
I needed to know. I bought a large live trap to catch the cat. I also made a tin can and bucket mouse trap. I couldn't use poison, I didn't want the girls to die or get sick. The mouse trap was just a five gallon bucket with a wire running through it, and a tin can. I spread peanut butter all over and around the can. When the mouse crosses the wire to the can in the middle, the can spins, and the mouse will fall into the bucket. I set it up inside the coop. I set the live trap, baited with cat food, near the run. I slept through the night. I didn't even have to pee. I was getting things done. I will catch the cat, and the mice, and everything will be safe again.
I was up extra early and feeling great. I made coffee and had a bite to eat, then out to feed and water, and, check the traps. No sooner than I opened the back door I could smell it. Sure enough, there was a big skunk in the live trap. I wondered why he was here and not the cat. I wasn't gonna try to move the cage with the skunk, I didn't want to get sprayed. I moved slowly and bent down to open the trap and let it free. The skunk began to turn around to spray me. I talked ever so softly saying, it's okay buddy your okay, easy pal I'm gonna get you out of here. He stood still as I opened the trap. With the latch in place I stood up slow and moved away. In a minute or two the skunk ran off into the woods. I went into the coop and there in the bottom of the bucket were five mice. Them I drove across the main road and into the forest about a mile away. I set the live trap again that night, and caught a huge opossum. It was one ugly creature. It was all teeth. That guy I brought about four miles down the river. He'd be better off there than in my yard. I set the trap again and again, but there were no more takers. The cat never showed up. About a week after I stopped setting the trap, I lost another duck. I would have no choice but to rebuild the run in the spring. The cat was smarter than me.
I was back to waking up again at night to pee. I heard a chicken barking and clucking something fierce. I jumped into my clothes and out the door I ran. I was down the deck stairs in two leaps. I stumbled and fell as I hurried across the yard to the coop door. Just as I opened it, a giant raccoon blew right past me and was gone in seconds. It had killed yet another one of my flock. I looked in the bucket and sure enough, more mice. I sat on the coop steps bewildered. I am losing this battle I thought. Why are these animals all after my ducks and chickens. It was safe for so long before this all started. And then it dawned on me. Tomcat! He didn't want my chickens or ducks at all. He was catching the mice, and protecting his food source. That is why he smelled like skunk and was always so beat up. What had I done? I had misjudged the cat entirely. Man did I feel dumb. It hurt me to think I had shot him with my pellet gun. I wondered where he was now.
I stood, and headed back up the deck stairs. I turned and gazed over the yard one last time to make sure I didn't see the raccoon. I caught sight of a set of yellow gleaming eyes, right at the edge of the wood line. I looked hard and steady. It must be the coon I thought. I went in and got my pellet gun, and opened the window as quietly as I could. I set my sights on those eye's. I was about to pull the trigger when suddenly the animal jumped forward, out of the woods, and into the yard. It wasn't the raccoon at all, it was the old tom cat. His fur was shiny and clean. He wasn't beat up at all. He looked just like he did the first time I saw him, while I was working on the coop. I felt bad I had been so mean to him, and so quick to judge. I lowered the gun and went into the kitchen. I still had cat food left for the traps, and filled a small bowl with it. I went outside and placed it near the run. I went in and turned off the light, and sat in my chair and watched.
Tom cat, that's what I named him, ate the food. Each night I would set out the bowl and he would come and eat it. Within a few weeks, I began to smell his spray again. The mice, and the holes in the dirt slowly disappeared, and nothing seemed to bother the girls any more. That was almost twenty years ago. Good old Tom cat and I became pretty good friends over the years. He would sleep inside during the day, and at night, he stayed outside working hard. He was always all beat up looking, but he was well fed, loved, and cared for. He passed away, when I had had him for sixteen years. He was lying near the wood stove all warm and comfy. I still miss him today. Nothing could ever replace good Old Tom Cat. The end