Safety of cats in Pahoa?

[MichaelH]

Am planning on bringing my adult male cat when I move to the area in a few years. He is a some in, some out cat. He has no interest in birds, but watch out if you are a small snake or lizard. So, how much danger would the centipedes be? Anyone have experience with this?

[csgray]

I would be more worried about loose dogs with a strong prey drive like terriers or other hunting dogs if the cat is outside of your fenced yard. A lot of dogs here are allowed to go after feral cats, rats and mongoose, and then can't really distinguish between feral animals and pets.

Carol

[GuyinHPP]

Really depends on where you live and how far your cat roams. Personally, my cat is an indoor cat and not allow out unsupervised. But that is mainly because there are a lot of local dogs in the area, I don't want my cat to get fleas or hit by the people who speed down our road.

[birdmove]

Our cat lives mostly outside, but does come in and sleep in the house. She is named Cranky (for good reason) and does fine. She stays on our acre. She has killed the occasional rat. Free ranging dogs are common, but we have had our daughter bit twice, but Cranky has had no problem. If you bicycle , jog, or walk, I would suggest some kind of dog discourager.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[lavalava]

We fenced our lot so no need worry about the many, many stray roaming dogs around here. Do the same and your cat will be fine!

[missydog1]

I live north of Hilo, but in a rural area, and love my two cats and worry about them.

Cats have for ten years lived around lots of mongoose, centipedes and bufo toads. No doubt they got "educated" in payment for their curiosity long ago, but never had a bad incident of getting sick. The mongoose donÔt bother cats, so as soon as the cat learns how bad ass a mongoose can be, they co-exist peacefully.

With cars, depends on how smart your cat is about avoiding cars. Mine jam out of the driveway when they hear any car vibration. Some near me have a bad habit of lying in the road and are fearless. Not all of them make it.

We have wild pigs in the yard and occasionally weÔll get a roaming dog. The cats have their "safe" places to go under the house, trees to climb, and a cat door. They are fast cats and very wary. Again, a trusting cat might not do so well.

The big problem I have is with mean feral cats that attempt to muscle in. This is where my cats have picked up battle scars and gotten abscesses. Once the ferals identify there are domestics being fed, they will do anything to get to the food, including sneaking in the house and picking fights.

There are areas too where the feline AIDS is common and your cat can get exposed by fighting with an infected feral. Some vets will give an immunization for it, but when I last asked it was questionable as to its efficacy.

The cat will love the amount of lizards that live here.

The best advice I can give, as someone who lost one cat (run over) after a move, is donÔt skimp with the amount of time to get the cat used to the move. Do not let it out until it is not freaked out any more. Two weeks maybe. My cats were born on island so they did not have to acclimate, but a move is still a big deal.

When it came time to let them out, I got a small leash and harness (which they loathed) and kept them on it while they walked around the new place, and showed them the scary things like the busy road while I was secure they could not freak and bolt into traffic. It wasnÔt too pleasant an experience, but by the time they got out they were ready to check the place out but did not run away looking for their lost home.

My one cat who had been confined for weeks including a kennel stay during a long move where they had to stay in, when she finally got out in the yard, which is like heaven for a cat -- after she checked it out she came and nuzzled and purred and did her version of AWESOME, I approve this new place. []

This last is really important:
Before your cat ever gets out, make sure the catÔs chip is registered with the KeaÔau humane society if that is not part of the move. They euthanize cats that are brought in if they are not chipped. sometimes the same day.

Also get an engraved ID tag for the catÔs collar, with its address and phone #, so that if he does stray, he can be identified. You can order them online or through StacyÔs Pets in Hilo. While there is a fair chance a lost cat will break away its collar in the wild, the ID tag could make all the difference.

[Wao nahele wahine]

We live in a rural area on 3.44 acres and have three cats. Our male cat has killed several mongoose. All three roam the property, but they also can come indoors. There are a lot of stray cats in our area, and there will be some territorial fighting, but so far we haven't had any cat fight injuries to deal with. We've had our cats for almost two years, since they were kittens. They were born to a feral cat at a house we were renting at the time, and we rescued them.

Wahine

[kimo wires]

Worst thing to happen to my 5 year old male cat is LFA or Little Fire Ants got in his eyes. So his eyes are blurry now and I think his eye sight has suffered. He can still see well enough to hunt though.

[Delta9r]

The lady who used to run Yoshizawa Store in Pepe'ekeo used to keep her cats on leashes, with their own little "cat-houses" in the fenced front yard next to the store.
One day I asked her why she did this and she said that she had lost too many cats to vehicle traffic on the highway.
A bit extreme I thought, but to each their own.

"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."

[AlohaSteven]

Please bring in your pets' food bowls overnight and keep the area around them tidy in the daytime. Food bowls left out overnight are feeding stations for rats and feral cats; scattered kibble feeds little fire ants (LFA) and other vermin. While cats appear to be immune to rat lungworm disease the slugs which can be accidentally ingested in pet food & water bowls _are_ infective to dogs, parrots, and a number of other animals. An old gal living next door during the year we were in HPP had a bunch of cats which were almost entirely blind from LFA bites on their eyes; Amdro and Tango will go a long way in preventing this if you have a relatively small lot (expensive to maintain if a large acreage); be sure to put the baits inside pop bottles inverted on sticks stuck in the ground or weighted in place with rocks so the peanut butter/Amdro mix stays dry and does not itself become rat food.

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