As you may recall, my husband Marty is an avid bird lover. In fact, the windows in his office look out on a wide variety of assorted bird feeders filled with ample goodies.
Most mornings Marty gets up early just to sit in his office and watch the beautiful wild birds with their magnificently radiant colored feathers, which frequently drop in for a nutritious breakfast of assorted seeds and nuts, along with a refreshing drink of water.
Lately Marty has been telling me he noticed a drastic reduction in the number of birds visiting the tempting "fast food" restaurant he so painstakingly built. He decided to pay careful attention to the environment around the feeders to find out what was causing this to happen. Sadly to say, while Marty is passionate about felines, he discovered that one of our neighbor's cats has been hanging out in the tall shrubs around the house, just waiting for his morning meal.
To say that Marty is conflicted about this dilemma would be a huge understatement. He doesn't want to harm the kitty, but he also feels very protective about his feathered friends.
And like an answer to our prayer, the other day I happened upon an entry an online friend had posted on her Facebook page, about a fairly new product designed to keep wild birds off the menu for those unsupervised outdoor cats. You see, collaring a cat with a bell is rather pointless, since felines -- with their high intelligence and natural instincts to hunt birds -- quickly learn that they can easily prevent the bell from ringing, using their version of "stealth" mode in order to sneak up on unsuspecting prey.
Invented by a bird-feeding bird lover in Springfield Oregon, the CatBib is a gadget, made of soft, flexible neoprene, backed on each side with nylon. The neoprene material is identical to the fabric scuba divers wear. The bib attaches to kitty's collar with a hook and loop closure made of Velcro.
The rather odd looking "bib" hangs loosely over the cat's chest and wreaks havoc with the coordination and timing that cats need to successfully catch birds by coming between the bird and the cat precisely at the moment stealth is needed. It simply becomes impossible for them to pounce. Happily, the bib doesn't interfere with any other activities cats enjoy. They can still climb trees, run and play, scratch and groom themselves, and are able to eat wearing the bib. The manufacturer suggests removing the bib when kitty is home for the night. In fact, according to the manufacturer, some cats enjoy sleeping on them when they are not wearing them.
Now all we have to do is to convince our neighbor to purchase one!
Learn more about the product by visiting Catgoods.com.
To see the product in action, watch the video uploaded to YouTube by sweetvegan74.
What is your opinion about this contraption? Leave a comment and tell us!
Photo credit Cat Goods Inc
Shortly after retiring as a social worker and psychotherapist, I discovered my "writer's voice"…
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Comments (5)
Looks like an interesting product. But it states that it should be taken off when the cat comes home at night. Cats should be kept indoors unless supervised at all times outdoors. Safer for the birds and safer for the cats. It is a sad fact that less than 5% of lost cats are reunited with their owners. Most are killed by cars, dogs, people, disease, etc. The neighborhood should be concerned about the well being of the cats and not just the birds. Inform the neighbor that their cat is in danger 24 hours a day and not just at night. Most areas are now seeing coyotes during the day time and cats are disappearing. I also recommend not feeding the birds so much. This may help not creating a buffet for the cat. Luckily for the cat, this neighbor cares what happens to the cat. Sadly there are neighbors who will kill a cat or trap it and either dump it at a kill shelter, or in the woods somewhere.
This product does not protect the cat, just the birds.