Do you have an indoor-outdoor cat–and you are worried about the safety of your birds around your home and at your bird feeder?
As you know, we live in a bird sanctuary (for the endangered Golden-cheeked Warbler), so our cats are strictly indoors-only. (You can learn more about the birds in our area on our bird blog, BirdTipper).
But we know that many of you have indoor-outdoor cats and are concerned about the safety of the birds in your neighborhood. Today we have a special guest post about Birdsbesafe® Cat Collars by Nancy Brennan, originator of Birdsbesafe cat collars and owner of Birdsbesafe LLC:
Let’s start with the chickadee. I had a cat, Jasper, who brought me a captured chickadee on a warm spring-like day. I was so sad about it. The little chickadee had survived the cold northern winter, but not my stealthy housecat. I really like cats, but I also like birds.
Several years later, I was even more of a birdwatcher, which came in handy when I tried to stop another outdoor cat, George, from catching so many birds. (George had been my husband’s cat before I met my husband.) George was an efficient and awful bird-hunter in our woods.
Trying to stop him, I used a birdwatcher’s fun fact. Knowing that all songbirds saw bright colors, I fashioned a special bright collar made of flared fabric, two inches wide. Could it warn the birds away?
While George was still stalking, birds saw him and flew right away. It wrecked his timing. No more captured birds! George, who had brought his prey indoors to us, captured 2 or 3 birds only in the next 16 months. Relief! It felt wonderful!
Later, I named my design the Birdsbesafe® Cat Collar and started selling it on the web. Would it work for other cats, too? It did! For the great majority of customers, about 90%, said Birdsbesafe had resulted in “significantly reduced” numbers of birds caught or no more birds caught.
Birdsbesafe’s bright colors simply, but effectively, give most songbirds enough time to notice the cat and fly away. Songbirds have unique eye anatomy that makes bright colors appear extra-bright, even in low light such as at dawn. Birds may see the cat wearing Birdsbesafe’s colors from a distance, and gain enough time to fly to safety.
Birdsbesafe
Birdsbesafe has many loyal, happy, appreciative customers. We have lots of lovely testimonials on our website. We even have a celebrity author endorsement from a happy customer, author Elizabeth Gilbert.
And Birdsbesafe has helped thousands of birds escape cats, we estimate. Very wonderful, but we want to help even more birds and cat owners.
If you’re not keeping your cat indoors, I hope will give Birdsbesafe a try. It’s safe for your cat with a breakaway design. The products are made in Vermont and we sell organic cotton options.
Learn more about us at www.birdsbesafe.com. And thank you—from the birds and me!
Pin it to remember Birdsbesafe Cat Collars
Photo courtesy Birdsbesafe
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