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Growing Pet Food Market Is Cat's (and Dog's) Meow

Spanish production of dog and cat food, both dry and canned, has shown a dramatic increase over the past few years, offering opportunities for U.S. exporters of these items and the ingredients used to make them. Based on industry estimates, Spain's dog and cat food output doubled between 1986 and 1989, growing from 62,000 metric tons in 1986 to 110,000 tons in 1989. Production is expected to double again by 1992. The value of pet food sales amounted to 15.5 billion pesetas ($163 million) in 1989. During 1986-89, dog food was the largest category of pet food produced and consumed in Spain; more than three-fourths of output in 1986 was for dogs. Roughly two-thirds of this dog food was the dry type, the rest was canned.

The rapid expansion of the industry is attributed to a combination of sociological, status and security factors: An increase in the number of couples without children, one-child families and unmarried people has brought about a greater interest in the companionship of pets; owning pedigree animals is becoming a sign of social status; and more Spaniards also are buying dogs for protection. Spain had roughly 22.5 million pets in 1989, of which 10 million were fish and 5.5 million were birds. The number of licensed dogs increased from approximately 2.45 million 1986 to 3.5 million in 1989. The number of licensed cats rose from 1.5 million in 1986 to about 2 million in 1989. The number of non-licensed dogs, mostly large animals used as livestock shepherds and for the protection of farms, could well be as high as 1.5-2 million, many of which are now being fed pet foods, mostly low-priced dry food, which is cheaper than bakery and slaughterhouse leftovers.

Although roughly 45 companies produce dog and cat food in Spain, the market is dominated by nine or 10 sales leaders that use a variety of ingredients including 48 percent protein micronized soybean meal, full-fat soybeans, corn flakes, meat and bone meal and dehydrated vegetables such as carrots. Spain also imports an estimated $3 million worth of biscuits and mash food for dogs and cats annually, notably from European Community countries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. Import levies on pet food vary by dairy and cereal content. Current retail prices for the most common types of dog food available in the Spanish market are listed below. Cat food prices are generally 25 percent above those of dog food.

A dark night, cloudy, no moon, some rain and a bit of sleet, quiet except for some noise from the highway a mile or so away: perfect conditions to find them a screech owl, or a barred owl, or a great horned owl, or any owl at all.

The owl-prowlers stand near the quarry in Menomonee Park and the leader plays a tape of the call of a screech owl. It sounds like the muted neigh of a horse with a trill at the end.

A dog barks in the distance and a rustling of leaves causes the group to look through night-vision glasses that turn the darkness into a green glowing "daylight." They see a raccoon, not an owl, climbing out of a tree. It shuffles off toward the quarry, thinking, no doubt, it can see the two-legged creatures but they can't see it. "Let's try the other side of the lake," says Steve Mahler, leader of the owl watchers and owner of the Wild Bird Center in Menomonee Falls. "We might have more luck over there." Mahler has taken a small group of hardy naturalists out on his Owl Prowl. He explained before they began that it isn't always easy to find an owl one time in 10, if you're lucky, he told them. If they hear an owl, he said, that's success. If they see one, that's unbelievable. The group gets back in the Jeep and heads north. Steve Mahler and his wife, Diane, have owned the Wild Bird Center just two years, but Steve Mahler has been interested in birds almost all his life. He comes by it naturally. His parents and grandparents were bird-watchers. He's the grandson of Henrietta Mahler, who along with Helen Brachman created Henri's Dressing. Mahler lives in Germantown with his wife and 4-month-old son. "When we sold our shares in Henri's, we opened this store," he says. "We're here as a retail store, but we offer education, too." Every summer, the store hosts a nature camp for third- through sixth-graders. It also planted a wildflower prairie in the park and helped get the village to allow homeowners to plant prairies on their properties. The owl-prowlers head to a new location, and Mahler reminds them to be quiet. "Pretend you're trees," he tells them. "Remember, owls have tremendous hearing and sight. In a room full of people, an owl can hear the heartbeats. It could read a newspaper by candlelight the distance of a football field away." It's mating season, he says, and owls can be dangerous if they're offended. Their talons can go through skin, muscles and tendons. They can clamp right on the bone. Donna Lovingfoss, of Milwaukee, has been on many nature walks with Mahler and has seen her share of owls. "It's very relaxing and challenging," she says. "You listen and walk." Bob Meidl, of Milwaukee, was told by a friend about the Owl Prowl. "I wanted to see owls. Birds of prey are really exciting animals. Once a great horned flew right over me and you couldn't hear it." Owls eat anything snakes, mice, squirrels, cats, even skunks, Mahler says. "Yes, their ability to smell and taste is very limited," he says, playing another cassette, this one sounding like Santa Claus with a cold sort of a "ho ho ho hohoho" the call of a barred owl. The group waits, glasses ready, and then it all happens quickly. A huge bird lifts off the branch of a tree and swoops down into tall grass and disappears. "That was a great horned owl," Meidl says. "Unbelievable," Mahler says. The next day, Mahler and a few others go down to Lake Michigan to do a bit more bird-watching. They see some snowy owls, a number of different kinds of sparrows and a great horned owl. The Wild Bird Center has just about everything for birds and bird-watchers, including one of the largest selections of optics in Wisconsin, including all kinds of spotting scopes and night-vision equipment. Another Owl Prowl will be held in January or February. Already scheduled is the annual "In Pursuit of Eagles" trip to central Wisconsin Jan. 20. "And that's a guarantee," Mahler says. "We'll all see eagles. Last year, we saw dozens. I think it was 75 in all." There will be bird walks Dec. 30 and Jan. 13. ------------ The Wild Bird Center is at W186-N9519 Bancroft Drive, Menomonee Falls.

A lawmaker's call to wipe out all cats in Australia because they prey on wildlife raised howls of protest Friday from animal rights groups and the country's pet lovers.

Richard Evans wants Australia feline-free by 2020, and he called this week for unleashing a fatal virus on wild cats that roam the Outback killing birds, native marsupials and other animals.

He also called for a law requiring pet cats to be neutered so they can't breed and eventually die out. Until then, a cat registry and cat curfews should be put in place. "I am calling for the total eradication of cats in Australia," Evans told Parliament, adding that while cats may be playful and affectionate around their owners, they are killing machines when out on the prowl in suburbia. Evans blamed cats for the extinction of at least nine native species. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals agreed Friday that cats should be controlled but called total eradication "outrageous and unnecessary." Nancy Iredale of the Cat Protection Society called Evans' proposals laughable. "I find it very hard to believe anybody would take him seriously. He'd have to fight us all the way," she said. "Cats give so much pleasure to people." But some wildlife experts backed Evans' plan. "I strongly support it," said Andrew Leys, of the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. "But I can never see it happening. The solution is to manage the population rather than eradicate it." Cats were introduced to Australia 200 years ago by European settlers, and about 18 million cats now live there nearly equal to the human population. About one-third of Australian households own one or more cats, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

Critter Watch loves kitty cats, but we wince when the lovable little domestic felines trot up the door steps with bird feathers in their mouths.

We're not alone.

The American Bird Conservancy is sponsoring a national contest for kids in grades 1-6 to create this year's poster for National Keep Your Cat Indoors Day.

This is such a noble cause, we're going to spice the chances of winning by making it an Inland Northwest contest, too.

Most CritterWatchers wouldn't need further explanation. On the other hand, we are surrounded by people who let their cats outdoors and assume they do only acceptable and harmless things, such as bat mice around like hockey pucks and poop in the neighbor's yard.

Every year, outdoor cats that manage to avoid being lunch for coyotes and to dodge the tires of speeding cars, follow their hunting instincts to kill hundreds of millions of birds and small mammals.

We digress to point out that Critter Watch still marvels at the once-in-a-lifetime fur and feathers spectacle we stumbled into on a backpacking trip some years ago.

Hearts still pound at the memory of seeing a bobcat spring into the sky to nab a hapless ruffed grouse that was a wing beat off the ground, but one short of escape.

Bobcats need to kill critters for survival. House cats don't. That's the distinction.

On May 11, National Keep Your Cat Indoors Day -- held in conjunction with International Migratory Bird Day -- aims to educate cat owners that both cats and wildlife benefit when cats are kept indoors.

The entries for this year's contest will yield winners in three age categories, one of which will be determined the overall winner and the official poster.

National prizes include gift certificates for the contestant as well as the schools or groups the child is associated with.

Competition rules are posted on the Internet at www.abcbirds.org.

The poster should depict a happy indoor cat in a campaign poster or advertisement style.

Double your chances to win something by making a color copy (on a regular sheet of copy paper) of the entry for the national contest and send it here to Critter Watch.

We'll pick a local winner, publish the poster and reward the effort with a large pizza of the winner's choice.

AN ORDINARY cat would have gobbled them up. But Jerry is no ordinary cat. He is being hailed today after saving the lives of three song thrush chicks.

Jerry started meowing so loudly during the night that he woke his owner, Anne Shewring. "He was making such an awful racket that I went down to see what was going on," she said. "There were three little chicks on the lawn and Jerry was looking at them. Most other cats would have eaten them but Jerry seemed to want to protect them."

Mrs Shewring, from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, took the birds to a vet and they're now making progress at a wildlife hospital. "Jerry doesn't do things other cats do, like bring mice into the house," she said. "The chicks would have died if he hadn't found them."

She added: "He deserves a reward. I'll give him a big feed when he comes in this evening. He's a hero cat."

The water you supply birds is the place to start. A simple birdbath is what most people think of first, and it's a great addition to any landscape. Besides being good for birds, it adds a focal point to the garden.

Andy Wood, director of education for the North Carolina Audubon Society, said a birdbath is ideal for songbirds, which need something shallow, just 1 or 2 inches deep, for bathing. In her book Natural Gardening for Birds (Rodale, 2001, $16.95), Julie Zickefoose recommends a birdbath with a basin less than 3 inches deep with a rough, nonslip surface (if your birdbath is too deep or too slippery, pile flat rocks in the bottom; avoid gravel or sand, which is hard to keep clean). Finally, make sure the basin is secure on the pedestal; if it's not, cement it.

Sherry Koester, president of Dragonfly Perennials in Cary, N.C., which specializes in nature-friendly yardscapes, said placement of the birdbath is important.

Birds need to see what's going on around them, Koester said. But they also need nearby shrubs to fly to for drying off and grooming (birds are vulnerable to predators when they're wet). Too often, she said, homeowners stick a birdbath in the middle of a large grassy spot, then wonder why it isn't used.

Moving water is a great magnet for birds, and the simplest way to provide it is with a dripper over the birdbath. You can buy one at a wild bird supply store, or make a homely but effective one by punching a tiny hole in a plastic milk jug filling it with water and hanging it over the birdbath. A dripper is especially important during extended periods of freezing temperatures.

Ponds and water gardens are also excellent for birds. But Wood stresses that you should provide a shallow place in your pond for birds, and put rocks or a platform in the deeper parts so critters that fall in can climb back out.

The food

Landscaping with birds in mind is the best, most permanent way to provide food for them, but for instant gratification, you can easily set up feeding stations.

Koester said block oil sunflower seeds are the No. 1 food for birds; Zickefoose called it "the universal favorite among North American birds." The seeds' high oil and calorie contest, small size and thin shells make them easy for even small birds to eat.

Zickefoose also recommended hulled sunflower seeds as a near- universal wild bird food.

Zickefoose suggested a rigorous cleaning schedule for feeders to hold down diseases and parasites (at least once a week in the summer). Discard old seeds and hulls, scrape out the inside of the feeder, then wipe it out with a water-dampened sponge, followed with a mix of one part bleach to nine parts water, rinse with clear water and dry with a cloth. Finally, let it air dry before putting in fresh seed.

Zickefoose's book has extensive information on what to offer to attract specific birds at specific times of the year.

The shelter

Birds are attracted to brush piles and woodpiles. Christmas trees make a great haven.

Koester admitted that neighbors might not find a brush pile all that attractive and she suggested keeping it in a back corner. If neighbors know it's for a good purpose, they'll usually accept it, she said.

Wood suggested creating "edge habitats," where field and forest come together. This can be done on a quarter-acre lot, he said, especially if neighbors work together.

Instead of a fence, try planting shrubs for boundaries, Wood said. They provide both food and shelter for about 40 varieties of birds that will nest in an environmentally friendly suburban yard, including thrashers, robins, blue jays, morning doves, bluebirds, wrens, warblers and sparrows.

"Transitional areas are real important," Wood said. "The more habitats you have, you have greater plant diversity, and that brings greater animal diversity. When you've got a mix of plants instead of a monoculture, there's much less chance of noxious pests, nematodes and insects."

With pests comes the temptation to use pesticides, Wood said, and that's bad for birds. So are cats.

"House cats are the most efficient mammalian predator for songbirds in the world," Wood said. Putting a bell on the cat's collar can help, and so can keeping kitty inside during the early morning and early evening, when birds are most likely to be active. Protect baby birds by keeping your cat indoors as much as possible during the breeding season--May to August.

Finally, with the disappearance of old-growth forests that provide natural nesting areas, it's important to provide alternate nesting sites--birdhouses. Natural Gardening for Birds includes a chart of specs for boxes for 20 types of songbirds along with information on where to put them for best access and for safety.

Leave Ascension to the birds

Sir: Andrew Marshall, in his article about Ascension Island (31 May), suggested that the fragile economy of the island could be propped up by developing tourism. I write to question the assumption that Ascension needs a new function defined primarily in terms of human economics.

In spite of the devastation caused by the introduction of predators, Ascension is still an island of global significance for the breeding of seabirds, since it is the only speck of land available to them in an enormous tract of tropical ocean. Introduced feral cats, rats, mice and other invasive animals and plants have caused devastation of the original seabird community and the native vegetation, as on other islands worldwide. Vastly reduced populations of seabirds maintain colonies on the offshore islets of Ascension which remain predator-free. Two years ago I was a consultant for a feasibility study, funded by the Government, which indicated that the major predators of seabirds could be eliminated, using techniques perfected on some of the most threatened islands in the Indian Ocean and New Zealand. This would eventually permit recovery of the seabird populations of Ascension and eventually transform it into a reserve of international standing which could only bring credit on Britain. Apart from the seabirds, Ascension is also home to a large array of endemic invertebrates, many of which have only been discovered in the course of recent research by my wife and myself. Ascension is important as the nearest airport to St Helena, 800 miles away, and presumably the Americans also still require the use of their base, but other users are reducing their operations. Why not simply scale the establishment of Ascension down to essentials? The state of the island in the 1950s, when I lived there for more than a year, was in many respects preferable to that seen today. There is no indigenous human population on Ascension and the St Helenians who work there are on contract; their home is St Helena. The "Saints" need jobs, since opportunities on their home island are severely limited. However there is a solution to this problem. A Royal Charter of 1673 stated: "Natives of St Helena to be free denizens of England." These rights have gradually been abrogated, but if they were restored, as justice demands, those who needed work outside St Helena would have the option to come to Britain, as they did in the past. Possibly a couple of thousand would do so; certainly not many more, since the total population is less than 6,000.

Some people think that Stan Temple and the prince of darkness are close allies. Indeed, some might say they are one and the same.

"They do! They think I'm the devil incarnate," he said.

And the reason that some people think this is because Temple, an ornithologist and professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has some pretty strong opinions about cats: He doesn't think they should be roaming the streets.

"I always start my lectures off with a comparison," he said, referring to a speech he gave to the American Veterinary Medical Association's annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., earlier this month on the dangers of re-releasing feral and stray cats into the wild.

"I ask the audience to think of another sentient creature that lives near humans. That has fur" -- and that we have no qualms about euthanizing, he continued.

It's "the rat," he paused, then half snorted. "I always get laughs with that."

But, he really does believe that a parallel exists between these two animals. Both contribute to disease in native wildlife. And they are overabundant in urban and semi-urban settings.

The difference, according to Temple -- who has pet cats himself -- is cats are more dangerous than rats.

Cats are voracious hunters that have brought numerous species to the brink of extinction, Temple said. Examples include the local extinction of petrels on Marion Island (in the sub-Antarctic) and New Zealand's Stephen Island wren.

But the notion that cats pose a major threat to native wildlife strikes many as ludicrous.

"Anyone, in any environment -- whether they are an environmentalist or not -- will tell you that the No. 1 cause of the decrease in bird populations is habitat loss," said Donna Wilcox, executive director of Alley Cat Allies, a non-profit alliance group based in Washington, D.C., whose mission it is to trap, neuter and then re-release feral and stray cats.

"These population losses are directly related to the behavior of man," not cats, she said.

"Have you ever watched a cat hunt? Yes, some are good birders. But most aren't. Saying that 10 million cats kill 200 million birds -- well, it just doesn't fly," Wilcox said.

Maybe not.

But according to research that Temple and a graduate student, John Coleman, conducted in 1993 and 1996, the numbers still are pretty staggering.

In Wisconsin alone, there are at least 1.4 million free-ranging rural cats. And, if Temple and Coleman's numbers are correct, these feral cats may be killing as many as 7.8 million birds every year.

Unfortunately, Temple said, people refuse to see their pets for what they are: bloodthirsty killers.

And he believes that the only way to stop the killing is to restrict pet cats to the indoors -- and euthanize the others.

Notice that "no one has a problem doing this to rats," he said.

According to the Wisconsin Humane Society, there are about 430,000 cats living in Milwaukee County. Half of these have homes -- 215,000 do not.

And according to Kevin Crooks, another wildlife ecologist at UW- Madison, both populations -- feral and pet -- are dangerous.

"Cats are recreational hunters that kill for fun," he said. They generally don't hunt for food.

Most natural predators are sensitive to the ups and downs of their prey's populations. If the number is low, a predator will look elsewhere for food, letting the prey population rebound to its normal level.

But, Crooks said, because most cats aren't killing for food, they don't act like natural predators.

Aggravating the situation, the Wisconsin Humane Society reports that 17.5 million Americans feed stray and feral cats: creating a population of animals who don't hunt for food -- but kill for fun.

With more than 215,000 cats prowling the streets of Milwaukee County -- possibly being fed by benevolent cat lovers -- the activity of feline recreational hunting could be high.

Indeed, the society currently supports individuals who establish feral cat colonies -- semi-permanent groups of cats that congregate around a steady food supply -- in and around the city.

"We provide feral cat givers -- people who are feeding and maintaining the colonies -- with free services: spaying, neutering, testing and vaccinations. We provide them with supplies . . . at no cost to them," said Victoria Wellens, executive director of the society.

Alley Cat Allies, both the American and Wisconsin humane societies and the Dane County Veterinary Medical Association all support re- release programs and the maintenance of cat colonies.

In fact, the Dane County association has received more than $80,000 from the Maddie Fund, a foundation in Alameda, Calif., that promotes the no-kill policy of feral cats.

Some of the information contained herein may cause widespread civil unrest, or worse, among cat lovers and others fascinated by felines.

Before me is a neatly, professionally printed booklet titled "Cats and Wildlife A Conservation Dilemma."

Its authors are Scott Craven, wildlife ecologist and extension wildlife specialist at the University of Wisconsin's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; John Coleman, a biologist with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission; and Stan Temple, a wildlife ecologist. If you love cats, and millions do, you won't like what the writers have to say, which is, mainly, that kitty is a killer of uncommon ability and success when it comes to wild birds and other small creatures. There is a hint of suggestion, as a matter of fact, that if cats carried knives we'd all be in big trouble. City dwellers who own cats can take some heart because it is mainly the free-roaming rural variety that does the most damage, according to the authors. But no matter. A cat is a cat is a cat. The booklet makes this point right up front: "Estimates suggest that about a million rural free-ranging cats in Wisconsin kill from 8 million to 217 million birds a year, with 39 million the best guess." A particularly skilled free-ranging house cat may kill more than 1,000 wild animals a year, the book proclaims. While some of the kills are mice, rats and other pests, many more are native songbirds and mammals whose populations are already stressed by habitat loss and other factors, according to Craven, who also adds that urban and suburban cats contribute to that toll, but rural cats do the most damage because they have access to the most wildlife. Craven also notes that the estimates used in the booklet are broad because researchers used a range of estimates for both kill rates and numbers of cats. Even considering that, the booklet offers significant evidence that the playful, purring, fuzzy, affectionate, seemingly loyal little animal to which many are eternally devoted is a killer of great skill. From the booklet: "Nationwide, cats probably kill over a billion small mammals and hundreds of millions birds each year." And it also says this: "Worldwide, cats may have been involved in the extinction of more bird species than any other cause except habitat destruction. Cats are contributing to the endangerment of populations of birds such as Least Terns, Piping Plovers and Loggerhead shrikes. In Florida, marsh rabbits in Key West have been threatened by predation from domestic cats." Craven and the other authors say this: "Free-ranging cats are abundant and widespread predators. They prey on large numbers of birds and animals. They harbor a variety of diseases. Yet cats are popular pets. In order to have and care for our pets and still protect our native wildlife, we must make an effort to limit in a humane manner the adverse effects free-ranging cats have on wildlife." And so the obvious question is this: How? The authors make these points: Keep only as many pet cats as you can feed and care for. For the sake of your cat, or cats, and local wildlife, keep your animals indoors. Neuter your cats or prevent them from breeding. Locate your backyard bird feeders in places that do not provide cover for cats to wait in ambush for birds. Don't dispose of unwanted cats by releasing them in rural areas. Eliminate sources of food, such as garbage or outdoor pet food dishes, that attract stray cats. Don't feed stray cats. There is also this, but you won't find it in the booklet. Cat lovers who may want to form a lynching party after reading this should remember that this poor country boy is just the messenger.

What a bad time it is for cats. Humphrey, the Downing Street cat was almost run-over by the Clinton cavalcade. Then there were bizarre revelations of Princess Michael using traps to catch strays in the hallowed precincts of Kensington Palace.

But whatever ones sympathies, there is no doubt cats can be a nuisance. When my cat, Rocky, messed on the rush matting in the bathroom last week, my impulse was to conceal the crime rather than risk another "Give that cat away/Off with his head" tirade from my husband. But it proved impossible to clean. I had to cut out the smelly patch, and was found by hubby looking for a sharp knife in the cat-bedewed tool box. "The cats been in the bathroom again. Have you seen the Stanley knife?" I asked. "You don't need a knife," came the tart reply. "The vet will put him down painlessly for you". Rocky, eavesdropping, recognised his insulting tone and took a swift revenge. Husbands trousers were draped high on the bedpost. He heaved his aching joints on to the bed, and must have twisted himself round that bedpost in an acrobatic leap to water the trousers.

Is there no cure for such cattiness? Can I save Rocky? I asked some experts. "Its unusual," said the pet behavioural expert Peter Neville, author of Cat Behaviour Explained (FAB Publications, pounds 8.99). He doubted that Rocky, a placid neuter, had a personal vendetta against my husband. The emotional bits of cats brains aren't as highly developed as a dogs. "Has your husband changed smell? Aftershave? Is he stressed at work? It you have tiffs, it can set the cat off. He's trying to associate his mark with your husbands. It may be innocent - if your husband brought in an old cat scent once, even if its gone away, he associates the scent with his." Peter explained that Rocky could be treated by a pet counsellor like himself if a vet were to refer him, with fees reclaimable from pet insurance. He might prescribe an anti-stress drug similar to Prozac. Maybe my husband could become more cat user-friendly by feeding Rocky every day. "Then there are two possible areas of ultimate disaster," Peter continued. "One, that your husband takes a swing at the cat." (Unlikely.) "Second, that it becomes a natural ritual for your cat to pee and poo on your husbands things, and he gets anxious if he doesn't." So what can I do to keep the peace and stop the pee? There are cheap sprays that are supposed to deter cats from your house and garden, though I have never found an effective one, perhaps because many of them need to be applied daily and I give up too fast. Sainsbury's Homebase has a variety, from Pepper Dust at pounds 2.99 to Bio Ready to Use Cat and Animal Repellent Spray at pounds 3.79. But the industrial-strength spray is called Feliway, available from vets at about pounds 13.50 for a 60ml bottle. You spray it on the items or places the cat favours for his toilet. Feliways Marketing Manager, Ronnie Leggat, revealed that many share my cat's problem. "People think they are the only ones to suffer," he said. "But our research shows that one in three cat owners has this problem. People put up with it, on average, for 55 months before seeking help." Cats have specific betes noires. He once received a desperate call from the owners of a Siamese whose urinary dexterity had put paid to two camcorders, a microwave, a toaster and a kettle. Another owner found her Safeway carrier- bags of food soaked, the moment she came home with them. Ronnie Leggat suspects that some substances, such as plastic bags and warm electrics, give off smells which the cat confuses with other cats urine. So it resprays them to name-tag the places as its own. Cleaning up with bleaches or detergents may also encourage them to go again in the same place. The ammonia in cleaning fluids has a urine-like smell. "Clean up thoroughly with a biological detergent, then fill a plant mister with surgical spirit and spray the area," advises Clare Tickner of the Feline Advisory Bureau, which publishes two free leaflets on the subject, Indoor Spraying Problems and Indoor Toileting Problems. "Cats rarely spray near their food, so put small tubs of dry cat food at their favourite sites. Stick the food down to stop the cat eating it." Other tactics include putting down pine cones of tin foil on the area. Never rub a cats nose in its doings, or tell it off, the FAB advises. It just makes them feel more insecure. RSPCA vet David Grant thinks this complaint is the province of classy cats. "You see this behaviour in emotional cats, such as tortoiseshells, Burmese, Siamese, Abyssinian and, yes, British Blues." He warns that its a self-perpetuating problem unless you clean well. "A cat urinates out a particular pheromone when it is stressed out. The smell of this reinforces the desire to pee there again." If the smell lingers, what can you do? I have found that Ambi Pur air freshener, a real perfume bottle you plug in, is effective. The eucalyptus variety is best; the floral smells like cheap aftershave. Sue Phillips, of Classic FM's Gardening Forum, suggests Shaws No-Stain, an "amazing" clear liquid which removed all traces of her cats active dislike of a visitor. Others have problems with intruder cats coming into their house or garden and leaving a marker scent. Take a robust approach. Spiky plants will deter cats from using your flower beds. Spread out the cuttings from raspberry plants. Clear the area of cat-attracting plants such as catnip and catmint. In extreme cases, there is always ambush. "A water pistol is useful," suggests Clare Tickner. The problem of cat burglars in the house is solved by using a Staywell 32 cat door, which gives cats a magnetic door key worn on a collar that releases the door catch only to them. There are several different colour codes of door key, and I found that a neighbouring cat was getting in because its owners had by chance bought the same colour for their cat. I got round this by writing to Staywell, who obligingly changed my unit free of charge. The deluxe animal repellent, says Sue Phillips, is Catwatch Mark Two. This is an electronic box that emits an unpleasant noise if a cat comes within 40ft. Birds and humans cant hear it, and you can use it inside or outside the house. Feliway Natural Spray costs from pounds 13.50 from vets. For more information, contact Sanofi Animal Health, PO Box 209, Rhodes Way, Watford, Hertfordshire, WD2 4QE (01923 212212). The Feline Advisory Bureaus leaflets, Indoor Toileting Problems and Indoor Spraying Problems, are free if you send a large sae (and preferably a small donation). You can also order Peter Nevilles' book, `Cat Behaviour Explained', at pounds 8.99 including p&p. FAB, Taeselbury, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6LD. Staywell 32 cat door with cat door key on its collar costs pounds 42.50 from The Pet Pavilion, Chelsea Farmers Market, Sidney Street, London SW3 6NR (mail order, 0l71-376 8800). Catwatch Mark Two, pounds 49.99. Call 01763 244266 (Concept Research) for stockists and mail order details. Get a list of cat counsellors from the Association of Pet Behavioural Counsellors, 01386 751151. If you are referred from a vet, you can reclaim fees (average pounds 40) from your pet insurance. Ambi Pur air freshener costs about pounds 3 from Waitrose and other supermarkets. Refills, about pounds 1.85.

It pains me to tell you the story of Toby the lost cat, but I will persevere, for Toby's sake.

Until the morning of Aug. 24, Toby was the treasured pet of Ken and Theresa Mullen, an orange-and-white tabby that had walked through their back door as a stray five years earlier and made himself at home.

The Mullens, who own a small condo near Loyola University, already had two cats, but they made room for Toby, seduced by his affectionate and playful ways.

With no children, the Mullens were very attached to their cats-- Ken to Toby, especially.

Toby would shadow Ken around the house and follow him on walks through the neighborhood as if he were a dog. Toby would give Ken cat hugs, climb into his lap and sleep on his shoulder. When Ken would practice the guitar, Toby would sit and watch for hours. When Ken would mow the lawn, Toby would observe from a safe vantage point beneath the bushes.

On warm summer mornings, Toby would lie in the cool of the back porch and watch the birds in the yard. That's where Toby was last seen that Saturday in August when he disappeared.

"We really don't know what happened," Theresa told me this week, her voice stoked with emotion from the painful memory.

It wasn't like Toby to leave the yard, but he wasn't there.

"Gone, completely vanished," Ken said, struggling with the memory himself. "I felt like I lost my son."

They found Toby's collar two doors down, but no clue as to how he had lost it. They theorized maybe he had climbed into the back of one of the moving vans seen in the neighborhood that day, but it was just a theory.

Pets are lost every day to the heartbreak of their owners, but what distinguished the Mullens was their search for Toby: as determined a search as if he were their child, because to them, he was.

"Where's Toby?" asked the four-color posters that blanketed the Rogers Park neighborhood and other parts of the North Side. The poster showed a photo of the cat and offered a $250 reward for his safe return.

They attached the posters to light poles with duct tape, stuck them in store windows, handed them out to veterinarians and animal shelters. When somebody would take down the posters, they'd put put up more.

Theresa estimates they hung 800 posters altogether.

They also ran ads in the newspapers, and Theresa made weekly visits to the city pound and the Humane Society.

Ken, a high school teacher, would walk the streets and alleys of Rogers Park for hours at night with a flashlight while jingling his keys, his customary method for calling the cat.

The awareness campaign was so successful that when they'd run into somebody on the street and start to ask them if they'd seen their missing cat, the passersby would say, "Oh, you mean Toby."

But nobody had seen Toby.

Oh, there were plenty of leads, as many as five calls a day for the first month, often from people certain they had found Toby.

"It was really heart-warming," Theresa said of all the callers trying to be helpful.

"So many times people would swear it was him," Theresa said. But when the Mullens would investigate, it wasn't him.

The calls would come and the Mullens would rush out to look at the cat in question.

Twice they were called out in the middle of the night in driving rainstorms. Once Ken blew through a stop sign and was pulled over by police. One of the female officers saw the posters in Theresa's lap and said, "So you're Toby's owners." She sent them on their way with an admonition to "just be careful."

Somebody brought them a dead cat in a shoebox. Another demanded the reward based on a videotape that didn't show Toby. The Mullens paid a pet psychic $40 for a warm and fuzzy vision that got them nowhere.

Time after time, they were disappointed.

A few of the calls were from crackpots threatening to hang their cat, but more often they received messages of encouragement from people with stories of lost pets and happy endings.

Along the way, the Mullens reunited two other lost cats with their owners, found homes for four additional strays and adopted another cat themselves. But they couldn't stop thinking of Toby.

Ken became depressed. His work suffered, and his principal let him know. His friends told him to let go and move on.

Ken cut back on his nighttime search missions. The calls dwindled to zero. Ken grew more depressed. When the first snowfall of the season hit, Ken cried and cried.

On the day before Thanksgiving, the Red Door Animal Shelter left a message for the Mullens to tell them that a woman had just brought in a stray cat that they thought might be Toby. Ken didn't listen to the messages when he got home. When the shelter called again, Ken thanked them but laid down to take a nap, not ready to face another disappointment.

He shook it off long enough to make a trip to the shelter on Lunt near Western, a couple of miles from the Mullens' home in the 1300 block of West Albion.

Collars worn by cats and emitting battery-powered noises could make songbirds less vulnerable to feline attacks, a wildlife ecologist says.

"Certain birds get really hard hit and the numbers are really alarming," said University of Wisconsin professor Stanley Temple.

Cats kept as pets on farms and in residential neighborhoods, along with habitat destruction, explain why some species of birds have become less numerous. UW researchers propose a solution to the cat factor by equipping the animals with a collar that produces a high-frequency note that birds recognize as a signal of danger. Designs that students demonstrated last week to a three-member judging panel carried names like "Bye-Bye Birdie," "The Cat's Meow" and "For the Birds." Features include a collar emitting three peeps a minute, a light weight of 45 grams, and a magnetic switch that turns on when a cat passes through a pet door. The students are in an engineering class taught by Evelyn Markus, who said the project was an exercise in management, writing and working as a team. Eight teams of two students were asked to draft proposals. If a proposal is patented, the student creators would share in any income that it generates. The National Audubon Society is eager to endorse a product if it reaches the market, Temple said. Collars with jingle bells do not work, Temple said. "They are absolutely ineffective and a waste of money," he said.

As a faithful consumer of current events and global developments, you've been battered with so many depressing and awful stories lately that you might have missed the interesting and very good news about cats and dogs in this country.

Dogs won!

According to the new Statistical Abstract of the United States (which was released earlier this month by the Census Bureau and contains such valuable information as the factoid that the average cell phone call in 2001 lasted approximately three minutes), among American households that have pets, 36 percent have dogs, while 32 percent have cats.

Did I mention: Dogs won!

The abstract also reports that about 5 percent of homes with pets have birds and about 2 percent have horses. (One presumes most of the birds are actually in the homes, whereas most of the horses are not.)

And of course, 0.00000004 percent of Americans have giraffes, elephants, a chimp named Bubbles and their very own climbing tree.

But let's talk about how dogs are clearly better than cats and how that margin of victory should have been more decisive. With the exception of guys with missing front teeth who have dirt front yards that are populated by killer pit bulls that could clean out the entire meat section of Fox & Obel without coming up for air, I won't hesitate to spend time at just about any home populated by one or more well-trained canines--but I'll come up with a thousand excuses not to visit cat owners.

That's because most dogs are friendly, cuddly, loving, joyful, beautiful creatures, while most cats are shifty. Also, I have a better-developed sense of smell than Matt Murdock a k a Daredevil, and no matter what cat owners do to de-cat-ify their homes, I can always tell when a house contains a feline. Cat homes always have that certain smell. It's part hospital, part public restroom and all bad.

One of my best friends is a dog named Norman. This dog is so cool he should have his own TV show. In all honesty, I like Norman better than about 65 percent of the humans I've ever met.

I've never had that kind of a bond with a cat. I love to pet dogs and play with dogs and feed treats to dogs and let dogs curl up near my feet--but the closest I've ever been to a cat, literally the closest, was when a jealous and quite sharp-clawed feline pounced on my head while I was, um, playing Twister with the cat's owner. She (the cat's owner) thought it was so cute that Tinkerdoo was so possessive. I didn't. I put on my shoes and coat, walked out the door, dug my car out of a 2-foot snowbank, drove 40 miles home and immediately changed my phone number.

Oh, wait, I just remembered I did once have a positive experience with a cat, many years ago. I took one of those Persians and strapped him to my Dale Murphy model Louisville slugger, turned him upside down and swabbed the kitchen floor. And I have to say, that cat was one hell of a dust mop.

But look, it's not just my opinion that dogs are far more valuable than cats. Year after year, there's proof in the news.

Just a few examples, culled from the headlines:

From the Express of Scotland: "A dog rescued his injured owner after running for help--exactly like Lassie. Former police sergeant Jimmy King, 56, shattered his ribs and badly hurt his leg when he fell off a ladder in his garage. . . . In a scene that could have come straight from Hollywood, the pooch ran to find Mr. King's wife, Margaret, and convinced him to follow her to the garage where her husband lay in agony . . ."

From the Allentown Morning Call: "There was [a] hero in Monday's two-alarm blaze [in a] burning Allentown apartment: a 14-month-old copper-and-white pit bull named Rocky who jumped into the bed of his owners, Edward and Angela Diaz, to warn them . . ."

From the Wichita Eagle: "An Australian blue heeler who saved his 85-year-old owner from an alligator has been named the Heinz Pet Products 47th Dog Hero of the Year . . ."

From the Greenville (S.C.) News: "An early morning fire has left a family of three homeless and a hero puppy dead. . . . 'I felt the puppy jump on the bed and start to tug at my blankets,' said Robert Payne, 44 . . .

"Coco never got out. 'That puppy saved my life,' Payne said . . ."

Now let's see if I can find any stories about cats. Ah, here's one:

"CHICAGO--A cat has ignored its owner for the 37th consecutive day, despite the man's efforts to engage the cat with a series of toys, silly voices and tasty treats.

"'I'm a real cat-lover, but Mr. Tuggles just won't give me a chance,' said Waymon Hummerts, a 27-year-old Bucktown resident. "In fact, I couldn't even tell you where he is right now."

All right, so I made that up--but it sounds legit, because that's what cats are really like and everybody knows it.

Not that I have anything against cat owners per se. In fact, every cat owner in the country has a keen sense of humor, and that's why I'm sure none of them will be the least bit offended by this column.

The immigration inspector at Belize City airport was built like an overweight Lennox Lewis. My passport looked like a little business card in his huge hands. But when I told him what I was doing in Belize he jumped back as if I'd suddenly stuck a cattle prod up his baggy shorts. "What! You looking for jaguars, man?" he wailed. "If you see one you'd better just run - those are some big cats. Them so dangerous. I never seen one and I hope I never do!"

After a flight to Miami and a two-hour overcrowded flight south to Belize City, it was too late to turn back. I had come to this small Central American country tipped as the next tourist destination, because it has the world's greatest concentration of jaguars. I simply wanted to see one of these big cats in the wild. They grow up to 8ft long, so I reckoned that it would be easy to spot them strolling round.

Unfortunately not. I was repeatedly warned that I was very unlikely to see one. In fact, like the immigration officer, most Belizeans have never seen the third biggest cat after the lion and tiger. On long sultry nights in Belizean bars conversation often seems to turn to "jaguars I have nearly seen". It's not just their rarity: these camouflaged cats are nocturnal, preferring the densest rainforest where they live scattered, shy lives. An adult male jaguar likes his patch to stretch for 16 lonely miles. After that noisy, packed flight from Miami to Belize City I felt some empathy.

I was even prepared to brave a rainforest notorious for tarantulas, soldier ants, boa constrictors and the particularly deadly fer de lance snake, which stalks victims with highly sensitive heat detectors on its head. Even the local centipedes have poison- injecting fangs. Despite my European squeamishness, I recognised Belize is a hot tip as future tourist magnet. It is a small nation bordered by Mexico, Guatemala, and the Caribbean Sea, yet its landscape contains a mix of pristine eco-systems. There are mountains, jungles, swamps, sandy beaches, coastal lagoons and, to cap it all, one of the world's longest barrier reefs.

Thankfully, the former British colony is a peaceful democracy with the foresight to give protected status to an astonishing proportion of itself, more than 40 per cent. It can't have been popular with farmers, hunters and loggers, but, as an investment for the future, that could be a priceless decision.

From Belize City I took a tiny plane to Dangriga airport - a pebble-dashed hut and gravel runway in a clearing. I was collected in a battered truck by a young driver from Jaguar Reef Lodge - a picturesque and colourful eco-resort on a seven-mile sandy beach. The "rooms" along the beach are whitewashed thatched bungalows with a central open-sided lodge that juts between swaying beach palms. I was excited. I rushed around looking at the brightly coloured local art in the rooms, then dashed into the clear warm sea as a flock of crested terns watched from the jetty. Then I took a kayak for a paddle around the lagoon, then borrowed a mountain bike to ride to the hotel's pavilion on the Sittee River a mile away. Here I met a hotel boatman who made an offer you don't often hear at a Ritz- Carlton. "You wanna see some crocodiles?" he asked with a huge smile.

I jumped aboard for an African Queen-style boat trip down a sluggish waterway lined by lilies, mangroves, palms, breadfruit, mangoes, alamanda flowers, and trees like wild cane, caraway and the lovely mayflower whose pink flowers float down the river for miles. And, yes, he was soon pointing out crocodiles and iguanas lounging along the banks while tiger herons and egrets patrolled the shallows.

The next day another boat took me 12 miles out to the reef, where stingrays and eagle rays glided around shallow clear water like vast shadows. On one of these World Heritage islands - a bird reserve called Man of War Caye - I watched the spectacular courtship displays of the frigate bird where males inflate their red throats to lure females.

The best expedition was to the Jaguar sanctuary at Cockscomb Basin. I expected Longleat without the gift shop, but I found a green sea of jungle spreading towards a distant rim of hazy, gnarled mountains. Cockscomb is 155 square miles of tropical wilderness. As eco-tourism grows and rainforests shrink, this extraordinary theme park of nature could one day become a world-famous attraction.

The basin's teeming fauna includes a screeching, tweeting and hooting collection of 300 types of birds, from toucans and vultures to hummingbirds as tiny as insects. There are hundreds of exotic animals, too, including tapirs, anteaters and armadillos, and countless plants ranging from giant tree ferns to precious mahogany trees. My guide stopped our 4WD truck at a clearing in the centre of the basin. From here you can explore miles of marked paths leading into the rain-drenched tropical basin. Rain drenched? Well, annual rainfall reaches 180in in parts - that's 15ft.

The ring of mountains around Cockscomb includes the 3,680ft Victoria Peak. It shows just how undeveloped this country is when a local guide book refers to Victoria as "perhaps the second-highest mountain in Belize". "Higher peaks may exist in the unexplored southern divide," it said. This is the sort of terrain where maps mark some roads as "seasonal" and some towns as "abandoned". Yet these untamed jungles include more attractions of the future: Central America's highest waterfall and the biggest cave system in the Americas, stretching into Guatemala.

Misty the cat no longer is the Scourge of Briargate. From now on, she'll be the Darling of Manitou Springs.

The 2-year-old patch-colored cat was given up for adoption by her Briargate family after neighbors - some of whom live blocks away - complained of her wandering nature and trapped her in their yards.

Specifically, they objected to Misty using their yards as her toilet and stalking birds at their feeders.

"Misty was surrendered by her owner to Dreampower Animal Rescue Foundation," said Cynthia Bullock, executive director of the foundation.

"Her new owner, who lives in Manitou Springs, was told all about Misty's notorious past and vows to keep her indoors," Bullock said. "It's a happy ending for Misty."

Her new owner describes her as a "wonderful, sweet pet."

Misty's new situation is how it should be for all pet cats, Bullock said.

"Dreampower Animal Rescue does not advocate cats wandering free," she said. "They can attack wildlife and get into mischief. And outdoor cats are at far greater risk for injuries and diseases spread as a result of catfights."

The foundation strongly urges new pet owners to keep their spayed or neutered cats indoors with distractions such as a window perch, scratching post and a cat tree to climb on.

Although the saga of Misty appears to be over, complaints and suggestions about wandering cats continue pouring in to Side Streets.

One Gleneagle reader notes some neighborhoods don't have to worry about itinerant cats. Cougars, bobcats, coyotes and foxes take care of them.

Neighborhoods with active homeowner associations and strictly enforced covenants, another said, can be useful in controlling wandering pets.

And then there's the federal government, which has ordered cat owners to restrain their pets if they live in the habitat of the Preble's meadow jumping mouse, declared threatened and protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

But most readers contacting Side Streets don't enjoy any of those options. They are people such as Luise Manley, 77, who has lived in her Stratmoor Valley home since 1967.

She can't let her great-granddaughter play in the back yard because a neighbor behind her on Maxwell Street feeds 15 to 20 cats.

"I can't even open my kitchen window - it stinks so bad," Manley said. "They get on my roof. On my balcony. They poop all over my yard. On my car. They kill the birds. It's terrible."

Manley was reluctant to complain to her neighbor: "I didn't want to cause her problems." But when Manley came out one recent Sunday morning to go to church and found cat poop all over her windshield, she had to say something.

Her neighbor's response was disheartening. "She just smiled," Manley said. "And she started laughing. She thinks it's funny. I think it's awful."

The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region has trapped some of the cats, but more keep coming because the neighbor keeps putting out food.

In all fairness, not everyone hates wandering cats.

"For my part, I have four wonderful and loving cats that I let freely walk indoors or in my fenced back yard in Briargate in order to protect them against 'wandering humans,' " said Therese Cloutier, who scolded those complaining about cats.