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Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008
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Cat dukes it out with coyotes, wins
By Kevin McCullen, Herald staff writer
KENNEWICK -- Buddy is the top cat in his house, and arguably the toughest feline in the Tri-Cities.
The muscular 17-pound bobtail cat, which belongs to William and Shannon Secolo, fought off coyotes inside its Kennewick home early one morning last week.
And while Buddy emerged without a scratch from the scrap, his vanquished foes left behind a trail of dung and fur as they fled into the frigid night.
"I think of Buddy as a little hero," William Secolo said Saturday. "Those coyotes were twice his size."
Buddy's, and the Secolo's, close encounter with coyotes occurred early Thursday after the predators entered the Canyon Lakes home through a door from the garage that had been pried open earlier by the couple's other cat, Frank.
William Secolo, who owns Mr. Color Carpet Cleaning & Dyeing, opened his garage door Wednesday night while working on equipment and inadvertently left it slightly open when he went inside for the night.
But he said he didn't firmly shut the door from the garage to the home's interior, and fell asleep on his couch around 9 p.m. Sometime after that, Frank worked the door open and slipped outside, a trick he's done before.
Around 1 a.m., Secolo awoke.
"I heard this blood-curdling scream," he said.
He yelled, then heard the sound of "claws running across tiles."
Secolo got up, hustled across the foyer and stepped in one of a handful of piles of coyote feces. The door to the garage was wide open.
"There were fur balls everywhere," Secolo said. "Those coyotes didn't stand a chance."
He never saw the coyotes, but believes more than one was involved because of the amount of dung and hair left behind.
When the couple turned on a light, they found Buddy sitting in the dining room.
"We checked him all over for bite marks and didn't find any," William Secolo said of his orange tabby. "He didn't even have a scratch. But he had coyote fur in his claws."
Shannon searched the home for Frank, also an orange tabby. She began to cry, fearing he'd been killed.
She opened a sliding glass door to the outside and saw Frank looking at her.
"He was outside somewhere when the coyotes came into the house. They probably smelled our cats and came in looking for them," Secolo said. "These were pretty brazen coyotes."
Ironically, the couple acquired Frank and Buddy nearly two years ago, after their 14-year-old feline, Fred, was killed by coyotes.
The resourceful predators are not an uncommon sight in the area. Secolo said he got up in the middle of the night several years ago and spotted nearly a dozen walking down his street.
Wildlife experts warn pet owners to keep cats and dogs inside at night to prevent unwanted encounters with coyotes. Snow and frigid temperatures in the Mid-Columbia the past week also may be prompting coyotes to become more bold in looking for food.
Buddy and Frank are indoor cats, so they aren't allowed to venture outside for long. Buddy also is playful, intelligent and strong, Secolo said.
Since his standoff, he's also been spoiled by his owners.
"He's been getting showered a bit with attention," he said.
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
Yep, canines got teeth, but cats got teeth and claws. Four sets and they know how to use all four, I've got the scars to prove it.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
jeepnik wrote:Yep, canines got teeth, but cats got teeth and claws. Four sets and they know how to use all four, I've got the scars to prove it.
Me too. I once tormented my very first cat to the point she chased me through the house with blood in her eyes. I had to escape outside until she cooled off.
I didn't think I'd ever get to go back inside.
Watch and study cats and the things you can learn is something else.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
We gotta a 20+ pound yellow and white male tabby right now that is scared to death of our smallest female. She just looks at him and runs behind me or my wife for protection.
Yet I've seen him tear into a stray cat outside and literally try to tear his throat out.
Right now this 20+ pounder is playing with and training the four rescuees we ended up keeping.
Now we gotta get them spaid and neutered. Arrrghhhh........
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
We gotta a 20+ pound yellow and white male tabby right now that is scared to death of our smallest female. She just looks at him and runs behind me or my wife for protection.
Yet I've seen him tear into a stray cat outside and literally try to tear his throat out.
Right now this 20+ pounder is playing with and training the four rescuees we ended up keeping.
Now we gotta get them spaid and neutered. Arrrghhhh........
Joe
I don't know how much he weighed, but as a kid, our 'mutt' cat would go out and fight racoons and whatever else he could find - I learned to stitch wounds as a teenager when we couldn't afford the vet bill, and the cat had a ripped-open arm or leg, and nothing but monofilament fishline and a needle-nose pliers to do it with! One tough feline!
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws "first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.
This oughta be an opportunity for those who might otherwise have an animosity toward cats to give them an "attaboy" against the coyotes. I kinda wish mine had front claws as if he ever got out he'd be able to defend himself.......as it is I'll have to see to it he don't get out. jd45
jd45 wrote:This oughta be an opportunity for those who might otherwise have an animosity toward cats to give them an "attaboy" against the coyotes. I kinda wish mine had front claws as if he ever got out he'd be able to defend himself.......as it is I'll have to see to it he don't get out. jd45
JD, maybe you could have somebody make him a set of booties with claws to wear when he goes out.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
My cat 17 year old Domestic Longhair cat "Waffles" whom I inherited from my dad lets the neighborhood doves by day, and toads by night help themselves to his dry catfood and he'd be literally sitting right next to his bowl smiling away as they feed, they are his buddies and he won't lay a paw on them. Waffles is no pacifist though as he has absolutely no fear of dogs and attacks any stray dog foolish enough to invade his territory especially his catfood. A couple moths ago at 2 a.m. I a woke to the blood curdling scream of 2 dogs being worked over at once by Waffles protecting his (and his dove & toad buddy's) food supply. I ran out the front door just in time to see these two dogs running down the driveway tails between their legs with Waffles in hot pursuit. I checked Waffles over and he didn't have a scratch on him. He will sit in middle of the driveway staring down each dog that passes by without flinching, and if the owners let there dog come on the property to poop Waffles will charge the dog without hesitation. Needless to say with a dozen people walking their dogs every afternoon by my home not one dog poop is ever found in my front yard.
While Buddy may have come out the "hero" in this story, I would like to point out that Frank (the other cat) is the one who let the coyotes in in the first place! I think this whole discussion is a wash as far a the value of house cats is concerned. Sorry, Joe.
GANJIRO,
That is one freaky looking cat. I can see why the dogs give him a wide birth, he looks positively demonic in that Eggo box.
We laughed like crazy at the mental picture of Waffles running the dogs off.
nemhed wrote:While Buddy may have come out the "hero" in this story, I would like to point out that Frank (the other cat) is the one who let the coyotes in in the first place! I think this whole discussion is a wash as far a the value of house cats is concerned. Sorry, Joe.
Nemhed, you got it wrong. Buddy and Frank were working together to sucker the coyotes in to be attacked. Obviously Frank has not yet developed his combat skills but is good at covert maneuvers, while Buddy is quite skilled in stealth attacks. Having seen the coyotes sneaking around the house to cause trouble they conferred on a plan to get rid of them.
Joe
***Be sneaky, get closer, bust the cap on him when you can put the ball where it counts .***
AJMD429 wrote:A "17-pound bobtail cat" ain't no ordinary 'house cat' - twice the weight of most of the cats I've had...!
That's about the weight, give or take a pound, of most tom's we've had. Cats are a thing of beauty - like owning a miniture tiger. Never 100% domesticated, and capable of awesome fury. That's why they are so interesting!
Maybe not as fearsome a feline as the coyoter fighter, but we used to have a huge tom who was a serious squirrel slayer - we would find several disembodied heads on the front lawn, week in and week out. Never found the bodies, which still amuses me.
That cat had the biggest head I've ever seen on a house cat. The vet told us a lot of the mass was scar tissue, but he didn't have a sign of any fights on his ears, nose, eyes, or fur that we could ever find.
This ones getting old, so she stays inside most of the time. But in her prime, she backed down from nothing. We have a very foolish male that's twice her size. Keeps thinking he can push her around. He'll learn sooner or later.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
My two cats are unafraid of dogs. More than once have people walking their dogs let the dog on our lawn and the cats have attacked the dogs. There are several of the regular dog walkers who walk their dogs on the other side of the street now. When I was a kid we had one of our cats get in a fight with a dog. The cat was firmly latched on the dogs back just tearing away at the dog that weighed about 50 lbs. It looked like a bucking bronco rodeo ride only with a cat and a dog.
.***
I think this whole discussion is a wash as far a the value of house cats is concerned. Sorry, Joe. 
