The letter writer may be 50 years old chronologically, but in many ways her letter reminded me of my junior high students, pondering in endless discussions what a particular boy might be thinking when all the situation required was for the girl he was "dating" (if dating is really the word for junior high relationships) to ask him directly. The letter was exceptionally short on actual information (How old are the children? How did he get children in the first place? Via a marriage? If so, how did that marriage end? We just don't know.) She's giving very few clues, and I think Cary's response showed how fluffy and juvenile the whole "problem" is as presented, while he deftly used a literary device--his discussion of the letter with a friend--which also brings into light some real issues the LW should take into account. Yes, Cary takes far more creative liberties than "normal" advice columnists. Everyone knows this, and one would assume that those people who send him questions have actually read his columns and realize this.

"the mice and rats aren't a naturally-occurring population. They live in much greater numbers than would be supported by nature because they eat the grain which falls from the horse troughs."

That's a really good point.

Most of the information I've read about cats' effects on bird populations are more about rural-but-non-farm, suburban, and urban cats, and no one is saying this is a new effect--just that it's one that people didn't really research until fairly recently.

The truth is, many bird populations are declining dangerously--unfortunately not goose, gull, or some other problem species, but many others, including beautiful songbirds such as Scarlet Tanagers, meadowlarks and bobolinks (and farm cats HAVE had a significant impact on them), Piping and Snowy Plovers (and outdoor cats have had a devastating effect on those!) and other beautiful species of historical and cultural as well as ecological importance. There are a whole array of reasons, tied to development, pesticides, habitat destruction, windows, communications towers, etc., etc., etc. We can throw up our hands in despair, ridicule anyone for even caring, or try to look at the contributing factors one by one and see what we can do, and what we're not willing to do.

I see the value in cats, which is why I've taken in several and loved them as genuine family members. But I don't see that an individual cat has more value than an individual bird, and the more we learn about avian intelligence and social systems, the more we learn how they are equal to mammalian intelligence and social systems. Obviously, even based on some of the posts here, cats bring out the worst in humans--one of the cats I took in had clearly been cruelly abused by humans, and some of the posts here show that genuinely sadistic impulses. But the way some cat lovers talk about wild birds seems equally dismissive and borderline sadistic in its own way, and we should remember that we're talking not just about individual deaths but declines of entire species at the hands of a species that is not here naturally but entirely because of us.

It's all sad. And if we can't even discuss this one topic without people attacking each other and without people talking about sadistic acts as if they were funny, how can we possibly solve the problems in the Middle East?

2katydid has that exactly right. It's a horrible problem to be trying your very hardest to do the right thing when a pet is causing serious difficulties for yourself and other people. People get divorced over problem pets. Children can be hurt by them. Yet due to our usually well-developed ability to bond with small creatures just by making eye contact (even if it's sometimes only a one-way bond), and due to our usually well-developed sense of responsibility to helpless small beings, and due to our sense of morality and ethics and our ability to empathize, it's not easy to give away problem pets, much less abandon or kill them. And it's always easiest to create bonds with what you've personally handled, which is why my sense of the importance and value of wild birds is stronger than that most people have--I've personally handled so many of them. It's also why when I've picked up some cats that were killing birds I've brought them into my house and paid many hundreds of dollars in vet bills to neuter them and treat their ailments rather than taking them to the pound.

Sometimes you have to tease out the lesser of evils in a bad situation. But reflecting on the problem and possible solutions with love rather than anger, revenge, or general pissiness, you can at least eventually find some peace however it ends.

How do people get toxoplasmosis?

A Toxoplasma infection occurs by:

* Accidentally swallowing cat feces from a Toxoplasma-infected cat that is shedding the organism in its feces. This might happen if you were to accidentally touch your hands to your mouth after gardening, cleaning a cat's litter box, or touching anything that has come into contact with cat feces. Eating contaminated raw or partly cooked meat, especially pork, lamb, or venison; by touching your hands to your mouth after handling undercooked meat.

* Contaminating food with knives, utensils, cutting boards and other foods that have had contact with raw meat.

* Drinking water contaminated with Toxoplasma.

* Receiving an infected organ transplant or blood transfusion, though this is rare.

From http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/toxoplasmosis/factsht_toxoplasmosis.htm