Dogs and Cats.... Let Loose In The Forest.... What Happens?

[Spacescifi]

Scenario 1: Ten domestic cats, 5 male and 5 female are let loose in a forest 100 kilometers from human civilization.

 

Scenario 2: Nearly the same but dogs... but not just any dog.

Behold! The utterly insanely courageous Jack Russel Terrier:

 

 

 

I do not have pets so I am less qualified but I will posit an an answer anyway.

 

The cats should survive this... they are half-wild anyway. Somehow I think they will find their way back to human civilization.

 

The Jack Russels probably die though... since I read they cannot be trusted as pets to tolerate each other without killing each other over toys. In the wild they may wise up though given all the prey and predators and tolerate each other more for the sake of survival.

 

What do you think?

Edited September 15, 2022 by Spacescifi

[Nuke]

my sister had a cat, would disappear into the woods for months at a time. she used to live out in the middle of nowhere, though not really that far from where i am now. but you need to take a skiff to get there. each time came back with scars, a limp, part of its ear missing, various parasites, etc. there are bears, moose, wolves, various types of weasel-like critters (including wolverines), various birds of prey, like bald eagles and mosquitoes the size of helicopters. cats can survive the nature, even the alaska nature, just fine.  granted they are at a disadvantage to naturally wild or ferel cats and will have significantly higher death rates. the cat in question was left with one of my sister's friends while she was moving, he was supposed to send it down a month or two later, but apparently got arrested and the cat got away, never to be seen again.

of my cats i think one is most definitely food and the other one stands a chance at survival if she could learn to stop meowing at her prey before she pounces. she did come back yesterday with a pigeon feather so there's still hope for her. if they cant hunt, avoid predators and find a place to hunker down for the winter i think they have a fighting chance. but i think if she was in a situation where she was separated from us, she would probibly make friends with someone else and just move in. the cat just likes everyone. 

im not sure about dogs. but feral cats are pretty common, the offspring of abandoned or escaped pets. the feline is a survivor. i think the dogs would fall back on their scavenging instincts, stay near humans, and eventually wind up in the pound.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

3 hours ago, Nuke said:

my sister had a cat, would disappear into the woods for months at a time. she used to live out in the middle of nowhere, though not really that far from where i am now. but you need to take a skiff to get there. each time came back with scars, a limp, part of its ear missing, various parasites, etc. there are bears, moose, wolves, various types of weasel-like critters (including wolverines), various birds of prey, like bald eagles and mosquitoes the size of helicopters. cats can survive the nature, even the alaska nature, just fine.  granted they are at a disadvantage to naturally wild or ferel cats and will have significantly higher death rates. the cat in question was left with one of my sister's friends while she was moving, he was supposed to send it down a month or two later, but apparently got arrested and the cat got away, never to be seen again.

of my cats i think one is most definitely food and the other one stands a chance at survival if she could learn to stop meowing at her prey before she pounces. she did come back yesterday with a pigeon feather so there's still hope for her. if they cant hunt, avoid predators and find a place to hunker down for the winter i think they have a fighting chance. but i think if she was in a situation where she was separated from us, she would probibly make friends with someone else and just move in. the cat just likes everyone. 

im not sure about dogs. but feral cats are pretty common, the offspring of abandoned or escaped pets. the feline is a survivor. i think the dogs would fall back on their scavenging instincts, stay near humans, and eventually wind up in the pound.

That's interesting. As pack animals I reckon dogs rely on mankind a lot more, whereas cats being the lone wolf hunters they are need man less.

 

That's funny though about the meowing cat. She's probably grown overly accustomed to human ways. Is that the one that loves you and is jealous around any other humans giving you attention?

 

[Nuke]

she has trained us humans to feed her on command. she thinks it works the same way with her natural prey. 

the food kitty is the jealous one. i figure at 20+ pounds she would have a better shot at learning to hunt before starving to death. ive only seen her make a run at a bird once. but out neighbors came out of their apartment all loud and obnoxious like and scared her. i dont think ive seen her try again. most she will do is go on the ground and play with bugs. however she is incredibly lazy and her weight takes away much of the speed and maneuverability that cats are known for.  shes not very good at jumping and climbing. i have a feeling the predators would get the better of her. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

1 hour ago, Nuke said:

she has trained us humans to feed her on command. she thinks it works the same way with her natural prey. 

the food kitty is the jealous one. i figure at 20+ pounds she would have a better shot at learning to hunt before starving to death. ive only seen her make a run at a bird once. but out neighbors came out of their apartment all loud and obnoxious like and scared her. i dont think ive seen her try again. most she will do is go on the ground and play with bugs. however she is incredibly lazy and her weight takes away much of the speed and maneuverability that cats are known for.  shes not very good at jumping and climbing. i have a feeling the predators would get the better of her. 

That is hilarious that the cat actually thinks calling prey will make it willingly submit to getting eaten.

 

Creatures of habit I suppose.

At a fast food place I was eating in my car in the parking lot and notice a black cat in the distance.

It strode on over just far enough to where it could see me in the window, and stared at me with big green eyes.

 

I am pretty sure he/she wanted me to feed him. I  am guessing that trick has worked on other humans... and cats are nothing but attentive.

I mean all they do every day is watch, sleep, watch, eat, and watch some more.

If cats could talk we could learn the habits of people and the schedules of things happening in a location very well.

 

Anyway I kind of ignored the cat, so it gazed at the street, but after mere moments would stare at me again.

 

It did this repeatedly... again and again. Till it no doubt after about 5 or 7 minutes realized this was not getting anywhere and walked away.

 

Last I saw of the cat was as I was driving off, he went over to lie on the ground near his/pal cat who was zoinked out with eyes closed under the shade of a tree. As soon as the black cat saw me his/her eyes widened... perhaps expecting me toss something tasy out the window.

 

If so I disappointed him since I drove off.

I wondered why the cat bothered with me as I had never met it before. Once I threw out burger meat for a gray cat who seemed not to care. Maybe the black cat got it instead?

So he/she may know me/my car but I did not know him/her.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Both predators would be fine 

https://wildlife-damage-management.extension.org/feral-dogs/

Just as coyote have adapted to be human adjacent - these would be successful human adjacent predators competing in the same niche as coyote - but... 

Moving deeper into the wilds, wolves still remain dominant.  The cats (feral) will have a niche as long as they can avoid bobcat in the Northern Hemisphere.  They won't be a concern for puma (although, killed if convenient) b/c different niche - but NA bobcat have a crossover. 

[SunlitZelkova]

22 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

5 male and 5 female

Note that this may not be enough to avoid an inbreeding depression within a matter of generations.

[Nuke]

i think you would be better off with a couple males and 8 females. because in there will be a dominant male claiming all the females. the weaker males wouldn't be contributing much to the gene pool. females are interesting because they can have kittens from different males in the same litter. thats why so many cuddle puddles have that one kitten that just doesnt look like the others.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by Nuke

[Nuke]

15 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

That is hilarious that the cat actually thinks calling prey will make it willingly submit to getting eaten.

 

Creatures of habit I suppose.

At a fast food place I was eating in my car in the parking lot and notice a black cat in the distance.

It strode on over just far enough to where it could see me in the window, and stared at me with big green eyes.

 

I am pretty sure he/she wanted me to feed him. I  am guessing that trick has worked on other humans... and cats are nothing but attentive.

I mean all they do every day is watch, sleep, watch, eat, and watch some more.

If cats could talk we could learn the habits of people and the schedules of things happening in a location very well.

 

Anyway I kind of ignored the cat, so it gazed at the street, but after mere moments would stare at me again.

 

It did this repeatedly... again and again. Till it no doubt after about 5 or 7 minutes realized this was not getting anywhere and walked away.

 

Last I saw of the cat was as I was driving off, he went over to lie on the ground near his/pal cat who was zoinked out with eyes closed under the shade of a tree. As soon as the black cat saw me his/her eyes widened... perhaps expecting me toss something tasy out the window.

 

If so I disappointed him since I drove off.

I wondered why the cat bothered with me as I had never met it before. Once I threw out burger meat for a gray cat who seemed not to care. Maybe the black cat got it instead?

So he/she may know me/my car but I did not know him/her.

im pretty sure the cat gets plenty of food from that place. probibly sees a hundred or so cars coming out of there, and some of them are likely to contain cat people. 

yesterday i was eating this korean bbq pork jerky while playing an mwo match. i pulled out a huge piece and so tore off a section and started eating it. the match got interesting so i kind of focused on my game and forgot about it. after the match i went to the fridge to get a coke, and came back and it was gone. im not really sure what cat got ahold of it. later on i found a small fragment of it in the cat tower. 

[Gargamel]

On 9/16/2022 at 4:02 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

Note that this may not be enough to avoid an inbreeding depression within a matter of generations.

Articles I read years and years ago stated 7&7, but with very specific planning being done many generations down the line.    I’ve seen other numbers thrown around too. 

[kerbiloid]

To the date the cat population is limited only by the amount of the available cheap sausages.

(Even when they are married to their grandmother).

[SunlitZelkova]

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

To the date the cat population is limited only by the amount of the available cheap sausages.

(Even when they are married to their grandmother).

You may be jesting, but I shall inquire over any actual data on this as I am curious.

[kerbiloid]

32 minutes ago, SunlitZelkova said:

You may be jesting, but I shall inquire over any actual data on this as I am curious.

I'm just about our dungeon, street and dungeon-street cats.