Keep your cats to yourselves

I| used to be a cat person when I lived in a very rural area and I adored my cats. I now live in a more built-up area and I have made the decision not to have cats any longer. My main reason is a selfish one: I cannot bear the thought of my cat being possibly hit by a car. I could keep a cat confined to my property but I feel that would be cruel so I will not have a cat again. My other considerations are also that our world is changing. We now have more people per square mile than fifty years ago and tolerance between neighbours is becoming eroded by higher stress levels, many species of birds and wildlife are threatened and need all the help they can get. Popular opinion is also changing, it was once acceptable for the village dogs to exercise themselves and cats to lead a natural life without criticism. What was once normal becomes slowly unacceptable in our crowded more politically correct world. Looking back fifty years my opinions have changed too which is not a bad thing.

Planete

We won’t get another cat, ours is eight years old, so probably has a while to go, but I find not only do I have the annoyance of my immediate neighbors, but the interference of the community as a whole, constant little notes in the village website about a little black cat, far from home looking undernourished, at one point I responded and said it was probably our cat, not to worry he was a wandering cat, and some bossy woman rang me to say he looked starving, he’s not, he sees the vet regularly, he’s just a small cat!

When I lived in a flat my cat never left it, but when you live in a house it's just impossible to keep a cat at home, it will snick out anyway!

We never know where ours is, even if we’re pretty certain he’s in, we often can’t find him.

It seems that my work here is done.
I'll see you in another forum sometime, somewhere....

No thanks!

I still have my suspicions

And if no one kept cats that were allowed out, there would be a great many more mice and rats about.

I am constantly surprised by all these cats that apparently leave their excrement uncovered. I have only once experienced it with a kitten that had been taken from its mother far too soon. If left with their mothers until they are 11 weeks old, they have been taught to dig holes and cover up.

I do realise that you might not want them digging in your garden, but for heaven's sake woman put up a fence they can't get over or through.

Why should the rest of us, who like cats, be treated as a danger to society just because you do not care for cats?

You will be complaining fast enough when your bird food attracts rats!

Cats catch rats?? Really?! The ones round here seem to prefer smaller rodents and birds.

What sort of fences should other people put up to stop your pet going onto their gardens? As for not burying their poo - yep, it’s definitely a widespread thing. Maybe they’re just too exhausted to dig a hole after killing all those rats

This topic is one that has been going for years! Yawn

No, in general, cats can not be governed like dogs ...end of!

What would you do with all cats Bodach? Euthanise them? Rid the world of them? I know some owners say differently but on the whole a cat will do what a cat wants to do. I don't have one now but don't believe in keeping them cooped up if they don't want to be.

Actually owning your own cat does seem to solve the problem to some extent ha ha.

I am just sorry there aren't more worrying issues in the world than cat poo. If only we could rid the world of cats eh?

Well, I think Bodach has had his/her fun by ‘throwing a pebble into the pond’ and will be back with more stories at another time.
????? cats rule!

If only cat owners would follow their cats and pick up their poo, then they could do this..

Anyone who know the first thing about cats will know that there's no such thing as owning a a cat. You may have a cat in your household and you may expend money and love on it but don't expect any thanks.

It's a family story that my mum & dad's cat took one look at a newborn me, stalked across the road and lived out the rest of his life with their neighbours!

Hahaha...the last two posts made me LOL.... I know the feeling Sue...once rescued two kittens who when they were fully grown decided they preferred the neighbours house to ours (presumably too many children in ours for their liking!!!)
Neighbour loved them and eventually they stayed out their lives there. You just got to love the furry, fickle, independent little critters - oh well maybe not all of us eh Bodach?

Our first cat adopted us. When his young owners were moving onto a main road they asked us to have him and so we" bought" him for a bottle of wine.They offered his sister too but as he used to fight with her,we declined.

I am a cat lover- always had cats, since I was a baby. All rescues, all casualties ...

and yet, I agree that there are far too many cats around, in totally unsuitable situations and conditions.

Sirchenjin
Mine kills rats not birds and so I am led to believe there are rather more rats in the UK than people.

I used to have a VERY anti cat neighbour. Given that I was renting at the time AND he had the contact details of my landlord and I wasn't supposed to have cats, it was a tricky situation.

UNTIL my ratter caught and killed two LARGE rats and left them lying on his garden path. After that, he was cat tolerant.

CoolioC.....here is one I killed earlier! ?

I have two house cats. I do feel mean not letting them out but I've had 'outside' cats before and it just isn't safe.

However, a neighbour of mine has an outside cat. It has always pooed in my drive, in the gravel. Nothing deters it. So I had the gravel concreted over, planning to thwart it. Nope. Poos on the concrete. I give up.

Hopefully Gagajo he’s a ratter like mine. Generally has two a week and eats them, well not all. He eats only Urinary biscuits because of his delicate urine tract and fresh rat!

Sara65, I used to have a little black cat (rescued from a farm) who always looked skinny and underfed, although she ate well. She lived to be 20 years old with only one day of illness.

I have a cat and a dog. I use the doggy poop bags to pick up after other people's cats in the front garden (mine never goes out there) and it doesn't bother me.

Bodach, nobody's garden is clean anyway. There's fox, bird, badger, rat, mouse, hedgehog, frog and weasel droppings absolutely everywhere!

Hetty

Your last paragraph makes a very good point.

Our little cat was a farmyard kitten, he’s in at the moment lying in front of the Aga, behaving like a cat, but I’m expecting a tradesman any minute, and he’ll be out or the house like a shot, probably turn up in the morning for a spot of breakfast.