Cats everywhere!

There's no use blaming cats for killing. Nature designed them to be predators. They are good at keeping rats and mice in check, a big plus for keeping cats. No one says lions should die because they kill cute baby deer cats are just little lions in their habits.

He'll be waiting...

I'd imagine there were far more stray, feral and hungry cats years ago due to poor animal welfare standards and the absence of neutering. One female cat can be responsible for thousands of kittens going down the generations. A lot of people kept a 'mouser' as did all the factories and many businesses. I'm old enough to remember the grocery shop cat, sprawled out sleeping in the window or on top of the counter. In the days of fewer cars (and no litter trays) it was routine to let the cat out at night. And yet cats today, which are kept in at night and much less likely to roam, are getting all the blame for the declining wildlife populations!

The RSPB have said that cats are not responsible for the decline in bird population: habitat loss, changes in land management, and climate change are much bigger factors. These are also huge factors in declining insect populations which you can’t blame cats for. That’s obviously not a coincidence. The issue of declining bird populations is more complex than “domestic cats are to blame”, Domestic cats have been around for centuries, since we started agriculture and storing grain etc. If bird populations have been more recently declining and we know there are huge issues like climate change, habitat loss and land management changes that are affecting creatures cats don’t hunt, then we need to conclude that the issue is not cats. You just don’t like cats.

Cats will behave like Cats, they are predators and no cat owner I have ever met has taken amusement to their cat harming another animals but nor should the cat owners (nor should anyone else) punish them for it. I personally keep my cat indoors for her safety because of horrible people and the things they do to harm Cats and the risk of her getting run over (and cats aren't stupid and get themselves run over, it's an unfortunate incident where the driver hasn't seen the cat)

My name is Mog and I am 8 in September. I never use that dirty outdoor thing as mummy gives a clean indoor box to use and I think mummy and daddy like my presents of flies best even though mummy lets me out.

You've still not answered my question about why you feel it is okay for birds of prey to attack and kill wildlife but not cats.

You do realise that not all cats live in homes, there are feral cats out there mainly due to humans not getting them spayed or neutered or because they've abandoned by humans.

They do kill to feed as do birds prey.

If you don't like cats that's fine but your opening post was about cats attacking wildlife and then you said it's okay for birds of prey to do it.

I bet you also eat meat so don't care that animals are being slaughtered to fulfill your wants, you don't need meat to survive, I'd say your a hypocrite.

Congrats 🐱🐱🐱

They keep pooing on my front lawn, and leaving dead birds in my back garden. No nest is safe in my garden.
I don't have a dog anymore, but still have to have poo bags!!

Meg and Mog want to know if another cat counts as pest

Mine go in the garden, M25 doesn’t go through there 😂 all pet ownership is selfish, it doesn’t begin and end at cats.

Kids getting hit by cars is pretty rare though, cats getting hit by cars happens all the bloody time. It's a massive, massive risk for cats. The alternative of keeping them indoors is shit for the cat too though yes. You'll have a cat anyway though because you want one, doesn't matter that the cat is either trapped indoors or in huge danger outdoors.

you’re making the false equivalence of a cat and a human. Humans know better, cat’s don’t. Animals killing other animals is different to humans killing animals. On that note, do you eat animals?

A lot of birds have become much rarer in my lifetime. Grey partridges, curlews and lapwings for example. All down to increasingly industrialised farming practices.

Many seabirds. Down to overfishing and bird flu, the last deadly strain of which was incubated in....poultry farms.

Insectivores such as swifts. Down to a catastrophic insect decline, due to climate change AND INCREASINGLY INDUSTRIALISED FARMING PRACTICES.

Anyone spotting a trend there?

In contrast, the garden birds most commonly taken by cats in Europe- such as wrens, sparrows, robins and blue tits- are thriving. Possibly because they evolved alongside wildcats, among other predators. Garden songbirds naturally have an insane attrition rate in their young- out of a clutch of ten blue ties, only one or two are likely to make it to maturity. This happens with or without cats present.

Mine don’t venture out of our garden

I lost one cat to a car. The clocks had changed in the autumn and we'd not managed to get him in by 21:00. Since then we try and get our cats in by 16:00 in the winter and 19:00 in the summer and not let them out until 09:00 in the morning so they are not out at peak traffic times. We don't live there anymore

We are semi-rural but not far away is a busy A road. We have been looking to move and proximity to even a B road will rule the property out for us

True psychopaths want to hurt animals…just like you daydream about 😂

Cats don't have a negative impact on my life in the way dogs do. People don't take them everywhere, they don't expect to take them to offices, into cafes (except specific cat cafes) or onto trains. And the cats themselves don't try to trip me up or jump up at me or make a lot of noise. I don't have to rethink my walking and running routes to avoid out of control cats.

However, they do invite themselves into peoples' houses/gardens/offices/and even make it onto trains on occasion ;)

That’s ridiculous, I have kids that walk to school, didn’t have them to be flattened either, the alternative half life of being stuck indoors is not a life I’d want to live or enforce on another.

'How can cats possibly be superior to dogs? Do you get guide cats? hearing cats? cats that sniff out cancer? police cats? cats that rescue people from burning buildings?
Obviously dogs are better'

You may have a point here

It's not that straightforward though is it? I live very rurally, there's very little traffic on our lane. My cats are out at night (when there's hardly any traffic). Should I restrict them to indoors because of the very slim chance they might get hit by a car?

Er you did actually, in your first post

while the problems they cause may be less obvious than dogs/dog ownership, I personally think they're worse in many ways. Particularly for the terrible effect they have on local wildlife and birds in particular.

yes cats do catch birds, mice rabbits etc but dogs also chase and kill rabbits. Most farmers would disagree it is less obvious. In 2024, dog attacks on livestock in the UK cost an estimated £1.8 million to farmers. Swans are also a target and lets not forget Elvis the seal who was killed in an unprovoked ferocious attack by a dog by the Thames. Horses are attacked by dogs quite regularly.

If I want to go for a walk and actually see birds, squirrels, deer etc I avoid peak dog walking time to actually see them. Dogs have chased everything off.

As for Fenton the deer chasing lab...

I personally am shocked by how often cats get run over. My local Facebook group has a post about a dead cat at least weekly. I know several people it's happened to. Based on that I think it's cruel to own a cat who goes out. Getting run over is a HORRIBLE way to die and people who have cats know this can happen and yet choose to own a cat anyway. Do you love your cat if you know it might just get crushed to death any time? Or is it that you want a cat for your own gratification, and fuck the cat I suppose it can go get flattened.and it's just one of them things.

Hello from Mia. 😻