To be annoyed that people think it's funny to make jokes about killing/injuring cats?

[sizeofalentil]

Just that, really.

Have noticed this on all forums/groups I am on. Someone will mention a cat/a problem with a neighbour's cat and someone else will 'joke' about killing or injuring it.

No idea why people think this is ok and it doesn't happen to the same extent with dogs. It's fine not to like cats but why in the world would you say, especially to someone who clearly does like cats, that you'd like to see them hurt?

Feel like this constant drip of casual cruelty translates to real life and people being callous towards other people's pets in real life too.

I fantasise about killing and injuring owners who let their domestic pets out to shit in other people's gardens and kill or injury the wildlife that live in it, or jump up at people because it's "just being friendly". Does that count?

But cats have the right to roam. Same as foxes etc. If you think your plants and garden are more important than an animals life I despair at the way the world is going.

Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you should.

And yet, almost every time I've taken a pet rat out of the house (e.g. vets), a cat owner has made a "joke" about their cat attacking, killing and eating my pet.

Cat crap is toxic to dc playing in the garden.

There's nothing natural about cat poo! These animals are here artificially. They aren't wildlife. They are bred for human enjoyment and entertainment. But of course cat owners know this but because their wants are paramount there is no honesty about the situation. Do you care about the birds your cats maim and kill? Do you care about their suffering? Suffering inflicted by artificial additions to the environment. And no, your overfed cats are not doing much of a job to help with rodents.

I would certainly never hurt an animal, but after 20 years of being unable to get full use of my garden due to the constant smell of cat shit and pee, I might just joke about it, just as I might joke about strangling obnoxious teenagers who are loudly drunk at night or throw rubbish into my garden. I'd never hurt a teenager either.

The joke is simply expressing a sense of frustration about a situation which seriously impacts me and where I have no possible means of redress. I bought that garden hoping to grow herbs in it and let my toddlers play in it. Due to the density of the local cat population this wasn't really feasible. Of course I feel cheated. The usual ways of scaring cats out of the garden don't work because there are simply far too many cats in too confined a space: they have to go somewhere regardless of how much it smells of lion poo or whatever. I can't complain to the neighbours because obviously they acquired those cats knowing they would shit in my garden, so they clearly think it's all right.

All very well saying a natural environment, but when you are talking tiny suburban gardens and a cat population of at least one, often two, in every household except ours, then the concentration becomes far denser than you would expect in any natural environment.

I love my teens. But if one of them went and peed in your garden after a night out, I would not feel in the least hard done by if you joked about strangling him.

People are weird when it comes to cats. They have strange ideas about them, many people think cats think like humans or something.

The thing is there are people who would actually kill a cat.

I imagine this thread will go the way of all other bajillion cat poo in the garden threads....

I don't have the right to roam as I'm not a cat.... If you can tell me how to control a cat I'm all ears. Btw yes I am a cat owner but my cats don't go out at night because I'm too scared about them getting hurt. One of them doesn't leave the garden and the other stays on the street. Yet I still have a next door neighbour who blames me for the other cats that shit in his garden. They are not mine but still I get rants and nasty letters posted through my door. He has kicked my little cat but yet of course I'm sure it's my fault for having cats.

cricketqueen Sun 01-May-16 19:06:50

"But cats have the right to roam. Same as foxes etc. If you think your plants and garden are more important than an animals life I despair at the way the world is going"

So if I thought the right of my toddler to play safely in the garden was more important than your right to keep a cat in a densely populated area, then you despair at the way the world is going?

If you think your plants and garden are more important than an animals life I despair at the way the world is going

I may have missed it but has anyone said that?

I never rant about hurting an animal, but It is bloody horrible to find some cat's poo on the grass that your DC are about to play on. Or on your toddlers feet because you didn't spot it in time. I'm happy to take reasonable, ethical measures to stop that from happening.

SirChenin, your cat means nothing to me, doesn't mean I'm going to kill it - but you have it spot on, my plants, garden, birds nesting are more important to me than your cat, why wouldn't they be?

The worst I've ever done is open my French Windows quickly while telling it to fuck off, I dearly wish it would.

I don't have a cat Dame, hell would freeze over before I would get one and then inflict it on other people - think you're confusing me with another poster

I would never, ever hurt a cat. I have gone to a lot of trouble, and even some risk, in the past to help a cat in danger.

I just wish, before people acquire an animal, any animal, that they would give some thought to the practicalities, whose life it is going to impact on. If you live in the countryside, well and good. If you live in a place with large gardens and few cats, also well and good. If you live in a place where each cat is going to find its territory confined to one small garden (which will almost certainly not be its own) and the accumulating waste will be proportionally dense- then maybe you should think again.

Exactly like people should think twice about what their neighbourhood is like before they decide to keep pigs or cocks or any other animal that might impact on other people.

I understand where you're coming from OP. There are some odd and angry people about.

cory - well said. We've only ever had pets that don't impact on others for that very reason.

Sorry, sorry!! I meant Cricketqueen !

No problem!!

I understand where you're coming from OP. There are some odd and angry people about.

And there are some equally strange bods who don't have to worry because their own cats shit in other people's gardens, never their own, and they don't get why that might be a little bit annoying.

I can't remember, Derek - did they turn out to be dead in the end, or hibernating?

Like some PP I also find it a bit odd that not wanting cats in your garden equates with not caring for wildlife. So birds and baby hedgehogs and lizards are not wildlife- but your cat is?

I make jokes all the time about killing cats and people - said fred west

You can put pepper down that scares the furry feckers away but trouble is the rain washes it away

Have you never joked about strangling your annoying teen, Toffee (assuming you have one)? For everyFred West of this world, even for every nasty poster of rant and cat shit through letter boxes, there are thousands of people for whom a joke in private provides the safety valve they need to be able to smile at their neighbour the next morning after they have scraped the cat shit off their child's shoe.

I am sure a rant along the lines of AIBU to want to strangle my MIL wouldn't rouse half the passion this thread has been getting. Yet the MILs who shit in peope's gardens must be few and far between.