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Original poster

To really not understand why people are OK with cats

709 replies

Duvetstay · 10/05/2020 19:23

Full disclosure, I'm allergic to cats and also very much a dog person but I really don't understand how it's acceptable for cats to go round decimating local wildlife and crapping in gardens.

I've lost count of how many times I've had to pick cat poo off the lawn and my daughter came in yesterday with cat sick all over her feet as a local moggie had vommed on our patio. I'm sick of it. It's a health hazard and you shouldn't have to wear a hazmat suit to go in your own garden.

We have tadpoles outside which are about to froglet and I've just seen a fat cat with its head in the water. I'm fuming, a few of the tadpoles are injured and this is the same cat I had to get off a terrified bird last week.

I'm not remotely sentimental about nature, if a hungry creature kills another then that's how life works. However I cannot understand how people can let these cats out knowing that they're injuring animals for no reason and causing health hazards to other people in their own home.

I couldn't take my dog for a shit in your garden so why can your cat do that in mine? They're not even natural predators as they just trot home to get their whiskers.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND!

OP posts:
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Leflic · 12/05/2020 00:25

I’d be very wary of the RSPSB too. They’re management of birds is questionable at best. Vast amounts of public money yet very little spent. Even smaller amounts on projects that have actually helped wild bird species but lots spent on houses for wardens that aren’t lived in and areas that are mis managed because no one looks after them. That’s hundreds of thousands of pounds. They seem to get it wrong a lot.

People just need the evidence if their own eyes, Do your cats kill small mammals and birds. Has your bird population declined with the number of cats in the local.
Are cats something you have introduced to the area or were they wild.

Lynda07 · 12/05/2020 00:52

I had cats for years, loved them. My last one died this year and as I am getting old, I thought it wise to have no more.

I now have a mouse! Do I befriend the mouse or arrange for it to be exterminated? Somewhere in a cupboard I have a humane mouse trap, I'll try and find it later.

MamaKarmaLlama · 12/05/2020 01:05

Dogs kill things all the time. My neighbours dogs slaughtered her neighbours chickens, all twelve of them. Plus they regularly attack sheep round here. Rip out their throats. Happens on a very regular basis. Most dog owners are idiots and can’t or won’t control their animals. Huge problem in the Lake District.

TheSandman · 12/05/2020 01:20

I live in the country. I had mice. I got a cat. I don't got mice.

That's why I have a cat.

Why anyone would want to own a dog is an utter mystery to me. Though, I suppose, if you had rats...

TheSandman · 12/05/2020 01:24

Most dog owners are idiots and can’t or won’t control their animals.

My favourites are the ones who carefully scoop their dog's shit into a little plastic bag. Tie a knot in the bag. And then throw it into some bushes. Sometimes misjudging their throw so the bag gets caught in a tree branch and the neatly-wrapped turds just dangle there for a few months.

cyclingmad · 12/05/2020 01:33

Just as another example of cats pooing in the garden I had to do this:

In my first year of my house I had cats crapping so much in the soil and grasss, burying and not burying that the amount of crap stank out the air. I would go into the garden and immediately know without seeing it.

So this is what I had to do to try and stop it

  1. slate over every inch of bare soil in the garden to stop them digging up flowers and destroying the flower beds: cost me £60 in slate I have huge flowers beds up the length of the garden

  2. I cannot grow veg in the ground because of poo from previous times and they won't stop diggin up bare soil so I had to buy long veg boxes and then cos I can't put slate in those I had to buy large long 'cloches' to keep the cats out; cost me £80 for everything

They have destoyed the cloches ripping up the plastics covers so now I have to replace them

Whereas my mum who lives in an area with barely any local cats doesn't have to slate her garden and can plant her veg in the ground.

Whats worse is any time I want to plant bulbs or new flowers or anything I have to remove the slate and it takes flipping forever! Then I have to put it all back ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH I hate it so much

I dare anyone to say that oh well never mind so what thats just life, who wants to spend that money and do all that extra work just to enjoy their garden they way they want to.

Timekeeper1 · 12/05/2020 01:48

@Hingeandbracket So many posts on here explaining all the way in which cats are nasty and mean

Really, I haven't read one post that has explained that. And yes, cats are better than humans a lot of the time.

Timekeeper1 · 12/05/2020 01:56

@frillyfucks If only someone did that to you.

Timekeeper1 · 12/05/2020 01:57

@frillyfucks Why is some partridge of greater importance than a cat that has a use and stops plagues of rats?

Timekeeper1 · 12/05/2020 02:00

@radiantrose Cats are usually very protective of toddlers and children, they don't just attack a toddler unless the toddler is teasing them. They're not like dogs that will turn on you for no reason. You're the one who sounds unsociable, and I honestly and genuinely feel sorry for people who don't know the love of a cat.

RyanBergarasTeeth · 12/05/2020 02:09

Timekeeper cats can and do turn on you for no reason! They do it all the time. I have a serious scar on my neck and shoulder where one of mine clawed me for no reason when i was watching tv i wasnt even petting him he just jumped onto the chair and scratched me. Ive been bitten and scratched a few times by cats thats ive not even gone near as i never stroke cats i dont know. Cats are hunters so makes no sense to say they dont attack unprovoked from time to time.

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 12/05/2020 04:21

Some I like, some I don't.

Next door's car definitely poos on our lawn, I've caught it in the act several times. It's a stupid creature that stalks the birds in our garden, I hate it and it knows to run when it sees me.

DS's cat on the other hand is adorable, playful and loving. And very fastidious poo-wise.

2catsblack · 12/05/2020 04:37

One of our cats has now found 2 snakes in our garden (north, UK so assume grass) Impressive as he has only every 'caught' a leave or twig before. I heard in Australia he might have kindly brought the snake in for us as a present!

2catsblack · 12/05/2020 04:40

We now joke he's on snake watch when he is asleep in the garden. He completely ignores the hedgehog who visits every night. He does get upset when birds come into the house and eat his cat food.

2catsblack · 12/05/2020 04:45

Now our other cat..... not sure if the mice he brings us are presents or because he is worried we are not eating enough. Normally we manage to get him to drop them & we lock him inside whilst the mouse escapes.

FourPlasticRings · 12/05/2020 06:18

Cats are usually very protective of toddlers and children, they don't just attack a toddler unless the toddler is teasing them. They're not like dogs that will turn on you for no reason.

Dogs don't turn on people for no reason either- there's always a reason. Sometimes people just don't perceive what that reason is.

FourPlasticRings · 12/05/2020 06:31

On another note, I get infuriated at the usual facebook attitude of....dog gets run over - terrible owner, cat gets run over - terrible driver!

Dogs are like toddlers. They have zero road sense and many will literally leg it for the road for some unknown reason. You can't trust them, they need a lead.

Cats are like teenagers. By and large, they have a lot more road sense. Some do not and will get run over if you live somewhere with a road, but many have the good sense not to venture out into the path of oncoming traffic. It is, of course, possible to hit one by accident, but many drivers actively speed up/aim for cats, due to an intense hatred of them (or to impress other numpties in the car). So, in many cases, it was the driver's fault- not because they're terrible drivers but because they're malevolent.

Many cats have the innate desire to roam. Denying them that natural behaviour is unfair and cruel, which is why the RSPCA do not recommend it- the rescue I got my cat from made outdoor access a condition for letting me get my cat.

Winesalot · 12/05/2020 06:55

People just need the evidence if their own eyes, Do your cats kill small mammals and birds.

Yes, like next door’s cat that killed the nest of black birds in my bay tree last year? Including the mother bird? And the pigeons it has killed? And it poos in my garden, never the neighbour’s who deny that their cat does it (no they don’t cover it!).

There is always, always denial about the damage to wildlife that cats represent and their toilet habits. Or if owners know about what their cat does, they minimise it.

MamaKarmaLlama · 12/05/2020 07:10

@winesalot what about the damage dogs do to livestock? Massive problem here. I can show you endless evidence? What about dogs viciously attacking people and killing humans? How often do you read in the news a cat has attacked someone to the point they need medical care? We as humans are far more detrimental to wildlife than cats...maybe we should be locked in permanently?

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 12/05/2020 07:15

Cats always make a house stink.

I think you’ll find that’s dogs

twilightcanine · 12/05/2020 07:29

I like both cats and dogs but....

A cat's instinct to roam as part of its natural repertoire of behaviour is no different to a dogs. Only in dogs we curb it. I guess I can understand why cats get the free pass, but it's daft to convince yourself keeping one animal in is cruel but in another it isn't. Both creatures have wide territory roaming as a natural instinct.

Many cars shit in other people's gardens and do not bury it - or like to shit in loose soil which is garden that is being tended so gardeners will end up dealing with someone else's pet shit. Again, I understand that if you let them roam you cannot control where they toilet, but it is foolish to say cat shit is not a bother to the surrounding houses because it is.

FourPlasticRings · 12/05/2020 07:34

A cat's instinct to roam as part of its natural repertoire of behaviour is no different to a dogs. Only in dogs we curb it.

Dogs have been bred to stay with their family for hundreds of years, having been given jobs that require them not to roam. Those with a strong desire to roam have tended to get lost/die and not contributed to the pet gene pool. And dogs generally get much more from being at home with their owners than cats do. Cats, in general, are domesticated to a lesser extent.

MamaKarmaLlama · 12/05/2020 07:34

Some dog shits outside my house every morning and they don’t cover it up.

LuckyAmy1986 · 12/05/2020 07:37

We have multiple cats walking/lounging in our garden daily and along our windows. We have to check for shit (which stinks) before letting our kids out to play. We had one being sick all
Over our patio as well. I really hate it abd can’t wait to move.

I hate how you can not like cats, so not own one and still have to put up with the downsides of them. It’s so unfair.

Winesalot · 12/05/2020 07:53

MamaKarmaLlama

I grew up on a farm. I know exactly what damage cats, dogs, livestock and humans do to native species. I am all for people taking responsibility of the damage done by any animal in their charge. Including the environmental impact of their livestock. The whole point is ‘taking responsibility’!

The right to roam law does tend to give people the impression that absolves them of this. The one I hear from my neighbour is ‘it could be anyone’s cat’. And it could, but it is theirs that I see.