To really not understand why people are OK with cats

[Duvetstay]

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!

[TheSandman]

I like the fact that she is affectionate but restrained- she never jumps all over me with muddy paws, as badly trained dogs are inclined to. And she has never clawed furniture or carpets - she uses her scratching post.

Cats don't try to hump your leg either.

[Diamondsandjems]

Haven’t read the whole thread sorry as late to the party So not sure if this has been mentioned already but orange peel is a natural cat repellent. You should put it around the pond and also the garden fence/wall where the cat comes in. I have a cat and use this for the Xmas tree

[motherheroic]

I don't mind them, but the way people let them walk their litter box feet all over the kitchen table and counters is just gross to me.

When I was a kid the cats were only allowed in the kitchen to eat or to be let in/out the back garden. Any other time the door was kept firmly shut so they weren't walking over every single surface available.

[Borgonzola]

And yet people are ok with the smelly, slobbery, jumping, barking/yipping, biting, aggressive poo machines that are dogs.

[MumInBrussels]

@Borgonzola

And yet people are ok with the smelly, slobbery, jumping, barking/yipping, biting, aggressive poo machines that are dogs.

It's possible to not be thrilled with either, you know.

But other people's dogs don't shit all over my garden, carrying a toxoplasmosis risk when I have to clear it up, and if they did, no one would expect me to be totally ok with it.

[Schoenes]

My neighbours told me to put proper lids on my rain barrels (in our own garden) in case their cats fall in and drown.

[Ginandbearit1]

Cats bring a lot of pleasure to a lot of people, apparently when they purr it lowers blood pressure. Wait til you're a crazy old cat lady

Maybe try plants they dont like scent of or deterrent spray if they bother you?

[Gorse]

Shoenes: think I'd be smearing the edge of the rain barrels with tuna and cheese, maybe suspend some meat over the barrel on a piece of string 😉

[Gorse]

MuminBrussels: Justifiable complaints about cats trespassing in other people's gardens always brings the cat owners out fighting, and the main weapon is dog whataboutery as an attempt to deflect criticism. Perhaps they realise (but would never admit it) that their position is quite antisocial, and probably sometime in the not too distant future cat "keeping" as it's practiced today will be curtailed. Or at least I hope so.