Why are cats allowed to be a pain in the arse??

[sofaprincess]

We recently moved into a new house and we have a dog. She is quite a large dog and I have spent a huge amount of time training her and trying to ensure she is well behaved out of the house and friendly or indifferent (depending on the situation) with other people and dogs. I am always conscious that people might not like dogs and we steer clear of people in the street and always clear up her mess. She loves spending time in the garden and that is supposed to be her safe space.

My issue is this - my husband is picking cat poo up regularly from our front garden and has identified the culprit, but really what can we do (rhetorical)? But worse than that, a different cat likes to come and sunbathe in my garden (on the shed roof or other high up places) which causes my dog to bark continuously until I go out and lure her back inside. I’m starting to feel a bit fed up with nuisance cats - we should be able to enjoy our outside space without dealing with bloody cat issues……right?

YANBU - cats are are pain in the arse and they should be regulated in the same way as dogs are (ie owners need to ensure they have them under control)

YABU - cats will be cats and they should be allowed to free roam and sunbathe/shit where they like

Keeping cats contained in small spaces is cruel, I’m not sure much more needs to be said about that.

Well, my argument would be that you shouldn't have a cat if you can't provide it with the space and stimulation it needs without letting it roam and trespass on other people's properties. Just as you wouldn't have a rabbit if you can only afford a tiny hutch, or a dog if you couldn't walk it.

Do you really think you can walk a cat on a harness and lead like you can a dog?! I have used them for periods when mine haven’t been allowed outside, and they get fresh air but not decent exercise! You could drag them along the street but they’d enter far more front gardens than they would just being allowed out freely in a back garden.

Of course you can, people do it all the time in other countries - it's only in the UK where most people seem to think it's impossible for some reason.

They only hate it when it comes and shits in their garden.

I'm not saying they're not outliers. I'm just saying it's perfectly possible to keep cats contained indoors or on the owners property.

I love cats too - I have three - but I also understand that lots of people don't like cats and that it's not necessarily safe or sensible to let cats out to roam with no supervision and no idea as to there whereabouts. Mine stay on my property so I know they're safe and not causing a nuisance to other people.

Every day on social media there are posts from people who have found dead cats in the road, or injured cats who have been hit by cars and left to die. Cats are regularly handed in to the local vets' because they've been found straying or injured or getting into someone's home and causing a nuisance. There was even a cat near us recently who was roaming in a farmers' field when someone set their dogs on it. Unfortunately it didn't survive.

Thanks @CakeyBakeyFlakey

Oh. OK.

😂

Cats can be regulated like dogs. Plenty of countries have leash and containment laws that apply to all domesticated animals equally. If you decide to get a pet, it becomes your responsibility to restrict that pet to your own property and to have it 100% under your control by using a lead or other containment when off your property.

Our neighbours’ cats irritate the hell out of me. I don’t get why other people having a let should mean I can leave my windows open or pick up crap from my garden. Wild animals wouldn’t come into the house as they’re afraid of people. Cats are CFs. They should be kept indoors.

As Mumsnet deleted one of my posts for being "goading" (god knows, aimed at whom? ), here goes the same statement expanded minus the "goading":

It is not humane to keep an animal in a semi-feral state whilst exposing it daily to risk of disease, pests, awful death or disability, territorial overcrowding and fights.
I have seen the neighbourhood cats in my area suffer regularly from all of the above. It is so overcrowded with roaming animals, that I sometimes get 5 cat shits on my patio overnight.

It would be much more humane to keep house cats indoors and put ferals to sleep to end their suffering. I object at the notion that this course of action somehow implies "hate" or "serial killing". Come and clean my patio littered with bloody (I mean blood, literally) and parasite infested poo and then talk to me about what's natural and what's humane.

Charities often operate with trap neuter-release course of action. Why? I really can't see any sense behind it.

I apologise in advance if my post goads someone into taking actual care of their pets.
... Says me, whilst looking at my neighbour's cat sitting on the windowsill in it's nappy after a car-accident a year ago broke it's intestines.
Just because there ain't no law, doesn't mean you're doing right by your pets and the wider society.

I get that a cat pooing in your garden would be annoying (though I only read about that happening on here and have never actually witnessed this happening) but besides that I just don't think the things cats do are anywhere near as much of a nuisance as an uncontrolled dog would be.

Where on earth do you live where you have parasite infested shit every day on your driveway?! My two cats are two of about 14 cats on my street (it's a long street!) that happily roam about in the fields behind the house and up and down the street. I am yet to see one nugget of cat poo on a pathway or someone's driveway, let along parasite, blood infested poo.

What dogs do or don't do is completely irrelevant when it comes to talking about cats.

Completely agree that cats cause such a nuisance. Posting this as someone who likes cats but is fed up of having to pick up disgusting sloppy cat shit from my garden 3-4 times a week. Why should I have to do that? Tried so many things to deter them but nothing works…

You are familiar with microscopic parasites, correct? Know that diseases of all kinds can transmit between human and felines?

I love cats, but they can absolutely be vectors of disease. We are also risks for them. Remember when the zoos had to pull all the cats because of Covid.

I am a cat-lover/worshipper, but you simply cannot train a cat etc. So if we want to stop them crapping on people's lawns, terrorising the local wildlife and other cats to boot... we should keep them indoors, like so many other countries do. Not sure how cats managed to wangle it so they are the only animals allowed to roam free, although it's very cat of them. My cat is indoor-only so she can only terrorise and dominate me 😅

Sure, in the US they declaw them and they're never allowed outside. Great life for cats.

It will keep your garden free of days and mice.
I have four cats and both my neighbours love them, to the point they encourage them in and feed them. I also live near a school and they get lots of fuss from school children, my cats bring people a lot of pleasure.

And in Australia you simply have to keep them on your property, chip them and neuter them. Again, it's not difficult. Millions of people manage it there and in other countries. People even do it in the UK

As for the declawing comment - there are also millions of people in America who don't declaw their cats - I'm not sure why people use that as some kind of weird "gotcha" on these threads, especially when nobody is talking about getting cats in the UK declawed in the first place

If your neighbours love cats so much, they can buy their own.

My DS's Bengal cat just loves water. He'd love to be squirted. He dances under the sprinkler system in the garden and paddles in his sink. 🤣🤣🤣

Your dog deserves to enjoy the garden. Spray the cat when you see it, and with any luck it will decide that it's not such a desirable sunbathing spot, after all. Otherwise, maybe your dog will eventually become accustomed to the cat. Most dogs will get bored at some point, if you can wait them out. Waiting too long may incur the wrath of the non-cat-owning neighbours, however.

Haven't you heard of toxoplasmosis?

And remember, not all cats are owned. Feral/stray cats will be infested with worms, fleas and various other parasites. It's why many of them get PTS when they're trapped as they're just too unwell to put through surgery or rehabilitation.

@WeMustGetOffTheMountain

I live in Hull, if that helps.

We have around 23 cats (counted by the local outdoor pet-lover) on a short terraced street. They prefer to poo on my garden paths and the patio, in fact anything concreted over. If I don’t clean up immediately, the one poo becomes 5 and then 8, and so on. I've read that's because of environmental and territorial stress and numerous unhappy cats desperately marking.

No poop photos this time but I'll get some for the next occasion (though I guess that will be another Mumsnet strike then! )

Over the last couple of years I have watched numerous cats deteriorate visually which is actually quite painful to see. It is very clear that some of them never get to see a vet (and no, they're not all completely homeless, just kept the way people prefer).
I have two house cats and there's no way I'd like to expose them to what's going on out there. It's irresponsible.

I have two house cats and there's no way I'd like to expose them to what's going on out there. It's irresponsible.

I completely agree @QueenCamilla - no way would I send my cats to fend for themselves in the big wild world. I've seen the state of cats coming into our local vets and that are peeled off the local roads. I have no idea why anyone would want that kind of life for their beloved pet.