Cats everywhere!

[GoldfinchFeather]

Since we have plenty of threads to moan about dogs and dog owners, how about a bit of balance and a thread for the same about cats?

I, for one, am not a fan of the things and think there are too many around. And sure, 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.

On numerous occasions I've had the misfortune to come across birds and animals that have clearly been attacked by cats. One distressing incident occurred just a few weeks ago - on an evening walk I came across a domestic cat that had just attacked a tiny baby wild rabbit. Despite shooing the cat off and it still being alive when I got to it, it didn't survive.

Seeing that made me just want to go and give the bloody thing a boot up the backside.

Yet many cat owners seem to find this behaviour either a mildly amusing part of their cat ownership ("you'll never guess what my Tiddles caught the other day!"), or have no qualms about letting their cats roam freely and slowly kill all wildlife within a several mile radius. When really, they should just be kept indoors.

And if they were, there'd be far less of them that were always going bloody missing or being stupid enough to get themselves run over on the road.

Surely I can't be alone in my hatred of cats?!

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!!

Congrats 🐱🐱🐱

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.

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.

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)

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.

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!

He'll be waiting...

Because one is a wild animal, a natural predator that is sadly often persecuted in this country, doing what it has to to survive and successfully raise offspring.

The vast majority of cats that kill wildlife aren't doing it for either of those things. They are often pampered and extremely well fed by their rather obsessive owners.

It just amazes me that cat owners are so blasé about the damage their pets do to the environment. Yes, dogs often attack and kill livestock and other animals too - and people are rightly horrified about this sort of thing when it happens. Even though you could make the argument that these dogs are only doing what is in their nature too.

So why the double standards for cats? Why do so many people turn a blind eye to the appalling damage cats do to wildlife, every day? Is it because their prey is usually small and therefore deemed 'unimportant' compared to if it's a dog attacking a sheep?

Maybe when the golden eagle population in this country becomes more widespread, it might have the happy consequence of more cat owners keeping their animals indoors...

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.

What a sheen on your cat's coat, @justkeepswimingswiming A beautiful animal!

We love cats.
We really don’t give a fuck what you think.

Humans are much worse than cats. Bloody war crimes, rapes, environmentally dangerous,

Ah, but cats 'think' they are superior! Their owners have to do their bidding, whereas dogs know their owner is the boss.

Threads like this always make me laugh - full of indignant hyperbole and tired old “facts”.

My boy says you need to learn to be more “cat” - relax, chill out and untwist your underwear.

PS - dogs are great too, (plus, they’re usually sensible and know that cats rule the roost at home).

It's a question of hierarchy. Here is Zacky, explaining to Maisie that upstairs belongs to him.

Ah, so this is the crux of it.

Cat owners delude themselves into thinking that what they own is a miniature lion or tiger or whatever, therefore making it okay for them to wreak havoc on nature.

This thread has only helped reinforce my view that the majority of cat owners are bloody bonkers.

Orlando says "I am far too lazy to do any of that wildlife chasing" 🐱

Look at this face and use the word hate...I dare you!!

Cats really are like mini lions or tigers - have a little read about it. You may then sound a little less bonkers yourself.

Where I live, people get cats/kittens then abandon them when they move, a cat in my street goes to several different houses after being left when it's owners moved. Plus the amount of cat sht in the streets is awful, I don't see any owners picking that up! And it's definitely cat sht as my dog tries to eat it 🤮

@Dragonfly97 Just shows how intelligent cats are! Dogs will literally put anything in their mouth, cats are a little more discerning 😹

Sounds very odd for streets to be littered with cat poo.

As for the strays, blame shitty humans for that - no pets want to be abandoned.

The only one coming across as angry and unhinged here is you I’m afraid. I don’t have a dog but when I see them do dog things I don’t want to kick them, maybe their owners but not an innocent animal.

I don't even have a cat actually, and OP sounds totally deranged.

OK, OP I live on a farm, surrounded by farmland on 3 sides and woodland on the other. My house, barns, and other outbuildings would be overrun with rodents were it not for my cats. Would you rather I use traps or poison to keep the rodent population in check?