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?!

And yet keeping them inside even with a cat proofed garden is cruel and you shouldn't own a cat.

So basically cats shouldn't exist because they will always upset somebody.

Which is stupid, I have been obsessed with cats for as long as I can remember and the world would be a poorer place without them in it.

A cat owner can't win whatever they do so as a long term cat owner, I will keep owning cats and I will do what I feel is best vs inside/outside.

On the plus side they don't maul people like some dogs do. No domestic cat is capable of killing a grown adult man but people hate dogs too. Some people just hate everything and love to judge people who do things in a way they perceive as wrong but that are legally and socially acceptable.

So as I say to my children, let's all just learn to get along, you do you as long as you aren't hurting anybody.

How can cats possibly be superior to dogs? Do you get guide cats? hearing cats? cats that sniff out cancer? police cats? cats that rescue people from burning buildings?
Obviously dogs are better

I’d much rather be surrounded by animals than people. People are arseholes.

To answer your OP, nope. You're not alone. There's loads of cat-hating threads here. I myself cannot stand them and had a big argument with several people on a thread on here just weeks ago.

Cat people never have a decent argument. Ever. It's usually just "Waaah but Mr Tiddles is soft and cuddly and I wub him so I don't care that he's a murderous shitting and killing machine that wreaks nightly havoc on the entire neighbourhood because he makes me happeee"
But the ones on that thread were something else, some of them made me worry for the British education system.

Yes, for human consumption. As in, there's an actual purpose to it - whether you agree with it or not.

There is no purpose to allowing cats to kill that much wildlife, putting certain species (particularly ground nesting birds) at risk of extinction in future. Because they don't need to do it to survive, they're fed extremely well at home anyway.

You seriously can't be making a direct comparison between the two?!

I love black cats.

But . . . They’re oofly little chubbybums!

Meh, it doesn't really matter if you don't like them OP, it's fine not to like certain animals. But it will almost certainly never become illegal to own a cat and let it roam so 🤷‍♀️.

Are you aware that humans are the most destructive in society ? I have read online articles of humans leaving litter on the beaches this weekend during the hot weather. Why are humans so selfish?

RSPB say bird number decline isn’t due to cats , it’s due to loss of habitat, climate change and pollution.
plus as mentioned above birds kill other birds and mammals.
i love cats. Much prefer them to dogs. Plus it isn’t fair to keep an animal locked inside.

And in the meantime, we'll probably hear about several species of rare birds going extinct in this country in future, and then people will do much hand-wringing and soul-searching as to how we ever let something like that happen in this country. Even though the culprit and solution has been right in front of our eyes for decades.

Oh go away. Unless you don’t touch any animal products yourself, you’re a massive hypocrite.

Cats kill wildlife, which is natural behaviour. Got a problem with it then take it up with Mother Nature ffs. They tend to only catch those that are weak and going to die anyway. Most cats are pretty rubbish hunters. Cats aren’t responsible for the eradication of any species, despite what people like you like to think.

Your post really just illustrates why I prefer cats (and any animal actually) to humans.

Yes I can.

Wouldn’t we be overrun with “wildlife” like mice and rats if it wasn’t for cats? I don’t own one but I assume they are handy for keeping down the vermin.

You're entitled to your opinion but if you said this to me in real life, our friendship would probably be over! I don't hate anyone's choice of pet but if you're going to single out one pet as unacceptable above all else I would suggest you think a bit more deeply about it. There's pro's and con's to them all.
True, cats are responsible for killing wildlife. But much less of an impact than farming practices for example and are actually very good, non chemical pest controllers.in themselves.Owning a pet cat contributes hugely to many different businesses, so are a huge economic driver. They are also amazing companion animals and are a therapeutic pet for many people.
I can understand not liking them but wishing to inflict violence on an animal makes you a not very nice person. Putting it mildly.

I’m going to adopt more cats now ❤️

I don't go out of my way to kill them for no reason, or encourage behaviour that will, no.

On the basis of your strawman argument, if you own a cat, you can't claim to care about nature either. But enjoy your psychopathic pet!

Also ground nesting birds face predation from stoats, weasels, badgers, foxes and other birds. Not just cats.

No, because there's such a thing as birds of prey.

That's how they ended up being domesticated isn't it? Kept for the purpose as keeping vermin down and then I guess just ended up being kept purely as pets.

Wanting to 'boot an animal up the backside' is not normal.

There are an estimated 11 million cats in this country.

I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to say that's far more than the number of stoats, weasels, badgers, foxes and other birds COMBINED.

I can see your point; however, I think that it depends on the environment that the cat/s and their owners live in.

My cat is an indoor cat. He has the run of the entire dwelling. He's been spayed, vaccinated and regularly health checked by my veterinary hospital. He's is just two years old.
He sits on the window sills and watches the birds, people, dogs and the many forms of wildlife that surrounds us. He chatters his teeth at them and leaps from window to window to follow them as they fly/hop around.
He's played with, groomed daily, has a pristine litter box and veterinary-approved food for his gastritis.
I play hunting/catching games with him with toys on fishing rods, rolling toys with bells inside them and home made ones.
My previous cats have been indoor/outdoor cats. As an elderly (79) person living alone with no near neighbours or family, this cat is my sole companion, and I treasure his company.

enjoy your psychopathic pet!

I will do - all 5 of them - darling little murder floofs

If we're going to make 'killing' the main thrust of the argument 'which is worse, cats or dogs?' i think obviously the one which kills or rips apart human children and adults has to be 'worst' no?

I'm a cat owner now, but have kept grate danes in the past, So love both. But the amount of dogs around these days is OTT.