To think cats shouldn’t be allowed out without owners

[DoBeDoBeDooo]

The other thread about cats vs dogs has made me realise I’m not alone in my feelings about cats being allowed to roam freely, kill wildlife, and crap all over the place.

Why is it one rule for dogs and another for cats? It’s doesn’t make any sense really, when you think about it.

Shouldn’t the same rules apply: cats can be walked on leads and owners must pick up after them or risk fines etc?

A working farm cat is a very different scenario to the domesticated cats in urban areas though.

They shouldn't eat it then.

I haven’t got a cat but I think your post represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the feline species

He sounds very sweet.

Hmmm - to channel an idea posited in another thread - would you also subscribe to the idea that all boy cats should wear cat-adapted y-front type knickers to hide their balls from the view of unsuspecting passerby's - when being walked on leashes to restrict their roaming?

This. I know OP - you and your kids stay inside forever. You will cause far more harm to the plant by going outside, so put your money where your mouth is.

He comes inside to use his tray and mostly watches bird TV on YouTube. Outside doesn’t have his Netflix shows

It's nature. The circle of life.

I remember how they used to form packs in the dodgy areas of Coventry back in be 80s… the Council even employed a dog catcher!

Oh, I would love to be able to walk my cat. How sweet that would be if it were remotely possible for most cats.

How does keeping cats inside deprive anyone of ‘the joy of a pet’? There are plenty of house cats. There are also lots of other pets that don’t need walking.

Well um…

What about urban foxes?
I get way more fox poo in my garden and I actually have a free roaming cat

Are you sure it's all cat poo that you are finding & complaining about OP?

It’s not nature though, is it?

We are not talking about wild cats, but cats that have been bred to be pets - nothing natural about that.

Yes, and I know which cat does it.

Never known anyone to have a pet fox.

There were no domestic cats in the Americas before the Columbian Exchange. Nor were there any cats in Australia or New Zealand before Europeans arrived. Therefore their laws regarding an alien species are irrelevant in Europe where domestic cats have been present since the neolithic age, and European wildcats for much longer.

I was about to say the same thing. I am constantly cleaning up fox poo from my garden, and all the rubbish they bring including used babies nappies. My cat, on the other hand, poos in the same spot every day and at least I am not walking in it. I clean that up too otherwise I get flies, especially in the summer.

We don’t know that - there are other issues like climate change and imbalances

you definitely need cats or we’d all be overrun with mice indoors

Owning a cat is basically an anti social activity. They shit in other people's gardens but don't shit in your own garden. Depositing shit regularly in other people's property would be considered highly anti social in any other circumstances.

Those young children might grow up to be serial killers or mass murderers, or perhaps they will urinate in public when drunk. You better keep them indoors, just in case.

Edited to add that now I think about it, young children seem to go for a wee or poo when in playgrounds etc quite frequently.

We get dead pigeons beheaded by a local hawk.

Can’t get worked up about this. Cats are cats. Sometimes they live inside, sometimes they go outside. Sometimes they kill birds. There are lots of birds. Sometimes they shit. That’s life. They are not dogs. Op needs to unclench.

BBC News - Once-extinct European wildcats set to make a comeback in England - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr43y97k252o?app-referrer=deep-lin

Wildcats are being reintroduced to England.

You should set up a cat training school. I’m sure it’ll be a wild success.

I'm obviously not talking about pet foxes, I .just pointing out that in many urban areas foxes poo in the gardens as much as cats do
I am a cat lover and owner and there is no way I would force my cat to stay inside, it's not natural for cats to do so.

And, as others have pointed out, we humans do way more damage to the environment on a daily basis than cats.