Cats grrr

[Tiredmumno1]

Right terribly sorry for trying to hijack the other thread.
A cat up the road from us thinks it owns the street .
It scares away any other cat that lives nearby, and keeps jumping all over our car scratching it all over, and shiting in my garden which i have to clean up cos i have kids, its disgusting why the hell should have to put up with this, its caused a lot of damage which we should not have to pay for. What the hell do i do. Grrrr

I don't think people hate cats as such, they hate the lack of responsibility that comes with cat ownership. If your dog fouls somewhere, and you don't pick it up, you can be fined. If your dog kills another animal, the owner is held accountable etc. I think this is what drives non cat owners bonkers, tbh. My very lovely neighbour has two beautiful cats, but they both use my front garden as their toilet. Said lovely neighbour cleans it up, every week. Goes a long way towards neighbourly harmony.

Cats unlike dogs are classed as wild animals and owners are not responsible for any damage they cause.

Display how is it OTT when a poster said they'd run over a cat?

Anyway my cat saved my life and that of ds1 so

Fine - if cats are just being cats, then perhaps the owners of them should be held responsible for cleaning up the shit in my garden, replacing Lynne's pram and repairing the OP's car? The problem with cats is that they are the lazy option for a pet - put a bowl of food and water out for it, give it a stroke when it reappears and then stick it outside to do who knows what - and then absolve yourself of any blame for the damage it causes.

I know claw3. They are mysteriously untouchable by the law

Clarissimo - the poster didn't say she was going to run over a cat, she merely added a jokey threat to back up her dislike of cats. I don't believe for a minute that she is actually capable of causing deliberate harm to an animal, merely expressing a disgust in the way cats roam where they like and defecate all over everyone else's gardens.
FFS.
I'm interested as to whether all you cat lovers who are getting so upset about this actually run around after your own cats picking up their shit?

Well put dubb, that sounds just right

Cross posts Claw3 - it's the lack of personal responsibility under law from cat owners that drives me mad.

If cats are classed as wild animals, do they technically have owners? I mean, if someone nicks your dog, you can claim it back, but do you just have to let the cat-nicker keep 'your' cat?

Maisie - I like your post, sums it up nicely IMO.
My neighbour has 3 cats and all of them come into my garden, kill all the birds, shit all over my lawn and given half a chance would be inside my house every time I open the door.
Forgive me if I don't find cats particularly pleasant.

And i have never harmed an animal in my life. Although i may have trod an ant once, does that count

Nobody likes shit, cat or otherwise, of course I understand that (despite having 2 cats we also get others coming into our garden. They sometimes shit in the flowerbeds too, but never on the lawn). But you can't control cats, you can only minimise damage.

By the same token, a driver doesn't have to report it if they run a cat over but I believe they are supposed to report it if they hit a dog (happy to be corrected if I'm wrong but am sure i've heard this).

#I'm interested as to whether all you cat lovers who are getting so upset about this actually run around after your own cats picking up their shit? '

Jave already stated I would if asked however my cat has oddly trained himself to use the overflow drain, even the workers at the care home opposite film him fdoing that knocking at the door because they think he is so great- he's not though, most cats can learn pretty well, ours can even use a loo iof caught when we're out.

He was another abandoned cat btw: dsealed in a box at 3 months and left in a field by owners who couldnt be bothered so decided he was evil, said evil aniomal is upstairs purring away happily aged 12, not a bad bone in him. Only survived as horrid captors boasted to friends of friends what they'd done.

And I am glad if it were a jokey post; I read it as with seeming malice.

I think you are right it doesnt have to be reported

Best thing to keep them away is to sprinkle (cheap) cat biscuits over the area. Cats are very clean and will never poo where they eat, so if you can convince them your garden is an eating place then they'll poo elsewhere. Can't help with the scratching though, sorry!

'I'm interested as to whether all you cat lovers who are getting so upset about this actually run around after your own cats picking up their shit?'

And how would one do this? Knock on neighbours doors within a 2 mile radius and ask to check their gardens for cat shit? then try to fathom out which shit was your cats?

My cat is a indoor cat and shits in a tray,I have to put up with other peoples cat crap in my garden,it's one of those things isn't it,you won't change it unless you move to the middle of nowhere with no neighbours but then you'll probably get foxes and deers crapping on your lawn .

Chicken, LOL catnappers!

Lions kept in zoos are wild animals, im sure if you nicked one, it would be classed at theft or poaching perhaps?

You dont nick a cat, you poach it!

My garden is the local litter tray, cats seems to come from miles around just to poo in it!

I have 3 cats myself, who have a litter tray, but they have now joined the pooing competition in the garden.

I dont think its unreasonable for people to take measures to try and discourage cats pooing in their gardens.

The foxes drive me insane, they poo UP and ON things in the garden, ds's toys, the trampoline etc, etc.

My garden is poo central.

Posh - that's the problem. Once cat owners have stuck their cat outside they have no way of knowing what it's up to. It's then up to everyone else to clean up it's excrement, deal with the dead, maimed birds and any damamge. A truly wild animal is one thing (not a lot of them around here though!), but cats are another thing. A cat owner has made a decision to have a cat, but then expects everyone else to just put up with everything that it leaves behind, or shell out on cat deterrents. It seems the height of selfishness on the part of a pet owner.

Maisie - I take it your name isn't a reflection of your choice of pet?

chill folks,

I'm not really going to run over the cat (i'm not fast enough )

I'm just really hacked off that i have a buggy that absolutely stinks - honestly I have washed it and washed it and every time i go into the conservatory (where i keep my buggy) all i smell is cat pee.

Maisie, my cats have bells on their collars, so birds etc can hear them coming. They have a cat flap and i have a litter tray.

Out of interest, what else would you like to see cat owners do?

Lynne tbh I know it is really ahrd to shift cat wee- sprinkle with bicarb and leave for 46 hours if you can then scrubb off, that works sometimes, but teh scent is designed to hang around sadly

Yes, the 2 cats opposite us have bells as well, but the birds and the mice don't always manage to get away in time. Unfortunately, simply putting down a litter tray does not guarantee that they won't shit in other people's gardens.

What would I like to see? I'd like to see cats being kept indoors, or no cats at all. However, I accept that is never going to happen, so I'd like to see cat owners with the same level of responsibility as dog owners (not that they all exhibit consideration either).

Seriously, why get an animal that spends the majority of it's time somewhere else, while you have no responsibility for it's actions?

And no - my name definitely is not a reflection of my choice of pet! We have a guinea pig and hamster, and they bother no-one else.

Exactly maisie and i have a lizard and shock horror i clean his poo up, and he bothers no one. I have heard of cat leads, so maybe your right treat them like dogs, keep them inside, and take them for walks on the leash. I have a lizard lead, dont think i will be walking him though, he may get eaten by a cat