Nursery have complained about my cat, how do I handle this one ?!!!!!

[Kittypickle]

We live next door but one to DD's school which is great most of the time but is causing a slight problem at the moment. DD's cat, who is a bit of a disaster as family pets go, has taken to visiting the school playground and apparently is trying to get into the nursery. He's not the tamest of cats, came from a farm and spends all his time outside, I never see him, but DD loves him, well the concept of him that is as he's never there ! He apparently caused a bit of a stir yesterday lunchtime as when Year 2 line up to go inside he went and sat down at the end of the line - everyone laughed at him and DD cried buckets as she thought they were laughing at her, bless her !

Apparently he's been taking a swipe at anyone who strokes him and the lady who runs the nursery approached me today when I went to pick up a friend's DS. She's worried that one of the children will get scratched, which is a fair point. However, I'm at a bit of a loss what to do about it. The school and nursery will be moving to a new building just across a road in a few weeks, so I did say I hope he will stop going when that happens and that I'd have a think about what to do and suggested that meanwhile I gave them a water pistol to squirt him with ! (maybe not the best answer, but I was put on the spot a bit) Anyone got any ideas on how I handle this one ?!

If they are moving to a new building soon, I think you are right and the problem hopefully will solve itself.

Can you ask them to bear with you and the cat until then?

It doesn't sound possible to keep the cat in during school hours until the move as he's used to having his freedom.

Good luck

Kittypickle, what's wrong with this woman? All she needs to say in assembly or elsewhere is 'If you see a sweet looking cat on the school premises don't touch it 'cos it's not' FGS!

And a good lesson to teach the children that all strange animals should be treated with caution.

carla has a very good point actually. have they tried telling the children not to touch animals they dont know ?(although obv your daughter knows him!)

Is the problem because the children in the nursery dont understand as they are too young?

I find it quite funny that your cat is so psycho that he doesnt want to be touched but lines up with the rest of the children in a playground!

I had cat-scratch fever as a kid -- quite nasty. Water pistol should work.

kitty I think your cat is doing a service to all the children whose parents won't let them have pets - they can find out from yours how to treat animals (with caution)

Perhaps you should charge for his services?

can you catch that in England zebra?

I think the waterpistol was a constructive suggestion - my mum uses a washing up liquid bottle (just with water in, obviously). Could they try that anti-cat stuff that you can get for gardens around the boundary of the playground?

I do think they should meet you half way though - don't believe in keeping cats in all the time even if you could.

I would imagine so, snmum. I was ?maybe 4-5yo? & broke up a fight between my cat & another. My cat scratched me deeply & within a few days my hand & forearm were red & swollen, I had a bad fever... remember the doctor visit well. Dunno what would have happened w/out medical treatment; pierced the original wound, cleaning out the bacteria, gave me antibiotics. I think they said it was due to certain types of bacteria that cats tend to have in their claws.

When I was older I used to play with my cats & let them scratch me for fun (not sure why?!), and I never got CSF again, so probably it was partly "that" cat and the deepness of the scratch on that occasion, combined with not cleaning it out right away.