Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

1 2

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

Do you think cats will ever be banned from roaming by law?

48 replies

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:11

As a result of this not particularly nice thread, I have been thinking about it.

Are cats and their poo/roaming as much of a problem in RL as they are on MN?

OP posts:

Thanks

Share

Report

FruitSaladIsNotPudding · 04/12/2013 10:14

No, never. Absolutely impossible to police.

(Whispers) plus, most people don't care

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:16

Apparently in parts of Australia cats can't go out.

I think you are right though Fruit. It is after all a thread in AIBU on MN.

OP posts:

Thanks

randomquicknamechange · 04/12/2013 10:17

I hope not, random cat wouldn't be happy at all if she couldn't go to the woods at least once a day, that said she is currently snuggled up in her bed showing no no interest in the open back door until I close it, when she obviously remenbers she has a very important thibg to do and can't possibly be late.

Thanks

bundaberg · 04/12/2013 10:20

i don 't think that they will ever be banned, but I DO think that poo is a big problem.

a couple of years ago our neighbours had a cat that would regularly shit on our grass. was so disgusting. it stank, and I had to clean it up daily even when pg with ds3, just so my children could play in their own garden

I don't think there is any way round it though, tbh.

Thanks

itsnothingoriginal · 04/12/2013 10:23

I think the country is divided into cat lovers and haters. But I don't think cats will ever be forced to stay in the home by law.

My kitten always poos in her litter tray - I am well aware that other than my immediate neighbour, most people in my street hate cats so don't want to make the situation worse!

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:23

I have never ever had a conversation in RL about the problem of cat poo. I have a cat, and neighbours, some of them have cats. I have never seen any cat poo anywhere.

Perhaps it is different in every neighbourhood.

OP posts:

Thanks

itsnothingoriginal · 04/12/2013 10:25

Also, we partly got a cat to stop the other cats from shitting in our garden - maybe that's the answer - everyone has a cat of their own and problem solved

Thanks

gamerchick · 04/12/2013 10:29

I would like that but I don't think that it's workable.

What winds me up and I'm sure I'm not the only one is the meh, tough shit attitude from cat owners. It's In par with the meh,tough shit attitude from dog walkers when they won't clean up after their animals.. The rules re dogs are rarely enforced.

Why can't cat owners simply acknowledge that their animals are seen as a major pain and are willing to offer to clean up after their animal if it's known to be doing its business in somebody's garden or whatever? Even if it's every day.

A change of attitude might help.

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:30

gamer I didn't want to bring the cat poo argument over to The Litter Tray-it's going on elsewhere.

I just wanted to see what cat owners/lovers thought about a possible banning of cats roaming that's all.

OP posts:

Thanks

livinginwonderland · 04/12/2013 10:33

There's a HUGE difference between dogs and cats in this regard, though.

Dogs get taken for walks and the owners are well aware of where their dog is shitting, so there's really no excuse not to clean up after them. However, cats roam on their own and can end up miles away from home. Do you really expect cat owners to follow their cats upto ten miles away just to clean up cat shit?

My two are indoor cats so I don't have this problem, but I genuinely don't see how it can be enforced. Sure, it's not nice having to clean up the poo and if I didn't have a cat and kept finding poo in my garden, I would be pissed off, but I don't understand how, short of keeping all cats indoors 24/7, you can actually do anything about it.

Thanks

bundaberg · 04/12/2013 10:34

itsnothing.../. we did that. then our OWN cat started shitting in our garden. Nobber.

gamerchick i think there is a massive difference between dogs and cats though. dogs are rarely out unsupervised shitting. you're with them and you know who is responsible.

i think youi'd find it hard proving a particular cat had shit in your garden and then forcing the owner to clear it up.

maybe cats should just wear nappies?

or have cat toilets that are emptied regularly, provided by council.
they'd look like a lovely flower bed, maybe with a bit of gravel and a "no cats" sign

Thanks

livinginwonderland · 04/12/2013 10:34

In answer to your OP, sparkling, I don't think it'll be workable. Cats are roamers. Short of keeping all windows and doors locked 24/7, it's pretty hard to keep a roaming cat inside!

Thanks

gamerchick · 04/12/2013 10:35

I'm talking about the attitudes of the owners not he animals.

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:38

But this is The Litter Tray gamer where we talk about cats.

OP posts:

Thanks

gamerchick · 04/12/2013 10:39

You're the one who linked the other thread sparkling.

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:41

Yes, to explain why I was thinking about it gamer. I didn't think we needed two threads about it in two topics.
I wanted to see what the consensus about cats being stopped from roaming was by people who owned cats.

OP posts:

Thanks

coppertop · 04/12/2013 10:43

I think that cat owners can't win.

If their cat goes outside the owner is being irresponsible because of the poo problem.

If their cat doesn't go outside they are accused of being cruel to the animal.

Thanks

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/12/2013 10:46

No, I don't. I don't think people really care. I don't believe for one second that there are really people out there who spend their days wringing the hands in fear of the local cats and staring out of the window armed with water pistols. It's a MN thing. Like Greggs and Fruitshoots. It's a non issue in RL.

There are plenty of ways to quickly, cheaply and safely cat proof your garden. If it actually mattered to people as much as they claim, they'd act on it as opposed to whining about it.

Thanks

itsnothingoriginal · 04/12/2013 10:48

Very true coppertop

Although I found it that in the US it seems that letting cats out to roam is seen as cruel and irresponsible on some of the forums I've seen.

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:48

Wouldn't everyone be writing to their local council get or MP and trying to get a law passed if there were so many cases?

OP posts:

Thanks

gamerchick · 04/12/2013 10:54

Ok i'll leave your thread alone.

But before I go slightly derailing briefly. Would anybody care to tell me what I should do about this scrawny little thing with a big belly I think are babies who keeps trying to get into the house? I've felt obliged to feed it leftover chicken after finding it eating the insert of a chicken carton. I feel sorry for it but can't let it in the house. All the shelters are overflowing round here and he rspca aren't interested.

It's cold out there. Will it find somewhere warm if it's pregnant? Do cats even get pregnant in the winter?

Thanks

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/12/2013 11:11

Yes, cats get pregnant all year round. Yes, cat shelters are over run. The RSPCA are a joke, they're now only interested in court cases and politics, they do very little actual animal welfare work now and kill more animals than they save.

Try phoning the Cat's Protection League. They'll at least advise on what to do, if not help you find a rescue place for it.

Thanks

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 11:18

YY Cats' Protection are usually very good gamer. If you are in London there's Celia Hammond's rescue I think.

Is it very timid?

OP posts:

Thanks

MrsCakesPremonition · 04/12/2013 11:19

I think that people should be licensed to own pets, which would be associated with compulsory pet insurance.

Over time, I hope that owning a pet cat or dog becomes culturally unacceptable. Working animals would continue to be valued for the jobs they do.

Thanks

Floggingmolly · 04/12/2013 11:20

No. But I wish to God they could be. They're the only domestic animal that you can be forced into "owning" against your will; I currently have at least three living in my garden.
They use the garden as a toilet and climb in the fucking windows (upstairs and down) if I don't sit in and guard the rooms I'm airing.
Summer is a bloody nightmare... If they were dogs, I could do something about it. But because they're cats, I have to suck it up

Thanks

Flip

1 2

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.