Advice for keeping DCat inside

[Absoluteunit]

Hi, I am hoping for some advice from experienced cat owners please?

We "inherited" DCat a couple of years ago. We were looking after him temporarily when his owner was going through some problems but in the end she wanted us to keep him. Love him to bits but the long and short of it is I'm not an experienced cat owner.

He's a gorgeous boy and very friendly. He loves to visit all the neignbours in our cul de sac for fuss and to chance his arm for some food!

I've just seen on the bbc news that we should try to keep him indoors now because of COVID 19. He's not going to like that especially now the sun is out so be can sunbathe outside all day!

Anyway, he used to use a litter tray when he first came to stay but when he started to go outside we stopped using it. If I put them out for him now do you think he will start to use it when he can't go outside or is there a way I can encourage him again?

Sorry if this is a stupid question! Thanks in advance!

What's your point Tony?

That possibly ALL pet owners might have to rethink the way they do things over the next few weeks.

FlamingoAndJohn well no, because if your cat then goes out and sits on someone's garden furniture or rubs against their bin, or goes into their house (which cats sometimes do), then presumably the virus can be transmitted that way

Theres no evidence for that though, hence your use of 'presumably'.

I don't really see why pet owners shouldn't do what they can to limit transmission via surfaces. All organisations and workplaces are doing this and advising their employees and customers to do the same. Seems a bit pointless to introduce all these steps if you then have domestic pets going around between households. None of this is easy for anyone but it seems daft to go to the lengths we are and have it compromised by cats.

It's bird nesting season - you should be making a conscious effort to keep your cat in more during this time, especially if you live more rurally. They decimate songbird populations at this time of year.

Dear cat haters. This is the litter tray section. Please sod off.

Dear cat haters. This is the litter tray section. Please sod off

Well said!

Dear cat haters. This is the litter tray section. Please sod off

I don't hate cats and have had them as pets in the past. Don't be rude.

I agree that a simple message about not touching other people’s pets would work much better. The headline is what’s wrong. The scientists quoted in the article are more equivocal. I think I will complain too.

This article from a Cambridge scientist suggests that there are so many cats and so many cases of coronavirus in the world that if it really were a real risk it’s likely we would know by now:

www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/opinion-can-cats-really-get-or-pass-on-covid-19-as-a-report-from-belgium-suggests

in your position Absoluteunit, I think I’d just be careful about washing my hands before touching the cat after he has been outside. It’s all about relative risk and human to human transmission is the real risk, not cat to human and vice versa.

I won't be keeping my cats in. They thrive on having free rein in our large garden. They don't go far luckily, they just enjoy our company when we're out unless they're fast asleep which to be honest is most of the day anyway

That possibly ALL pet owners might have to rethink the way they do things over the next few weeks.

I'm sure they will, when it's official advice and not more scaremongering from the BBC.

I'm sure they will, when it's official advice good!

@frillyfarmer

I suspect the RSPB know more than you do. Below is a section from their website.

Despite the large numbers of birds killed by cats in gardens, there is no clear scientific evidence that such mortality is causing bird populations to decline. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds

@Tonyaster

If you look at my post this morning I said.

If the Government mandates that my cats stay in I'll do it. If one vet says try (without any real evidence to say it's a problem) then I ignore the advice.

I suspect the vast majority of cat owners would concur with this.

I don't plan to keep mine in unless Gov says I should. Mine are both quite old so don't go out much anyway - mainly to poop.

Bloody hell, this is only going to cause a run on cat litter which is hard enough to source at the moment anyway

The local cats that come into my garden don't kill songbirds but they do scare them off.

Nothing to add apart of saying that after 2 years, you are already an experienced cat owner

I don't hate cats and have had them as pets in the past. Don't be rude.

Don’t come and tell me how to live my life and make wild assumptions about my cat and expect me and other cat owners to sit there and take it.
That is rude.
I can be a lot ruder than ‘sod off.’

We are all allowed to discuss cats. If you can't handle that, I suggest it is you that buggers off

We are all allowed to discuss cats. If you can't handle that, I suggest it is you that buggers off

You have come to a part of this forum specifically for people with cats to sling insults around? You truly are a little sunbeam.

But when on the litter tray section it is generally understood that you are either a cat owner or that you like cats.
Please don’t come onto a part of the site which is for cat owners or people who like cats and start saying anti cat stuff.

Whoops sorry that I seem to have opened a can of worms here!

Thanks everyone for your input. Perhaps for now I'll try to encourage him to not stray beyond the garden. He's happy sunbathing at the moment and not looking like he's ready to move any time soon

The BVA were misquoted by the BBC

I suppose it's too much for the BBC to apologise for getting it wrong and inflaming the hard of thinking cat haters!

If I've got a window or door open the cats go out. I can't see how I can keep them in without keeping all my doors and windows closed. I'm just going to hope my neighbours are sensible enough to not cause my cats harm. Crazy times.