Cats killed neighbours budgie!

[ethal80]

My nextdoor neighbour has a budgie whom he thinks the world of, he's a very tame bird and well trained.
Neighbour also has a dog flap installed...
I got a text early this morning asking if my cats were in. (I don't have a cat flap) I said that they'd been in all night, (which I thought they had) just been fed and let them out at 7am.
He told me his birdcage was open and budgie was gone...no windows open or no way of escape.
I helped search for the budgie...no luck. Later on today, I asked my son to brush our longhaired cat...he discovered blue feathers in his fur!! Unbeknown to me, my son had let him out and back in again at 4am this morning! He's killed the bird hasn't he? He's been known to go in the house as he gets along with the neighbours dog so isn't frightened.
Neighbour has been out thus morning, installed a motion camera, gone out and low and behold....my cat has again entered the property! He's sent me the footage of my cat at the cage today along with threatening messages to me and him saying that he's going to kill my f**King cats!
He's a big drinker and is out at the pub now with his brother and I just know that when they return, they're going to kick off. I'm so scared and feel sick at the thought of him harming my cats. I really think he's capable of it too as he hates cats anyway. I've got them both indoors now and filled the litter tray. Will try and keep them indoors until he's calmed down.
Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading if you've got this far but I just don't know what to do??

👌🏻 absolutely everything that's been said here.

I don't want to eradicate any species of animal! All I'd like is for people to be considerate it's really that simple. I shouldn't need to spend money to stop your pet coming into my home or shitting in my garden. Your job as a pet owner is to be responsible for your pet.

A cat can live a fulfilled happy life without roaming all over the place. I'm sure owners of indoor/garden cats would be insulted by that comment.

Other species have a right to be safe from a non-native domesticated animal, yeah they do. And I have a right not to have cat shit in my garden that might cause risk to my toddler? Yeah I do.

Cats are NOT part of the natural food chain in Britain, so that is not a valid argument.

There is keep cats indoors, there is cat proofing your garden to stop them escaping, there is saying to your neighbours ‘I’m sorry my cat in coming into your house, what can I do to help prevent it?’ There’s putting a collar and bell on your cat so other things know it’s coming. Of course there are measures you can do to Reduce or prevent it.

There literally are no other fool proof measures to stop this happening other than keeping cats indoors. It's not laziness, it's a balanced choice that cat owners take. I accept there are risks and I'd be gutted if anything happened to mine but I'd accept it because of my choice.

Of course there are, it's just they cost money and most cat owners can't be arsed to fork out several thousands of pounds for them.

Catios, cat-proof fencing, cat-proof balconies etc. They're hugely common in America and Australia and seem to work perfectly fine. I really doubt that UK cats are some weird subsection that just can't be contained

@ethal80 I hope everything has calmed down for you all.

There's a cost of living crisis. Who in their right mind is going to prioritise spending thousands on netting their gardens over when grocery shopping is a stretch for the average person? Realistically? IRL, not MNland where the average salary is 100k a year. Or are we going to come up against the predictable argument that Betty shouldn't have a cat for company and life enrichment if she can't afford it 🙄
Some people don't even actively take on a cat, the cat comes to them as a stray and out of kindness, you take it on cos you want to give it some comfort in life. I guess if you can't afford to splash out on a 'catio' or a Grand Design style garden reworking complete with giant cat trapping canopy and/or don't expect a cat to submit to being suddenly restricted...then forget it and watch it freeze and starve instead. All so a select few can feel validated in their cats-should-be-contained-or-else fantasy world.

Or Betty could buy a collar and and a bell, or keep Felix inside, like millions of other cat owners manage to do?

If he chooses to have a cat flap knowing that other cats will get through it - op says he knows this happens and never had a problem with it prior to this - then yes it's common sense for him to think about this when protecting his bird. Is it not like leaving your full wallet in front of an open window then complaining when it gets stolen? Except in that case the robber would know they'd done wrong, a dumb animal does not. Take responsibility for your belongings, even if you think you shouldn't 'have' to. Or you can't really complain when things go wront.

He knows they get in. He's done nothing to stop it. He hasn't contained the bird and now it's dead.

And fwiw never in all my days have I met anyone with a catio or a fully chicken wired fence. It seems to be one of those things that exist only on MN. I do know people who choose to keep their cats in but I'd disagree that it gives them a full life. Maybe if they've never had full access to the outdoors but I personally find it very sad.

As is often the case on these threads, it's clearly entitled for cat owners to make the choice to let their cats out. But it's not entitled for other people to think all cats should spend their lives indoors for their convenience. Gotcha.

If he chooses to have a cat flap knowing that other cats will get through it - op says he knows this happens and never had a problem with it prior to this - then yes it's common sense for him to think about this when protecting his bird. Is it not like leaving your full wallet in front of an open window then complaining when it gets stolen? Except in that case the robber would know they'd done wrong, a dumb animal does not. Take responsibility for your belongings, even if you think you shouldn't 'have' to. Or you can't really complain when things go wront.

People should be allowed have dog (or cat) flaps on their own property for their own animals without having to worry about other people's animals accessing it. Talk about a "blame the victim" mentality.

He knows they get in. He's done nothing to stop it. He hasn't contained the bird and now it's dead.

Except he did contain the bird. On his own private property inside his house.

And fwiw never in all my days have I met anyone with a catio or a fully chicken wired fence. It seems to be one of those things that exist only on MN. I do know people who choose to keep their cats in but I'd disagree that it gives them a full life. Maybe if they've never had full access to the outdoors but I personally find it very sad.

Oh, well I work with animals and know a few people with catios or cat-proof gardens. They're not hugely common over here yet, but they are becoming increasingly popular.

As is often the case on these threads, it's clearly entitled for cat owners to make the choice to let their cats out. But it's not entitled for other people to think all cats should spend their lives indoors for their convenience. Gotcha.

Nobody is saying cats should spend their lives indoors. They're saying that cats (like dogs and pretty much all other pets) should be contained on their owners' property, not allowed to free roam.

My netting cost £50 and has stayed up three years. There was enough on the roll to replace it all this week. £5 for cable ties and £4 for heave duty staples.
Job done

Ooh, away with your logic and cheap solutions - these cats can't possibly be contained on their owners properties

As is often the case on these threads, it's clearly entitled for cat owners to make the choice to let their cats out. But it's not entitled for other people to think all cats should spend their lives indoors for their convenience. Gotcha.

How many times? Keeping cats indoors is one solution. One.

Also, not killing other animals (over 200 million annually) and not shitting all over someone’s garden and potentially spreading disease isn’t ‘convenience’.

Funny how every single one of my foster cats and my own cats are happily and safely contained in my garden. It also stops my neighbours vicious cat from attacking my gang. Some disabled, some abandoned, some palliative, some ex feral and many many abandoned and neglected kittens…

I know, right?

It always amuses me how many people insist that their cats must be allowed to roam when millions of cats all over the world seem to thrive in enclosed gardens and catios, lol.

Exactly!! My lot also have a large cat wheel, too many beds to count and full wall of climbing steps and beds and rotated baskets of toys in various shapes/sizes. The garden has various large branches and stumps set up for them to scratch on and a large sun bed in the sunniest corner of the garden. All done on a very cheap or free budget and made by myself.
My vet says ‘your cats and foster cats have the best set up I can imagine for them’.
They don’t get squished, poisoned and they don’t poo in other peoples gardens or go into other peoples houses and kill their pets.
😉😉

mesh screens on the windows. Cats contained. Bonus for keeping bugs out.

it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.

i used to live in a region with a completely open house. My cat would wander out. Neighbor cats would wander in. Then I discovered my cat leaping into the air in the middle of the day to kill birds in mid flight. A bell slowed her down for a day. I learned to do better.

Yes this - he might also be ashamed he’s so upset and it’s turning into rage

Regarding the price of netting to restrict cats' natural roaming instincts: I was responding to @catelynjane 's comment the owners can't be arsed to fork out several thousands of pounds. Several. Thousands. Of pounds.

If you don't keep doors etc shut, you'll get more than pets invading. Burglars will enter. Wildlife will enter. I've chased seagulls out of my kitchen.

It would be a very brazen burglar who would enter a house's kitchen in the daytime whilst somebody was in there cooking - especially if it's a tiny window that a human would not fit through.

The thing with wildlife, rodents etc. is that people accept that they are/can be pests. They aren't owned by anybody, so they are a hazard that can happen, but it's nobody's fault. They live, they die; that's nature.

However, if wildlife and vermin are becoming a regular problem, people will take steps to eliminate them - which will often not be pretty. Mouse traps, poison or similar. Many cat-owners want the best of both worlds: they expect their cats to have the same freedoms as wildlife, but are furious at the idea that anybody might dream of meting out the same consequences to Tiddles as will often befall wildlife invaders.

I am NOT in any way suggesting that people should go around poisoning cats, but it is selfish and arrogant to expect that your pet must be both fully protected from all possible harm or inconvenience, whilst also being given carte blanche to merrily go around killing other people's pets, pooing in gardens, entering homes, stealing food and sometimes showing aggression towards people/pets. And for the people responding to those saying this by branding them as 'cat haters' is CFery in the extreme.

Perhaps if a cat's natural roaming instincts are so strong the ones being bred and sold most often aren't ideal pets. It's like buying a husky when you can only walk it round the block unless you want to unleash it on the countryside and tightknit roads. I know I know, legal right to roam. But morally, it upsets alot of people and causes alot of needless death because cats are largely bred from the wrong stock

it is selfish and arrogant to expect that your pet must be both fully protected from all possible harm or inconvenience, whilst also being given carte blanche to merrily go around killing other people's pets, pooing in gardens, entering homes, stealing food and sometimes showing aggression towards people/pets.

👏👏👏👏

To all the people complaining about a cat's right to roam perhaps you should have a word with Battersea. They won't allow me to adopt a cat because I have cat proofing as, you've guessed it, cats have a right to roam. Actually that's not quite true, they did offer me one cat with multiple life limiting health problems and told me the vet bills would be my responsibility.

I've refused to take the netting down so we have reached a stalemate and will at some point look elsewhere to a more reasonable charity.

While a major charity like Battersea has this opinion is it any wonder people don't consider cat proofing/catios? Admittedly the cat proofing doesn't protect any wildlife that venture in to my garden but I can't have a catio. It did however stop my cat from being hurt and prevented him going into other peoples gardens. Not 100% win, but good enough.

With microchips becoming compulsory in the summer I do wonder if we're maybe heading towards people having to take a bit more responsibility for their cats.

I suspect it's probably wishful thinking on my part though!

I've never rescued a cat before but I'm sure there are lots of smaller rescues who'd be happy to give you a cat. I wouldn't be a fan of any rescue who acted like they were doing me a favour by letting me have an adult moggy from them that I was paying for 😮Have you thought about looking on pets4homes or gumtree for an adult cat? I sometimes nose around on there and I see lots of moggies on there for £10-£20 and worry about where they'll end up at a price like that. I like to take in an unwanted dog when I want a new dog and I prefer to "rescue" them like this, it's still a cat that needs a home so you're doing a good deed and providing a warm loving home for a cat who is about to lose theirs as long as they don't ask silly money for them.

There are smaller rescues, but some of them are nuts as well! One wouldn't rehome to me as I don't have a spare room (apparently I must have a room I don't use!), another because I have a cat flap and wouldn't be supervising the cat going in and out, another wanted to know if adopters were planning on trying for children in the next 10 years!

There are also some brilliant smaller rescues out there and there are a few I plan to contact when we are ready. I've also been very impressed with the PetRehomer website so that's another option.

I wouldn't mind as much but I want a middle aged black or black and white cat, one of the ones that's apparently the hardest to home!