Totally Dove. Then people wonder why their gardens are totally overrun with slugs, the more damaging native white and grey slug species being a major part of a slow worms diet.
The old argument that cats keep down rodent populations has also been overturned.
Modern well fed domestic cats have been shown in more than one study to be far less likely to tackle a rat these days that will fight back.
Now they generally concentrate on non-pest species, quietly and very effectively removing entire populations of completely defenseless and harmless creatures. For no other reason than 'amusement'.
They don't bother to 'present' many of these kills to owners and many animals are simply mauled and left to die a slow and painful death from multiple infected bite wounds.
I won't share the dozens of images I have as I know people will simply be shocked to see animals with missing limbs and half eaten, that were still alive.
As there are far more effective ways to control rodents than having a cat, the argument for free roaming cats has dwindled to nothing more than a form of hysteria from cat owners that their pet amusing itself is more important than native wildlife, the environment and particularly the feelings and wishes of neighbours.
Do they listen when they are told free roaming is extremely bad for the welfare of the cat? No of course not. Perhaps they should all go work at the Blue Cross as I did and see the results of missing eyes, bite wounds from other cats, parasites, road accidents, gunshot wounds, well it is just commons sense to imagine what could happen to a pet that is left to fend for itself in the outside world.
In my case the total devastation of our wildlife garden we worked so long to build up, brought on a lasting bought of depression I still suffer from to this day. Back then my OH had just been diagnosed with cancer and the peace of the wildlife garden was so important to both him and me. Even though he was very ill he tried to reason with the neighbours as one animal after another was killed, all they had to say was 'it is what cats do'. Seeing the man I love sobbing in frustration is not something I want to see ever again in my life.
Of course inline with others here I know full well it is really what the owners do, the cats are an innocent party to the owners totally selfish and irresponsible actions.
I would simply ask those that jump so quickly in the defense of cats on this forum to stop and think.
Nobody would go as far as posting on a forum if they did not have a real issue they were dealing with. The affects of irresponsible pet owner ship can be devastating not only to native wildlife, but to other gardeners, in other worlds people like us who get a great deal of pleasure from gardens. To deny that pleasure to others is simply dreadful behaviour.
So please when somebody asks will cats kill pond creatures, be realistic, of course many cats will do that remorselessly. The fact 'Tiddles' or 'Truffles' never did it directly in front of you, does not mean it never happens.
Constant denial of the truth is simply that when it comes to this topic.
I find it shocking in these threads that when cat issues are discussed there are members who say 'problem what problem?'. If someone posted saying their lawnmower would not start, it would not be helpful for members to post, 'well my works fine, so what is your problem?'.
I don't dislike cats but I would rather see actual native wildlife in my garden, not other peoples' pets. Unfortunately with neighbours who let cats free roam, that choice is taken away from me.
This topic gets hotly debated with fair regularity on this forum. When I first joined I thought gardeners would be mostly against free-roaming cats given that gardeners are often the people who bear the brunt of the problems that cats cause. I've been really surprised by the number of people on here though who will fiercely defend their right to inflict their pets on other people. It doesn't matter how much proof you offer them of the harm they will always come back with some offensive reply suggesting you are over reacting or being melodramatic. This is from people who should know better but I imagine the number of people who don't garden and don't care much about wildlife is much higher.
About half an hour ago, just before it got dark, I had to scare a cat out of my garden, partly because it was making the dog upset and he would no doubt wake the kids if his restraint broke, but mostly because I don't want it hunting in my garden. Less than ten minutes later my wife called me to come and look at the tawny owl that was perched on the bird feeder looking for the rodents clearing up scraps. I'm not sure if a cat would attack an owl but I'd definitely rather the owl takes the voles home to its chicks than have them killed for fun by a cat.
Yes I have already picked up on the 'get a grip' type comments.
Data, science, fact, observation, is having a grip.
Delusion and endlessly defending the indefensible is not NOT having a grip.
I doubt it would be so irritating if they just said the truth, they don't care what their cat does in the wider environment, or how it might affect other people, or even about their pet's welfare, it would be easier to live with.
There's a repeat offender who is never out of my garden - all year round, day and night. No matter what time I look out of my windows, or leave the house, I've seen it. Every night when I used the wildlife camera, it was on it. It now sits under our cars. I hate to think what I've spent keeping it out - or trying to keep it out. Worse in the winter, when I can't use the water scarecrow because they just freeze up, so between October and April/May, I can do nothing. Sick to death of it.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Probably best to ask a non cat owner who has observed how somebody else's cats behave in a wildlife garden.
Unfortunately cats will decimate reptile and amphibian populations in gardens. That is from first hand experience. Also reptiles and amphibians have poor directional hearing, so bells on the cats will make no difference at all.
Cats are not stupid enough on the whole to show their owners what they really get up to, so we often hear that not all cats do this. They unfortunately in my experience do when the owner is not around.
I agree. This isn't for the squeamish... But I have seen a frog dive straight into a steaming hot cup of tea right next to the pond, which is 5 metres long. The cup of tea was on the pond wall. So it was easier for it to clear the wall and land in the pond but it decided to jump the extra height to land in the tea. It died instantly.
We do get cats coming into the garden since we lost our dog (my best friend) in 2018
I have also seen a fox and a badger in the garden.
The cats sit and look at the fish but as far as I know, they haven't tried to take any.
I came home one day and next doors cat was in the house. It ran past me out the front door and I nearly had a heart attack.
Next door the other way have a cockerpoo which pokes his head through the gap in the fence and is adorable.
There's a repeat offender who is never out of my garden - all year round, day and night. No matter what time I look out of my windows, or leave the house, I've seen it. Every night when I used the wildlife camera, it was on it. It now sits under our cars. I hate to think what I've spent keeping it out - or trying to keep it out. Worse in the winter, when I can't use the water scarecrow because they just freeze up, so between October and April/May, I can do nothing. Sick to death of it.
That was the situation we ended up with.
First the new neighbours arrived with 3 cats, which started the systematic devastation when they took up full-time residence in our wildlife garden.
Then the nearest neighbour had the bright idea that if they got a cat, it would keep the first set of cats out of their garden.
The result however was the new cat was a relentless killer, constantly in our garden and constantly hunting from dawn to dusk.
Just the same for us, nobody can watch 24/7 to keep a cat out, the only effective deterrent I've ever found is the water scarecrow, but as you say they cannot be used in the winter, so cats re-establish our gardens as part of their territory each year.
Cost us a fortune as though we have a modest sized garden, it is very 3 dimensional, so we need several to give any sort of coverage. I tried literally everything else I could find out about, none of which worked at all to deter cats.
Even if we could manage to keep them out, the impact moves to surrounding connecting habitat, so we still see less wildlife in our own gardens because of the hunting cats in the locality.
Cost, frustration, sadness, loss of biodiversity and very importantly loss of genetic diversity for the target species, all of which could be avoided if the owners simply made the decision not to allow their pet to free roam.
I now have a little bee 'family' in the hedgehog house where this r*ddy thing hangs around and comes in. I worry about 'my' bees, but secretly, I'm hoping it takes a look inside and finds them even less hospitable than the scarecrow...
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Cost, frustration, sadness, loss of biodiversity and very importantly loss of genetic diversity for the target species, all of which could be avoided if the owners simply made the decision not to allow their pet to free roam.
Personally I'd take the decision away from the owners. Until it's made illegal nothing significant will change. I blame organisations like the RSPB for not showing some backbone and addressing it more strongly, although I know why they won't. Politicians won't touch any such law as they know it would be a total vote killer for them just as the RSPB know they'd lose members very rapidly if they saw their membership fee was actually being spent on protecting wildlife from their pet cats. It's understandable I suppose but politicising this is the wrong approach if we want to restore the UK biodiversity to where it needs to be. Promise to plant an unrealistic amount of trees: everyone votes for you because you're saving the world. Promise to bring about a huge increase in biodiversity in the UK with sweeping new protection laws: everyone votes for you. Now tell them that the laws are to ban free-roaming cats and see what happens...
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
The old argument that cats keep down rodent populations has also been overturned.
Modern well fed domestic cats have been shown in more than one study to be far less likely to tackle a rat these days that will fight back.
Now they generally concentrate on non-pest species, quietly and very effectively removing entire populations of completely defenseless and harmless creatures. For no other reason than 'amusement'.
They don't bother to 'present' many of these kills to owners and many animals are simply mauled and left to die a slow and painful death from multiple infected bite wounds.
I won't share the dozens of images I have as I know people will simply be shocked to see animals with missing limbs and half eaten, that were still alive.
As there are far more effective ways to control rodents than having a cat, the argument for free roaming cats has dwindled to nothing more than a form of hysteria from cat owners that their pet amusing itself is more important than native wildlife, the environment and particularly the feelings and wishes of neighbours.
Do they listen when they are told free roaming is extremely bad for the welfare of the cat? No of course not. Perhaps they should all go work at the Blue Cross as I did and see the results of missing eyes, bite wounds from other cats, parasites, road accidents, gunshot wounds, well it is just commons sense to imagine what could happen to a pet that is left to fend for itself in the outside world.
In my case the total devastation of our wildlife garden we worked so long to build up, brought on a lasting bought of depression I still suffer from to this day. Back then my OH had just been diagnosed with cancer and the peace of the wildlife garden was so important to both him and me. Even though he was very ill he tried to reason with the neighbours as one animal after another was killed, all they had to say was 'it is what cats do'. Seeing the man I love sobbing in frustration is not something I want to see ever again in my life.
Of course inline with others here I know full well it is really what the owners do, the cats are an innocent party to the owners totally selfish and irresponsible actions.
I would simply ask those that jump so quickly in the defense of cats on this forum to stop and think.
Nobody would go as far as posting on a forum if they did not have a real issue they were dealing with. The affects of irresponsible pet owner ship can be devastating not only to native wildlife, but to other gardeners, in other worlds people like us who get a great deal of pleasure from gardens. To deny that pleasure to others is simply dreadful behaviour.
So please when somebody asks will cats kill pond creatures, be realistic, of course many cats will do that remorselessly. The fact 'Tiddles' or 'Truffles' never did it directly in front of you, does not mean it never happens.
Constant denial of the truth is simply that when it comes to this topic.
Data, science, fact, observation, is having a grip.
Delusion and endlessly defending the indefensible is not NOT having a grip.
I doubt it would be so irritating if they just said the truth, they don't care what their cat does in the wider environment, or how it might affect other people, or even about their pet's welfare, it would be easier to live with.
It now sits under our cars. I hate to think what I've spent keeping it out - or trying to keep it out. Worse in the winter, when I can't use the water scarecrow because they just freeze up, so between October and April/May, I can do nothing.
Sick to death of it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
We do get cats coming into the garden since we lost our dog (my best friend) in 2018
I have also seen a fox and a badger in the garden.
The cats sit and look at the fish but as far as I know, they haven't tried to take any.
I came home one day and next doors cat was in the house. It ran past me out the front door and I nearly had a heart attack.
Next door the other way have a cockerpoo which pokes his head through the gap in the fence and is adorable.
That was the situation we ended up with.
First the new neighbours arrived with 3 cats, which started the systematic devastation when they took up full-time residence in our wildlife garden.
Then the nearest neighbour had the bright idea that if they got a cat, it would keep the first set of cats out of their garden.
The result however was the new cat was a relentless killer, constantly in our garden and constantly hunting from dawn to dusk.
Just the same for us, nobody can watch 24/7 to keep a cat out, the only effective deterrent I've ever found is the water scarecrow, but as you say they cannot be used in the winter, so cats re-establish our gardens as part of their territory each year.
Cost us a fortune as though we have a modest sized garden, it is very 3 dimensional, so we need several to give any sort of coverage. I tried literally everything else I could find out about, none of which worked at all to deter cats.
Even if we could manage to keep them out, the impact moves to surrounding connecting habitat, so we still see less wildlife in our own gardens because of the hunting cats in the locality.
Cost, frustration, sadness, loss of biodiversity and very importantly loss of genetic diversity for the target species, all of which could be avoided if the owners simply made the decision not to allow their pet to free roam.
I worry about 'my' bees, but secretly, I'm hoping it takes a look inside and finds them even less hospitable than the scarecrow...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...