I fully agree that cats should be neutered and if it can be done before 6 months without detriment to the cat, that's all the better.
I have had cats for 30 odd years now and have found that by keeping them inside your house for the first 6 months of their lives, they come to see it as a very safe place. Consequently when I let them out, they have never strayed far from my own garden (always wanting to be near that 'safe place').
My cats have always been in by dusk and kept in until after dawn the next day - (dusk and dawn are the most vulnerable times for birds). I use collars with bells. I have indoor litter, feed them well and I love and nurture them as one of the family.
None of my cats have been 'hunters', only ever catching the occasional unfortunate animal. I am able to feed the birds daily without at the same time enticing them to an early demise.
It's impossible to prevent the odd accident in a neighbour's garden but I wish other cat owners would be responsible and show some thought so that everyone would be able to see cats as the wonderful, home loving animals that I do. I firmly believe that it is the owner, NOT the cat that makes the difference as to how they behave.
I'd urge anyone with a cat problem to contact Jessica - I don;t expect it will solve the problem but at least it might make cat owners think about their responsibilities.
If cat owners claim their cats are wild animals - fine, they need to be controlled and licensed. If the cats are domestic pets - take responsibility for them - train them to use litter trays in your house or garden and take them for walks on leads. These days it is a myth to suggest that the domestic cat needs to roam free. Cats are the ultimate "no responsibilty" pets. Why do non cat owners have to expend good money on "cat deterrents" ...........come on Gardeners and wildlife lovers.....get a grip.............it is not your responsibility.
OR garden? Who puts a litter tray in their garden? I've never read such a daft thing. Also why do you think its a good idea to put cats on a lead? They're not a pack animal. Not every cat is going to "enjoy" being on a lead. You cannot fully train a cat like a dog. Cats love to wonder. They're not going to trot all the way back to your own garden to do toilet business in a litter tray or in the garden.
I'm just a little angry how you think cats can be treated like dogs. I can only assume you're as angry with have had cats do their pooping and what not in your garden. If so I'm sorry to hear that. My nan had trouble with cats digging up her bulbs =/. I hope you, and all others find better and more practical solutions though
OR garden? Who puts a litter tray in their garden? I've never read such a daft thing. Also why do you think its a good idea to put cats on a lead? They're not a pack animal. Not every cat is going to "enjoy" being on a lead. You cannot fully train a cat like a dog. Cats love to wonder. They're not going to trot all the way back to your own garden to do toilet business in a litter tray or in the garden.
I'm just a little angry how you think cats can be treated like dogs. I can only assume you're as angry with have had cats do their pooping and what not in your garden. If so I'm sorry to hear that. My nan had trouble with cats digging up her bulbs =/. I hope you, and all others find better and more practical solutions though
Perfectly reasonable thing to do - when we had cats that's what we did. We had a large shallow container of dry builders' sand in the open lean-to where the logs were stored - it stayed dry and was accessible to our cats whenever they were outside and they used it.
Our neighbours said that our cats did not use their gardens and they certainly did not use my flower beds or veg garden. The sand was changed regularly and it was no bother. It would be helpful if all cat owners did a similar thing and encouraged their cats to use it.
By their nature it might not prevent cats from occasionally pooping elsewhere, but it helps control the problem if they know of somewhere suitable outside that they can use, just as they use the cat litter indoors.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi, Skipps, i guess you have fine soil like me, and cats love fine soil to do their bizzy in it, as it digs up very nice, i have had this problem, so now i put as many flowers in that patch of fine soil and maybe put the odd small pebble here and there and hey presto the cats aint got no where else to poo, ha job done, by the way i have a cat and i take her walkies in my garden on a harness, so dont get into trouble with other cats and neigbours, she can still wonder on her long lead. Hope this helps
Hello, thank you for your contributions to this discussion. Please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected] or on 01865297220. Unfortunately not everyone has settings that allow personal messages, so I may not have contacted you directly for this reason. The research is genuine, so please feel free to ring for a chat. We are looking to discuss this issue sensibly, and look for ways where gardeners and cats and cat owners can all work together. We are filming for quite a while so pass my number on to anyone you think may be interested.
brum what kind of cats av u got in your garden that you need a 2 gallon bucket, WOW now thats what i call a real cat problem, pity its not a horse problem at least you could use it.Good luck with that and maybe a coke shovel might be better,wait till Jessica sees that
We are what is known as a multi-cat household because we have quite a few cats. We also have a well tended garden, lots of bird tables and the like and no complaints from the neighbours. How?
We have a large enclosure (about 25m long) in our garden, attached to the house, so that those cats who want to leave the comfort of their heated cat bed or warm room can nip out the window into the enclosure for a leg stretch. Okay so it means more work and expense for us but we built our first enclosure at our old house because we lost too many cats to the traffic where we lived. This one was built before we moved in and we know our cats are safe from predators, some diseases and irate gardeners.
We hate seeing the mess other people's cats make and the damage they can do to birds so we can speak for both sides of the debate.
Incidentally, before I found this website we were expecting a visit tomorrow from someone from Landmark Films (presumably Jessica) who wants to talk about our multi-cat household. At least we now know what particular aspect she is interested in and what the documentary is going to be about.
Posts
I fully agree that cats should be neutered and if it can be done before 6 months without detriment to the cat, that's all the better.
I have had cats for 30 odd years now and have found that by keeping them inside your house for the first 6 months of their lives, they come to see it as a very safe place. Consequently when I let them out, they have never strayed far from my own garden (always wanting to be near that 'safe place').
My cats have always been in by dusk and kept in until after dawn the next day - (dusk and dawn are the most vulnerable times for birds). I use collars with bells. I have indoor litter, feed them well and I love and nurture them as one of the family.
None of my cats have been 'hunters', only ever catching the occasional unfortunate animal. I am able to feed the birds daily without at the same time enticing them to an early demise.
It's impossible to prevent the odd accident in a neighbour's garden but I wish other cat owners would be responsible and show some thought so that everyone would be able to see cats as the wonderful, home loving animals that I do. I firmly believe that it is the owner, NOT the cat that makes the difference as to how they behave.
OR garden? Who puts a litter tray in their garden? I've never read such a daft thing. Also why do you think its a good idea to put cats on a lead? They're not a pack animal. Not every cat is going to "enjoy" being on a lead. You cannot fully train a cat like a dog. Cats love to wonder. They're not going to trot all the way back to your own garden to do toilet business in a litter tray or in the garden.
I'm just a little angry how you think cats can be treated like dogs. I can only assume you're as angry with have had cats do their pooping and what not in your garden. If so I'm sorry to hear that. My nan had trouble with cats digging up her bulbs =/. I hope you, and all others find better and more practical solutions though
Perfectly reasonable thing to do - when we had cats that's what we did. We had a large shallow container of dry builders' sand in the open lean-to where the logs were stored - it stayed dry and was accessible to our cats whenever they were outside and they used it.
Our neighbours said that our cats did not use their gardens and they certainly did not use my flower beds or veg garden. The sand was changed regularly and it was no bother. It would be helpful if all cat owners did a similar thing and encouraged their cats to use it.
By their nature it might not prevent cats from occasionally pooping elsewhere, but it helps control the problem if they know of somewhere suitable outside that they can use, just as they use the cat litter indoors.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hi, Skipps, i guess you have fine soil like me, and cats love fine soil to do their bizzy in it, as it digs up very nice, i have had this problem, so now i put as many flowers in that patch of fine soil and maybe put the odd small pebble here and there and hey presto the cats aint got no where else to poo, ha job done, by the way i have a cat and i take her walkies in my garden on a harness, so dont get into trouble with other cats and neigbours, she can still wonder on her long lead. Hope this helps
Hello, thank you for your contributions to this discussion. Please feel free to contact me directly at [email protected] or on 01865297220. Unfortunately not everyone has settings that allow personal messages, so I may not have contacted you directly for this reason. The research is genuine, so please feel free to ring for a chat. We are looking to discuss this issue sensibly, and look for ways where gardeners and cats and cat owners can all work together. We are filming for quite a while so pass my number on to anyone you think may be interested.
Jessica
brum what kind of cats av u got in your garden that you need a 2 gallon bucket, WOW now thats what i call a real cat problem, pity its not a horse problem at least you could use it.Good luck with that and maybe a coke shovel might be better,wait till Jessica sees that
We are what is known as a multi-cat household because we have quite a few cats. We also have a well tended garden, lots of bird tables and the like and no complaints from the neighbours. How?
We have a large enclosure (about 25m long) in our garden, attached to the house, so that those cats who want to leave the comfort of their heated cat bed or warm room can nip out the window into the enclosure for a leg stretch. Okay so it means more work and expense for us but we built our first enclosure at our old house because we lost too many cats to the traffic where we lived. This one was built before we moved in and we know our cats are safe from predators, some diseases and irate gardeners.
We hate seeing the mess other people's cats make and the damage they can do to birds so we can speak for both sides of the debate.
Incidentally, before I found this website we were expecting a visit tomorrow from someone from Landmark Films (presumably Jessica) who wants to talk about our multi-cat household. At least we now know what particular aspect she is interested in and what the documentary is going to be about.