The answer is yes.
Caveat: my cat is great craic. We adopted her when she was 3 from an old lady who couldn't look after her any more.
She had never been outside before and even though we did experiment she was not very comfortable with it so she is quite content hanging out inside. Also, she is built like a melted wheely bin compared to other lithe outdoor cats and would get her ass kicked regularly by the big cats roaming around. She is thick as mince too, so would undoubtedly be flattened within a week.
She was kinda "curvy" when we first got her, and its taken about 2 years to get her to an actual healthy weight. She doesn't really like playing too much despite endless toys and attempts, outside of her mad hour when she runs up and down the stairs making weird yowling noises.
Her favourite thing to do is just come and sit with us, or bask by the window upstairs. Every night at about 10.30 she comes and herds me to bed. Even the cat foster lady and various cat sitters said she is remarkably lazy and chilled. Her favourite food is the cheapest Go-Cat indoor low-cal biscuits, and sometimes ham.
Doesn't display any anxious behaviour or unhappiness really and always gets a clean bill of health from the vet. Can still jump the equivalent of about 3 storeys when she wants to though. Mad wee things, cats. I love her with all of my heart.
I love cats. We have three indoor ones.
An intact tom - which sounds like your problem - is an ecological menace and needs dealing with. Some (most? all?) vets will do the snip on strays for free.
Never had a cat chase me
You're missing out. Getting harassed by a vicious feral tom is one of the great experiences of life.
Getting harassed by a vicious feral tom is one of the great experiences of life.
Doesn't have to be vicious, feral or a tom. My hands and forearms look like someone's had at them with a cheese grater. I mostly bring it on myself though. I once caught one making a lightning bid for freedom out through a top floor window, it was like catching a running chainsaw.
My hands and arms used to look like I'd self harming when my Bengal was younger and in the mood for a bit of playful attacking. Even with a think fleece pulled down to my cover my hand over. Needed a falconry glove really.
We've had over 50 cats in our house (not all at the same time), all kept as indoor cats while we had them. The only ones that couldn't have lived quite happily as indoor cats on a permanent basis were the proper ferals that were just being neutered and released.
We do have quite a large open-plan house and there's plenty of entertainment for them. If you have a safe neighbourhood then letting them out is also quite reasonable IMO but it's certainly not necessary. At least two of our fosters were killed on the roads a short while after rehoming and I've currently got a stray that had its throat torn by a dog (a very lucky escape, a week later still looks like an extra from a horror film).
It's notable that people with posh pedigrees tend to keep them in much more than those with random moggies. It's not the behavioural needs of the cats that differ, but rather the attitudes of their owners towards death, injury or loss of their pets.
Cat attacks man
He was messing with the cats' stuff. He clearly deserved it.
Cats are great loving cuddly playful etc.
They are part of the same family as lions and leopards though, you wouldnt tease leopard would you or mess about with it's bed when you have already been warned
Also my cat has the instant vertical take off skill, he can easily reach 8ft in a nanosecond
The family cat.
Come and tell me my cat is a ****
They are part of the same family as lions and leopards though, you wouldnt tease leopard would you or mess about with it’s bed when you have already been warned
Also my cat has the instant vertical take off skill, he can easily reach 8ft in a nanosecond
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Had cats for the last 20 years. Every year the small bird population expends. I am getting fed up of those sparrows bellowing at 4am every morning? PMSL
And cats aren’t really noted for being particularly noisy animals, if that’s an issue for you I reckon that you are unlucky – they are generally very quiet animals.
neighbours car quite likes jumping 5 ft from fence onto my decking. That makes quite a thump. I’ve got used to it but it used to be startling. If it was doing it on a conservatory I’d be concerned about damage.
Cats are also one of a very few if not the only animal that manipulates people into doing what the cat wants
I'm guessing you've never owned a spaniel?
neighbours car quite likes jumping 5 ft from fence onto my decking. That makes quite a thump.
Does it play Waylon Jennings as it jumps?
It’s notable that people with posh pedigrees tend to keep them in much more than those with random moggies. It’s not the behavioural needs of the cats that differ, but rather the attitudes of their owners towards putting their financial investment before the needs and wellbeing of the animal.
FTFY
They are part of the same family as lions and leopards though, you wouldnt tease leopard would you or mess about with it’s bed when you have already been warned
They kind of are and aren't. Big Cats and Little Cats are different things.
Also my cat has the instant vertical take off skill, he can easily reach 8ft in a nanosecond
This one time, I took Mollie to the vet. Mollie is three-legged. Whilst she was there I asked for her to be chipped. I warned them before I opened the kitty-carrier, she's feisty and there's a lot of power in that one back leg, don't underestimate her. I opened up, she came hobbling out, they must have thought I was daft. The vet summoned a nurse, the nurse goes "I'm a professional cat-holder" and it was all I could do not to audibly scoff. Mollie's docile, calm as you like. The nurse loosely holds her, I thought "they've taken their eye off the ball here." The vet touches the needle to the nape of Mol's neck, she goes up like a bloody landmine. Easily above head height. It put me in mind of the scene in one of the Star Wars prequels where Yoda kicks off.
I'm stood there thinking "I told you so, and you didn't believe me." Mollie didn't get chipped that day, the vet suggested that I bring her back when she's calmed down.
One of our neighbors cat has taken to using our front flowerbed as it's litter tray.
It f***ing stinks every time I walk off the driveway.
Doubly annoying as we've been raising money for Guide Dogs by selling our excess seedlings from a trestle table out there and it really does smell like an open sewer on a warm day.
Is it like overhanging branches, can I just fling them over the fence onto their lawn?
Not allowed in…
I see far more dog crap around town!
That's because the cats are crapping in everyone's gardens, not the pavements.
That's a male Bengal
I see far more dog crap around town!
I've seen the Manic Street Preachers in town.
Would be quite cool if they did a gig in front of my house but the cat shit would definitely need clearing first.
Quite a few posters on here hating cats and this blaming them on keeping the bird population down is waffle a bit like seals or otters doing the same to fish stock
I hate the pigeon that craps on my car but having a Rowan tree in my garden it's not getting chopped down or the pigeon getting shot. I've no evil spirits so the tree is great
You can maybe tell I like cats
Muslamic Cat
sam3000Full Member
Come and tell me my cat is a *
If it's anything like the ones around here, your cat is a *.
"bit like seals or otters doing the same to fish stock"
It's not really though is it. They're doing it to survive, if you're feeding your cats then they're killing for fun. But hey it's only approx 275 million deaths a year and they were all sickly and asking for it anyway.
So got a bit of an update
Bumped into the neighbour whos cat was attacked and then went missing, his cat has been seen in the area but wont come near the house, he has tried catching it but to no avail, one of the other older neighbour's with two cats is now keeping them both indoors after one of his also came home with battle scars
The 5 newer cats (two households with 2 cats each and one household with one cat) have been chatting with me and the neighbours and it turns out the households with 2 cats each appolgised for their cats behaviour, it seems both new neighbours with two cats each have seen their cats fighting each other and fighting the other cats which have been here much longer
One of them did say their cats are neutered/spayed but they dont get along with other cats well and tend to fight, the other neighbour said his two cats like leaving him presents (birds, mice etc..) and even said they seem to work as a tag team to capture them!
There is a neighbour around 12 doors up who has an aviery, he normally keeps himself to himself but he has told one of the older neighbours that he keeps finding 2 cats sitting on his aviery roof chasing the birds
if you’re feeding your cats then they’re killing for fun.
They are doing it because it has been an extremely useful instinct for humans for thousands of years.
Dogs have had their hunting instincts modified by humans so that the the killing bit was bred out. But with cats ever since humans started farming it was imperative that there killing instincts be maintained.
Since the arrival of cat food 150 years ago the need of cats to survive by hunting, and therefore successfully pass on their genes, has vastly diminished.
I think it is probably already having an impact, IME most modern cats, despite a few exceptions, show little interest in hunting.
Out of approximately ten cats throughout my life I can only think of one that was a prolific hunter, and even she stopped when she reached middle age. The current two are six years old and in a combined time of 12 years they have caught no birds and only 4 mice, the last one was coincidentally this week. They do have an obsession with catching flies though - I reckon they think that flies are taking the piss and deliberately trying to wind them up. And they do actually eat them. They won't eat mice though - they won't touch raw meat.
Ultimately the problem species, when any species of animal is vilified, is humans, not the accused species.
he has told one of the older neighbours that he keeps finding 2 cats sitting on his aviery roof chasing the birds
That is probably a good thing in terms of suppressing their instinct to hunt. A cat which is in the constant presence of birds is unlikely to get excited at the sight of a bird.
I have kept both pigeons/ doves and cats at the same time in the past. My cats develop zero interests in the birds but neighbours cats could be a problem.
Obviously freaking out the birds in the aviary ain't going to be good.
So your cats don't kill things except when they do??? And those are the kills you know about. There's a theme with these cat threads. People give evidence of cats doing things and cat owners denying that Tiddles does that sort of thing.
Ultimately the problem species, when any species of animal is vilified, is humans, not the accused species.
Except octopusses. I don't trust those ****s.
So your cats don’t kill things except when they do???
Nah, they are always killing things even when they don't. Apparently.
Except octopusses. I don’t trust those ****s.
I can't bring myself to eat octopus, they are just too intelligent and sensitive, it feels like murder.
My indoor cats are great - I let them in the garden supervised sometimes but one of them doesn't really like the outside and will often want to go back in.
In my previous house I had angled in trellis at the top of the fences so they couldn't get out, but they are incapable to scaling a fence anyway like a normal cat and escape was only a risk if there was something near they could jump from.
Neither are bright enough to be trusted to roam, so they stay indoors and sleep about 20 hours a day.
if you’re feeding your cats then they’re killing for fun.
Unless you're vegan then so are you.
Cats are obligate carnivores. People aren't, they're highly adaptable omnivores. You don't need to eat meat, you do it because you enjoy it. And that's absolutely fine, it's one of the perks of being at the top of the food chain. But don't for a moment think you can have a lamb kofta in one hand and the moral high ground in the other.
I can’t bring myself to eat octopus,
I have a mate who was a head chef in a past life. Today he goes fishing and deer hunting (I assume not simultaneously). He says that calamari is one of the single most revolting things he's ever had to prepare.
But don’t for a moment think you can have a lamb kofta in one hand and the moral high ground in the other.
We're just another of the many species that live on this planet, and all without exception are part of a big food chain.So we don't need to have a moral standpoint on what we eat.
This means we can have a lamb kofta in both hands 😀
We are really not "just another of the many species".
Humans are a very unique species in terms of our effect on the food chain and balance of nature.
