Are cats just ****??

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.

So we don’t need to have a moral standpoint on what we eat.

No we don’t, I agree totally.  Eat what you like.

But that wasn’t my point, rather that if that’s your stance then you don’t get to judge others.  You can’t whine about cats killing birds or mice for enjoyment when it’s instinctive behaviour, then chow down on a Big McFlossie for enjoyment by personal choice.  Well, unless you’re a monumental hypocrite.

The neighbourhood cats regularly shit in my garden, including in the large pot my apple tree is planted in! Several come from the flats just the other side of the fence at the end of my garden, others from several houses down the road from me.
They don’t seem to affect the bird population, although I’ve found pigeon feathers in the past, but no obvious deceased bird, and all the other birds seem to be co-habiting fine, the same blackbirds have been around for ages – the male bird has a small tuft of feathers that sticks out just below his right wing, and he’s been around for three or four years, the starling population just keeps growing bigger, and the magpies and carrion crows are too smart for the cats!
They’re certainly not going to bother the hedgehogs, and they can’t get at the hedgehog’s food dishes either.

They’re definitely affecting the bird population whether you can see it or not.

There’s a theme with these cat threads.

Aren’t all these ‘Do you hate/ love xxxx’ threads similar in that you generally have 4 positions:

Those with the entrenched view ‘they hate xxxx’, and whatever anybody else posts ain’t gonna change it.

Those with the entrenched view ‘they love xxxx’, and whatever anybody else posts ain’t gonna change it.

Those who think the issue is not a binary black and white one , and try to give some constructive objective views and responses supporting either, neither, or even sometimes both sides.

Those who couldn’t give a toss about the issue and post stuff just to wind up either side and/ or for comedy value.

Nowhere near as much as farmers removing the hedgerows, cutting down trees indiscriminately and spraying chemicals

Why do so many dog owners let their dog pi55 at every gate or post they want when they are on the lead, carry a bottle of water to dilute it if it can’t help it

Cats will soon be blamed for global warming

Obviously cats aren’t the main problem but they are an added problem that could easily be sorted by keeping your cats indoors. We tried to grow our own veg for a few years and cats weren’t the only reason we stopped but they certainly didn’t help. My neighbour has a cat which stays indoors and seems perfectly happy, my neighbour gets just as annoyed that others in the area don’t do the same. It seems to me that by letting cats roam free your breaking rule number one.

Aren’t cats in a small minority of ‘semi-domesticated’ animals that eat and sleep in peoples homes but are also free to roam outside? The only other animals I can think of at the moment that live in similarish circumstances are racing/ homing pigeons.

Isn’t that how cats have coexisted with people for centuries though, are people really saying that the cat population has now increased so much that they should now be confined to their ‘owners’ gardens, houses flats etc?

Our cat is a house/ catio cat but there was extenuating circumstances which led to that . I do get though that dealing with ‘someone else’s’ cat shit is annoying and if it is causing neighbours problems a responsible cat owner should try to find ways to deal with it such as encouraging the use of a litter tray.

He says that calamari is one of the single most revolting things he’s ever had to prepare.

Calamari is squid not octopus.

Calamari is squid not octopus.

They’re both cephalopods, hence the equivocation; squid pro quo you might say

Why do so many dog owners let their dog pi55 at every gate or post they want when they are on the lead, carry a bottle of water to dilute it if it can’t help it

Ehhhh?

1) they do it because they’re dogs, pissing to let other dogs know they’re in the area is what they do.

2) when has anyone ever considered having to wash it away? It’s not strong enough for people to smell it.  The only harm is does is it used to rot lampposts which is why there’re usually painted with grey epoxy paint for the first foot or so.

We foster guide dogs who are trained to go on command on specific surfaces. Our side gate must get 5-10 pisses a day 🤣

On holiday in Spain last year I noticed dog-walkers carrying a bottle of water and using it to wash down any walls their dog peed on. Something I’d never seen before

I’m currently in Mallorca and saw people doing this today. One lady was carrying a little spray bottle on a belt clip. It made me chuckle.

Also the place is completely overrun with feral farm cats, like five or six hanging out at every street corner, all battered and missing eyes etc.  Despite this there appeared to still be plenty birds going about.

2) when has anyone ever considered having to wash it away? It’s not strong enough for people to smell it.  The only harm is does is it used to rot lampposts which is why there’re usually painted with grey epoxy paint for the first foot or so.

We foster guide dogs who are trained to go on command on specific surfaces. Our side gate must get 5-10 pisses a day

What you’ve got there is nose blindness.

How often do you walk past a lamp post and think “a dog peed on that earlier”?

I agree with TINAS, when a dog cocks his leg and does a squirt at a lamp post the smell it creates cannot be picked up by a human nose.

On the snowy yukon every dog pee from the whole winter was still visible.   Yellow snow.  Really disgusting to see how much dog pee was around.

I often see dog pee on the street around here.  Pretty disgusting as well to have to dodge puddles of pee on the pavements

I don’t remember ever smelling it apart from on teally hot days occasionally

I can’t believe a day old dog piss doesn’t go rancid and whiffs

I guess that if you stuck your nose against the lamp post and took some very deep breaths you might pick up something.

TBH I can’t be sure.

“the smell it creates cannot be picked up by a human nose”

Probably you need to get in there and give it a good snort like a dog does.

I will give that a miss just incase of the leptospirosis turns into Weils, I might feel a wee bit under the weather

I looked it up and Ammonia crops up as to the smell of dog pee and if you can’t smell that there is something wrong and you may need to suck some cherry Tunes

 if you can’t smell that there is something wrong

If you can smell dog pee when walking past a lamp post you are probably not human.

You’re probably just apologetic.

In any case, aroma or no, do you want your neighbourhood covered in piss?  I can’t smell fag ends tossed on the floor but I walk down the high street and I’m ankle deep in the **** things.  If I emptied my bladder up a lamp post on a night out I’d be arrested.

If I emptied my bladder up a lamp post on a night out I’d be arrested.

How is that relevant – you think that dogs should be arrested? If I was caught shagging on top of a lamp post I’d get arrested, and yet the wood pigeons down my way don’t give a monkeys.

Btw if a dog was to empty his bladder up a lamp post what would they do when they came to the next lamp post?