Ready for some killing and sleeping?

Damn you spellcheck

That should be Secret not Secrecy.

Pussy on the TV would be a better title, to get attention,

Oh, nice one. Recording.

I see they’ve never heard of GPS drift…

We’re watching it.
We’ve got one of those ginger cats with a stumpy tail, too.

One eyeball – our dear departed Huffy has a stunt double.

Strava for cats?

Strava for cats?

That’s what I thought!

Edit, the cheeky thieving buggers!

Bit boring TBH. Would prefer to see it set in a town with some real rough brawling Tom’s…

I thought there would be more of this:

See many birds nowadays? (Thought not).

A cat lover myself, but I think we need to stand up and agree we have a problem here with what they’re doing to our indigenous wildlife.

Side question: my understand is cats are territorial, each defending their own patch. So how do urban feral cats, that I have seen living in large groups, deal with this? Or do they have a menu of behaviour patterns from which to choose what works?

Most amazing creatures.

Oh FFS, if its not bad enough cats and cat owners have ruined the internet, now they are moving in on broadcast media as well.

I thought it would have confirmed that they are all plotting to kill their owners in their sleep, and take over the world.

I’m quite disappointed that it only involved petty thieving, fighting and killing stuff

mattjg,

watch the program on iPlayer – your questions will be answered. Oh and you’ll see the scientists estimate that cats catch half a prey item per week on average – ie. half a mouse, bunny, or bird.

I watched half last night, will finish tonight.

Was surprised how many cats there were in such a small village.

I suspect they’d bring back more prey if it was available, but it’s gone, especially birds. The top of the food chain predator is being fed from another source so there are many many more of them than the environment would naturally sustain. The birds can’t feed and reproduce if they can’t use the ground with a modicum of safety, fledglings hardly even have a chance to leave the nest safely. They don’t have a chance really.

I have a cat and love him, I’m part of the problem too. I don’t have an easy solution except we all skip having cats for a generation, and that’s not going to happen. Still, I’m a bit troubled by this problem.

I thought it would have confirmed that they are all plotting to kill their owners in their sleep, and take over the world.

See many birds nowadays? (Thought not).

Yes, literally dozens in the last 30 minutes. There’s a Blackbird snacking on Ants on the patio.

The ants, they’ve got no chance. Nearly wiped out!

It’s a good environment for wildlife my garden.

Looks very much like this

The ants, they’ve got no chance. Nearly wiped out!

I wish, the little ****

We get Foxes too which is pretty cool. Or neighbours hate our garden though. There more into the ‘manicured’ look.

In your garden it looks like humans are most under threat.

Our neighbour has 2 cats and several bird feeders. He looks after his cats!

So depletion of indiginous bird species is down to cats, not removal of habitat, ie woodland, hedgerows, marshlands etc by humans? 🙄

I don’t have an easy solution except we all skip having cats for a generation, and that’s not going to happen

Well, it’s either that, or cat owners control their cats like dog owners control their dogs. And before everyone cries out in anguish that cats and dogs are different and it can’t be done; no they are not, and yes it can – several councils in Australia ban cats being let out. It seems to work well enough, and if cats are caught out, they get taken to a pound, at the owner’s expense, along with a nice fine.

Presumably cats whose owners cannot be found either get rehomed, or rehomed more permanently…

I’m guessing you’ve already seen this

We’ve 2 cats and next door has 5. Have you any idea how intimidating it is to walk out of the back door to have 7 cats sat around staring at you. Its like a Hitchcock film. Terrifying!

So depletion of indiginous bird species is down to cats, not removal of habitat, ie woodland, hedgerows, marshlands etc by humans

Very much a double whammy.

cat owners control their cats like dog owners control their dogs

So they bag up the cat poo and hang the bags up in trees and bushes throughout the local parks and woodland………… i really can’t see how that will help 😛

So they bag up the cat poo and hang the bags up in trees and bushes throughout the local parks and woodland………… i really can’t see how that will help

No cat poo as cat isn’t outside in public areas, though I have seen a couple on leashes nearby 😯

Well, it’s either that, or cat owners control their cats like dog owners control their dogs.

My cats can give you bit of a nibble, but to be honest they’re never going to be able to rip a toddlers face off, no matter how much I train them

See many birds nowadays? (Thought not).

A cat lover myself, but I think we need to stand up and agree we have a problem here with what they’re doing to our indigenous wildlife.

I think after 2000 years we should probably consider cats indigenous, too… but ignoring that, unless cat populations have changed radically in the past 100 years any measured decline in wildlife is due to other causes.

See many birds nowadays? (Thought not).

Have a look at where you live on google earth and zoom out. I think you’ll see that only a tiny percentage of the land around you is built on and inhabited by cat-owning humans and swathes of land that is out of the range of cats, even on this little island that we like to tell ourselves is crowded. So if the question is have we seen any birds in your garden? – perhaps not many. Are there many birds? Yes there are.

If theres a lack where you live thats probably got more to do with your neighbours block paved front gardens and decked back gardens, uPVC nest-proof soffits and having fences rather than hedges around their gardens. Nowhere to nest and nowhere to feed, so the birds have gone elsewhere. My house mostly.

@zokes has the policy had the desired effect, and what was it?

I think I’d do without rather than have a cat confined indoors or on a leash.

If you actually watched the programme last night, it concluded that as cats become more domesticated they’re less and less inclined to murder small furry things.

Admittedly that news came a bit late to the vowl kindly deposited in the kitchen last night

No, the area of the house I grew up in and where my parents still live in is largely unchanged. It was low-ish density housing then, and all the land is already used. Anecdotally I remember there being many more small birds than I see nowadays.

But it’s possible my experience is atypical or my memory is wrong.

My cats can give you bit of a nibble, but to be honest they’re never going to be able to rip a toddlers face off, no matter how much I train them

Have you ever tried washing a cat? An angry cat could rip a T-rex’s face off, never mind a toddler!

@zokes has the policy had the desired effect, and what was it?

No idea, but I can’t see why removing an anthropogenically introduced predator would cause things to worsen. If you remove the thing doing the killing, and don’t replace it with anything else, I can’t see how that wouldn’t improve wildlife numbers.

Admittedly that news came a bit late to the vowl kindly deposited in the kitchen last night

Just wait until they get to the consonants 😆

Zokes not wanting to provoke you into one of your “episodes” 😉 but I think I am right in saying Australia doesn’t have any indigenous cats??? so the imported ones are causing havoc, that isnt the case in the UK and have you seen the programme that is being discussed.

The boffins at the end came up with the idea that cats are becoming less huntery (not a proper word) because its easier to steal food from neighbours or manipulate humans to feed them.

oh joy, while I was typing this my cat deposited a dead mouse on the landing, I nearly trod on it.

thanks fella. love you too.

Australia doesn’t have any indigenous cats?

Neither does the UK.