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This is crazy, cat poisoning is becoming a real problem.

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So... when the doctor told me when my wife was pregnant that we needed to avoid sandy playgrounds and places where cats might hang out due to possible infection of toxoplasmosis from cat shit, and my sister told the same thing when she was pregnant, you think those doctors were anti cat people?

On topic – I wonder why you wouldn't simply go for one of those motion-activated sprinklers, to keep the cats out of the garden?

Well you said bubonic plague not toxoplasmosis and its to that that i'm refering - toxoplasmosis is certainly not something i've heard of dogs carrying, rodents and cats yes though
but regarding your statement about bubonic plague (something completely different), cats AND dogs can carry the bubonic plague, saying dogs are resistant lulls you into a false sense of security, pregnant women like your wife should be reasonably careful around any animal
 
the indoor thing really is the simplest solution.

no one who thinks they are "unhappy" indoors has seen my buddies cat Batmanning through the house, it's amazing to watch. they adapt.
 
Well you said bubonic plague not toxoplasmosis and its to that that i'm refering - toxoplasmosis is certainly not something i've heard of dogs carrying, rodents and cats yes though
but regarding your statement about bubonic plague (something completely different), cats AND dogs can carry the bubonic plague, saying dogs are resistant lulls you into a false sense of security, pregnant women like your wife should be reasonably careful around any animal

The statement about bubonic plague was kess, not Nerfgun.
 
Cats want to get out and explore everything. Most of them are quite unhappy if they have to stay indoors all the time.

But seriously, they are not dangerous by any means.

Then take them for a walk.

My sister would put a leash on her cat and take it for a walk. I admit it looked stupid but it makes sense
 
Well you said bubonic plague not toxoplasmosis and its to that that i'm refering - toxoplasmosis is certainly not something i've heard of dogs carrying, rodents and cats yes though
but regarding your statement about bubonic plague (something completely different), cats AND dogs can carry the bubonic plague, saying dogs are resistant lulls you into a false sense of security, pregnant women like your wife should be reasonably careful around any animal

Sorry, I got wires crossed. Septimus asserted that cats spread no disease. I quoted you refuting the bubonic thing. I don't know about bubonic plague (probably false). But toxoplasmosis is definitely a thing. It was even a plot point in Trainspotting (killed their friend who had AIDS; died of a brain abscess from cat shit).

Stuff like fleas and other "riding" pests are a non issue for kept pets; liquid drops once a month kills all of that (I use something called Revolution on our dogs). But this parasite in particular loves cat shit and you can't immunize them from it.

(And again I'd like to point out that dogs have no place in this topic.)
 
Yeah, that's not a realistic expectation.

It is very realistic. Google 'cat run'

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They aren't really bred to be domesticated. There are tons of articles explaining that, like this one: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...never-be-as-domesticated-as-dogs-9858889.html

Cats would most definitely exist without human intervention. It would be comparable to having a cat as to actually having a cougar. Everyone understands that that would be a risk to dogs and people, and as such, we don't have cougars as pets. We have cats. Cats that are a danger to mice, rats and birds. None of those do anything to counter the lack of understanding I argue you're displaying.

That article concedes they are in fact semi-domesticated, and were bred throughout history with the specific purpose of that. Obviously they still have hunting instincts, but more for sport as pets. And you're flat out wrong saying domestic cats would exist without human intervention, although they certainly have the tools to survive if they choose to, made much easier by loose supervision of their human caretakers. Smaller constrictor snakes are a danger to the same rodents and birds, not to people, but imagine that introduced pedator roaming free. Look at what's happening in Florida. Feral cats are a huge problem all over the world.
 
Then you put them on a leash or wire off your yard.

A dogn't would stay in my back yard unless I close the gate....so I close the gate. Sounds crazy but it works

I don't think you understand cats aren't dogs.

Cats do *not* react well to a leash. Unless they are a specific breed, generally they basically stop moving and play dead, and arch their back as if injured and stress the hell out.

And when I say wire off your yard, I mean literally enclose every aspect of it - you would need to seal it off completely, including the ceiling, with wire mesh as otherwise it's getting out.

Cats aren't dogs. By nature they explore, they are incredibly good at getting through obstacles or into places they shouldn't. It's part of their fundamentaly behaviour, and comparisons to dogs are meaningless because they are completely different species with completely different behavioural patterns.
 
Cats want to get out and explore everything. Most of them are quite unhappy if they have to stay indoors all the time.

But seriously, they are not dangerous by any means.
That's just bullshit. An indoor cat can be just as happy (and is usually healthier) than an outdoor cat. It's all contingent on the owner.
 
the indoor thing really is the simplest solution.

no one who thinks they are "unhappy" indoors has seen my buddies cat Batmanning through the house, it's amazing to watch. they adapt.

Cats doing the crazy running through the house is generally accepted as a sign of stress and boredom...
 
I don't think you understand cats aren't dogs.

Cats do *not* react well to a leash. Unless they are a specific breed, generally they basically stop moving and play dead, and arch their back as if injured and stress the hell out.

And when I say wire off your yard, I mean literally enclose every aspect of it - you would need to seal it off completely, including the ceiling, with wire mesh as otherwise it's getting out.

Cats aren't dogs. By nature they explore, they are incredibly good at getting through obstacles or into places they shouldn't. It's part of their fundamentaly behaviour, and comparisons to dogs are meaningless because they are completely different species with completely different behavioural patterns.

I understand that cats and dogs are different.
But cats shouldn't be allowed to roam free, same as dogs
 
Cats doing the crazy running through the house is generally accepted as a sign of stress and boredom...

You have to engage a cats predatory instincts. It's so simple to do, a string toy, laser pointer. They need to exercise like any other animal.
 
Why are the cats leaving their own property? I don't think you should poison them, but if your a pet owner I don't think you should be letting your pet leave your yard. I have always had dogs, so the idea of having them roam between yards or free is crazy.

Cat's aren't dogs, when your dog can jump (and land perfectly) about about 10 times its height then you'd understand, and thats ignoring they can climb a lot of vertical surfaces.

The statement about bubonic plague was kess, not Nerfgun.

Sorry, I got wires crossed. Septimus asserted that cats spread no disease. I quoted you refuting the bubonic thing. I don't know about bubonic plague (probably false). But toxoplasmosis is definitely a thing. It was even a plot point in Trainspotting (killed their friend who had AIDS; died of a brain abscess from cat shit).

Stuff like fleas and other "riding" pests are a non issue for kept pets; liquid drops once a month kills all of that (I use something called Revolution on our dogs). But this parasite in particular loves cat shit and you can't immunize them from it.

(And again I'd like to point out that dogs have no place in this topic.)

Yeah we got our wires crossed there, when you replied i thought you'd mentioned the plague and not Kess
No debate on toxoplasmosis its undeniably bad no matter the source

the indoor thing really is the simplest solution.

no one who thinks they are "unhappy" indoors has seen my buddies cat Batmanning through the house, it's amazing to watch. they adapt.

Batmanning? he sits brooding on the top of cabinets mourning his parents?

I should say that after my second cat death due to car accident all my cats for the past 9 years have been house cats, but thats due to my own fear of what humans will do to cats!
I've never had an unhappy cat from being in doors*
I've seen people literally aim for cats if their on the road, my own uncle (lives on a farm) shoots feral cats, possibly his own unwanted cats and old yella's his dogs (long story but unwanted and old pets have run away far too frequently)

*when one of my cats died and was buried in the garden, the other one has tried a few times (successfully to get out) and has gone straight for where his brother is buried, so you could say he's unhappy but thats because he doesn't understand where his brother went, not because he's inside
 
Cat's aren't dogs, when your dog can jump (and land perfectly) about about 10 times its height then you'd understand, and thats ignoring they can climb a lot of vertical surfaces.





Yeah we got our wires crossed there, when you replied i thought you'd mentioned the plague and not Kess
No debate on toxoplasmosis its undeniably bad no matter the source



Batmanning? he sits brooding on the top of cabinets mourning his parents?

I should say that after my second cat death due to car accident all my cats for the past 9 years have been house cats, but thats due to my own fear of what humans will do to cats! I've seen people literally aim for cats if their on the road, my own uncle (lives on a farm) shoots feral cats, possibly his own unwanted cats and old yella's his dogs (long story but unwanted and old pets have run away far too frequently)

One of my cats was recently run over. It survived, and for the first month, it was back to being an indoor cat, despite the most awful protesting you've ever heard. I still get anxious when she goes out, but I just wouldn't have it any other way. She was utterly bored and depressed when indoors, she couldn't understand why she couldn't go out. Sure, you could distract her with a toy or some game for awhile, but it wasn't until she was allowed out again that the old Cocoa returned.

I understand your anxiety, as I feel it in the mornings, if she isn't in, I'll get pangs of dread that something has happened. Usually, she comes bounding in, and it has got a bit better, but she'll always be the one I worry most about. The others are fine and respond to cars in the appropriate manner, so no need to worry about them.

Not all cats are the same, but my brood weren't made for the indoors life. I barely see them on a really sunny day; they'll find a nearby garden to chill out in and it's all good. They come back when they're hungry or want to be fussed over.
 
I like cats to a degree but I'm getting tired of finding disembodied rabbits, headless birds, or cats begging for food outside my Windows. It might be more of an issue of my neighborhood having bad cat owners but man it's annoying.
 
Why is a cat allowed to roam the streets more than any other domestic animal (ie dog)?

Keep your cats under control and supervision people
 
Killing a domesticated animal is revolting but I can't hide my utter distaste for cats. They'll go anywhere and as a bird lover they will decimate bird populations. Growing up I used to have tons of birds in my garden who would drink from our pool. Then a cat-owner moved next-door. So long, birds. All that were left were a couple of migratory herons. It was sad. Unlike a dog, we couldn't keep that fucking cat out of our yard, and it used to go inside of our roof for shelter (our roof was in a state of disrepair from a hurricane) and shit up there.

The one good thing about the terrible feral dog population we have around my parts is that they keep the cat population way down, and most people won't dare own one.
 
You have to realize by now Human Beings rank lower than animals to lots of people these days. If the loss of human life registered the outrage animals do the world would be a much more peaceful place

Thread about a toddler killed in an arson attack in Palestine: 3 pages
Thread about cats being poisoned: 5 pages
 
Not that I care either way, but it's a thin line between pet and vermin. And they're cats after all; it's not like we're talking about dogs here.

I'm glad nobody like you is in my life. I can't imagine what goes through peoples minds sometimes.. wtf is wrong with people?
 
I live in Peru and even here it is a problem sometimes. People don't care since it's not their pet that's being poisoned, but the moment something happens to their own pet they lose their shit. I don't know how anyone could try and poison cats.
Best way to keep your cats safe is to keep them indoors.

It sucks but that's the reality.
Yeah, it actually helps both sides lol. Those who hate having random cats appear in their houses and those who are afraid their cats might be poisoned.
 
Killing a domesticated animal is revolting but I can't hide my utter distaste for cats. They'll go anywhere and as a bird lover they will decimate bird populations. Growing up I used to have tons of birds in my garden who would drink from our pool. Then a cat-owner moved next-door. So long, birds. All that were left were a couple of migratory herons. It was sad. Unlike a dog, we couldn't keep that fucking cat out of our yard, and it used to go inside of our roof for shelter (our roof was in a state of disrepair from a hurricane) and shit up there.

The one good thing about the terrible feral dog population we have around my parts is that they keep the cat population way down, and most people won't dare own one.

I have to admit, I hate it when of mine catches a bird. I always do the utmost to save it, but in most cases, the damage is done and either it's dead or it's too late to save. They don't catch that many thankfully.
 
And the cat lovers refusing to admit that cats might be a problem in certain ways and ecosystems is even more embarrassing.

Vast majority of cat owners know they can be problematic at times, but people get defensive because every time there is a cat thread you get shit posts. I hate cats, fuck cats, etc. You don't see me rolling into X thread only to say, I hate X. It's silly.

On your point though, blame the owner. If the owner would get the animal fixed it would reduce the problems in a significant way.

My grandfather used to shoot cats in his yard with a BB gun.

Sounds like your grandfather was a piece of shit.
 
Thankfully my local area love cats, there must be 2-3 to each household just wandering about between gardens, sitting on fences and being friendly with kids. If they were dogs the kids would have been mauled to death. Have you not seen the news? It's an epidemic!

What's wrong a little more hyperbolic bullshit?
 
I don't think I'd ever stop carefully messing (daily significant stress) with someone, wouldn't even report it. And I'm a dog guy.
 
I like cats to a degree but I'm getting tired of finding disembodied rabbits, headless birds, or cats begging for food outside my Windows. It might be more of an issue of my neighborhood having bad cat owners but man it's annoying.

I'm the same, but I don't like cats at all, and I consider myself an animal lover. I love seeing birds in the garden, and feed them and leave water out etc, but very few now visit as cats have claimed a few and they seem to cotton on to this, after a while.

It wouldn't be so bad if they killed for food, but they seem to torment their kill, toying with them, rather than just killing the thing and being done with it.

Surely I have the right to restrict exactly what animal roams in my garden? I would never go to the extreme of poisoning, but I can understand people being at the end of their tether to be honest.
 
I don't think I'd ever stop carefully messing (daily significant stress) with someone, wouldn't even report it. And I'm a dog guy.

when I was a kid, we had a neighbor who used to sit out cage traps with bait them to capture -I don't know what, really. Raccoons, cats, whatever. Anyways of course we'd run around at night and trip the cages.

I have a buddy who got a dual-purpose out of raccoon proofing his deck – he can let his indoor cat out there as well, and the cat definitely can't get out.
 
And the cat lovers refusing to admit that cats might be a problem in certain ways and ecosystems is even more embarrassing.

Wild cats, and cats that aren't spayed and neuter are obviously threats to local ecosystems, I will never argue with that.

Blame owners for not doing the proper thing with spay and neutering. House cats who roam outside, who are neutered aren't going to reproduce wildly with other random cats and aren't going to go all that far from their home.
 
I am not an anti-cat person, but cats can absolutely be a nuisance when left unchecked to do whatever they want. My parents have a huge problem with the outdoor cats in their small little town. There is one lady who feeds them all, and then they just kind of have the run of the town. When nobody is home, they'll just hang out on my parents front porch and back patio (including leaving dead animals and cat shit on the porch). That might just seem like a gross inconvenience, but my father and I are very allergic to cats, and it sucks that people think that isn't a big deal. Their front porch/back patio always smells of cat, my eyes begin to burn and itch within minutes of being there. You can always clean it all, but you can't keep them out of the yard permanently so it's a constant situation.

It just sucks. Nobody owns the cats, and my parents aren't going to kill the cats (nor would they want to). So they're just a pest.
 
Cats are cool but they are a bit of a problem in many places. I wouldn't want them using my yard as a litter box. People would be getting this defensive if it was a rat problem or a roach problem. If you don't want your cat poisoned keep it fenced in or inside.
 
I've heard of cats getting out and loose, but I didn't know it was common for cat owners to just let their cats roam freely. The only cat owners I've known live on farms that use the cats as pest control, not really as pets.

My parents have used BB guns to scare off (possibly?)stray cats on their property due to them stalking and killing the birds and rabbits that live on it. I wouldn't shoot an animal with anything myself but it is depressing picking up bird and bunny corpses in the yard.
 
I don't have cats and don't particularly care for them, but from some people's reactions to them entering their gardens you'd think they murdered their families or something.

They're harmless, so what if they shit in your back garden.

They spread Toxoplasmosis via feces and some people may not wash their hands, gardening tools, vegetables and fruits thoroughly enough to remove the parasite.
 
Every animal is like that, blame owners, not the animal. Get them spayed/neutered and they will hardly leave their owners yard.

No excuse for not doing this. In the UK is you cant afford it then it's free.

Neautered cats are much friendlier and calmer. Un-neutered males become arseholes to other cats.
 
Just watching the news and 44 cats were poisoned on two streets in Boston (UK), even in the small town I live in it has become a big problem, with quite a few cats having died in this manner and recently the local paper ran an article giving advice on how to spot the symptoms and the type of poisons likely to be used in these cases.

My own brother noted a problematic neighbour in this regard, they were spotted laying down smashed pieces of glass around their garden area and spraying an as yet unidentified chemical on surrounding ground and foliage.

This is becoming a concern for me as I have two cats, one fully grown female tabby and a four month old kitten, the older cat regularly spends time outdoors and the kitten is getting more adventurous every day and is beginning to want to venture beyond the garden.

wtf...how is having shards of glass and poisonous chemicals more desirable in your yard than a cat walking around?
 
Every animal is like that, blame owners, not the animal. Get them spayed/neutered and they will hardly leave their owners yard.
Well I mean, pretty much all major pests are caused by human intervention. Doesn't mean they're not destroying the environment.

They spread Toxoplasmosis via feces and some people may not wash their hands, gardening tools, vegetables and fruits thoroughly enough to remove the parasite.
They're also absolutely devastating to local bird and herp populations. Some Galápagos Islands are going dark because of a few wild cats.
 
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