Domestic cats in the UK.

[rexgrant]

Hi all
What I would like peoples oppinions on are, should domestic cats be confined to their owner property,Should they be registerd and show proof that they have proper Vet care and restricted to a maximum of two per household,
Best regards
Rex.

[MadduckUK]

http://www.stupid.com/Merchant2/grap.../catlady-1.jpg

changed to a link - dont think its really part of the debate - see my later post - Moby

[IBM]

Why? I didn't realise people perceived cats to be a nusiance. Neutering them I agree with, and to a certain degree registration, but why the restriction on number of cats owned?

[GrahamGarside]

I feel that day after day of finding paw prints all over my car it's only fair that the law be altered so I can leave tire marks all over the offending cats.

[MadduckUK]

are they MUDDY paw prints?

[Andeh13]

Cant stand the creatures, feed em to the dogs for all i care!

[JohnS]

proper vet care and 2 per house i can agree with but restricting a cat to its own property isnt feasible.

[tiggerai]

I feel that day after day of finding paw prints all over my car it's only fair that the law be altered so I can leave tire marks all over the offending cats.

Oh gosh... some dirt that will come off next time it rains... Tire marks are a bit more permanent. IF anyone tried that with one of my (5) cats there would be hell to pay.

And why 2 per household? if that law was brought in, where would all the extras go? Ah... yes, strays, making more strays. Even more for the already over-stretched animal welfare people in this country.

Proper Vet care is a must anyway regardless of the type of pet. And have you ever tried keeping a cat that is hell bent on going outside, inside? Believe me they find a way and to tell them to stay inside your boundaries will be met with some very selective deafness.

I have 5 cats at the moment, and I always have done since I was 5, even before that I had at least 3. We have enough space to accommodate 5 cats and as far as I know we've never had any complaints. I suppose it all depends on where you live and how much space you have.

Cant stand the creatures, feed em to the dogs for all i care!

Ok, my house. Large German shepherd Vs. Small 14 year old cat. Who wins? The cat. Even the 18 year old has a nasty left hook on him, Dog knows better. Cats can inflict serious damage!

[digit]

Cats are really friendly and its cool how they just wonder up to you and star meowing Paw prints didnt bother me to much when I had a car, nothing a bit of rain or water can't sort out! I don't think there is any need for any registration of keeping a cat or restriction on the quanity people can keep. You can't due to the nature of a cat stop it running off and exploring its local area....

[Moby-Dick]

Cant stand the creatures, feed em to the dogs for all i care!

Thats not a very constructive post. If you don't have anything to offer towards what *could* be a sensible debate , then please don't post.

this is question time , not GD , so I'll be having a little cleanup of spammy posts in the thread.

I don't think it would be feasible to enforce a licensing system for cats. I think we already have legislation in place for ensuring that a cat is cared for. ie you can be charged for neglect.

I think the cost of the extra bureaucracy would outweigh any benefits.

[menthel]

I don't mind cats, but there is a bloody great ginger one that intermittently wanders into our house. I don't like that. He gets shouted at and sometimes a bit wet.

[Fabula]

Cat's are fantastic for lazy animal haters. In return for the relatively easy task of keep the cat fed and watered, you can bask in the knowledge that the cat will be out in the evenings killing lots of native fluffy cute animals. And also some not so fluffy ones like amphibians.

[GrahamGarside]

Oh gosh... some dirt that will come off next time it rains... Tire marks are a bit more permanent. IF anyone tried that with one of my (5) cats there would be hell to pay.

Actually with the bonnet on many cars being sloped, cats tend to slide when they venture onto it and instinctively the claws come out leaving rather permanent scratches.

And I am of course kidding

I do consider cats to be one of the more nuisence pets. The way I see it they bring pleasure to the one owner at the cost of nuisence to all their neighbours. Droppings in my garden, the smell of territory marking, scratches and prints on my car, litter bags torn, tom cats screeching at night, strays wandering into my house if I leave a door open and not taking too kindly to being removed (I don't normally like to hurt an animal but if it won't let me pick it up it's being dragged out by the tail).

And cat lovers please remember I use the word nuisence, I'm not saying they are the bain of my life but they are a pest, especially when households have several.

[Agent]

Question time?
Nice to see the usual suspects posting pointless non-sense

Then again, what exactly is the point of the thread? – There is no reasoning behind it, and it makes little sense....

[tiggerai]

Cat's are fantastic for lazy animal haters. In return for the relatively easy task of keep the cat fed and watered, you can bask in the knowledge that the cat will be out in the evenings killing lots of native fluffy cute animals. And also some not so fluffy ones like amphibians.

And if we weren't a nation of cat lovers, you'd be complaining that you had mice in your kitchen / rabbits in your lawn / rats in your drains. These things breed like they do because they are prey animals, the odd Mouse in the kitchen isn't going to change that.

Yes, I'm a Lazy animal hater... Don't get me started.

And I'm going to leave this one here. Some people are dog people, some people are cat people, some people don't like the responsibility of pets. End of.

[Andeh13]

My apologies for my previous comment, didnt realise this was question time, clicked on the link without reading the section.

Cats are really friendly and its cool how they just wonder up to you and star meowing Paw prints didnt bother me to much when I had a car, nothing a bit of rain or water can't sort out! I don't think there is any need for any registration of keeping a cat or restriction on the quanity people can keep. You can't due to the nature of a cat stop it running off and exploring its local area....

I beg to differ, i dont class cats as friendly at all. We used to have a dove cot & the previous owner used to keep 13 doves in it. One night the nextdoor neighbor's cats wiped out all 13 of them, leaving nothing but a trail of blood & feathers back to their own garden. Fair enough cats have a right to explore their local area, but not when it causes that sort of damage to property which is privately owned & looked after.

As for the cars, we had the same problem. During the winter their cats got into the habit of sleeping on the bonnet of my car(parents had the garage so i was stuck outside). Muddy footprints are a nuisance, scratch marks are something a bit more serious. Dogs are forced to stay in their owners garden & there would be hell to pay if one escaped and caused damage to surrounding properties, so why do cats get away with it? Their 'predatory' nature is no real excuse as far as im concerned, dogs were predators were once upon a time, yet they still face heavy restrictions.