Indoor cats

"Alison" wrote in message


[snip]

The RSPCA do put some cats to sleep. 35% will include
cats that are ill or not able to be rehomed , also bear
in mind that the number of cats hnded over as unwanted
are lower than the States .
I don't think the Iver was referring to feral cats.
Sarah's not mentioned which animal rescue societies
euthenize them . AFAIK

I was unaware the RSPCA did so and that has changed my opinion of them
completely :-(

Cats Protection (www.cats.org.uk) for whom I volunteer, most definitely do
*NOT* euthanise *except* on strict veterinary advice such as in severe
cases of FeLV or full blown AIDS (*not* FIV alone).

Ivor

"Alison" wrote in message


[snip]

The RSPCA do put some cats to sleep. 35% will include
cats that are ill or not able to be rehomed , also bear
in mind that the number of cats hnded over as unwanted
are lower than the States .
I don't think the Iver was referring to feral cats.
Sarah's not mentioned which animal rescue societies
euthenize them . AFAIK

I was unaware the RSPCA did so and that has changed my opinion of
them
completely :-(

Cats Protection (www.cats.org.uk) for whom I volunteer, most
definitely do
*NOT* euthanise *except* on strict veterinary advice such as in
severe
cases of FeLV or full blown AIDS (*not* FIV alone).


AFAIK The 35% is an estimate from the early 90's . They pledged
to bring the percentage down. There is the main RSPCA which runs the
main homes and hospitals and there are independent branches who do
their own rehoming so I don't know if any percentages given cover
branches or not. Our local branch has about 50 adult cats and some
kittens which is high but rehoming tends to be slow at this time of
the year for adult cats.
Do the CP ever turn cats away, what do they do if they have no room
or do they always manage?
Alison

Lesley wrote:
Wow, sounds like a nightmare, and I thought East London was dangerous
LOL!

You're in East London as well? Where?

Walthamstow, where are you?

Marcia, just returned from Yorkshire and feeling a bit down on East
London at the moment, I saw the sky properly for the 1st time in ages!

Wendy wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Well I don't think we should have pets and keep them in prison if they
don't want to stay in. Mine goes out in the summer and its safe, if it
wasn't safe I guess I wouldn't have got a cat, I'd have got a goldfish.


I'm glad it's safe for your cat to go out. So much easier for you. I just
wish the people who have found a way to train their cats to stay away from
traffic would tell the rest of us how to do it. How do you train your cat
not to fight with a neighborhood cat and come home with wounds that can (and
do) abscess and/or spread disease?

I don't have to train him, he didn't move into a house with a garden
until he was 13 years old, and I took into the garden, and kept a close
eye on hi, which I always have done. He has never tried to climb the
fence.

You are really lucky that ALL of your
neighbors love cats and have no objections to your guys wandering into their
gardens to poop in their flower bed.

He comes in the house to use his litter tray, he doesn't even do his
business in his own garden!

Oh, you trained them to stay in your
garden exclusively? Please enlighten me to your training method. Like I said
much easier for me if I could let mine out. I would never again have to
scoop a litter tray and would have more room in my living room without the
cat tree. I wouldn't have to wash the curtains as often to get off the cat
hair from them climbing on and off of the window sills etc etc. So if there
is a training method to teach my cats to stay out of trouble outside I'd
like to know about it.

In the meantime I'll keep them inside where they won't tangle with the stray
cats I've seen wandering the neighborhood, where I don't have to worry about
whether they look both ways before crossing the street, don't have to worry
about some of the children who are being raised by cat hating parents and
don't have to worry about ****ing off the neighbors when my cat is in their
garden using it as a litter box.

W

wrote:
Christina Websell wrote:


It doesn't seem to be an issue here in the UK at least where I live. Maybe
it's because we expect cats to roam freely. Before I had cats myself, I
would often find kitty footprints on my car. I just cleaned them off.
Everyone does, it's just a fact of life, nothing to get upset about.
If I wanted to plant seeds I know I must protect the seedbed with cotton
threads against cats using the soft soil for toilet purposes.
As far as I know that's what we all do.
I've never heard of a neighbour war here about footprints on cars or pooping
in flowerbeds. I assume it's because we all know that "that's what cats
do.." and let them do it.

Tweed

Tweed, I agree with you, I've never heard of a neighbour kicking up a
fuss about cat doo doo (probably cos a lot of people round here never
go in their gardens anyway, or wouldn't know where the cat came from
that was responsible). There are so many cats that I see round my
streets I get to know most of them and some of them even pop over for a
cup of tea (ha ha), but Otis won't let them in.

I'd have to disagree, Tweed. Case in point, it's a good thing my DH is
a cat lover, because the hood and fenders of his brand-spanking-new
truck have deep, long scratches--not the kind that wash off. It's those
almost-made-it jumps when they try to get traction and scrape all the
way down, or the hind claws that extend when they jump off.
Also, there is much more than seedbeds to consider. Lots of folks have
children playing in the dirt, and that's just nasty to think cats have
pooped in it. And they should be able to, in their own yard, without
worrying about feces from someone else's cat.
Also, a friend of mine has a neighborhood cat who has chosen to poop in
the soft soil right by her front step. It smells like a port-a-potty in
August on her front porch. That just isn't right, to let your cat run
amok and expect other people to make compensations.

Sherry

wrote:
wrote:
First let me say I'm not being antagonistic, I'm just interested in the
(apparent) culture difference between the US & the UK as regards our
feline friends.

That's okay. I'm not trying to be antagonistic either but why do you
have royalty? just asking If it were me, I'd let Charles out and
never back in, that naughty, naughty bugger.

Don't ask me, I'd chop all their heads off and feed them to George Bush
and Tony Bliar!


With regard to letting cats out: All the cats I know go outside, they
(usually) learn their way back home from their local neighbourhood,
they don't go too far but suss out gardens, wildlife, other cats and
people, and hopefully realise that traffic isn't for playing with.
There's not too many birds in London and no-one seems to care about the
pigeon population anyway. Some get lost, some get hit by traffic (mine
for example isn't allowed out the front to the road, only the back
garden where he doesn't seem to want to climb the fence to escape from
but if he did I'd let him).

This is a toughie. I let my cat out. And I usually take her back after
an hour or so. I keep her from wandering off if I see it. The reason I
let her out half-way, semi-supervised, is that there are feral cats
nearby as well as roads and vehicles if she wanders. Now I live in a
rural area that's getting built up so my situation is different.


It's interesting, do you think it's a cultural thing? How long have
people in the US been doing these things? Perhaps it's not the general
population, just people in cat groups As I say, I wasn't saying
that either way is right, it's just interesting how people do things
differently.

Marcia
Lord Otis's slave and minder

We have much higher crime rates so it's dangerous for cats and for
people to be wandering around sometimes. It's not unusual for gangs to
trap and kill and torture cats in the big cities in the USA.

"Alison" wrote in message
...
"Alison" wrote in message
...


The RSPCA do put some cats to sleep. 35% will include cats that
are ill or not able to be rehomed , also bear in mind that the number
of cats handed over as unwanted are lower than the States .
I don't think the Iver was referring to feral cats. Sarah's not
mentioned which animal rescue societies euthenize them .
AFAIK, feral cats that are trapped by pest control will be PTS by the
pet control itself .
At our RSPCA branch , feral cats will be neutered /spayed and
returned if requested (or rehomed )if someone will take responsibility
to feed them . If they can't rehome they're PTS , which happens as
its hard to rehome ferals.
Alison


The feral stance is one of the things that really bugs me about the RSPCA.
I'll never forget that episode of Animal Hospital where a kitten was
euthanised because it was feral and it would be 'unkind' to do otherwise -
apparently. I was *fuming* - especially as I had a feral rescue curled up on
the sofa next to me. Good job Marble ended up being taken to a small rescue
charity that struggles to find every penny rather than to the RSPCA, and
makes a darned good job of socialising ferals for homing and where they
can't be, finds suitable homes where they can still be feral (albeit now
neutered/speyed) :-/

The RSPCA is good at publicity, but I now never give funds to it, but will
give what I can to the small shelters who regularly take in RSPCA rejects.

Cheers, helen s

wafflycat wrote:
The feral stance is one of the things that really bugs me about the RSPCA.
I'll never forget that episode of Animal Hospital where a kitten was
euthanised because it was feral and it would be 'unkind' to do otherwise -
apparently. I was *fuming* - especially as I had a feral rescue curled up on
the sofa next to me. Good job Marble ended up being taken to a small rescue
charity that struggles to find every penny rather than to the RSPCA, and
makes a darned good job of socialising ferals for homing and where they
can't be, finds suitable homes where they can still be feral (albeit now
neutered/speyed) :-/

The RSPCA is good at publicity, but I now never give funds to it, but will
give what I can to the small shelters who regularly take in RSPCA rejects.

Cheers, helen s

I understand your anger. Feral cats don't have a chance in this
community either. People trap them all the time and bring them to
Animal Control. We try to do what we can, but about the only chance
they have at a home is if someone asks for barn cats. I know they can
be tamed. But here, there's too many healthy, tame cats already that
are waiting for a home. People won't ever take on a feral. They get PTS
immediately at the municipal shelter. Several years ago I took four of
them for barn cats. I didn't think they would last long, since Mother
Nature is so hard on barn cats, but I figured they'd at least have a
chance. To my surprise, I still have three of them. Even though I feed
them, they are still very wary of me, won't let me too close.

Sherry

Sherry

You're in East London as well? Where?

Walthamstow, where are you?

Bow. Small world!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

I honestly wish I could let my kitty go out and play, but I live in a
city which is definitely not safe for her.

To start, the traffic is insane, I live just outside a highway, too
many cars, going too fast. Secondly, people HATE cats here (I live in
Colombia). The cats that live on the street suffer a lot, people kick
them, give them poison, throw hot water at them, etc. I've rescued 2
kittens so far (one of them died), and I work with friends to find
homes for kittens and ask people to neuter them because if they don't,
we'll have more kittens on the street starving and being treated with
cruelty. Also, the cats that live on the streets here tend to have a
lot of illnesses. Just 2 months ago we had to put to sleep 3 cats in
the shelter because one of them went out and got leucemia and the other
2 caught it, they were very sick and were suffering a lot.

So.. sometimes I feel bad cause she can't go out. She'd prolly have
lots of fun out there, but for her own good I have to keep her indoors.
I try to have enough toys and fun for her here, to compensate the fun
she's not having outside.