Bendigo Man Threatens To Kill Pet Cats If They Wander Into His Yard

[HazyWal]

Gee there's a lot of people on here who like telling others what to do...thanks in particular for your 2 cents worth Alyosha :rolleyes:

I'll let my cat enjoy his life outside during the day like he should, and all you others can keep trying to convince yourselves that your cats who are kept inside for all their lives are just as happy and fulfilled as mine is. :)

I am with you chubbsie, however I can see both sides of the debate...

Pros and cons

Cats which go outside

Letting a cat control its own movements in and out gives it freedom but lays it open to the dangers of the great outdoors. The main risks are outlined below.

Injury - Road traffic accidents account for many cats' lives every year. If you live in a town or near a busy road then the risks are probably greater. Dogs, other cats and humans are also the cause of cat injuries.

Poisoning - Cats can become poisoned by chemicals used in the garden or by eating poisoned prey

Disease - Contact with other cats (especially fighting) and the environment can lead to infections with, for example, feline immunodeficiency virus, feline leukaemia virus, cat flu or enteritis viruses.

Infestation - Fleas and other parasites can be picked up from prey and the environment.

Loss - Cats can sometimes get shut in garages or are driven away in cars or vans they have climbed into. They may even move in with someone else.

However, there are also many benefits to letting your cat go out:

Rodent control - Cats help to keep the rodent population around your home at bay.

Social contact - Outdoor cats can have social stimulation if they want to interact with other cats in the area.

Regular exercise - Outdoor cats are well exercised through hunting and generally being out and about, and are less likely to become overweight.

Outlet for behavioural needs - less stress for the cat and therefore improved welfare.

Good behaviour - Outdoor cats are less likely to develop behavioural problems such as inappropriate urination in the house, clawing furniture or stalking humans or other household companions. They are less likely to become bored or frustrated.

I do not see the benefits of letting your cat out.If your cat was generally being out and about it would less likely to become overweight but in my backyard it would be less likely to come home as I have greyhounds.It would break my heart to know my dogs had killed your cat but NOTHING can outrun a determined greyhound.

[sandgrubber]

To each their own

Ditto

To each their own, but not everyone wants to share your cat. Not in my back yard!

That list of advantages provided a few back was entirely selfish and ducked the issue of the Bendigo man's threat.

Let's try that list for dogs

However, there are also many benefits to letting your dog roam:

Rodent control - Dogs help to keep the rodent population around your home at bay (and your lawn well dug up).

Social contact - Outdoor dogs can have social stimulation if they want to interact with other dogs in the area.

Regular exercise - Outdoor dogs are well exercised through hunting and generally being out and about, and are less likely to become overweight.

Outlet for behavioural needs - less stress for the dog and therefore improved welfare (that is, unless its interaction with other dogs isn't peaceful).

Good behaviour - Outdoor dogs are less likely to develop behavioural problems such as inappropriate urination in the house, chewing furniture or stalking humans or other household companions. They are less likely to become bored or frustrated.

Hmmm! Don't think so. And I don't think it works much better with cats.

[pie]

You can have an outside cat and still contain it on your property - there is that option if you feel your cat needs to get outdoors.

One way is with the Oscillot system which I posted earlier.

[mr.mister]

The forum needs a little wanking emoticon sometimes.

I agree Alyosha, I was looking for just that emoticon when I was writing about your post... :laugh:

What a disgusting attitude you have.

Nothing quite like a self righteous newbie.

+1 :rolleyes:

I hope you enjoy scraping your cat off the road chubbsie, or having it returned to you in pieces from a neighbour's yard who has dogs. That sure does sound like an awful lot of fun for kitty cat, doesn't it? Sure beats my cats' charmed, safe, happy indoor life! Better start letting them outside!

Grow up and start having a serious think about your animal's welfare.

You can have an outside cat and still contain it on your property - there is that option if you feel your cat needs to get outdoors.

One way is with the Oscillot system which I posted earlier.

I wouldn't waste your breath, amypie. :laugh: After all, why would people like this go to all that trouble, and spend all that money, on just a cat? :rolleyes:

Edited February 7, 2012 by mr.mister

[Dame Aussie]

My cat is kept inside at night but wanders during the day being a cat...climbing trees and sunbathing..licking her privates and stalking lizards.

I can't stand the thought of cats being kept indoors all day. It's not right.

The difference between a cat being out and about during the day and a dog being out and about is that one poses more of the threat to people than the other.

Well get a run then.

Despite what you may think people don't want your cat pissing on their doorstep, they don't want your cat fighting with other cats in their yard. Your cat is your responsibility, if you can't be bothered keeping it safe and off other people's property you shouldn't have one.

ETA: To those who don't seem to understand that their animal should not be on anyone elses property but their own.....please tell me how you come to believe it is ok for your cat to be on my propety? Please answer that with something more convincing than "because it likes being outside".

Edited February 7, 2012 by Aussie3

[Adnil444]

My cat is kept inside at night but wanders during the day being a cat...climbing trees and sunbathing..licking her privates and stalking lizards.

I can't stand the thought of cats being kept indoors all day. It's not right.

The difference between a cat being out and about during the day and a dog being out and about is that one poses more of the threat to people than the other.

Well get a run then.

Despite what you may think people don't want your cat pissing on their doorstep, they don't want your cat fighting with other cats in their yard. Your cat is your responsibility, if you can't be bothered keeping it safe and off other people's property you shouldn't have one.

ETA: To those who don't seem to understand that their animal should not be on anyone elses property but their own.....please tell me how you come to believe it is ok for your cat to be on my propety? Please answer that with something more convincing than "because it likes being outside".

Totally agree here - I'm over the cat fights in my front yard, the stirring up of my dogs because of the numerous cats around. I've warned my neighbours that if their cats come into my backyard, I fear for their safety. I don't let me dogs roam, please don't let your cats roam. A cat run is totally acceptable. An animal roaming is an animal roaming - doesn't matter if it is a dog, cat, horse whatever. Owners have to be responsible for their animals and keep them contained on their own property. My house and land is not a public space.

[persephone]

I guess we've all seen it ..those cat pawprints/scratches on a car in a carport , the cat pee on the front porch , the piles of feathers under shrubs,the chewed lizards, and the droppings in our vege patch.

Not nice things to find, any of 'em !

I wish , 30 years ago that I had been educated , and not let my cats roam during daylight hours when I was at work . I lost one when a neighbour bashed him with a brick ...

I lost one (who 'belonged' to neighbours, but lived at my place) to a car .

I almost lost one boy after he was hit by a car .. luckily I had my vet's ph no. on his collar and he was taken there by someone who found him , and recovered after losing sight in one eye, a fractured pelvis, and some brain injury.

These days I do things differently.

[Peace_Of_Mind]

Ditto

It took witnessing my beautiful burmese bleeding from the nose and bum from being poisoned to send a pretty strong message that perhaps letting him roam freely wasn't a good idea - and we too thought he just stayed around the backyard perimeters...

I am genuinely sorry to hear what happened to your cat

As I have said before I don't have a cat now; she was put down at the age of 16, she wandered a bit, but never too far and when I say 'not too far', just in the back alley or perhaps to a neighbours house where another cat lived and they were okay with each other, no cat fights etc.

Also I have read alot here on this thread about cats scratching cars, peeing and making a mess - I have neighbours cats that wander onto my property and in the 20 years I have lived here only once did a cat do its business in my garden.

I am guessing I have not experienced what other forum users have.

I am guessing when I sell and move into a new house at some stage that when I get a cat (rescue cat) from Lucky Little Paws Rescue and Adoption that I will put in place the suggestions you guys have all expressed :)

[Peace_Of_Mind]

My cat is kept inside at night but wanders during the day being a cat...climbing trees and sunbathing..licking her privates and stalking lizards.

I can't stand the thought of cats being kept indoors all day. It's not right.

The difference between a cat being out and about during the day and a dog being out and about is that one poses more of the threat to people than the other.

Well get a run then.

Despite what you may think people don't want your cat pissing on their doorstep, they don't want your cat fighting with other cats in their yard. Your cat is your responsibility, if you can't be bothered keeping it safe and off other people's property you shouldn't have one.

ETA: To those who don't seem to understand that their animal should not be on anyone elses property but their own.....please tell me how you come to believe it is ok for your cat to be on my propety? Please answer that with something more convincing than "because it likes being outside".

Totally agree here - I'm over the cat fights in my front yard, the stirring up of my dogs because of the numerous cats around. I've warned my neighbours that if their cats come into my backyard, I fear for their safety. I don't let me dogs roam, please don't let your cats roam. A cat run is totally acceptable. An animal roaming is an animal roaming - doesn't matter if it is a dog, cat, horse whatever. Owners have to be responsible for their animals and keep them contained on their own property. My house and land is not a public space.

Where I live there is a cat in the building and unfortunately he on rare occasions gets into a cat fact...now Jasper is not the instigator as I have observed this for myself....I see Jasper running for his life, most times ending under my balcony to keep safe. The culprit belongs to a family about 8 houses down and I have spoken to them about having their cat out at all hours of the night, but they don't take make notice of me and Jasper's mum.

[Peace_Of_Mind]

The forum needs a little wanking emoticon sometimes.

XXX forums that way..............................................>

[chubbsie]

The forum needs a little wanking emoticon sometimes.

I agree Alyosha, I was looking for just that emoticon when I was writing about your post... :laugh:

What a disgusting attitude you have.

Nothing quite like a self righteous newbie.

+1 :rolleyes:

I hope you enjoy scraping your cat off the road chubbsie, or having it returned to you in pieces from a neighbour's yard who has dogs. That sure does sound like an awful lot of fun for kitty cat, doesn't it? Sure beats my cats' charmed, safe, happy indoor life! Better start letting them outside!

Grow up and start having a serious think about your animal's welfare.

You can have an outside cat and still contain it on your property - there is that option if you feel your cat needs to get outdoors.

One way is with the Oscillot system which I posted earlier.

I wouldn't waste your breath, amypie. :laugh: After all, why would people like this go to all that trouble, and spend all that money, on just a cat? :rolleyes:

Geez settle down mr mister - it's still a (relatively) free country, which means I can totally disregard what you and Alyosha and others who think they know best and just love telling others what to do post on here. So your cats lead a charmed, safe and happy life huh? probably a pretty damn boring one as well.

My cat is nearly 9 years old, and he has been outside during the day and locked up at night his whole life. He has not so far been ripped to pieces by dogs, poisoned by baited rodents or bashed to death with a brick by an insane neighbour (what sort of neighbourhoods do some of you live in??)

When he does finally die, from whatever cause, I will know that he's had a great life, rolling around in the garden in the sun and sharpening his claws on the trees.

[mr.mister]

The forum needs a little wanking emoticon sometimes.

I agree Alyosha, I was looking for just that emoticon when I was writing about your post... :laugh:

What a disgusting attitude you have.

Nothing quite like a self righteous newbie.

+1 :rolleyes:

I hope you enjoy scraping your cat off the road chubbsie, or having it returned to you in pieces from a neighbour's yard who has dogs. That sure does sound like an awful lot of fun for kitty cat, doesn't it? Sure beats my cats' charmed, safe, happy indoor life! Better start letting them outside!

Grow up and start having a serious think about your animal's welfare.

You can have an outside cat and still contain it on your property - there is that option if you feel your cat needs to get outdoors.

One way is with the Oscillot system which I posted earlier.

I wouldn't waste your breath, amypie. :laugh: After all, why would people like this go to all that trouble, and spend all that money, on just a cat? :rolleyes:

Geez settle down mr mister - it's still a (relatively) free country, which means I can totally disregard what you and Alyosha and others who think they know best and just love telling others what to do post on here. So your cats lead a charmed, safe and happy life huh? probably a pretty damn boring one as well.

My cat is nearly 9 years old, and he has been outside during the day and locked up at night his whole life. He has not so far been ripped to pieces by dogs, poisoned by baited rodents or bashed to death with a brick by an insane neighbour (what sort of neighbourhoods do some of you live in??)

When he does finally die, from whatever cause, I will know that he's had a great life, rolling around in the garden in the sun and sharpening his claws on the trees.

Yep, I agree, free country, which also means I'm allowed to have an opinion. And what I've stated is mine. I've replied the way I have because of your obviously caustic and really rather disrespectful attitude. You certainly won't make many friends here acting the way you are.

My cats aren't bored either, because I made the effort to get them a nice cat tree, set up an annex for them, supply them with toys and actually bother to play with them. ;)

And no, I won't settle down. Because I've been one of those poor b*****ds who's had to scrape someone else's dying cat off the road all because some moron couldn't be bothered keeping their cat in.

[SpotTheDog]

When he does finally die, from whatever cause, I will know that he's had a great life, rolling around in the garden in the sun and sharpening his claws on the trees.

My six cats also have a great life, rolling around in my garden and sharpening their claws on the tree. They pester the geckos and chomp grasshoppers. They stalk the birds but are unsuccessful because there is only one tree, the birds stay in the uppermost branches and the mynah birds sound the alert every time the cats move.

They have the wind in their fur and the sun on their wee faces.

And because of a combination of oscillot fence-proofing plus inclined bird netting with cheap L-brackets, they will hopefully never die from being laminated across the tarmac by a car, or torn apart by someone's dog. They'll never get kicked or punched by a passing stranger, or pick up poison bait on their travels. They'll also never scratch my neighbours' cars, piss and crap in their flower beds, spray piss on their front or back doors, wind their dogs up, fight and scream in the small hours of the morning or contract FIV, FeLV, herpes, chlamydia or any of the other wandering-cat diseases.

It's not a hard mindset shift to make, but I find it usually needs the death of, or injury to, a pet to give some people the kick in the ass they need to make the shift.

[persephone]

:) I put a birdbath near the cat enclosure ..so they have something to watch . I would love to live in town, and have that oscillot system!! :)

[Pheebs]

Peace_of_mind - at the risk of coming across as a sh*t stirrer - I notice in the general dog forum you mentioned that someone did a letterbox drop in your area alerting you of intentional baiting of dogs in the area... does this not concern you that your cat too may be at risk?

ETA: My mistake.. just re-read that you had your cat PTS Apologies... Still... it goes to show that there are some truly nasty people out there

Edited February 8, 2012 by Pheebs

[Peace_Of_Mind]

Peace_of_mind - at the risk of coming across as a sh*t stirrer - I notice in the general dog forum you mentioned that someone did a letterbox drop in your area alerting you of intentional baiting of dogs in the area... does this not concern you that your cat too may be at risk?

ETA: My mistake.. just re-read that you had your cat PTS Apologies... Still... it goes to show that there are some truly nasty people out there

I am definitely concerned Pheebs even though I don't have a pet at the moment; I am extremley concerned for my neighbours who have dogs and cats, even the little brat next door - even though he barks alot, I would never want to see any harm come to him. I actually looked after him when he was just a little pup whilst his mum was at work.

I hope they catch the creep you tried to kill the other dog.

[Pheebs]

It's pretty sick isn't it? If you don't mind me asking what region of Melbourne are you in?

I'm not sure whether we just hear about these things happening more and more or whether they're increasing in frequency what with the stolen dogs for alleged ringfighting, accusations of a dog slaughter house and baitings of companion animals - doesn't do a great deal to instill any faith in the human race.

[Peace_Of_Mind]

It's pretty sick isn't it? If you don't mind me asking what region of Melbourne are you in?

I'm not sure whether we just hear about these things happening more and more or whether they're increasing in frequency what with the stolen dogs for alleged ringfighting, accusations of a dog slaughter house and baitings of companion animals - doesn't do a great deal to instill any faith in the human race.

I live in the Eastern region of Melbourne :)

I think we hear more about it now because of the internet through forums like this and social networking sites.

My friend who introduced me to this forum is such a wonderful lady and wouldn't hurt a fly (whilst I am quite feisty) we both agree that if we were to ever witness a human being being cruel to an animal we would not hesitate to take a baseball bat to to their head (sounds like we are wicked women) but we are not and want to protect defenseless animals.

[chubbsie]

When he does finally die, from whatever cause, I will know that he's had a great life, rolling around in the garden in the sun and sharpening his claws on the trees.

My six cats also have a great life, rolling around in my garden and sharpening their claws on the tree. They pester the geckos and chomp grasshoppers. They stalk the birds but are unsuccessful because there is only one tree, the birds stay in the uppermost branches and the mynah birds sound the alert every time the cats move.

They have the wind in their fur and the sun on their wee faces.

And because of a combination of oscillot fence-proofing plus inclined bird netting with cheap L-brackets, they will hopefully never die from being laminated across the tarmac by a car, or torn apart by someone's dog. They'll never get kicked or punched by a passing stranger, or pick up poison bait on their travels. They'll also never scratch my neighbours' cars, piss and crap in their flower beds, spray piss on their front or back doors, wind their dogs up, fight and scream in the small hours of the morning or contract FIV, FeLV, herpes, chlamydia or any of the other wandering-cat diseases.

It's not a hard mindset shift to make, but I find it usually needs the death of, or injury to, a pet to give some people the kick in the ass they need to make the shift.

[megan_]

I hate roaming cats because of the destruction they cause wrt native animals. They should be outlawed. If you're nit prepared to spend money enclosing your yard then don't get a cat. Simple reallygreat rebuttal there chubsie, what a clear, cogent argument. Do you let the dog roam too?