Pet Cats roaming -V- Pet Dogs roaming

Do you see many people taking there cat for a walk on a lead.There different animals and can be handled differently.

Where I am I have seen probably one maybe two dogs out roaming on there own, probably strays...

In the same period of time I have seen possibly 15 cats, 3 of which are owned by the next door neighbour roaming.

I, as you all know have 2 dogs Buddy and Izzy.

Buddy has cornered a cat on one occasion.. tail wagging wanting to play it was so funny...
Izzy on the other had since the day I brought her home has displayed what I can only discribe as pure hatred for cats. If when she gets a bit older happens to catch a cat god help it!! :eek:

My answer to your question is no absolutely not, it is not acceptable not for a cat or a dog...

WIZE wrote: »

What do you mean by this in relation to this thread

Your original post was much better haha

slkshtIf dogs were let out and did not require a licence (yeah i know not all have one anyway) they would roam a hell of a lot longer and further than any cat would!

WIZE wrote: »

Do you think its acceptable and responsible as a pet owner to let your Cat or Dog wonder the streets ?

When I was growing up, the idea of owning a dog but having to keep it locked up all day long would have been a totally alien concept. Dogs haven't changed in 20 years, but society has. Litigation and general intolerance have lead us to the point where people actually consider concepts like a 'cat license', or preventing a cat from roaming to be perfectly rational.

Personally speaking, I'd have no problem with the vast majority of dogs being allowed to wander around their locality, apart from the more aggressive breeds which I do think need to be restricted for obvious safety reasons. If it means I have to scoop up the odd dog poo from my garden or put up with them peeing on my car wheels, I'll suffer it. Dogs were part of neighbourhood life all over this country until the 90s. Nowadays, seeing a dog running around enjoying himself is reason enough to make people stop and stare (and usually give out).

As someone else has already mentioned, we aren't the only species on this planet and we need to bear that in mind.

Shanao wrote: »

They do get to go outside on leads and next year I will hopefully have saved up enough to build a run for them.

Have you seen any particular runs that you like the look of, or are you getting one custom made?

TskTsk wrote: »

apart from the more aggressive breeds which I do think need to be restricted for obvious safety reasons.

I assume you mean terriers, hounds and huskies? - these being the only breeds that possess the full range of prey drive instincts (chase, catch and kill). This doesn't translate to aggression though and they only dangerous to their prey. Dogs that are seriously mistreated and neglected by their owners are the ones likely to be a danger to other people. It's not breed specific though it's any dog in this category, people who look after their pets properly also keep them contained so these dangerous dogs you are talking about are part of the group that are not looked after properly, part of which is allowing them to roam the country.

Both my cat and dog are safely contained, the dog is well trained to ignore the local pack of aggressive territorial nuisances (jrt, jrt, pom cross, spaniel, Japanese spitz) when out for her walk. The spitz tried to go for my niece the other day and got to taste my shoe. It's already been delivered to the pound once and been returned to it's owners twice (they live approx 3 miles away), half an hour and he was back and within 2 hours when he was delivered to the pound, I'm going to start bringing my camera from now on when I'm on walks and next stop is the guards.

My dog can't even be let out into her own garden without finding and rolling in several heaps of my neighbours cat's disgusting sticky faeces. No-one should have to put up with crap like this and it's no wonder people eventually loose the plot and take matters into their own hands.

irelandspurs wrote: »

Animals have as much right to be on this planet as do you and i.

Neither species are indigenous to this country and therefore have no business whatsoever roaming the countryside, pets are a man-made creation and therefore it is mankind's responsibility to address the problem, have a bit of cop-on and stop creating messes out of selfishness and arrogance.

Shanao wrote: »

Planning to do it myself with help from a carpenter buddy. Haven't really seen any over here in Ireland, people in the states and even in the UK seem to have a few crowds doing them, but I dont know is there anyone over here who builds them.

We were getting a deck done and asked the guy if he would give us a quote on enclosing a 30ftx20ft area which incorporated the deck plus a 2 door system for access into the rest of the garden. We gave him a few ideas that we found online but i dont think he knew it was going to be as time consuming as it was.
It was expensive but we love it!:D We have apple trees and bay leaf trees in it. A herb garden, a water fountain and an overgrown bamboo area.
I think it was more awkward than anything to do. Trying to get the wire over the top was awkward and permission had to gotten to access neighbours gardens. But once we told them what it was for they were like cool, go for it.

Oh and we have 9 indoor cats, 1 dog who is also indoor as i dont agree with housing a dog outside as she is a part of our family as much as the cats are.

Taken last yr. It has grown up a bit more since then and has been somewhat tidied.:)

That's amazing, I'd love something like that.

Do you actually need the overhead part at that height? :eek:

These arguments are pretty pointless. There will never be legislation regarding roaming cats. The vast majority of owners will not build runs - many would perceive it as cruelty to keep their cat "caged". There is enough difficulty with persuading cat owners to neuter - my neighbour who is a teacher refuses to do so because "it is unnatural" :mad:

So the best advice is to chill & accept that the roaming cats are here to stay.

Slksht wrote: »

You mean God help your dog! If a Dog tried to fight a cat the cat will win every time. They go for the eyes with their claws... nasty!

I wish that was actually true.

It isn't. A cat hasn't got a snowballs against a serious dog, even a small serious dog. They don't 'go for the eyes', they panic and simply claw and bite whatever comes within reach, and most dogs in drive (meaning all riled up because they're attacking) will have shaken and injured or killed the cat before they even feel the cat's retaliation.

I keep my cats on my own property using cat-proof fencing. A few years ago, in our old house, my neighbour's dog dug our fenceline at the back of the yard and, unbeknownst to me, dug enough of a gap that one of my cats squeezed under the fence to explore. It started to lash rain while he was in the other yard and he ran under something to shelter, as opposed to running back indoors which the rest of my cats did.

While he was AWOL, he was attacked by a dog. I'm not sure if it was my neighbour's dog, but I think it probably was just because I can't see my cat having managed to get out of the neighbour's yard and further afield - plus he came home that night, near midnight, of his own accord.

He had a puncture wound in his groin, half an inch from his urethra, that was about an inch worth of a tear in the skin and another inch deep. It was a clean puncture - he was so lucky. The outside of his haunch was scalped in a long strip, and the inside of the same leg and across his belly was dark purple with bruising. His rear claws were thick with coagulated blood - not his - and we think the dog went for him, he rolled onto his back and put his claws up, she grabbed him and he bunny-kicked with his rear legs and we think he got her down the roof of her mouth which is why she let him go. We asked the neighbour to check her dog for injuries but she was too busy telling us her dog wouldn't have hurt a fly so we gave up.

Thankfully my cat recovered - he needed an anti-inflammatory painkiller and an antiobiotic, the wounds were shaved and allowed to heal themselves, the puncture was left open and let heal from the inside out. It took about 10 days for him to recover physically, and about a solid year for him to get back to his 'old self' in terms of being a happy go lucky cat again.

And that was one incident, from one escape, for a cat never normally allowed to roam. I dunno what I could expect if I let them roam freely...

mod9maple wrote: »

That's fabulous - can I steal your idea?

Lol, yes you can. :-)

Can I ask then who is responsible for a neighbours cat coming into my garden and injuring my dogs? I am sure this will happen when they catch him.

grumpymunster wrote: »

What next do we all go on a bird purge because of bird poop on the car or the window?

That's not comparable at all. Birds are wild creatures and don't belong to anyone, cats do, and their owners should be responsible for them. I have enough to do cleaning up after my dogs, it's not my job to clean up after other people's pets too.

You can bet that if someone's upstairs neighbour kept budgies on their balcony and the sh*t rained onto theirs they'd be complaining about it just as much as we complain about cats.