A cat's tale. Why me?

A cat's tale. Why me

Unfortunately I live in a country where cat's are not the delightful fluffy bundle we all know and love but are considered a nuisance by many.

We have many strays, much better now since an organisation called 9 Lives and many volunteers decided to set up a neutering service for the island. They also raise money locally.

This lovely organisation also has a team of volunteers that run a 7 day week feeding station also across the island.

Many locals take it upon themselves to provide a bowl of food and water to visiting cats. Indeed I have a stray called Moggie who sleeps under our table in our garden. As he is ferrel it is hard to get him to come to you but just looks at us from afar with a little meow as he goes off for the day.

We cycle to the shops daily and volunteers had provided 2 cat shelters in the area to protect some local cats. One was stolen fairly quickly. On numerous occasions I had asked locals to stop their dogs eating the food provided by for the cats.

Today the other remaining shelter had been stolen. One poor cat was sitting in the spot where it's stood. I rung up Bernie 9 lives who provided the shelter and she thinks it was a local who do not like cats or it was stolen for a pet. Unfortunately another shelter cannot be provided because it probably would be stolen again.

If it wasn't for the dedication of 9 lives these cats would simply be abandoned.

You can read about them here http://www.9liveslanzarote.com/

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

We have stray cats here too, though not on the scale you get them. I am not a cat person, prefer dogs, but our next door neighbours are & the cats seem to know & turn up at their house all the time, at present they are feeding two, you can't get near them & another one is now their house pet, but she does go out. She wasn't really a stray, just a family pet who didn't want to stay with her own family, due to them getting another cat, which never goes outdoors. We found out who her owner was & next door have officially adopted her.
Over the years they have had many stray cats. It's spooky how they seem to know our neighbours will give them a home.

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

I love dogs too Tiff but cats get a very raw deal often being run over or shot in the hunting season. Also dogs if they get in the way of the huntsmen. We also have or did have a huge rabbit population now on the decline. It's just nice that school children are being re educated regarding animal welfare and we have our lovely band of volunteers to try and protect dogs and cats x

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

Unfortunately, unless you specifically have a rat/mouse infestation problems, then cats are simply a public menace.

As a pet they are probably the most ridiculous because, if they are to be given any kind of decent life, they must be allowed outdoors. No cat owner is able to control a cat. They are by nature, wild and able to climb, jump and access just about any area.

A dog on the other hand can be simply fenced in, contained, controlled and taken for walks etc.

Owning cats imo should have been made illegal a long time ago purely because no cat owner is able to control their cats. The only exceptions are those owners who cruelly keep their cats indoors their entire lives which is rather evil and similar to keeping a bird in a cage.

So if you can't control a pet, you really should not have such a pet. It IS going to invade other people's properties, it IS likely to foul those properties with both territory markings and cat dung. That is unacceptable in society.

On a confined island the problem must be much worse so no surprise many of the native inhabitants are non-supportive.

The cat laws in the UK have needed reform for many many years yet remain stupid. Property owners should have the right to deal with any persistent invading animal, domesticated or otherwise as they see fit whether that be trapping, poisoning or shooting. If the law supported this, people would swiftly give up having cats for pets.

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

It's obvious you have never had a cat, Realist

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

Realist - your best post EVER !
I agree with every word.

Instead of all that pussy-footing around,
a bounty would work well.
X amount for every cat-tail produced to the local authority.
Problem solved fairly quickly !

And any remaining native wildlife might then have a chance of recovery instead of pain, suffering and eventual extinction.

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

We have cats here in Spain - just the 4! They are feral but also domesticated in that they love coming indoors.they get on fine with the dogs too!

When in Lanzarote we love seeing all the Freddies cat houses along the bits of waste ground, and the tourists seem to like them too!

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

I think the same about small children.........

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

Sadly irresponsible owners and shocking over breeding of cats has cause a worldwide problem.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...-a-881978.html

Yet again humans are to blame but the animals are going to pay the ultimate price.

Responsible owners take measures to ensure their cats do not breed and do not get the chance to kill.

Re: A cat's tale. Why me?

Well said. Cats are vermin IMO fouling and spraying everywhere. Not only that, they are cruel creatures that hunt and torment other creatures such as birds who are killed in their hundreds of thousands by these evil animals.