The Poultry Keeper The Independent Forum for Poultry Keepers    FAQ   Search     Register   Log in  Humph! Breeders! *Grumble* Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next          The Poultry Keeper Forum Index -> George's Lounge Whats more responsible? Indoor only  0%  [ 0 ] Option to do what they please  100%  [ 16 ] Total Votes : 16 Author Message Dusty Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 934 Location: St. Asaph Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:32 pm    Post subject: Mojo you are so right, my cat has just come in checked i'm ok then strolled out again Back to top NannyP Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 11574 Location: 86310 Nr St Savin Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:51 pm    Post subject: Those kittens are adorable I am so tempted...and I am not the one who loves cats as much as Mark does. I remember over 3 years ago (I think) that there was a massive arguement on another poultry forum about this very subject.....needless to say there were some very angry people Our 3 cats get chucked out at night.....this was recommended by a vet on another forum, as they appeared to be feeling insecure about their overnight accomodation. They seem far happier and secure each morning and they have plenty of places to go and get shelter if the weather is bad. If left in, our oldest cat sprays indoors to protect from intruder cats. They spend all or most of the day, sleeping indoors in the warmest spots, either in radiator beds, or now we have the woodburner, stretched out in front of it on the rug They love the trees, and we love watching them suddenly deciding to rush up one....they love basking in the sun. One of them has killed a mole overnight, for which we are eternally grateful Back to top Dopey Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 275 Location: Heathrow (Outer Mongolia) Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:43 pm    Post subject: Not wishing to upset anyone, but i don't like cats, well i say i don't like them, but i do, its just the way they kill so much wild life, living in a built up aria, birds don't stand a chance with so many around, the reason I don't keep them is i think it would be irresponsible of me to do so, but I have nothing against anyone who keeps them at all, after all we live in a free world, (and don’t start me on dogs and parks and public places) Back to top Sparklepeeps Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1960 Location: Cheshire Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:47 pm    Post subject: NannyP wrote: One of them has killed a mole overnight, for which we are eternally grateful My last cat used to kill all the spiders in the house, I only had to shout his name in a frantic tone of voice and he was their knowing exactly what his role was! This more than paid his keep!! Milkmaid wrote: i did keep mine indoors in portsmouth we had one we are pretty sure it was stolen , when i spoke to the local rspca about the missing cat i was told that they get stollen for the fur trade I used to keep my last cat indoors when I lived in rented accommodation and had no option to add a cat flap in, but I hated every second of it. It is necessary sometimes without a doubt. The RSPCA did a blinding job of putting you at your ease then! We are off to visit that kitten in a hour, the breeders are interviewing us! Im petrified!!! Back to top EGirl Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 1263 Location: Dublin, Ireland Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 7:49 pm    Post subject: Yes Mojo, I agree, being an owned human now for 11 years! S'peeps, I think some people breed toys, not animals. I don't agree with stopping cats from roaming if they want to, I live 100 yards from Ireland's busiest motorway and a very busy feeder road, but the cat never strays that far. They get so lazy so easily, at least if they are accostomed to roaming and a little bit of hunting they get to be cats! Oh...a rant of my own. Back to top Auntie Katie Joined: 27 Oct 2007 Posts: 415 Location: Cambridgeshire Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:12 pm    Post subject: How did the interview go? I have to get my cat fixes through you lot!! I'm not allowed one because to persuade my OH to let me have the two dogs I had to agree to no cats. I agreed thinking that it would be easy to get him to change his mind but the old b****r wont budge and we are five years on!! I'm still working on it though! We had a pussy cat in to work this week with 5 gorgeous kittens. Unfortunately she has a calcium deficiency so is no longer able to feed the babies but they are 3 weeks old and are now being bottle fed. The mums going to be fine and she is now on the list to be neutered when she's feeling better. Phew! Back to top Sparklepeeps Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1960 Location: Cheshire Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:00 am    Post subject: Interview didnt exactly go to plan! OH said all the WRONG things! i.e. Our other cat got run over We live on a country lane and the cars are infrequent We have a large garden but for some reason all the cats like to go to the front! One of our neighbours dogs comes in the garden Oh she (i.e. me) is the cat person - (which is a complete misrepresentation because my OH LOVES cats - but this did not really come across) I suppose we were both nervous. I was completely convinced that they the breeders didnt like us (Im probably just paranoid) so I didnt discuss it further, I said we would phone them tomorrrow to discuss our thoughts with them. When I met this breed of cat I really did see why everyone is so intent on us keeping them as indoor cats. THe moment my bum touched the sofa I had three cats on my knee (and that is no exageration!) It was really endearing but if you didnt like cats they would have completely freaked you out! They were so trusting! Apparently they loose concentration really easily and just want to be friends with anything that moves! (I can see that being a problem if they saw some one across the road and just ran over to them in a moment of lost concentration) Its a shame the breed are so dizzy, but if they werent, then they wouldnt be so friendly! Lots to think about. I loved the kitten and the adult cats, but its the street wise/out door issue that is really confusing me. Back to top NannyP Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 11574 Location: 86310 Nr St Savin Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:09 pm    Post subject: Oh what a shame S'peeps......and it does sound like it would be difficult to home one of these "dizzy" cats Back to top Sparklepeeps Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1960 Location: Cheshire Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:29 pm    Post subject: NannyP wrote: Oh what a shame S'peeps......and it does sound like it would be difficult to home one of these "dizzy" cats They would be wonderful and clown like if you were prepared to keep them indoors all the time, but in a house with a cat the blossoms when he goes outside, I dont think it will be possible or fair to keep one here, not to mention against my principles. ...guess that sums it up. You never know, our circumstances might be different in the future. Back to top Clucky Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 2187 Location: Shropshire Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:37 pm    Post subject: Beautiful pics....so cute! I have always had cats that went out, one disappeared (stolen I think as she was a silver tabby), one got run over on a quiet road, the others were fine but the last one (actually my daughter's) is a Ragdoll and she stays in. Theft and injury is our main concern. Ragdolls in particular are notoriously dense (its all the fur instead of brains I think) I would never have believed it until we had ours. They do not have any sense of danger, be it where you walk, (she lies literally under your foot as your foot falls to the ground as you step) Landing on her feet after sliding off the sofa etc never happens, always on her back or her head. Getting stuck even....She is so floppy that at the vets, he forgot what breed she was and nearly died of a heart attack when he picked her up and she flopped....he thought she had passed out or worse. I would dearly love to let her out at the moment due to her deciding to urinate not only in her litter tray but also in my porch, (separate thread) and it stinks, but daren't. We have a special net that fits tightly across my daughter's window (special design for this purpose) so that she can open it wide and Teasle can safely look out, get fresh air and watch the world go by, but that's it. The way society is now, stealing is a regular occurance and I am not prepared to allow it to happen to her. We are planning to see if we can train her to a harness, daft as it sounds Just a thought, without offending anyone here, but its just occured to me...we don't bat an eyelid to let a dog out into the garden but only when we are about, so why a cat who can clear a fence, climb a tree and whoosh off they go. Never thought about that before. Now if I had a secure outside run, like a chicken run.... but there again, she would hate it as she would not be with the dogs indoors. She hates being alone. Back to top Sparklepeeps Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1960 Location: Cheshire Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:24 pm    Post subject: Clucky, do you still have one that stays indoors whilst she is not allowed out? I phoned up the breeder to say how we felt it would change the whole way we use the house - particularly in the summer if we had a Devon as would have to keep all the doors closed, she talked us through it. She said she has homed many of her kittens into homes where they are allowed out on fine days, as long as there is someone close by, by their very nature Devons will stay close to human contact, that made us feel that it would be possible to keep a Devon, especially as we are always off down the garden seeing the chickens. We have to train her in the first instance not to use the cat flap, but we would have done that with any young kitten to begin with anyway. She comes to live with us on Friday evening!!!! Back to top Kitsune Joined: 13 Mar 2008 Posts: 1406 Location: Manchester Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:42 pm    Post subject: Dopey wrote: Not wishing to upset anyone, but i don't like cats, well i say i don't like them, but i do, its just the way they kill so much wild life, living in a built up aria, birds don't stand a chance with so many around, the reason I don't keep them is i think it would be irresponsible of me to do so, but I have nothing against anyone who keeps them at all, after all we live in a free world, (and don’t start me on dogs and parks and public places) I'm a hypocrite here - I do think that cats are devestating to certain young birds, but I could not keep my cat indoors - I don't think I would get another cat, when I got this one I didn't understand all the implications and now that I do I feel it would be cruel to keep her indoors. I think if a cat is kept indoors all its life with plenty of enrichment it is not so bad - just think of all those homeless cats in shelters, surely a house is an improvement on a kennel. It's not ideal, but neither is the life we give to most of our animals, dogs would much prefer to be allowed to come and go as they please, but we have responsibilities. Zoo animals would much rather be out of their small enclosures - but that certainly wouldn't be responsible. The poll asks which is most responsible - I believe keeping the cat indoors is most responsible, despite being less than ideal for the cat. Back to top Clucky Joined: 22 Jul 2006 Posts: 2187 Location: Shropshire Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:06 pm    Post subject: Sparklepeeps wrote: Clucky, do you still have one that stays indoors whilst she is not allowed out? I only have the one, and yes she stays indoors, other than the living room, our bedroom and the porch, she has the run of the house. Excercise is not an issue with her, she runs about like mad and has loads of things to climb up, over, under and toys galore and even plays with the dogs.... it has to be seen to be believed. I will try and get a clip of them playing together, David and Goliath! The living room is out of bounds cos if OH has an asthma attack (normally set off by cat litter dust) that one room, other than our bedroom is sanctuary for him. She is actually my daughter's cat and she spends all her time with my daughter on her bed. She gets raspberries blown on her tummy and ruffled and carried around with no care in the world. Soft in the head she is. Ragdolls are very very sociable animals and hate to be on their own. She cries if the dogs are with us and she is on her own in another part of the house. She sleeps with the dogs, curled up on their bed, although she has her own bed if she wants. She stands in the water bowl when it is empty to let me know that it is....Many Ragdoll owners have warned me ALWAYS to keep the lid on the loo down (which I like anyways...pet hate when its up) as they have no sense of danger and will fall in and drown when little. Of an evening she will sleep on my base unit of the computer, next to Paddy dog who sleeps on my feet and Darcie dog who sleeps beside me. So you see, what she lacks outside is made up with other things indoors. And as I mentioned before, until her we always allowed cats outside, but I think she would not live long outside, you have to know the breed to understand them. Congrats on the new addition, I love those breeds too.....stunning I demand pics asap. Back to top Chris Kurzfeld Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1633 Location: Carmarthenshire Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 8:44 am    Post subject: All our cats have gone out at night but prefered to laze around on the beds all day - except when it was sunny then they had to lay in the best spot to catch the rays . We have one cat now - Spice - who does the same as all the others, in daytime out all night - she messes if made to stay in. She is a killer but not birds for some reason, we have loads of sparrows nesting in our eaves and even when they come and sit near her she doesn't bat an eye BUT, let a mouse or rat come into view and she truns into the exterminator! She too will kill the odd mole - wish she would get rid of a few more - but that is what cats are supposed to do, it's survival of the fittest. I also have 7 dogs that are very well behaved AND i pick up after them where ever they go (the majority of dog owners do) - just don't get me started on humans!!!!!!!! . At least dogs don't leave broken glass, used needles and rubbish all over our parks and beaches They don't get stoned out of their brains at every opportunity and vomit everywhere or commit theft or murder just for the hell of it - give me my dogs, cat, chickens, sheep and fish anyday . Back to top Sparklepeeps Joined: 17 Jan 2007 Posts: 1960 Location: Cheshire Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:28 pm    Post subject: [/img] Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First         The Poultry Keeper Forum Index -> George's Lounge All times are GMT + 1 Hour Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next Page 2 of 3 Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group