General Chat

Elizabeth, what a lovely story, your such a kind lady. you were obviously feeding them to well!lol Roxanne x

Awww maggie, thats really sad, and kind of nice too. Bless

Hi ya everybody.This is an interesting thread.We have up to 12 feral cats .We have been feeding three seperate litters for the past four years now.Although we have been doing this since they were a few weeks old,they still run away when we open the door.One litter has two tabbies and a grey,whose mother was found squished on the road.All the other cats were coming to our yard for food and taking it with them.They were obviously were trying to feed the kittens.This years litter,the mother actually brought them to live in our yard and it was brilliant.To watch nature in your yard like that,to see cats behaving as they should,the mother teaching them to play and bring their prey down.....all that food was worth it.I take it the wee cats see here as home now.They can go away for weeks and come back again for food.They like to let you know they are back !! If you don't take heed to them,they stand up against the door ans tap the glass.They just look in until you go to them. One day I had no money and there was no food for them,so I went hunting until I found all the coppers,went to tesco's and bought two tins of their value cat food.Them wee cats just turned their noses up and left it.They either weren't that hungry or they are to used to us feeding them good food.They are quite partial to bacon and fried egg you know.......we also found out that not all cats like fish.We had a whole salmon in the freezer for long enough and just last week,we put it out for the cats.One of the kittens,sniffed and backed away.It wouldn't go near the fish at all. Elizabeth.

My dad took on 2 fully grown feral cats from the cat's protection league. They were really soft and loving towards him - I never pushed my luck to find out what they thought of me - too much respect!! When dad was diagnosed with cancer, then a brain tumour, one cat died of a brain tumour, the other, when dad came home in a coma to die, stayed on dad's bed and died within an hour of him. How's that for devotion? However, the 2 'domesticated' cats we had, on seperate occasions when I was a child..... I still have scars from both of them and I was one of the few people who could 'handle ' them!!! They were unpredictable - but a challenge!!!! maggie

We had a cat who attacked unprovoked at work. (She recently died 18 year old) She could be as nice as pie, but then suddenly attack you for no apparent reason. She came from a home where her owner died. Her owner was an old lady who used a water pistol on the cat when she wanted it gone from her sight. Now, is it this cats fault thats she's like this? No! So should she be punished for a humans mistake? No!

Well not put it down for one thing! We have plenty of cats that attack seemingly unprovoked (Most likely because they are scared, but the person who is dealing with it is unable to pick up on that) When we home a cat like this, we always tell them that this has happen. so yes, passing it onto someone else is a good idea, as long as they know and are willing to deal with it!

Paul, that is my point. Most animals will defend themselves if provoked. Many animals will attack when frightened. But what do you do if you have one that seems to attack without warning? Pass it onto someone else?

I wouldn't put a dog down if it savaged a child no. I think people need to access the situations. I personally would never have a dog which was slightly odd around my child. And if I knew my child was a tail puller, I'd keep it away from the dog. We have to remember that a dog will lash out if intimidated, much like a person would. Most dogs (Apart from insane ones) will not bite without a reason. if it were my dog, and my child, I would consider what to do, and give it to a rescue shelter. Obviously so it will not get PTS.

we once took on a factory cat, on release indoors she did a wall of death around the walls, and curtains, but eventually came to be the most tame cat you could wish for.........she had her ' hidey hole' and was happy..........never attacked our kids at all, although she only wanted petting, when she agreed....lived to be 14 years...... Bob

To be honest, at work we go through details of costing of cats. We always say to people that if they cannot afford it they should not get a cat. Also putting a cat to sleep costs more than giving it to a rescue centre!

Paul, Its only because my friend had a very good relationship with her vet that she could have the PM done. Most people in that situation wouldn't, or couldn't afford it. Only with hindsight did we have a rational explanation for why that cat got so aggressive. Most other people wouldn't be able to do that. I know some people have cats put down unnecessarily. I also know you can do quite a good job of domesticating feral kittens if you get them young enough. Would you put down a dog that had savaged a young child? Dogs are supposed to be easier to train than cats.

We once had two cats, both feral from London. 2 more useless cats you never saw. Nikky, (all our ginger cats were called Nikky after Nikky one, who was named after Nikita Kruschev) once caught a rat which squeaked and he let it go, caught it again and the same thing happened. Willum (All our tabbies were called Willum, after Pussy Cat Willum) would lay in the garden and a thrush would come within 1 metre of him he would stiffen, then relax, no doubt thinking that it would get away anyhow, and just sit and watch it. I once bought some day old ducklings and he got in where they were and just sat next to them and watched them. David

Well it sounded like he didn't like other cats, dogs and small children, and if he was taken to the Cats Protection, we wouldn't home him anywhere with Cats dogs or small children. We would have told the new owners what he was like. So as a say, no cat will go without a home, trust me, i've seen some of the most unexpected cats go to homes.

Vicky, thats a bit different, if it had a brain tumor which was incurable then it should be PTS. However if it just scratched someone( Without a brain tumor, or a brain tumor being known) , why should it be put down? Its the same as capital punishment for you thumping someone. Just because a cat is feral is still no excuse for it being PTS. It will be homes one way or another.

paul, we had pepsi from when he was 5weeks only, the day we collected him we were at the vets as he had contacted cat flu, we gave him lots of tlc even the vet said he was suprised with the turnaround, but pepsi was a strange cat not like any of the others I have or have had, he was the only one like that, I have had cats all my life with no problems like that, but as I say pepsi is still missed. jean

I've known people to want their cat to be pet down because it has bitten scratched people, and to be honest no respectable vet will do it. We are contacted by veterinary surgeory's all the time who do not wish to do it. No respectable vet will do it, sounds like your vet took the easy way out to be honest. A reasonable vet would have phone the cats protection first choice.

It isn't reallytrue that once a feral always a feral. I often bring kitens home from work to tame, and make friendly. However I would only ever do this with kittens. Kittens minds are very plastic, and are easily moulded into what they think is safe, and normal. An aldult isn't impossible to make friendly, but it does take longer, and you have to keep them in close proximity at all times. So this is often unfair for a cat that has been probably outside for most of its life, and not used to confined spaces. So although its not impossible for an adult to become tame, you have to weigh up what you think is right for the cat. At cats protection we will never put a healthy cat down, and if it is unsuitable to be inside a home or as a domestic cat, we will home it to a farm, to sort out pest problems, so this will make no unwanted cats anywhere!

paul, Im sorry you feel angry, but this was done with the vets advice, pepsi was 5yrs old and his odd behaviour was getting extremely out of hand, I also dont think he would have been any different anywhere else. this was done with a lot of thought from us as to wether it was right or not., he was not only attacking us and our other cats for no reason, in fact one of our cats at the time would not leave the chair under the table as it was scared of pepsi, this cat was a rescue cat taken from another family, and no he wasnt attacking him because he was new to the house, but he was also attacking a neighbours small dog as well. jean

Sorry Paul I disagee. OK if its a feral cat its instincts take over. If you understand cats you blame yourself if you get scratched or bitten. But surely most people wouldn't try to keep a feral cat as a house pet. I have a friend who has bred pedigree cats of different breeds for 30 years now. She had a Turkish van who was a real softie for about 4 years - believe me, I know just how gentle & loving she was. But over about 6 months or so she became extremely aggressive. Attacked my friend very badly on more than one occasion without any provokation at all, she needed hospital treatment, stitches, antibiotics, you name it. It got to the point where she was terrified of the cat. Only one option I'm afraid. On PM she was found to have a brain tumour.

Hi, I work for cats protection, and I see no reason why a cat should be put down because it scratches someone. Its a cats intinct to scratch if it gets scared or feels freatened. A cats home like cats protection would have taken it in, and wouldn't have put in down unless it was FIV+ or had some other incurable illness. A cat which scratches or bites someone should never be put down. In fact in makes me quite angry