Should vegetarians be allowed to have a murderous pet?

[Thunder Bolt]

We have two cats, who defecate in our own garden. They are male & female (both neutered, so no smells), & totally different personalities.
The female will catch & eat flies & spiders, but nothing else. The male has caught one robin & one mouse in 5 years. Neither of them were dead, which resulted in us having to catch the creatures to try to release them. The, mouse took the opportunity to dive behind our kitchen cupboards, which left us no option but to set a mouse trap. Mice don't have bladders, so trail urine wherever they run, so for hygiene, it had to go.
I am not a vegetarian.

 

[John Bumlick]

I have two cats and they both love cheese. Not relevant but I just wanted to share.

 

[wehatepalace]

Not a cat lover I'll admit, not too bothered by them until they come and take a shit in my garden.
Imagine if I popped my dog over the neighbors fence so he could take a shit in their flower bed.

 

[Igzilla]

From the RSPB website (my bold):

"Despite the large numbers of birds killed, there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease, or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds. We also know that of the millions of baby birds hatched each year, most will die before they reach breeding age. This is also quite natural, and each pair needs only to rear two young that survive to breeding age to replace themselves and maintain the population.

It is likely that most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway from other causes before the next breeding season, so cats are unlikely to have a major impact on populations. If their predation was additional to these other causes of mortality, this might have a serious impact on bird populations."

 

[BBassic]

We have a cat.

I veer wildly between wanting to drown her in the bath and wanting to drown her in love and hugs depending on whether or not she's been meowing in my ear and biting my arm since 5am demanding to be let out.

 

[glasfryn]

more childish ramblings from the anti-cat(animal) brigade
still no Albion on so nothing else to do I suppose

 

[glasfryn]

From the RSPB website (my bold):

"Despite the large numbers of birds killed, there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease, or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds. We also know that of the millions of baby birds hatched each year, most will die before they reach breeding age. This is also quite natural, and each pair needs only to rear two young that survive to breeding age to replace themselves and maintain the population.

It is likely that most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway from other causes before the next breeding season, so cats are unlikely to have a major impact on populations. If their predation was additional to these other causes of mortality, this might have a serious impact on bird populations."

coarse it could'nt be the farmers ploughing up the hedges could it?

 

[Gary1]

Find it worrying that people have such venomous hate towards an animal.

 

[AmexRuislip]

House cat = prison animal,.not their nature, they are hard wired to kill.

We took delivery of a rescue cat last year, decided not to have a big hole in front door for security reasons.
No problem in being a house cat, he (Bertie), has great delight in hunting my hand on any occasion.
Seems to enjoy being indoors, freaks out when being carried any further than front door.
Anyway there is a lot of speed merchants round our way.

 

[Mr Putdown]

From the RSPB website (my bold):

"Despite the large numbers of birds killed, there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease, or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds. We also know that of the millions of baby birds hatched each year, most will die before they reach breeding age. This is also quite natural, and each pair needs only to rear two young that survive to breeding age to replace themselves and maintain the population.

It is likely that most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway from other causes before the next breeding season, so cats are unlikely to have a major impact on populations. If their predation was additional to these other causes of mortality, this might have a serious impact on bird populations."

No mention there that they are scared to put off donations from cat owners who have been found in other research to be acknowledged animal lovers and disproportionately generous in terms of donating to animal charities.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

We've got a Government plan in place to cull 2 million cats such is their destructive force in nature.

2 million isn't enough. Total erradication should be the aim.

 

[JCL666]

I used to have a three legged cat. He was quite funny.

Absolutely crap at jumping, landing and any form of violence toward smaller animals.

 

[Gary1]

Been many news reports of cats locally and nationally having horrific acts carried out on them including tails cut off and decapitation. Reading some of the comments on here maybe it's not that surprising that human beings are capable of carrying out such attacks.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

IF the animal was naturally meant to eat meat yes. ....unlike the human animal
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/214390.html

 

[glasfryn]

I knew one lady veggie who tried to make her cat a veggie....................and it left to go to a little old lady who fed it corned beef from the can.
cats natural instinct is to hunt and eat meat ..............only thing is we keep opening the cans and pouches
cats were first domesticated by the Egyptians to protect their cereal silo's from rats ans mice

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Anyone who's watched Springwatch will know that birds kill birds. Magpies, Jays & Gulls will kill smaller birds.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

Been many news reports of cats locally and nationally having horrific acts carried out on them including tails cut off and decapitation. Reading some of the comments on here maybe it's not that surprising that human beings are capable of carrying out such attacks.

If cats never left their owners property such things most likely wouldn't be heard of.

 

[Nixonator]

Saved one last week from a fox, nature's pretty brutal.

 

[Gary1]

You could say the same about humans. If we never went out things wouldn't happen to us either but we do go out and when something tragic happens we condemn the perpetrator not the victim

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

IF the animal was naturally meant to eat meat yes. ....unlike the human animal
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/214390.html

Our teeth are a pretty good indication we are naturally omnivores.