Topic: Opinions on cats

[vegging out]

If you really dislike cats I may have you're answer.Try planting some stargazer lillies.. :o

This story appeared in the Daily Telegraph on Friday


quote:

 
Cat owners warned over killer flowers
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 06/05/2005)

A national alert has been issued to pet owners after pollen from a bunch of supermarket flowers killed a cat.

When John Hartnett bought his wife oriental stargazer lilies, he was unaware that he was passing a death sentence on the family's 13-year-old Siamese, Catalina.

The cat brushed against the flowers then licked the pollen from its fur. Within minutes she started being sick and, within hours, had died after going blind, suffering renal failure and becoming virtually paralysed.

The RSPCA, which is reporting an increase in such cases, is to launch a campaign to alert people to the dangers and lobby for warnings on the flowers.

The RSPCA said: "The problem of lilies isn't widely known and we are seeing an increase in the number of cases we come across. This is because the flowers are becoming more readily available in Britain.

"All lilies are poisonous to cats, with just one leaf eaten possibly leading to death. We will now be urging both manufacturers and producers to issue warnings on their goods so that consumers have an informed choice.

"We also hope to work with the Royal College for Veterinary Surgeons' poison department to produce information fact sheets and figures on this awful matter."

Mr Hartnett, 51, a computer engineer from Folkestone, Kent, said: "Catalina was a curious, fastidious animal and would have investigated the new flowers. But this proved absolutely fatal.

"She endured a vile death. She was suffering terribly. I blame myself but the vet we rushed her to said there was just no chance to save her.

"We have seen the flowers in many places, all with no warnings at all. In America, I have discovered that there is immense coverage on this subject warning people of the dangers but, here, there is nothing.

"I can't believe something so simple as a flower can kill pets in such a terrible, terrible way, and there is absolutely no way of knowing about it."

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals singles out the Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum), tiger lily (Lilium tigrinum), rubrum lily (Lilium speciosum), Japanese show lily (Lilium lancifolium) and some species of the day lily (Hemerocallis) as liable to cause kidney failure in cats.

The Feline Advisory Bureau, a charity based in Tisbury, Wilts, said: "Symptoms of poisoning from these plants include protracted vomiting, anorexia and depression and ingestion can cause severe, possibly fatal, kidney damage."

Cats can survive if taken to a vet within six hours but the chances of survival decrease rapidly after that. After 18 hours, the kidneys stop working.

Alex Campbell, a toxicologist and managing director of the Poison Advisory Service for vets, said: "When we recieve a call about cats coming into contact with any of the lilium flower family we treat it very seriously indeed. It is one of the worst reactions an animal can come across and it needs highly aggressive management. All parts of a lily are extremely toxic.

"A cat that comes into contact with a lily deteriorates very rapidly. I have even heard of a cat being given human dialysis in an attempt to overcome the effects of toxins in the kidneys."

The danger to cats only began to emerge in 1990 when the first incident was reported in America. Last year, the poison control centre at the ASPCA handled 275 cases.

John Cushnie, a panellist on Gardeners' Question Time, advised gardeners who wanted to avoid harm to cats to select tall lilies and stake those that need support.

[Mrs Ava]

Such a sensitive subject which we have been over from time to time before.  Cat lovers can only sing their praises and confirm that their cats never poop in their gardens, but of course, some cats roam far and wide and do what comes natural wherever they please.  People affected by the piles of disgusting stinking cat poops loathe cats and get angrier and angrier about it.  I am not a cat lover, no-siree and can get extremely angry when our neighbours cat relieves itself in our garden, but fortunately the foxes keep the cat off the allotment, and my kids are proving excellent cat scarers in the garden, chasing them out as soon as they see them or hear their bell tinkling. oooooooooooooooo, I can sense my soap box is just around the corner so will quietly leave now...

[Merry Tiller]

And I suppose you'd exterminate any other animal that doesn't use a flushing toilet as well would you, what about Horses, they do it in the middle of the road for goodness sake. I'm glad that I don't have such a serious problem to whinge about ::) ??? >:( :-\ :'(

[Ed^Chigliak]

A problem shared is a problem halved. I'm just partaking of some apre cat pooping therapy instead of getting angry. I was always taught that if sombody punches you in face it's your own fault for not moving out of the way. A classic case indeed. Doh!

Hey... I think the £40 visit to the vets  and course of anti-biotics have cured my cat of the infected bite to the head. It's his own fault you know for not moving out of the way. I was going to buy him lilies and a get well card... but I've changed my mind. I'm just getting the lilies as cards these days are so overpriced.

[Merry Tiller]

By the way, my cats do crap in their own garden

[Merry Tiller]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[gunnerbee]

Crap to ya, cats are predetors, yes, but as a responsible pet owner as a am  i always put my cat on curfue when there are young fledglings in our garden, he is only allowed out at certain times of the day, AND he wears a bell, He hasnt brought a bird back all this year at all, i always make sure his stomach is full before i let him out, the only thing he has brought back this year is a bloody mouse or two.................... Its like people with aggresive dogs, you have to be responsible for them, Its the owners , Not the pets.

[Amazin]

Gunnerbee has it exactly right - pet ownership, like parenthood, is a matter of responsibility.

You might be interested to know that cats, like many other creatures, including children, can be trained if you care enough to put in the effort.

Here are some other interesting facts:
The three main reasons for an old cat not to cover its crap are: sight problems, mobility/ balance problems and plain old forgetfulness. Recognise any of these?
Old does not equal lazy. Otherwise surely we'd be emptying all the care homes in Britain to combat the labour shortage.

With regard to the killing of songbirds, that is certainly a valid point, but let's level the playing field here. Other creatures prey on songbirds too, so you would have to apply the same preventative measures to them. Perhaps we could, for example, shoot all predatory birds who also feed on songbirds, and any creature who feeds on birds' eggs and young...

...oh, and the population of Malta, whose unofficial national sport is the trapping and killing of vast numbers of songbirds for sale to posh continental restaurants.

Cats, on their days off from the annihilation of songbirds, keep the disease-carrying rodent population, such as rats and pigeons at bay.

And just to dispel that ridiculous notion that all cat owners sing their praises and confirm that their cats never poop in their garden, here is an unequivocal statement from this cat owner: Cats, including mine, can be a pain in the a*se, and my cats poop in my garden. 

Now, here are some non-violent methods of cat deterrent, some of which have been mentioned already:
Tea tree oil
The urine (or other waste matter) of another creature such as a dog or human - if you don't own either of these, perhaps a kindly neighbour will lend you one of theirs.
Plant catnip where the cats usually poo - they'll be too stoned to sh*t.

I also had one very violent method involving nothing more outrageous than an ordinary over-the-counter medication, but I've cut it from this posting because, as I mentioned earlier, responsible ownership is the issue here - besides, I doubt you'd have had the stomach for it.

Finally, I must say I'm a little puzzled that those of you who spend many a productive hour up to your elbows in horse manure, cow dung and chicken sh*t can become so defensive about cat poo.

Blimeyiiaaooww!

[westsussexlottie]

But I know when I cam dealing with the manure heap and wear gloves. When I am weeding the shallot bed or seed beds I don't expect to literally end up wrist deep in cat S H I T!

[legless]

even though i clean the litter tray daily, i'm still a bit squeamish about cat poo, it seems different to large animal manure (and i've seen a lot of poo, i used to muck out elephants)

[Mimi]

Phew Legless, thats a lot of POO  :o

[fraser]

I was listening to 5 Live earlier this week and the same discussion about cats eating birds was being discussed. Being a cat owner myself, the following comment made me smile - 'I love my cat dearly, but I know that if it was big enough it would eat me'. Sums it up really :) :)

[Multiveg]

Yesterday, I saw a black cat run up the side of the garden, then up the fence and into another garden, with something that had a tail hanging out of its mouth.

[Diesel]

Ive never had a cat sh*t on my washing yet birds have.
Ive never been walking through my local park or down a nearby street and stepped in a massive cat turd yet  some dog owners let thier dogs crap all over the place without clearing it up.And yes I have stepped in it also.
Ive never been cycling along a country lane and had to swerve to miss a cat poo but Ive had to get out the way of a horse pile on more than one occasion.
At the end of the day they are all animals and are not conscious that where they are doing there business is causing inconvenience to us and as an animal lover it doesn't annoy me (apart from the irrisponsible dog owner bit).Im sure that the cat that craps on your allotment is not doing it deliberately, it is only following its instincts to go to the loo on a nice soft bit of earth.I know my two make a b-line straight for anything I have recently planted or dug over.I usually put down some sticks or twigs cut from my old raspberrys untill the soil becomes less appealing to them.I also leave a few hidden bits of earth bare for them to get on with doing the do and as long as I hoe it over now and again they seem to stick to it.....pretty much.

[Svea]

i love cats too - only two cat related 'acciddents' on the plot so far - cat had a stern talking to - until next time.
would like a kitty of my own but will have to make do with the allotment cat for the time being. only trouble is she doesn't purr :( however much i try

[Mrs Ava]

With horse manure on the plot, they only eat green matter - well, pretty much, I am sure someone will shout now and say, hold on, horses eat anything that is put infront of them, but with cats and dogs, like humans, they eat meat and anything else that is offered, so their poop, like humans, reeks and is just yuck!  I knew this posting would get people shouting, it has done in the past, and it will come up again, and people will all get defensive again.  It is a big wide world full of alsorts of critters, and their poo.  There is sod all any of us can do about it, so why don't we just get on with it!

[Black Forest Dan]

I agree with EJ, the cats are only doing what comes naturally, not to annoy us, it's up to us to use our ingenuity to dissuade them from doing it where it's most annoying! We don't have a cat of our own but our garden is regularly 'patrolled' by a neighbour's cat, who often leaves us either complete, or bits of, dead mice in prominent locations (like on the front doorstep or middle of the path) - once leaving two mice for us and three for her owners on the same day. Cats are creatures of habit and luckily, she has not chosen anywhere inconvenient or unpleasant for her toilet. Obviously a well-trained cat.

Having a cat of your own presumably reduces the problem, because your cat will defend its home turf against 'foreign' cats - all you've got to do then is to train your cat to have 'convenient' toilet habits (easier said than done).

Me, I'd love to have a cat but my OH is allergic to them - typical, since she love cats as do both our children. So I can theorise about cats without having to actually train them myself! (sorry...)

Dan.

[Lizard Man]

This is a varied and lively planet which we share with a multitude of species. And yet it seems so many humans are just far too intolerant. I mean if it was perfectly legal to stamp on a cat (or even a human), as it is a slug or caterpillar, just because they were hampering your produce then I'm sure many of you out there would go right ahead and STAMP.

Let's face it, all animals apart for man basically have two over-riding instincts. To mate and to live (both instincts leading to the common goal of passing on their genes). To live they have to eat. And what goes in one end must come out the other. If us gardeners provide habitats to allow animals to live and mate in, then they are going to use them freely. Simple as that.

[Merry Tiller]

Cats, Dogs, Horses and any number of other inconvenient creatures were crapping all over this planet way before we Humans decided to put allotments on it, where do we get the right to dictate.

At the end of the day it's just an annoyance, I agree about dog owners though, I have poo bags tucked in all my coat pockets, I've even been known to offer one to a dog owner if I see them sneaking away from the scene of the crime, some of them seem almost offended ???

[Piglottie]

 :D  Don't wish to get into the whole debate about cats - but can anyone tell me more about putting tea tree oil down as a deterrant?  How much do you dilute it by (if any), how much do you need etc?  Any help appreciated.