Do you believe that leash laws should also apply to cats?

[Jiti]

[♫=♥]

I've seen some cats in leashes. I've heard all the stories about outside cats not living too long, and problems about feral cats and its increasing population.

Should leash laws apply to cats?

[Moth Feathers]

Definitely.

Keeping outdoor cats free to roam off your property is plain irresponsible. Animal owning 101- Keep your animals on your property, whether it be dogs, horses, goats, poultry, pigeons, whatever.
For whatever reason people have the idea that cats should be exempt.

Cats are also devastating to native wildlife and are invasive species number 1. There is no good reason to keeping outdoor cats when you can keep an indoor one and allow them to be outside in a secure enclosure or on a leash/harness.

[Jiti]

Moth Feathers

[♫=♥]


I find this odd that the leash laws do not apply to cats. I guess that's because dogs are more destructive, but from what I heard feral cats are the only reason the Stephens Island Wren went extinct.

[Trash Mammal]

From a legal standpoint, they should apply to all animals outside of the owners yard. In some areas, it should even apply in the yard.

Needless to say yes I think a cat should be leashed upon going outside if it isn't in your yard and if it is able to escape your yard. Obviously cats can climb fences so in this situation i'd more refer to someone who had a giant farm of sorts that their cats didn't leave.

It's not just for the safety of the animal but for respect of your neighbors/town. No one really likes having something potty in their yard and stepping it, especially if they don't own an animal at all. The other problem would be a cat getting into trash cans, getting under your house, or populating neighborhood cats if it isn't neutered/spayed.

[Moth Feathers]

Jiti

Moth Feathers

[♫=♥]


I find this odd that the leash laws do not apply to cats. I guess that's because dogs are more destructive, but from what I heard feral cats are the only reason the Stephens Island Wren went extinct.

Meh, that wren was pretty much begging to go extinct, no offense to the wren of course. But seriously- not only was it flightless, it was (what they believe) to be the only ever flightless /passerine/. That's some major stuff right there; alright, go ahead and let the galliforms go flightless, and the ratites, and even the penguins and things. But passerines? They're supposed to be flighted! How in the world is a four-inch-long bird supposed to survive being flightless? And that is why Stephen Island Wren was the only passerine known to be flightless.

The island was already practically microscopic, and the wren was endemic only that island and supposedly not a common bird even then...
I wish that we could have preserved the species in captivity, but it's really no surprise to me that it went extinct. Even a major storm or hurricane could have made it extinct, considering the circumstances of the situation.

[Shanna66]

Moth Feathers

Definitely.

Keeping outdoor cats free to roam off your property is plain irresponsible. Animal owning 101- Keep your animals on your property, whether it be dogs, horses, goats, poultry, pigeons, whatever.
For whatever reason people have the idea that cats should be exempt.

Cats are also devastating to native wildlife and are invasive species number 1. There is no good reason to keeping outdoor cats when you can keep an indoor one and allow them to be outside in a secure enclosure or on a leash/harness.

yes yes yes yes yes

and i hate it when someone elses pet is roaming and pooping in my yard.

i love taking my cat outside for a walk around the yard when he is on his leash and he loves it too. he knows he isnt allowed out unless he has his harness on

[MemoriesOfGreen]

i can't really say yes or no on the issue. it depends on the situation. the downtown area in my town is a very historic area that's mostly quiet. people let their domestic cats roam free and come home as they please. they're all happy, healthy kitties. most of them are speutered (though one house pisses me off because they're inbreeding now) and they have their shots. they keep the rats from getting into people's property since we're right by a river with huge storm drains running under the town that rodents have been known to live in. if we didn't have the cats patrolling the sidewalks, we would have a huge problem on our hands.

[Jiti]

Morphine Kiss

[♫=♥]

I can imagine cats already using the children's sandbox playground as a litter box. lol

[Moth Feathers]

MemoriesOfGreen

i can't really say yes or no on the issue. it depends on the situation. the downtown area in my town is a very historic area that's mostly quiet. people let their domestic cats roam free and come home as they please. they're all happy, healthy kitties. most of them are speutered (though one house pisses me off because they're inbreeding now) and they have their shots. they keep the rats from getting into people's property since we're right by a river with huge storm drains running under the town that rodents have been known to live in. if we didn't have the cats patrolling the sidewalks, we would have a huge problem on our hands.

I can sort of understand barn cats in the country, where you have acres of land and it's highly unlikely the cats will ever roam off, and when there's an actual pest issue.

But I really can't understand it in the city or suburbs. If rodents are an issue, there are many ways to combat it. A lot of it is just real basic stuff- don't let the grass get too tall, keep the perimeter around the house free of anything that rodents would like to hide into including heavy vegetation, keep your organic waste secured and don't throw meats or dairy into the compost bin, etc.

Prevention is better than cure. You can have the best mousers (or 'ratters'- basically any cat that's good at hunting) in town but they won't eliminate the problem completely, and one would be much better off trying to prevent the issue from ever occurring in the first place. And if you have an indoor cat, nothing stops it from hunting any rodents or insects that get inside your house. Outside the house, traps/poison (not preferred) could be used.
That's just about the rats getting into people's property, however. When it comes to storm-drain rats...how are cats supposed to manage that population? Maybe the cats over where you live go down inside the storm drain, I'm not sure, but I've never heard of anything like that.

[Jiti]

Moth Feathers

[♫=♥]

But they were so cute! crying They remind me of Kiwi birds.

[LuvByrd]

Moth Feathers

Jiti

Moth Feathers

[♫=♥]


I find this odd that the leash laws do not apply to cats. I guess that's because dogs are more destructive, but from what I heard feral cats are the only reason the Stephens Island Wren went extinct.

Meh, that wren was pretty much begging to go extinct, no offense to the wren of course. But seriously- not only was it flightless, it was (what they believe) to be the only ever flightless /passerine/. That's some major stuff right there; alright, go ahead and let the galliforms go flightless, and the ratites, and even the penguins and things. But passerines? They're supposed to be flighted! How in the world is a four-inch-long bird supposed to survive being flightless? And that is why Stephen Island Wren was the only passerine known to be flightless.

The island was already practically microscopic, and the wren was endemic only that island and supposedly not a common bird even then...
I wish that we could have preserved the species in captivity, but it's really no surprise to me that it went extinct. Even a major storm or hurricane could have made it extinct, considering the circumstances of the situation.

Perhaps a major earthquake or storm could have wiped it out, but consider that nothing too major stopped it from evolving. It must have just perfectly fit its niche.

But yes, as a person who has had neighbor's cat poop in my garden and dig it up, it highly irritates me that one could be so irresponsible with their pets. I don't know if a whole law needs to be made. I've seen well behaved dogs w/ out a leash, alongside their owners never breaking a heel. No problem there. But loose pets running around - of any sort - is not ok.

[Trash Mammal]

Jiti

Morphine Kiss

[♫=♥]

I can imagine cats already using the children's sandbox playground as a litter box. lol

Funny story...xD

When I was a tot, I didn't have many friends because the area I lived in...is huge. So a neighbor isn't 2 feet away from you like in a city, it's more like a few roads down here and there. Anyhow, I finally made one friend and he was the weirdest kid ever. Needless to say he had a sandbox, which was all fun and games until we realized it was a giant litterbox for the cat population. =/ Same town, too, that I was going to have a permanent dwelling in for living. xD I rent it out to some people I knew, now, and they're fighting off the populations. I guess they're getting into the house now o_O In the summer, sometimes cats will get trapped under the house, so they die/and/or use THAT as a litterbox too. Stank a** central. Between the racoons tearing down the grates over the crawlspace, and the cats going in, only so much to be done.

The park in the middle of town, which, there was a square in this town that had a city hall building/water department/park where they had little podunk town fairs, actually had to switch over to using tire fragment instead of sand due to the cat population in that town. I mean it's just awful.

There's a point to over population, and then there's ridiculous over population. I love cats but it's just too much =/ Majority is feral, too. there's no animal control either, the only animal control is the live traps city will provide and then you can surrender the animal to the city or dump it off somewhere else, which I think is what the city was doing too.

[MemoriesOfGreen]

Moth Feathers

MemoriesOfGreen

i can't really say yes or no on the issue. it depends on the situation. the downtown area in my town is a very historic area that's mostly quiet. people let their domestic cats roam free and come home as they please. they're all happy, healthy kitties. most of them are speutered (though one house pisses me off because they're inbreeding now) and they have their shots. they keep the rats from getting into people's property since we're right by a river with huge storm drains running under the town that rodents have been known to live in. if we didn't have the cats patrolling the sidewalks, we would have a huge problem on our hands.

I can sort of understand barn cats in the country, where you have acres of land and it's highly unlikely the cats will ever roam off, and when there's an actual pest issue.

But I really can't understand it in the city or suburbs. If rodents are an issue, there are many ways to combat it. A lot of it is just real basic stuff- don't let the grass get too tall, keep the perimeter around the house free of anything that rodents would like to hide into including heavy vegetation, keep your organic waste secured and don't throw meats or dairy into the compost bin, etc.

Prevention is better than cure. You can have the best mousers (or 'ratters'- basically any cat that's good at hunting) in town but they won't eliminate the problem completely, and one would be much better off trying to prevent the issue from ever occurring in the first place. And if you have an indoor cat, nothing stops it from hunting any rodents or insects that get inside your house. Outside the house, traps/poison (not preferred) could be used.
That's just about the rats getting into people's property, however. When it comes to storm-drain rats...how are cats supposed to manage that population? Maybe the cats over where you live go down inside the storm drain, I'm not sure, but I've never heard of anything like that.

well, there aren't any rare wildlife living in the downtown. it's not a big area and the cat population is very limited. i also have a huge problem with people using poison for rats. it's inhumane and other animals can get a hold of the stuff and die. since the rodents are under control, i don't see why they need to be completely eradicated. the cats are well behaved. our city doesn't tolerate strays who are causing a nuisance or don't have their shots. i think we have a nice little suburban ecosystem going on. it won't work everywhere, of course. that's why i think leash laws should be a local government issue rather than state or federal.

Edit: forgot to mention that i have seen some rodents above ground in a city garden. i thought it was a squirrel at first until my brother said otherwise. they are huge nasty things. i don't mind them living in their hole as long as they don't come above ground.

[Moth Feathers]

MemoriesOfGreen

Moth Feathers

MemoriesOfGreen

i can't really say yes or no on the issue. it depends on the situation. the downtown area in my town is a very historic area that's mostly quiet. people let their domestic cats roam free and come home as they please. they're all happy, healthy kitties. most of them are speutered (though one house pisses me off because they're inbreeding now) and they have their shots. they keep the rats from getting into people's property since we're right by a river with huge storm drains running under the town that rodents have been known to live in. if we didn't have the cats patrolling the sidewalks, we would have a huge problem on our hands.

I can sort of understand barn cats in the country, where you have acres of land and it's highly unlikely the cats will ever roam off, and when there's an actual pest issue.

But I really can't understand it in the city or suburbs. If rodents are an issue, there are many ways to combat it. A lot of it is just real basic stuff- don't let the grass get too tall, keep the perimeter around the house free of anything that rodents would like to hide into including heavy vegetation, keep your organic waste secured and don't throw meats or dairy into the compost bin, etc.

Prevention is better than cure. You can have the best mousers (or 'ratters'- basically any cat that's good at hunting) in town but they won't eliminate the problem completely, and one would be much better off trying to prevent the issue from ever occurring in the first place. And if you have an indoor cat, nothing stops it from hunting any rodents or insects that get inside your house. Outside the house, traps/poison (not preferred) could be used.
That's just about the rats getting into people's property, however. When it comes to storm-drain rats...how are cats supposed to manage that population? Maybe the cats over where you live go down inside the storm drain, I'm not sure, but I've never heard of anything like that.

well, there aren't any rare wildlife living in the downtown. it's not a big area and the cat population is very limited. i also have a huge problem with people using poison for rats. it's inhumane and other animals can get a hold of the stuff and die. since the rodents are under control, i don't see why they need to be completely eradicated. the cats are well behaved. our city doesn't tolerate strays who are causing a nuisance or don't have their shots. i think we have a nice little suburban ecosystem going on. it won't work everywhere, of course. that's why i think leash laws should be a local government issue rather than state or federal.

The poison issue is why I said "(not preferred)". I'm just putting it out there as an option for pest control, not recommending it or anything like that.

[Shanna66]

Moth Feathers

MemoriesOfGreen

i can't really say yes or no on the issue. it depends on the situation. the downtown area in my town is a very historic area that's mostly quiet. people let their domestic cats roam free and come home as they please. they're all happy, healthy kitties. most of them are speutered (though one house pisses me off because they're inbreeding now) and they have their shots. they keep the rats from getting into people's property since we're right by a river with huge storm drains running under the town that rodents have been known to live in. if we didn't have the cats patrolling the sidewalks, we would have a huge problem on our hands.

I can sort of understand barn cats in the country, where you have acres of land and it's highly unlikely the cats will ever roam off, and when there's an actual pest issue.

But I really can't understand it in the city or suburbs. If rodents are an issue, there are many ways to combat it. A lot of it is just real basic stuff- don't let the grass get too tall, keep the perimeter around the house free of anything that rodents would like to hide into including heavy vegetation, keep your organic waste secured and don't throw meats or dairy into the compost bin, etc.

Prevention is better than cure. You can have the best mousers (or 'ratters'- basically any cat that's good at hunting) in town but they won't eliminate the problem completely, and one would be much better off trying to prevent the issue from ever occurring in the first place. And if you have an indoor cat, nothing stops it from hunting any rodents or insects that get inside your house. Outside the house, traps/poison (not preferred) could be used.
That's just about the rats getting into people's property, however. When it comes to storm-drain rats...how are cats supposed to manage that population? Maybe the cats over where you live go down inside the storm drain, I'm not sure, but I've never heard of anything like that.

most of our local ferals live in the storm drains and the sewers