Alaska Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Off topic a little but, but related. I had ideas that we might get a cat over here as I grew up with cats and love them but since living here I have changed my mind. I have had friends' and neighbours' cats get stuck down the big drains and been bitten by snakes, and the damage they do to the local wildlife is immense. Australia has an absolutely massive wild cat problem these days. The other alternative is to keep the cat indoors all the time of course, but I wouldn't have been happy doing that. It's a personal decision, but we decided that having a cat in Australia wasn't right for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Off topic a little but, but related. I had ideas that we might get a cat over here as I grew up with cats and love them but since living here I have changed my mind. I have had friends' and neighbours' cats get stuck down the big drains and been bitten by snakes, and the damage they do to the local wildlife is immense. Australia has an absolutely massive wild cat problem these days. The other alternative is to keep the cat indoors all the time of course, but I wouldn't have been happy doing that. It's a personal decision, but we decided that having a cat in Australia wasn't right for us. I cannot think why a cat would do any more damage to wildlife in Australia than they do anywhere else. I think it is something really exaggerated by cat haters anyway, some cats will hunt but others couldn't catch cold. Wildlife kills other wildlife, humans kill wildlife but people get so upset about cats! In Australia, on the east coast from Sydney and up to Queensland, there is the paralysis tick. That is a nasty little beggar and the reason my cats stayed in. When we first arrived, we let one of the cats sit out in the garden, he was (still is) a cat that just likes to lie around and a tick attached itself to him. We only recognised the symptoms because I had read about them the day before on another expat website. A 1am rush to emergency vet, two days in an oxygen tent and a week in vet hospital, then a slow recovery. Cats didn't go out again after that. Dogs can wear tick collars but there is nothing effective for cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Depends where you live as regards council night time rules- varies from council to council. We were adopted by a straycat and it was hard to keep him in at night but now he is very old and in his mid teens he doesn't mind and is happy to snooze. We left a pussy cat behind all those years ago when we came out here and I have regretted it ever since because the poor baby missed us so much he was dead within a few months. Wouldn't eat etc. and he was a lovely black and white boy but we didn't know where we would be living so it was all too hard at the time. You are supposed to get a license for a cat in our council but I never have with this particular cat, seeing as how he just turned up on the doorstep starving. Just another money making exercise on the part of the council of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) I cannot think why a cat would do any more damage to wildlife in Australia than they do anywhere else. I think it is something really exaggerated by cat haters anyway, some cats will hunt but others couldn't catch cold. Wildlife kills other wildlife, humans kill wildlife but people get so upset about cats!. I must admit, it does amaze me how acceptable it is here in Australia to be completely anti-cat. We were at a barbecue once and this - otherwise perfectly nice and completely normal - couple were laughing about how they had trapped their neighbour's pet cat, removed its collar and taken it to a vet to be put down as a stray! They didn't live in South Australia - I don't think it's legal here - but where they lived if a cat without a collar can be trapped (and their local council supplied cat traps free of charge) then it can be legally euthanised. I asked why they didn't just have a word with their neighbour, and ask them to keep it inside and not let it out if it was a problem, but they just laughed at the fact that the neighbour never found out what had happened to her family pet! I haven't kept in touch with them...... Also another friend of a friend who we met in Melbourne had a farm in rural NSW. Feral cats out there are a huge problem as people with unwanted cats would drive out to the end of the blacktop, and just dump the cats there where they became wild. This lady was joking about how she put out a whole row of saucers with tuna on them, and waited with her gun to shoot any feral cats that came down to eat. One of her farm workers joked with a new starter to watch out if the boss ever offered him tuna.... Don't have so much of a problem with this - ferals can be a problem - but knowing how devasted I and my kids have been when any of our cats have been run over (here and in UK) I think deliberately harming or killing someone's pet is another matter. Edited September 21, 2015 by Diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Posted September 21, 2015 Author Share Posted September 21, 2015 Just to point out I am not a "cat hater" or the like. I am definitely a cat person and would love one, but I have changed my mind about the benefit of owning one here. Yes ticks as well. I look for the article in a second but remember reading that they think feral cats destroy 75 million native animals a night! That's a lot of native animals! I certainly don't have an agenda here as I would love one but I am just not convinced about it any more. Here we are; http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/feral-cats-re-write-the-australian-story/5802204 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Just to point out I am not a "cat hater" or the like. I am definitely a cat person and would love one, but I have changed my mind about the benefit of owning one here. Yes ticks as well. I look for the article in a second but remember reading that they think feral cats destroy 75 million native animals a night! That's a lot of native animals! I certainly don't have an agenda here as I would love one but I am just not convinced about it any more. Here we are; http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/feral-cats-re-write-the-australian-story/5802204 I didn't think you were a cat hater, you just said you were thinking about getting one for a start. :smile: But I think it is cat haters that exaggerate the damage to wildlife and also seem to have a problem with cats but not anything else that kills wildlife, like humans. And they do seem to be hated in Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Who would put the cat out at night? :eek: My my cats were 100% indoor cats in Australia, too dangerous for anything else. But even in UK where we do let them go out, it would never be at night, they come in and go to bed. :smile: Yes cats should be indoors or in secure cat runs 100% of the time not only at night, as you say just too dangerous for the native wildlife. Responsible keepers are thin on the ground unfortunately so good on you for doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I cannot think why a cat would do any more damage to wildlife in Australia than they do anywhere else. I think it is something really exaggerated by cat haters anyway, some cats will hunt but others couldn't catch cold. Wildlife kills other wildlife, humans kill wildlife but people get so upset about cats! In Australia, on the east coast from Sydney and up to Queensland, there is the paralysis tick. That is a nasty little beggar and the reason my cats stayed in. When we first arrived, we let one of the cats sit out in the garden, he was (still is) a cat that just likes to lie around and a tick attached itself to him. We only recognised the symptoms because I had read about them the day before on another expat website. A 1am rush to emergency vet, two days in an oxygen tent and a week in vet hospital, then a slow recovery. Cats didn't go out again after that. Dogs can wear tick collars but there is nothing effective for cats. The damage they do really isn't exaggerated, part of the reason is most of the wildlife isn't used to that sort of predator. The number of native animals cats kill is absolutely enormous and most will only bring a tiny % back to their house. I am no lover of cats because of the damage they do but yes it is also safer for them to be indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I didn't think you were a cat hater, you just said you were thinking about getting one for a start. :smile: But I think it is cat haters that exaggerate the damage to wildlife and also seem to have a problem with cats but not anything else that kills wildlife, like humans. And they do seem to be hated in Australia. I have the same feelings about anything that kills the native wildlife, unfortunately it isn't yet legal to trap humans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacaranda Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) Diane,you reminded me of something that happened in our little town in SA.Our elderly neighbour knocked our door,and asked my OH if he could please remove a dead cat from her back garden.(She didn't own a cat but was very upset about this).So off went OH,and when he returned,he told me the cat had been shot,and obviously died in her garden.We didn't find out who the cat belonged to.A few weeks later,I went to the front door to let our own cat inside,and to my horror,he had blood oozing out of the side of his neck just below his left ear.We rushed him to the nearest vets,and after the consultation,the vet informed us our cat had been shot by (if I remember correctly)an air rifle!:eek:Our cat survived to see another day,and there were other reports of other cats being shot.A while later it stopped.Either the person had shot all the cats that came near their house,or the person had shot so many they probably felt they were going to be caught. I think if I had a cat now,and moving to Australia,I would deffo think twice about taking it/them tbh.I also definitely would not get another cat in Australia. Edited September 21, 2015 by Jacaranda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Diane,you reminded me of something that happened in our little town in SA.Our elderly neighbour knocked our door,and asked my OH if he could please remove a dead cat from her back garden.(She didn't own a cat but was very upset about this).So off went OH,and when he returned,he told me the cat had been shot,and obviously died in her garden.We didn't find out who the cat belonged to.A few weeks later,I went to the front door to let our own cat inside,and to my horror,he had blood oozing out of the side of his neck just below his left ear.We rushed him to the nearest vets,and after the consultation,the vet informed us our cat had been shot by (if I remember correctly)an air rifle!:eek:Our cat survived to see another day,and there were other reports of other cats being shot.A while later it stopped.Either the person had shot all the cats that came near their house,or the person had shot so many they probably felt there were going to be caught. I will cop flack for this but so be it, I have friends who shoot cats, they do it because they have an overriding love of native wildlife. In their eyes a cat outside is fair game and it's hard to disagree as someone who loves Australian wildlife. Cats just shouldn't be loose outside, it's that simple really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Dogs are just as bad and worse- they kill koalas, possums and the larger mammals but you're not allowed to shoot the devils. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Dogs are just as bad and worse- they kill koalas, possums and the larger mammals but you're not allowed to shoot the devils. Dogs certainly can be as bad, the good thing about dogs is that they are usually confined in a yard. Cats are just left to free roam anywhere they like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I will cop flack for this but so be it, I have friends who shoot cats, they do it because they have an overriding love of native wildlife. In their eyes a cat outside is fair game and it's hard to disagree as someone who loves Australian wildlife. Cats just shouldn't be loose outside, it's that simple really. As I said earlier, ferals are probably fair game - they probably DO eat native wildlife. But on the other hand so do snakes and they are protected! Shooting a cat that is someone's family pet is just nasty and a disgusting thing to do in my opinion. If it's coming into your garden or messing in your kids' sandpit, then by all means have a chat with the owners, but shoot it? Anyone that does that is imho just a step away from torturing small animals, which we all know leads to much worse crimes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Dogs certainly can be as bad, the good thing about dogs is that they are usually confined in a yard. Cats are just left to free roam anywhere they like. Confined to a yard where they bark all day and annoy everyone, or being walked and leaving piles of unburied faeces on the pavement, the grass where your kids play, or on the beach! Much nicer than killing the odd bird... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 As I said earlier, ferals are probably fair game - they probably DO eat native wildlife. But on the other hand so do snakes and they are protected! Shooting a cat that is someone's family pet is just nasty and a disgusting thing to do in my opinion. If it's coming into your garden or messing in your kids' sandpit, then by all means have a chat with the owners, but shoot it? Anyone that does that is imho just a step away from torturing small animals, which we all know leads to much worse crimes! All cats not just feral eat native animals and many millions of them. You know that snakes are native animals and as such are part of the native food chain. Yes they are protected for good reason. Sorry but you post came across as a little naive. You can't compare a native predator to an introduced pest species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Confined to a yard where they bark all day and annoy everyone, or being walked and leaving piles of unburied faeces on the pavement, the grass where your kids play, or on the beach! Much nicer than killing the odd bird... Again it comes down to responsible owners. Our dog didn't dark all day and annoy anyone. It also didn't leave faeces anywhere because we took it with us in a bag. If it was only a couple of birds it wouldn't be so much of a problem, unfortunately cats kill everything they can catch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/24/sorry-brigitte-bardot-but-australias-hordes-of-feral-cats-have-got-to-go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/feral-animals-australia/feral-cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 It's ironic that I am seen as an Oz hater but I seem to care more about the native wildlife than anyone else on this forum. The idea that cats just eat a couple of birds or a mouse is quite frankly ridiculous, they are decimating Australia's wildlife and the sooner owners took some responsibility the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Both articles about ferals. A domesticated and desexed cat that is properly fed does not eat 'millions' of native animals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 (edited) Both articles about ferals. A domesticated and desexed cat that is properly fed does not eat 'millions' of native animals. Unfortunately yes they do, domesticated cats will kill through boredom or instinct. I'm sorry but anyone who believes their little Tiddles just wanders around all day playfully interacting with the wildlife lives in cloud cuckoo land. Edited September 21, 2015 by bristolman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2013/03/natural-born-killers-the-problem-with-cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckleface Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Hi everyone, I have been told that if I have any questions, that this is the best place to ask. Has anyone taken there cats to oz, and how much does it cost roughly. Thankyou If you do bring your cat please do the right thing and either keep it inside or in a cat run if it goes outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 If you do bring your cat please do the right thing and either keep it inside or in a cat run if it goes outside. Yes, absolutely. I have no problem with cats kept responsibly. Unfortunately responsible owners are in the minority. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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