Another clueless pet owner

[normaM]

Must be a problem in certain areas... never ( thank you baby Jesus) seen one around here. Haven't seen the coyote for awhile, hope he didn't get removed

[Gone_Fishin]

With the amount of rats proliferating, the area needs more cats and less traps. It is becoming an epidemic.

We have an urban deer problem. Are you suggesting we should let packs of dogs run loose to kill and eviscerate them too? Your suggestion is terrible and cruel. And I think it's an attempt to derail the thread into the rat issue rather than address that the really, really bad pet owner let her cat run wild and it ended up getting hurt as a result.

The topic is a bad pet owner that I don't think should be allowed to own pets if she isn't prepared to care for them properly.

[jasond_71]

I agree that cats should not be left to roam free but a leg hold trap is a little much. I ran over a cat with my truck and didn't know what to do. It was a busy street with tons of houses. Where would I start to find the owner? I felt bad but what do you do?

[Queen K]

Gone Fishin, is the whole topic is "a" bad pet owner, or bad pet owners all over the place?

Because Gone_Fishin, you either just want to punish one person, or take to task the few cat owners who still let their kitties outdoors.

Like me.

Wanna take it up with me?

See my avatar? Maestro was killed outdoors after having him for sixteen years. I cried my eyes out after finding him. Do not shame me, You think I haven't heard it all? I dont' need anything from you tonight or ever over it.

I knew full well the risks associated with having an indoor/outdoor kitty. He was born and I had him in my hand within the hour of his birth. I almost gave him away, but his winning personality made me keep him. Oh god, he cost me thousands in vet bills! And when I moved here, he ran away from home back to the old property several times. I cried my eyes out. One Christmas I was trouncing in the snow over there trying to catch him. Christmas!!!! The people there fed him and one time I even was able to reach inside a truck and get him home.

Finally he decided here was it. He stayed. It wasn't easy. Know why I left the strata? The no cats outdoor rules. I finally had it with other people in control of my life. Stratas are good for "rules are rules" guys like yourself.

Now having been in a house, I've had loose dogs run all over my yard. Bad Pet owners right? THEY should have their dogs taken away.

And I know someone here who has cleaned up lots of doggie poop on his lawn. Bad Neighbour Pet Owner right?

And a cat on a leash is just....just odd.

My cat, if Willow can't go outside, goes nuts on us. The behavior!

Can't spank a pet right? Dogs will obey. Cats? Have you ever known a cat, GF?

[Gone_Fishin]

Cats aren't stupid. They are much, much smarter than some cat owners though, and train their owners instead of vice versa. Cats that have been raised as indoor cats don't "go crazy" because they aren't outside fattening up coyotes and making road pizzas on the highway. My sister has a cat that's nearing 20 years old, always been an indoor cat, and has led a happy, healthy, long life with lots of love as a result. Damned thing loves me too, because she knows I'm allergic to her. I'm her favourite lap to jump up on for attention.

Only a bad owner lets a pet run wild in a danger-filled environment. Blaming someone else for one's own negligence is a trait among some people, though, so I'm hardly surprised at the indignation of bad pet owners in this case.

[GordonH]

So went back and did another little more detailed 200 meter radius in and around downtown/northend.
So for a Licensed trapper to legally set traps this person is extremely limited were they can be set.
I still don't know which buildings along Bernard that have apartments above them (would only take a couple to remove legal traps in that area)
Here is new link:
https://www.freemaptools.com/radius-aro ... 0|1|FFFFFF

[Queen K]

Cats aren't stupid. They are much, much smarter than some cat owners though, and train their owners instead of vice versa. Cats that have been raised as indoor cats don't "go crazy" because they aren't outside fattening up coyotes and making road pizzas on the highway. My sister has a cat that's nearing 20 years old, always been an indoor cat, and has led a happy, healthy, long life with lots of love as a result. Damned thing loves me too, because she knows I'm allergic to her. I'm her favourite lap to jump up on for attention.

Only a bad owner lets a pet run wild in a danger-filled environment. Blaming someone else for one's own negligence is a trait among some people, though, so I'm hardly surprised at the indignation of bad pet owners in this case.

Oh please, "train their owner"? And you manage to get that little "dig" in dontcha, "smarter than some cat owners."

Try training a cat will ya. Give me a break. I keep my cats off the table, counters and hopefully the china cabinets but she jumps up when I'm out. They know they break rules, they don't care. Dogs care. Dogs manage to look guilty. But cats?

Allergic? That's too bad. Awwwww. Kitty giving the big bad GF attention. Warms the heart.

And yes, I know the dangers, all too well. I can't pass a dead animal on the roadside without noticing, and it's twice as bad as when I see dead cats. I get it.

Cats are meant to be indoor/outdoor, in my mind only. Willow hunts mice and I've never seen a rat here yet. But mice? She's gotten plenty. Does a dog hunt mice? Nope.

As for the bolded part, cruelty is a trait. And the waste of skin setting a trap is cruel and low minded. No matter what.

GF, did you see where I've addressed the urban deer problem? Yes, we do. We also have a rat problem and a damned ring neck dove problem and coyotes and raccoons. Got solutions?

[Gone_Fishin]

Does a rat have a better death in a trap, or by being tormented endlessly hours by a house cat? I'm going with the humane trapper on this one.

[Queen K]

Do rats get killed instantly in a rat trap? Humanely?

Cats are cats, their natures are set and have been since Egyptian times or before. You're judging nature? You?

I take issue with your headline too. Very few pet owners are "clueless" as you've charged. Personally, I have a mountain of vet bills to prove I take of my animals and a several reciepts from the pet resorts to prove I don't just leave my cats alone in the house for weeks.

I, like many here, understand the risks for our cats. Fully. And to suggest that only indoor cats get lots of love is ludricous.

Is your logic somehow that cats that are allowed outdoors not loved? Or love enough? That only indoor cats are loved enough? Gone_Fishing, that is ridiculous.

Like I said, I've had stray dogs run into my yard, run all over the gardens, no collars, no leashes, no owner in sight. Should they get their dog taken away?

[HorganIsMyHero]

Allowing that poor cat to wander the streets and expecting that something bad won't happen to it is a definite sign of a terrible pet owner. Cars, coyotes, bobcats, any number of hazards await cats that are kicked outside and left to roam. IMO, people like this should not be allowed to have pets, period!

I agree, way to many people don't care about their cats and just let them roam around. They then make the dumbest excuses that cats can't be controlled and that they have to work or they don't have the time to take care of the cats. Why do they have pets in the first place if they can't be bothered?

[Nedroj]

Also a cat owner and one whom does allow my cat murry outside to roam. I’ve accepted the fact that he may or may not come back as I’ve learned from a past pet cat. Murry as some cats can be, greatly dislike being kept inside all the time and will escape whenever possible. Therefore it’s better to allow him outside freely rather than keep him inside forcibly. If I kept him inside and he got out he wouldn’t realize the dangers of it and probably would have been ran over. I choose to introduce him to the dangers of outside living in a busy downtown Kelowna area slowly and with a harness. He’s now 11 years old and has lived in dense urban areas, cars landing, mount bourcherie and glenrosa. He’s been chased up trees by coyotes, been bitten by dogs and other cats and has always survived and came home. I love my cat very much, he’s been with me through 3 relationships, 2 big life changes and few other unfortunate incidents. but I leave it up to him to survive when he’s outside and out of my control. I feel if he gets caught by a coyote or Cougar and killed as sad as it would be for me it’s all apart of the circle of life and hopefully he goes on to feed cougars cubs. Which does make it at least a honourably death.

I can understand people’s frustrations with roaming cats using their gardens as a litter box. I really don’t like going for a hike up
Knox and having to dodge dog poop constantly but I do. But this whole Idea that cats kill over a billion birds each year is absurd. And what’s more absurd is the people here saying this pet owner and all pet owners that let their cats roam are clueless or bad owners. In fact I would suggest that any cat owner that forces a cat to stay inside when they clearly display a desire to venture out is a bad pet owner. Let the cat decide if they want to be an inside and/or outside cat. Who would have thought leg hold traps were perfectly legal within city limits. I sure didn’t but it doesn’t affect my decision to allow my cat to roam freely. I would like to know whether this leg hold trap was actually 200meters away from any home. Cawston ave is surrounded by 4 blocks of residential homes except for the very north end. And from a long time cat owner I can confidentially say I highly doubt even my experienced cat would venture beyond 200 meters of his home/food. That’s quite the distance for a cat to go. The average residential lot in Kelowna is less than 30 Meters wide or 100’ that’s roughly over 6 lots wide.

I’ve read a lot about a rat problem on this forum and I have yet to see any rats in the entire Okanagan and I’ve lived here for over 20 years. I will admit I could be wrong on that though.

[pepecat]

My much-loved cat is pretty much coddled and well fed and happy. Right now he is curled up warmly on my 3 thousand dollar mattress after his dinner of duck and carrot stew. He goes outside during the day and makes his rounds and has caught and killed at least 15 rats in the past 3 months. If my neighbors would prefer having the rats in their basements and garages and eventually their kitchens, then I hope they would honestly tell me that my cat is an intrusion. But so far my neighbors haven't seen fit to set leg traps to catch my cat. For some reason they don't think that cruelly dismembering my cat is a way to send a message that I am a bad pet owner. I think my cat as "ratcatcher" overtakes my cat as an unwelcome visitor to my neighbors' yards.

Eventually the rats will realize that this is not a good neighborhood for rats, and the rats will move to more rat-friendly neighborhood where people set traps for their neighbors cats to show them a lesson and let them know what bad pet owners they are.

[pepecat]

Does a rat have a better death in a trap, or by being tormented endlessly hours by a house cat? I'm going with the humane trapper on this one.

Reaching....

[Queen K]

Do you know why cats are smarter than most? The are adorable, purry, aloof and funnier than most any thing on the planet.

They don't have to work. Dogs work. When did a cat ever go earn a living? Ever. And as Gone_Fishin has pointed out, they are naturally attracted to those who are allergic to them. They just "know."

[Bpeep]

My issue with cats at large is they are the largest predator of songbirds.