Britain: Why Killer Cats Are Allowed To Run Free
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It appears that there are some out there who think cats should remain either confined to their homes or, at best, confined to their gardens – in other words, gardens from whence they cannot escape. The ‘some’ in question is akin to Jehovah’s Witnesses or, to be honest, any religious maniacs who staunchly believe they know everything and we’re all going to burn in hell because we don’t agree with them. The very concept of the ‘some’ being wrong and accepting that cats are free-ranging animals is anathema to them.
“Cat’s kill millions of birds in Australia” – True. I suspect they kill millions elsewhere too but, for some unfathomable reason, Australia is always used as the place these evil moggies carry out their dastardly deeds.
It’s quite simple really – albeit those who disagree will disagree that it’s quite simple really.
If you understand cats then you understand that the little birdy wirdy’s – should they not fly away before Tiddles gets them – are toast. It’s what being a cat means. You hunt, you kill and then you don’t eat it because it’s full of little bones and you’ve a good meal waiting back home for you that doesn’t require you worrying about little bones.
Cats also kill millions of mice and rats but do people go apoplectic about that? No. The poor little mousey wowsies and ratty watties don’t count – well, they probably do count if you happen to be of the genus Rattus or Mus – did you know that the genus for the mouse was Mus? I didn’t. Well, you learn something every day.
Anyway, cat’s kill mice, rats, birds and anything they consider edible or, come to that, anything they don’t consider edible that can entertain them for a short while until it’s dead. My right big toe springs eternally to mind. One of ours seems obsessed with my right big toe. The other toes are immaterial. It just has to kill my right big toe.
I don’t mind. My right big toe has got bones in it so it won’t eat it. It’s got a bowl of Felix ‘As Good As It Looks’ to eat whenever it wants.
Now. Some animals have been successfully domesticated. Cows have – assuming they weren’t already domesticated when they first arrived in this world. Still. Not many people have a cow sleeping in their living room by an open fire.
Sheep are domesticated. Mind you I did once come across a particularly vicious sheep. I fell asleep in a field due to intoxication many moons ago and the bloody thing tried to eat my shoe. Anyway, I digress.
Let’s compare cats and dogs – it’s easier that way methinks.
Dogs are genetically related to wolves. Even Chihuahua’s apparently – God alone knows what went wrong with the gene pool there – yet dogs – apart from that bastard Rottweiler four doors up that wants to kill the lamp post outside my house – are fully domesticated.
They slobber and drool and sit on command. They guide blind people. They chase after balls and bring them back. They do ‘dog things’. That, my friends, is because they are – wait for it – dogs.
Cats are not dogs – clearly. They are a different genus entirely. Their domestication has nothing to do with dogs – or cows or sheep come to that.
A cats domestication is very clearly on a cats terms. A dog lives in your home, and you live in a cat’s home.
A cow or a sheep live in a barn or a field rather than your living room – unless you are in urgent need of psychiatric help – a cat lives in its living room in front of its fire in its house.
You are allowed to remain in your cats house providing you feed it on demand, stroke it on demand and – the biggie – let it out to hunt and kill birdy wirdies on command.
Whilst the natural predatory hunting instincts of dogs have, through domestication, been virtually eradicated – apart from chasing the odd cat or squirrel and then wondering what the hell to do next in the unlikely eventuality they actually catch it – the natural hunting instincts of cats has remained largely intact.
They hunt for food. On catching said food, be it bird or field mouse, they then don’t eat it. Well, not all of it anyway. You see they already have their source of food at home so they don’t need to eat their prey.
The thing is, cats are not going to change just to avoid upsetting humans who don’t like the little birds being chewed up.
Cats are cats and always will be. If they were going to stop killing birds or mice or whatever they would have done so by now a la dogs not gathering in packs and eating your children.
Those who weep and wail about the poor birdies getting massacred by cats clearly do not understand the mentality of a cat.
The cat couldn’t give a damn about your finer feelings. It’s too busy being a cat and chasing birds, mice, rats and anything it sees as fair game.
It might not be fair in your eyes but does the cat care? Of course not. It’s a cat.
My virtually blind epileptic cat, Jake, vanished three weeks back. We thought he was dead. Blind and epileptic is not a good condition to be in when you go missing from home.
Fortunately, he was ‘chipped’ and he was found and returned to us.
In a few days, once he’s re-acclimatized to home, he will be free to come and go as he pleases. That’s because he is a cat. Besides, he never goes far – he was snatched by the way. He’s a British Blue. Some dickhead thought they could sell him for a profit.
Er – mainly blind with epilepsy? Yep. Dickhead.
If you put your human values onto cats then, frankly, you will probably hate them.
If you accept that your values are as nothing to cats – in the same way, they are as nothing to any life form not human – then you may be able to understand.
A lion will kill a gazelle to eat. It has to, to survive. It’s called ‘nature.’
A cat will kill a bird because it’s instinct is to survive. Then it remembers it has a bowl of Felix cat food at home that is easier to eat. That’s called ‘nature’ too. It’s only humans supplying Felix cat food that has sent it off kilter.
If you think that eradicating the natural tendency of a cat to kill its prey, be it a bird or a field mouse, is possible then good luck. Don’t hold your breath.
After owning – always on the cat’s terms – cats for over 30 years and being an active member of British charity ‘Cats Protection’ for over 25 years I know whereof I speak.
In the UK, cats are legally ‘free-ranging animals’. Anything else would be cruel. It’s the nature of the beast.
“They should be kept indoors they kill birds!” shriek the bird lovers. Yep. They do.
“You are irresponsible to let them roam free!” shriek those who have no idea what a cat actually is.
The thing is. You can take me to task over this article but it matters not. Cats will continue to kill millions of birds in Australia. They will continue to kill birds wherever they are. They will continue to bring home the heads of mice as gifts that you step on in the kitchen first thing in the morning.
They will carry on being cats and, in the UK, carry on being ‘free ranging’ animals under the law.
You see, they would carry on being ‘free ranging’ even if some stupid government changed the law. Cats would ignore the law as they ignore anyone who tries to change their ways.
Love them or hate them they are what they are.
They are cats and I love them – except when I stand on a mouse head first thing in the morning. Have you ever done that? The squelch is not nice.
ED: The title of this post is mine, not the authors. I know he hates it 🙂
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[…] the thing: There are long-held, and erroneous, myths about feline behavior which say that cats are happiest when they can “roam.” Cats who have homes with access to food roam for one reason, and that’s sex. They are incredibly […]
Too many comments to read, but understand the US is nothing like England. You don’t hav the wildlife. Even in this tame part of Florida we have bobcats, panthers, alligators and the occasional bear. Free ranging domestic cats and feral cats trade diseases and get more from the things they prey on and the insects that prey on them. People who raise chickens and the like shoot them and poison them and you see them wandering around badly injured and dying or as road kill.
Tw years ago a charming cat kept winding up on my patio looking for handouts. I called the owner who was just as condescending about it and I told her her cat wouldn’t survive long if she kept that up. The cat’s name was Princess. She didn’t.
That, I think, is very much the point.
The US is nothing like England therefore it’s apples and oranges.
One thing that has not been brought up is the service that feral cats provide to we humans. Cats are the best control yet devised for many pests we humans are confronted with every day. Rodents are among those pests that might over run the earth were it not for the cats. I live in the South where there is an additional, really troublesome pest that concerns me around my home. It just so happens that snakes are competitors with the cats as well as being pests to humans. Having grown up in the South I have dealt with snakes being around most of my life. While most of them are harmless some are not. I learned a lone time ago that a good way to control the snake population around my homes is to leave cat food out for feral cats. Where there are feral cats you rarely see snakes. Although snakes are also good at controlling rodent populations those that do possess venom will use it on humans as well. So I will stick with my feral cat solution to keep the snake and rodent population under control.
I did ask ‘what about ferals’? Nobody, as yet, has responded to that.
I lived in the South, including in the Deep South. Yes, we had snakes, rattlers, and moccasins primarily, with the occasional copperhead, but we certainly didn’t have so many as we needed feral cats to control them. The harm ferals do to the wildlife is unbelievable, killing millions of birds and other small creatures every year. I’ve not seen a cat kill a poisonous snake, ever. I did once witness a rattler strike, kill and eat a cat once, and, as it turned out, that cat was the neighbor’s pet who allowed it to roam free because that’s what cats do…
It’s a selfish approach that cat-free-roamers take, because they have no regard for the damage that their creatures do to the environment and to nature’s other creatures. It’s a form of arrogance beyond the pale: my cat is wild therefore my cat can do and kill anything it wants because it is wild. Screw the birds, rabbits, lizards and other wild things. For shame.
Yep. You know, like other wild animals? That’s were you lot miss the point.
Cats are not completely domesticated. Start from that fact and you might eventually get it.
Doubt it but you might…
Thank you for this article. I am an American who understands the nature of her cats and allows them to go outside and be cats. Not only is it in their nature to hunt, it is also in their nature to roll in the grass, climb trees, sleep in the sun (or in the shade), to sit on the roof of the house, to watch the clouds drift by, to smell the flowers, to chomp those same flowers to the ground, to annoy the dog down the alley, and to generally engage in the hedonism that is being a cat. And for all of those who are about to post what a rotten cat mom I am, save your breath and your keystrokes. There’s not a damn thing you can say that I’ve not already heard, not a damn thing you can call me that I’ve not already been called, and not a damn thing you can say that will change how my cats and I choose to life. The vet who cares for my herd of cats tells me my cats are healthy because I let them go outside and be cats. Cats are and forever will be wild animals who choose to live with us. I a glad that a few sensible people get this. I glad that a few people are brave enough to write about it.
😸😸😸😸 excellent.
Don’t worry. You understand cats. Others don’t. Way it is.
This is a repost surely.
I thought that, but no. There was another post, linked here, that spoke to pets, including cats, but the free roam debate opened up in the comments section.
No…I’ve touched on it before but our Editor felt there was more mileage particularly regarding the ‘free range’ stuff.
Actually, cats are protected under one of Britain’s wildlife acts – forget which one – hence the ‘free range’ thingy
It’s not a question of “mileage” but of information and civil debate over a hot topic not only in the UK but in the US.
That’s what I meant! Jeez…I need to learn American speak 😂😴😴😴
Just a thought – I have so few please treat it gently 😜
Why not e-mail Cats Protection and the RSPCA etc in Blighty?
They’d tell you the legal stuff about ‘free ranging’ and probably explain it better than I could….
….just a thought.
I just looked at Cats Protection and they don’t have anything that outright says yeah, let your cat be outside outside. It’s more, if your cat does go outside here are things you can do for protection. I don’t know if I may be wrong but to me free range is chickens, cows, pigs etc on a farm, or my horse up at my friend’s home where she can run free on said friend’s land but she is fenced in.
Precisely. Cats go outside and they can climb hence a fence is no problem for them.
You can get your garden ‘cat proofed’. To do this netting is stretched across preventing them climbing over the fence.
Most people in Blighty just let em out and, usually, they come back.
The biggest danger to a cat not coming home is the roads and the penchant of some to drive too fast.
Having read the comments I’m now completely convinced it’s a cultural difference between the UK and the USA.
Also, according to some commenters, the USA seems to have far more psycho dogs 😸
I agree with Jess. That blind, sick cat should be cared for properly in the comfort and safety of your home not encouraged to run free and face, again, the many dangers attached to the outside world. Horrible and I’m glad I live in a country where such cruelty is rejected and punished.
He doesn’t ‘run free’. He stays in the garden. My fault he got out – see above.
Our other cats – 7 of them – go where they please.
As I said. Cultural thing.
We’ve spent a fortune on them at the vets. They get the best food. They always come home – often they don’t even wander much even though they could.
Calling it cruel to allow cats to go where they please is an opinion. A wrong one in my view but you’re entitled.
Oh Neil, haven’t we gone through this before with you? Cats allowing you to be their servant inside, live way longer than outdoor cats with the dangers they face in the great outdoors. Also, shame on you, seriously shame on you, letting that poor blind epileptic cat roam outdoors. That is animal cruelty at its worst.
He doesn’t ‘roam’. He stays in the garden. He only got snatched because daft bugger here left the side gate open taking out the bins and he wandered out without me seeing.
Boy was I in the doghouse…so to speak.
I’m beginning to think it’s a cultural thing. – this cat business. A bit like that male circumcision thing.
Most Americans think cats should be constrained whilst most Brits don’t.
Just a cultural difference is all.
Well then maybe when blind, epileptic cat is doing his roaming in the garden you could stick with him to make certain he is safe. I know you might say I’ll consider it, but like the dog with the leash, you won’t and then I’ll jump your shit again. We, all of us animal lovers, choose to bring these animals into our homes, so we should at least care for them properly when they get elderly and sick like this. I’m rally upset thinking about this for some reason and the onion ninjas are here because I cannot believe an animal lover would let a sick, blind cat fend for itself in the outdoors, knowing what could possibly happen it is very cruel, nuclear level cruel in my opinion.
He isn’t old. He’s 3 years. His epilepsy is controlled via epilim Squirted into his mouth by syringe.
He has fairly minimal vision but can get around the house and garden fine.
Ultimately he’s happy and well looked after….I check where he is before opening the gate now!
Ah, I just assumed his age because of his ailments, see what that does.
I’m the one who’s old with ailments!! 😂😂
I always thought Brits had more sense but I sense I was wrong after reading this nonsense. Indulging instinctive behavior under the guise of kindness is wrongheaded and downright cruel. Furthermore your cavalier attitude in particular with regard to birds is disappointing. I long thought you were an animal lover but that cruel streak of yours is showing in this story. It’s just plain silly, all of it, and I understand there’s a relatively large segment of the British population that wants this whole free roaming practice to end. Can’t get it done soon enough if you ask me. Silly buggers every last one of you.
A strong opinion. The UK will not be changed I suspect.
The RSPCA, Cats Protection, Cat Action Trust etc would cause too much of a stink.
Besides, we ‘manage’ colonies of feral cats – spaying, neutering and rescuing kittens before they turn feral.
What happens to feral then? Slaughter?
Here we go again. Millions and millions of people, all over the world, make sure their cats are properly cared for by keeping them inside, and letting them out only under the strictest conditions, such as a fenced yard, or a special enclosure designed specifically for cats.
The reasons for not allowing one’s cat to free roam are legion, starting with their instinct to kill other creatures. I like cats and I like birds, and there’s no reason why we can’t have both nor why they can’t coexist. To do that is to make sure your curious cat can’t kill them.
Secondly, I don’t want my neighbors’ cat shitting in my yard (we have yards over here while you have ‘gardens’) nor do I want my neighbor’s beloved cat climbing my fence and becoming dinner for my three dogs.
This ‘let cats be cats’ by allowing them to free roam is perhaps the dumbest philosophy I’ve ever heard, and millions of people agree with me.
….and millions don’t.
The neighbours I like – which is most of em – I supply with cat repellent for their flower beds.
Dogs won’t harm a healthy cat – mainly cause they’d never catch it 😸
As for killing birds etc. It is in their nature. Or is a natural thing for a cat to do.
Confining them is fighting nature. Good luck with that one!
The title made me giggle 😀
Dogs won’t harm a healthy cat? I guarantee they CAN and DO catch them, and they will kill them if given the opportunity. I’ve seen it first hand. As to you and your “nature,” well it’s so far removed from reality I have no words.
Well you clearly have 😂😂😂
So have I, and more than once. When dogs get a cat they show no mercy and I’ve seen pet cats ripped from limb to limb, and all because well-meaning but uninformed cat lovers allow their cats to run the neighborhood.
It’s another world over there mate.
Most dogs over here would either not bother chasing a cat or just bark at it as it flicks it’s tail on the garden fence…
Are American dogs all psycho or what?