Motorhoming with a cat

[steve 6644]

Nearly as bad as our local sparrowhawk family.

Really?? Do humans buy them as pets, feed them in lean times, give them a totalllly safe home, take them to the vet when they have become morbidley obese... Jesus!

 

[kevenh]

Whats that got to do with taking cats into our precious wild places and letting them run riot

, the area I am most familiar with that gets the biggest group of dog walkers unable to read IS a wild place. With wildlife that is disturbed by loose dogs.

 

[KiwiKampers]

I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started this thread.

 

[scotzsue]

sister always took the cat and hamster on her caravanning holidays, many years ago and they wildcamped quite often. once went o a place they had stayed a few times before another carvan there police came to move them on, other family annoyed and abusive, sister and family just started packing their fw outdoor pieces away. when tho other family had gone, policeman said if you follow us sir we will show you where you can stop with no problems. they had a lovely couple of nights.
I digress blame the wine one time the cat didn't come back when called, they waited for a time but then had to move on called to the wild amping place a few days lter and their cat ame out of the bushes and jumped into his travelling position.
I have camped with mine all i ever had to do was start the engine and she was back in minutes. she is long gone. thye cn be trained to a collar and lead and a long line but you have to start when they are very young.

 

[kevenh]

I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started this thread.

Sorry too.
Until today I didn’t know about steve 6644 hijacking cat threads after an issue with nesting birds in his garden.
He has a point, badly made imo, about cats that hunt.
As I wrote, I hope owners of a regularly hunting cat would react to stop this behaviour - if they’re made aware this was happening.

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[steve 6644]

I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started this thread.

Sorry too.
Until today I didn’t know about steve 6644 hijacking cat threads after an issue with nesting birds in his garden.
He has a point, badly made imo, about cats that hunt.
As I wrote, I hope owners of a regularly hunting cat would react to stop this behaviour - if they’re made aware this was happening.

How would you make the point then??

 

[Brains]

Depends on the cat.

We travelled with Dragoman and did a circumnavigation of South America, the truck had a resident cat.
They had inadvertently picked it up at a campsite in Ecuador.
The cat then spent the next 12 months with the truck, and went to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, the Guyana's, Venezuela, Columbia and the back to Ecuador.

The cat never strayed far from the truck, and as soon as the engine fired up it was back on board, it never had a single 'owner' and was fed by all and sundry, no provision was made for the cat, and it spent most nights either in the truck or in a tent, with whomever had the warmest sleeping bag!

Where the crew got back to the same campsite in Ecuador a year later, they made sure the cat stayed there!

 

[LesW]

Sorry too.
Until today I didn’t know about steve 6644 hijacking cat threads after an issue with nesting birds in his garden.
He has a point, badly made imo, about cats that hunt.
As I wrote, I hope owners of a regularly hunting cat would react to stop this behaviour - if they’re made aware this was happening.

I have a cat.. it doesn't hunt, the cat hater isn't a well person, so best not to react to his ramblings..

We take our cat everywhere with us.

 

[Sucoz]

We've seen quite a few french owners with cats on leads, I suppose a young cat would be easier to train, just as some people keep cats in flats. But you won't know for sure until you try it, then it's a bit late to change your mind!

 

[Minxy]

I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started this thread.

You shouldn't be sorry, you asked a question before you got one which is the right thing to do.

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[Minxy]

I have a cat.. it doesn't hunt, the cat hater isn't a well person, so best not to react to his ramblings..

We take our cat everywhere with us.

Please do not be disparaging about another forum member like that, he has a very valid point and is one that I, and some others on here, share but it doesn't mean we are cat haters, just realistic about the devastation they can cause.

Cats may be nice and cute and purr etc at home but I doubt there are many owners that think twice about what their cats get up to when they are let to freely roam outside. We've had numerous birds killed in our garden by cats over the years and fish too, so it's not just out in open countryside that there are problems.

If I let my dogs out in a morning so they can do as they please all day, with them only returning home at tea-time, people would say I am an irresponsible dog owner and they'd be right, so why isn't it the same for cats?

I don't hate cats as I said before, but owners of them have the same responsibility as other pet owners to safeguard other creatures and protect them from harm.

 

[steve 6644]

I have a cat.. it doesn't hunt, the cat hater isn't a well person, so best not to react to his ramblings..

We take our cat everywhere with us.

Typical, I hope you feel better for that,

 

[Jim]

Drop a line to Tash, of Life beyond Bricks. She along with Jon full time with three cats. <Broken link removed>

 

[Shrimp]

This has nothing to do with a cat in a MH, but.......
I had a cat years ago, he wasn’t an active hunter, once I know he caught a mouse, I watched him on the lawn, he sat down, mouse in front of him, I was just on the point of going to rescue mouse when it sat up gave him a bop on the nose as he put his head down to it and then it ran off, the look said it all!
On the other hand MiL has a cat and he hunts as much as poss and is always bring ‘presents’ home!
Hunting is in the cats nature but not every cat follows this call.
I’m sorry to the OP that this thread has got so hijacked!

 

[steve 6644]

Drop a line to Tash, of Life beyond Bricks. She along with Jon full time with three cats. <Broken link removed>

Excellent article full of cat love and responsibility. That should be part of a cat ownership training scheme along with other sensible wildlife friendly criteria, in order to be granted a licence to own them.

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[steve 6644]

I am also sorry to have hijacked this thread but this cat problem is real and is devastaing our native wildlife. I am a passionate animal lover and at every opportunity will highlight this problem.

Sorry.

 

[Jim]

I am also sorry to have hijacked this thread

No you're not, or you'd stop doing it

 

[Viennese]

You really, REALLY need to watch this. This what your cute little cat is up to when you bugger off and let it do it's thing out of your sight.



It's allready started in Scotland,

Feral cats neutered to protect rare Scottish wildcats

About 80 feral cats have been neutered across Scotland as part of a project to prevent them breeding with wildcats.

www.bbc.co.uk

It's bad enough when besotted owners keep these killers at home, don't take the bloody things out into the wild as well!

We lost a whole family of blue tits again this year to the most beautifull cat I have ever seen, I was devestated, I'd watched them build their nest in the box I had made especially squirrel and corvid proof. I saw the bastard take one of the parents and didn't see the other after a few days. When we looked there were five dead chicks just about to fledge.

Please justify cat ownership to me, as a passionate animal lover I don't get it.

Cat owners really need to look in the mirror and have a chat with themselves this is becoming a serious wildlife problem.

WILD LIFE MATTERS.

I have had 3 cats in my life. They all had bells on their collars and never killed a bird or anything bigger than a butterfly and then hardly ever. They were never allowed out at night either. When I ask cat owners to collar and bell their cat they usually refuse by reiterating the 'a collar can get caught in a tree and strangle it'. Collars are usually elasticated to avoid this. How many cats have you known who got strangled in a tree? They are too clever for that.

 

[tonyidle]

Really?? Do humans buy them as pets, feed them in lean times, give them a totalllly safe home, take them to the vet when they have become morbidley obese... Jesus!

I'm not sure that they're all morbidly obese.

 

[Minxy]

I am also sorry to have hijacked this thread but this cat problem is real and is devastaing our native wildlife. I am a passionate animal lover and at every opportunity will highlight this problem.

Sorry.

No you're not, or you'd stop doing it

That's rather unfair IMV Jim, owning a cat to take travelling with you into the countryside is different to one that only ever lives in an urban environment, both can do damage to the wildlife but in the countryside it could be a lot worse.

Not everyone thinks about the consequences of cat ownership, just as some don't think of it for dogs ... or even having babies! They only see the 'nice' side of it and forget the other stuff, eg litter trays, picking up poo, nappy changing etc.

How many think that a cat 'hunting' is part of its nature AND that they should be allowed to do it freely so as not to restrict them? Would it be acceptable to claim the same for a dog and let it go out and hunt cats? The answer to that is NO, so why should it be acceptable for a cat to do it?

This was a thread about owning a cat, taking it travelling and letting it go outside on its own, so drawing attention to the issues that can be created by doing so is totally pertinent to the discussion.

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[ManTheVan]

I’ve seen quite a few yacht owners (many of them French) who travel with their cat. They’re not allowed to land the animal on foreign soil, but the cats tend either to be on a harness or just wander the pontoon (if detached from land) saying hello to other boats and lapping up the attention (and any titbits that might be proffered).

When we had our cat, he would rather have swallowed a brick than get into a vehicle. He HATED the car.

 

[Minxy]

This has nothing to do with a cat in a MH, but.......
I had a cat years ago, he wasn’t an active hunter, once I know he caught a mouse, I watched him on the lawn, he sat down, mouse in front of him, I was just on the point of going to rescue mouse when it sat up gave him a bop on the nose as he put his head down to it and then it ran off, the look said it all!
On the other hand MiL has a cat and he hunts as much as poss and is always bring ‘presents’ home!
Hunting is in the cats nature but not every cat follows this call.
I’m sorry to the OP that this thread has got so hijacked!

As per my post above, this is exactly WHY I don't agree with cat ownership by some people ... keep it under control/restrained so it can't kill anything or don't have one at all.

 

[Minxy]

To all cat owners ... if you think that allowing a cat to go out and hunt is okay then why not simply pop down to the pet shop, buy some live mice and let the cat chase them round the house to satisfy their hunting nature ... but you wouldn't, would you? Why not though ... it's no different to what they are doing when you let them outside? Trouble is you'd see it.

I don't hate cats, in fact I'd probably have one if I didn't have dogs, however there's no way I could realistically keep it in my garden so its a no-go from the start.

 

[Two on Tour]

As per my post above, this is exactly WHY I don't agree with cat ownership by some people ... keep it under control/restrained so it can't kill anything or don't have one at all.

Yet another bloody expert on cats and their behaviour.

 

[tonyidle]

This was a thread about owning a cat, taking it travelling and letting it go outside on its own, so drawing attention to the issues that can be created by doing so is totally pertinent to the discussion.

You're quite right but a few holidaying cats will have little effect on wildlife in the countyside compared with those kept on farms. Small farmers tend not to have a cat but half a dozen or more allowed to breed freely. They keep a check on rats as well as local birds. In some ways it's little different to when wild cats were common and part of nature. We're all concerned about disappearing wildlife but it's happening as a result of our own efforts with pesticides and habitat destruction. And maybe a in a small way because we keep cats.

And there's more to it: we train small birds to be fearless. We encourage them to spend time close to humans and their houses. Basically we put out ground bait to make them an easy target for local cats.

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[Minxy]

Yet another bloody expert on cats and their behaviour.

Never said I was an expert so please keep your personal insult to yourself thanks.

 

[Minxy]

You're quite right but a few holidaying cats will have little effect on wildlife in the countyside compared with those kept on farms. Small farmers tend not to have a cat but half a dozen or more allowed to breed freely. They keep a check on rats as well as local birds. In some ways it's little different to when wild cats were common and part of nature. We're all concerned about disappearing wildlife but it's happening as a result of our own efforts with pesticides and habitat destruction. And maybe a in a small way because we keep cats.

There's a difference to a cat on a farm which is doing a 'job' and a pet cat being taken to places where some cats rarely go. We don't have wild cats now (excluding ferral domesticated ones of course!) so the wildlife doesn't have the added threat from them so why should they from 'domestic' pets on holiday?

And there's more to it: we train small birds to be fearless. We encourage them to spend time close to humans and their houses. Basically we put out ground bait to make them an easy target for local cats.

When we used to feed the birds we only ever put food on a table so they didn't have go feed on the ground.

 

[tonyidle]

There's a difference to a cat on a farm which is doing a 'job' and a pet cat being taken to places where some cats rarely go. We don't have wild cats now (excluding ferral domesticated ones of course!) so the wildlife doesn't have the added threat from them so why should they from 'domestic' pets on holiday?


When we used to feed the birds we only ever put food on a table so they didn't have go feed on the ground.

You might think farm cats are doing a job - and they are - but farmers have then in quantity because they can. One, maybe two, cats could take care of the rats. But what would keep the hay warm . We do the same as you with bird food but my more general point is that most problems for wildlife are caused by human actions. Although humans keep cats as pets the damage the cats do is a very, very, small part of the problem.

 

[Two on Tour]

Never said I was an expert so please keep your personal insult to yourself thanks.

Having had cats for 60 odd years, it's pretty obvious that you have next to no idea of what the majority of cats get up to and base your opinions you which are banding about on what cat owners should and shouldn't do, I find that rather insulting.

 

[Rosemary1]

I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t started this thread.

Nah - just sit back and read with amazement There’s a lot of people on this site with a lot of different views (thank goodness as otherwise wouldn’t it be boring)

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