I'm afraid I don't agree. I've never had such problems with cats, and we've always had cats. I would never have an indoor cat and walking a cat on a harness.. well I just don't think that's the best solutions for cats.
They're not like dogs, they're much more independant and get their exercise in different ways. Imagine all the people who have cats who'd have to walk them.. how many would actually do that? And cat training is a lot more difficult, how do you think the big part of the population would handle that?
Are the cats in your area really that much of a nuisance? When I lived in the city with cats it really never was a problem, people just put nets over the sand pits on playgrounds. In the village, same. Cats never disturbed anyone. And where my mum lives now, in the middle of nowhere, the foxes make a LOT more noise than the cats..

I believe in law cats are considered 'wild' animals Florence - and are protected but you cannot be made to 'keep them in' or train them etc.

I like cats. Wouldn't have one here in Cyprus - I see them everywhere. Unlike dogs who have mostly been trained to behave as we want them to - cats are much more like they 'are in the wild' and lots of people pay good money to see animals as they are in the wild!

The phrase 'why can't we all just get along with all other living creatures' springs to mind. Ain't never gonna happen tho' is it?

It often seems to be the case that when people complain about dogs, cats, kids - they are really complaining about the people who 'own them'. And want the government to 'legislate' against all the things they don't like.

I don't really agree with that legislation.
Cats are not followers, most of them will never walk nicely on a lead, they will stop and try to go in all sorts of different directions and lie down for a nap, trying to walk a cat sounds like an absolute nightmare.

Then what if something scares it?
You'd be amazed just how difficult they are to control if they try and flee suddenly. I know as my old cat used to go to the vet on a dog slip lead (we were very very poor, he broke out of all the cardboard boxes and we couldn't afford a carrier!)
Luckily he didn't manage to escape but it was very difficult to control him and my arms were pouring blood where he'd clawed me and this was after many peaceful trips there.

If your walking it on lead, what happens if a large dog spots it and it gives chase...?
I can't imagine it going well, even if the at doesnt get caught the experience will terrify it and that cant be healthy for the cat.

I don't agree with people keeping cats indoors permanently either unless they have an unusually lazy cat. They need outdoor access in my opinion.

As for the poo, are you sure some of that isn't foxes or dogs?
Foxes are a similar size and a lot of dog owners don't pick up.

Here, we have a problem with horse poo, why the riders can't put a poo bag on them like they wear in Vienna I do not know, the number of times I have been walking on a narrow pavement and had to go on the road to avoid a huge, steaming pile of excrement. I have even spotted a pile next to my sons nursery!

Me too!! Although I have my home-grown very effective cat deterrent - aka Tai and Ben! Our back garden at least is now free of cats, sadly not the front - my wood pigeon's nest was raided and destroyed yesterday she had nested in an extremely prickly climbing rose on top of the fence, but no, those ******* cats from next door still managed to get her. We can't let Ben and Tai loose on the drive unfortunately, but at least our back garden is pussy free!

I have no issue with cats, actually my two were trained to walk on harnesses as kittens although I no longer bother. One roams and one never leaves the confines of the house or garden. It's far more likely to be fox poo on the drive rather than cats, cats like cover or to be able to bury their cr@p although half the time don't bother. A bucket of bleach soon sorts it out.
I tend to be of the live and let live mentality.

Fingers crossed it comes to you soon.
That made me chuckle...and I do see your point, like most things, it can be much more if an issue in built up areas.
That's what I thought but it doesn't seem to be the case round here....I'm not sure why. They poo on our gravel drive...and I understand why but they don't always bury it. We've had it on our stone steps...obviously we keep a cover on the sand pit. There's one that does it regularly in the a children play area on the grass.....and a pathway round the back of some big warehouse type shops in literally littered with cat poo....thirty piles of various states of decomposition.

I'm not sure but in Calgary they do. My last cat was a dog substitute for me really. I got her at eight years old and started clicker training straight away, she could sit,lie down, wave a paw and touch her nose to a target stick...she even did mini agility. She went its me on holidays traveling in the car on a lead and harness and generally had a great time. Walking on a harness wouldn't require lots of training just regular experience of it. Ive pet sat for people who have a huge cat pen in their garden and the cats only get to go round the garden when they are supervised. They have made their garden hard to leave and,just like you would a dog, go out with treats and get them to stay with them. Their cat one a great with benches on lots of different levels,ladders,scratch posts,dangley springy things and treats hidden everywhere...it was fantastic! Their cats were Burmese and they didn't want them stolen or injured. Maybe where laws like these are passed it means fast aren't see so much as an easy to have minimal effort type pet? I don't know.
It certainly is a different experience with a cat on a lead! I'm not sure about the dog thing, I wondered that too. Maybe where cats are walked dogs are expected to be on lead too....I'm not sure.
Ours issue is definitely at poo...I'm a poo expert now! I've seen them doing it. Also my dogs only roll in fox poo but they treat cat poo as an amazing delicacy!

Funny different people's attitudes...horse poo has never bothered me! Remus likes to eat it but that doesn't bother me either. I was under the impression that vegetarian animals poo didn't contain so many nasties?...not sure if that's right!
Our poor birds. Tonks is really noisy when she finds a cat in the garden but they still come back! When we moved in our neighbours said their cats likes our garden and to just pop them back over the fence if I found them in there. I think I said something along the lines of 'oh I'm sure Tonks will ask them to leave'

Nope it's definitely cat poo, like I say I have seen them doing it regularly and when I go out to pick it up it smells like fast poo....doesn't have the mustiness of fox poo. I used to feel that way but there's only so many times you can have it walked through your house and into you car, your dogs gulp it down on your way out the house and your children fall over in it. The last straw was when I began to find worms in the poo too....and then in our dogs poo after they had eaten it. Yuck!! Like I say I am not anti cat...having owned them, but feel there needs to be a shift in the 'oh well there's just cats what can you do' attitude. There is a bit of a ding dong between neighbours up our road, both cat owners ...like I say there are loads in our street....., but one is a more responsible cat owner and is being driven crazy by cat poo on her drive and the neighbours cats yowling, coming in her house etc etc ....she has house cats.

Catrina - maybe they behave so badly 'round you' because they know you don't like them!

Meow!

Haha! I dooooo like them! Actually I don't like them when I'm walking the dogs lol....but I'm more than happy to stand and chat with one for ages when the dogs aren't with us!

My cat took a real dislike to Paul...he was just too big and loud for her. She adjusted well to Tonks arriving, and Merryn arriving...but never to Paul. In the end she would be happy pottering round the flat when it was just me, Merryn, her and Tonks....they even used to sleep on my bed together...but would hide all the time Paul was about and then sit on my head and purr really loudly kneading my hair when I was in bed. It was a really bad combination with an insomniac baby. So now she is enjoying her retirement with Paul's mum....and I still get to see her at weekends. Two ladies enjoying their retirement together! It's the first time I've ever rehomed a pet so I'm so glad she is with Paul's mum as I hated the the thought of her going back to the Blue Cross .....but hated the fast that she would spend ages hiding behind the tv when Paul was home even more!

Joking aside I think it's probably because we live in an area really over populated by cats. They can't walk outside without bumping into another cat....which isn't a good thing for cats obviously....hence the number of cat brawls we have!

I've got more cats than you have so there neh neh neh!


*There's even a beach in the East here called by everyone 'Cats Beach' because there is such a large colony of stray cats living on it!