Cats should wear bells?

[Ever Green]

For cats the bell tolls

Well the first thing is that I am not anti-cat. I quite like cats and love mine.
With my cat comes responsibility. You don’t need to be a scientist to see how many kills your own cat makes, let alone times by the millions of other cats in this country.
Even the RSPB advise on the use of bells on cats. Wake up and smell the rotting carcases!

If you want more UK info go here:
I'm sure there are counter argument sites out there as well.

The RSPB: Advice
The RSPB: Advice: Collar that cat
The RSPB: Advice
The RSPB: Advice: Are cats causing bird declines?
The RSPB: Advice: Cat owners

Cats are not depleting the bird populations in UK, we are. Man that is. We build on their habitats and drive them into towns and areas that they are unfamiliar with and MUCH denser populations of predators. Crows take their toll on small birds and are thriving in towns. Some birds do well, Wood pigeons Blue jays for example. Many others don’t. Imagine a situation where natural bird food stocks are low due to sustained habitat loss, pollution, council tree chopping, pesticides etc etc etc. and predation is very high due to lots of new houses in green belt areas and everywhere else with cats (thanks to the new planning permission law change). Some people have multiple cats. We cat owners have a responsibility to not help to make this bad situation worse.

I don’t think cats will be stupid enough to take on a rat. They are formidable adept fighters and could do a lot of damage to a cat. Maybe a huge Tom cat with a bad attitude but the majority of cats will stick to weaker easier prey.

There are many causes of bird, small mammal and reptile etc decline in the UK and I can say with pride that my cat is not contributing to this particular holocaust.

To date my cat has killed one mouse. It must have climbed through a window and I found it dead and uneated by my cats food bowl.

Be honest, what has your cat killed this week?

Also, a bell will alert your neighbours when your cat decides to dump a load of worms and Toxoplasmosis on his/her carrots!

What do you think?

[Hammer]

I can think of a few people who should wear bells, so we know when they are coming !
I agree i had encouraged Finches, Tits and Robins into my garden only for new neighbors to move in next door with four cats, now i worry when i see the birds feeding, although Robins are clever, cautious birds and the others are very fast, but you have given me an idea, i will ask the neighbors to put bells on the cats.

Some rats in Ireland have been deliberately infected with Hepatitis and i had to train my dogs not to kill rats. My friends living next to a nearby farm lost two dogs this way, they only found out what it was when a third dog got very, very ill and for a time the vet was baffled - but he cracked it in the end, the dog survived but was never the same, nervous system was damaged.
Regards Hammer

[poohpouri]

agree our cat has a bell as was worried about her catching birds,plus our neighbours are avid bird watchers

[Ever Green]

Hi Hammer,
Don't understand. Why have rats been infected? Who by?

[Ever Green]

Hello Poohpouri,
Do you think the bell bothers your cat? Do you think it works as a deterrent?
Does your cat still bring home dead animals?
Thanks

[adgecutler]

It's nice to see some cat owners are responsible and care about the potential damage they can do. Unfortunately I live on a housing estate with many cats and I can say I have never seen one with a bell, just across the road is a railway embankment which harbours much wildlife and the cats stalk it in numbers which makes me as a nature lover very angry.
I would like to see some form of legislation be passed to make bells compulsary, they dont cost much and save many lives.
Jamie.

[Hammer]

Hi Ever Green,
In a totally irresponsible and misguided attempt to kill off rats, it was done by a few Farmers.
Regards Hammer

[poohpouri]

Originally Posted by Ever Green

Hello Poohpouri,
Do you think the bell bothers your cat? Do you think it works as a deterrent?
Does your cat still bring home dead animals?
Thanks

The bell did amuse our cat at first but she is use to it now and it doesn't bother her, it has stopped her catching any birds etc as we have watched her trying to sneak up on a bird but the bell warned the bird off

[Turfwars]

This probably won't go down overly well but I am against putting bells on cats.

It can often be distressing for the cat and can be very dangerous for them too. I am definitely not promoting the killing of animals but natural predators are an essential part of the food chain and natural selection. They consume the weaker specimens of a species and in so doing they keep that species strong.

I'm not really after a drawn out debate with this post but there is another side to the story. It is hardly the cat's fault that it has been domesticated and put in close proximity to birds. As such it is not fair to give it a constant ringing in its ears!

*Besides which, I think our cat, Boris, is too dopey to catch birds. He's never brought anything back to the house. We have, however, had "a pleasant little trip" down to the vets with him because he had a fairly sizeable blade of grass stuck in his throat that was annoying him. If he's so easily defeated by grass then I think that a rat would definitely be out of the question for him!

[johnmichael]

If we are responsible,(as indicated in the original question),forced contraception should be imposed to all mankind,this would solve many other problems if human birth rate was limited!

[airconednightmare]

meh, cats kill birds and always have, i agree with the last two comments.

they also kill mice, rats, rabbits and other animals gardeners don't tend to like. you win some, you loose some.

lets not forget that too many birds would mean not enough earth worms....