Please get your Cats neutered

FACEPALM

Hi all .
I find it is getting very annoying now as I live in Celbridge and it is over run by cats . This week alone I have seen 3 dead cats on the side of the road because people are letting the cats out to wander the streets .
Dont get me wrong , I like cats. Most of the cats have no collars and there is so many very young cats just wondering the streets which have no homes .
I went for a walk last night and I counted 9 cats in the space of 100m
none with collars .Also every night I hear the cats fighting .
So Please do something about your cats .

Cassiopeia1

Most responsible cat owners would not leave their cats out at night. What you have 'stumbled' upon is the growing problem of feral cats not only in Kildare but all over Ireland. It is a dreadful situation for those poor creatures. I have just paid 180 euros to get my two spayed with our local vet, which is absolutely extortionate. Not everyone can afford to do this. The government has been lobbied about a neutering scheme, but unfortunately this is not a priority,nor ever was (lets be honest!). Perhaps if you see these poor creatures again, contact the Cats refuge in your area. I know I have had the kind people at our rescue centre trap a few unfortunates that I had spotted.

wexford202

It seems that they are all stray and I wouldn't fancy my luck trying to catch them.

Mayybe report them to ISPCA I don't know if they would be able to do a whole lot but maybe catch come stray ones and neuter them

Bet you saw no mice on your walk though :P

lauratkd

€180 for two cats??? That is extorsion! My vet did my cats for €40 each as far as I remember because she was subsidised by the ISPCA. I would ring around a few vets before you get any procedures done again.

Also, not all cats are indoor cats. I have two cats and they spend most of their time outdoors - they hate being indoors at night and will cry and scratch at doors until I let them out. So, most "responsible" cat owners will not necessarily keep them indoors at night (it's probably safer then anyway as there would be less road traffic). Also, I never put collers on my cats as they either pull them off or they loose them. Collars have to be loose enough so the cats head can squeeze out if the collar gets caught in something so I went through about3 or 4 collars with each cat until I gave up!!

I do DEFINTELY agree though that cat owners should get their cats neutered/spayed esp males. If females are not being done, owners must be willing to keep/rehome the kittens.

ISDW

Yep, definitely agree all cats should be neutered/spayed, but there is differing opinion on whether cats should wear collars or not. Collars can get caught on branches etc, and the cat can be strangled. You can obviously get collars that release under pressure, but I still don't trust them.

My cats are all neutered, but none of them wear collars for their own safety. However, we live in the middle of fields, with a little lane leading down to our house that only vehicles coming to our house use, and the lane at the top of that one has very little traffic on it. They are all microchipped.

MaryK666

I too live in Celbridge and I've seen the number of cats that seem to indiscriminately wander around some of the estates. Some are quite tame and appear well-fed but some are probably feral or semi-feral. One of my neighbours constantly complains about cats digging up plants in his back garden but he can do nothing about it except for keeping an eye out for them.
I have two rescue cats who were both semi-feral when I got them, aged about 1 year, but they have become total lap-cats now and love the indoor life. They are both neutered and vaccinated, but as one is FIV+ I have installed a cat fence which I imported from the US which confines them to the garden. This also has the added advantage of keeping other cats out so we don't have any problems and don't have to worry about them.
It's all too easy for people to get cats as pets and not all are responsble enough to bother with neutering and vaccinations. The fact that some vets charge handsomely for their work is probably another contributing factor.
Cat's quickly grow out of the cute kitten stage and become independent minded creatures who require regular trips to the vet and suddenly the cute, low-maintenence pet becomes an expensive comodity. It's all too easy, when this happens or the novelty wears off, for certain individuals to just ignore them and allow them to run wild, un-vaccinated and un-neutered.
I believe that there should be some form of legislation that requires cat owners to micro-chip, vaccinate and neuter their cats and those not in compliance should be fined. There should also be a system in place where those on lower incomes should be provided with these services at a reduced rate as, until something is done, the problems will continue and the feral cat population will continue to grow.

PCros

Oh god this thread has been done to death! Any of the cat owners on here are responsible and have had their cats spayed so no point preaching on about it here.

Main problem is feral cats not house cats.

FACEPALM

PCros wrote: »

Oh god this thread has been done to death! Any of the cat owners on here are responsible and have had their cats spayed so no point preaching on about it here.

Main problem is feral cats not house cats.

Pointless post. Your opinion does not reflect everyone . just your own!!

PCros

Saying that cat owners on boards is not an opinion, its a fact! Bit of a difference there.

FACEPALM

PCros wrote: »

Saying that cat owners on boards is not an opinion, its a fact! Bit of a difference there.

Im not going to get drawn into an arguement with you . I will take your fact onboard

Could you get your boards cat friends to have a word with the cat owners in Celbridge as they must not be boards.ie users

PCros

FACEPALM wrote: »

Im not going to get drawn into an arguement with you . I will take your fact onboard

Could you get your boards cat friends to have a word with the cat owners in Celbridge as they must not be boards.ie users

Don't know anyone in Cellbridge sorry.

useful_contacts

FACEPALM wrote: »

Hi all .
I find it is getting very annoying now as I live in Celbridge and it is over run by cats . This week alone I have seen 3 dead cats on the side of the road because people are letting the cats out to wander the streets .
Dont get me wrong , I like cats. Most of the cats have no collars and there is so many very young cats just wondering the streets which have no homes .
I went for a walk last night and I counted 9 cats in the space of 100m
none with collars .Also every night I hear the cats fighting .
So Please do something about your cats .

my cats netured and is only allowed out the garden for a few minutes as hes an indoor cat.

i hate people who just let their cats out all day every day- these cats are more likley to be run over. I chose to have my guy as an indoor cat and hes content

useful_contacts

Cassiopeia1 wrote: »

Most responsible cat owners would not leave their cats out at night. What you have 'stumbled' upon is the growing problem of feral cats not only in Kildare but all over Ireland. It is a dreadful situation for those poor creatures. I have just paid 180 euros to get my two spayed with our local vet, which is absolutely extortionate. Not everyone can afford to do this. The government has been lobbied about a neutering scheme, but unfortunately this is not a priority,nor ever was (lets be honest!). Perhaps if you see these poor creatures again, contact the Cats refuge in your area. I know I have had the kind people at our rescue centre trap a few unfortunates that I had spotted.

HOLY CRAP!

my male was fixed on wednesday and i was charged 54euro, and that included vet checking him out 2 days before to see what he ready

star-pants

Guys take it down a notch eh?

I agree with PCros actually, this has been said many times in this forum, and the majority of cat owners on here are responsible owners, those that are new, get given advice to neuter their cat etc.
For now, that's all we can really do, unless you want to go around Celbridge putting up flyers telling people to neuter their cats. It's to make the general public more aware, that they're doing the right thing by neutering, stopping unwanted kittens and as you say many strays going around and potentially getting killed.
Also just a point, some people will chip their cat but not put a collar on so it doesn't mean every non-collared cat you see is a stray.

FACEPALM

star-pants wrote: »

Guys take it down a notch eh?

I agree with PCros actually, this has been said many times in this forum, and the majority of cat owners on here are responsible owners, those that are new, get given advice to neuter their cat etc.
For now, that's all we can really do, unless you want to go around Celbridge putting up flyers telling people to neuter their cats. It's to make the general public more aware, that they're doing the right thing by neutering, stopping unwanted kittens and as you say many strays going around and potentially getting killed.
Also just a point, some people will chip their cat but not put a collar on so it doesn't mean every non-collared cat you see is a stray.

If you walked down my road for the first time I know the first thing you would says is ''Look at all the cats'' theres loads .
My main issue is that theses cats are fighting every night , Getting killed on the main road ( 3 this week ) and breeding like rabbits ( except there cats:)

star-pants

Aye and that's a fine point to make, but just perhaps it's the wording, sometimes people take things up the wrong way. But posting in this forum going 'people neuter your cats' when most of them most likely have, just rubs people the wrong way.

I actually think it'd be a good idea to make the public more aware of these things, get statistics, put up flyers (if allowed) things like that, and if vets did promotions or something like discount first X amount of people who book in a neutering I'd say more people would get it done.