Cat Removal

magpie

Anyone know if Dublin City Council or alternately any voluntary organisations remove unwanted populations of feral cats?

My area is infested with them and they are posing a serious health risk by defecating all over areas that children play in. Clearly they need at the very least to be neutered, if not culled.

Alternately what is the legal situation viz-a-viz trapping and removing them yourself?

BaZmO*

I remember seeing a doucmentary a couple of years back on the BBC and it was about feral cats and the like. The RSPCA would go out in badly infected areas and neuter any ferals and how you'd know if one had been neutered would be by their ears because any ones that were done would have the end of their ear clipped to give a slightly rounded look.

Now, of course that was in England but surely a phone call to the DSPCA would let you know if they do the same over here?

B.

koneko

I'd say the DSPCA or your local council would be the best people to contact, at least to find out what the options are or who to contact.

magpie

From the DSCPCA website

With a million feral cats in the city of Dublin, and the same number again nationwide, the DSPCA has declared a state of emergency. It is said the amount of wild cats roaming and breeding uncontrollably in Ireland had reached crisis point. While other countries such as Britain and America have a state-supported programme of Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR), Ireland has no such practice. There is no government body responsible for the plight of stray and feral cats, and an independent Internet petition destined for the Department of the Environment has attracted over 400 signatories. In addition, the DSPCA has invited animal welfare groups, cat associations and other interested parties to the an informal meeting at its Rathfarnam premises to debate the first step in tackling the problem. Jimmy Cahill, of the DSPCA, said it was vital to form a united voice in asking the Government or councils to take action. He said the feral cat problem was spread across Dublin, but was worst near hospitals and factories, in Ballymun. Ballyfermot, Blanchardstown and Clondalkin

A million FFS. Surely it's past the stage of TNR at this point? Might it not be more advisable to carry out a widespread cull?

jack shictt

magpie wrote:

Anyone know if Dublin City Council or alternately any voluntary organisations remove unwanted populations of feral cats?

My area is infested with them and they are posing a serious health risk by defecating all over areas that children play in. Clearly they need at the very least to be neutered, if not culled.

Alternately what is the legal situation viz-a-viz trapping and removing them yourself?

Ehhhhhh. go buy urself one shotgun and lots and lots of cartridges and a couple of catnip plants. Plant the catnip all the cats within a ten mile radius will arrive. then start shooting cat prob solved.

koneko

"jack shictt",
Unless you have something to add to the topic, please don't troll/spam, mmkay?

Alun

We've got two neutered female cats. Despite the fact that they're neutered they still apparently give off the right pheromones or something which every spring attracts the same gang of 3 or 4 scraggy, flea ridden, caterwauling toms on the prowl every night, keeping us and the neighbours awake. We keep them inside as much as possible at night during this period, but that doesn't discourage the toms unfortunately.

We never see the perpetrators for the rest of the year, so I guess they're coming from far afield.

The only progress I've made on this is that my vet said that if I can manage to trap them (yeah right!) she'd neuter them for a reduced fee. She's lived in the UK, you see, and understands the problem and the solution. Calls to the local council are met with a "not my problem" response.

Sigma Force

Magpie why must you insist on cruelty first...you can kill as many cat as you like but more will come to replace them...trapping (humanley) neutering and releasing is the only long term option for stray/feral cats as long as there is a small colony of neutered/spayed cats in an area and kept in control by TNR (trap neuter realease) there wouldnt be such a problem.

At the moment there is an appeal out for people in the Dublin area to put up posters in their vets etc.

Do something positive instead of insiting on inflicting pain and cruelty and in the end you woudlnt solve the long term problem.

Contact kitten adoption or cats aid in Dublin if you want to do something positive.

TNR works! Also some ferals can be rehomed to country homes as farm cats and younger kittens and some cats tamed to become house pets.
Culling isn't a long term solution and if cats have no where to go and there is no other option than having them humanely put to sleep is a last restort. Neutering a colony of cats takes time but it works.

magpie

Contact kitten adoption or cats aid in Dublin if you want to do something positive.

Will they come out and TNR our wild cats for free? If so I'd be delighted to contact them. And will this stop the aforementioned cats from defecating all over my garden?

Magpie why must you insist on cruelty first

I don't, I'm just sick of cleaning up bagful after bagful of faeces left behind by these vermin who are no better in my book than rats, and much more intrusive.

hadook

If you kill the ferals you will end up with rats. Rats outnumber people & the ferals in Ireland already! Rats are a far bigger problem in an area with kids. The diseases rats carry are a lot nastier than cat diseases.

TNR is your best bet.

If you neuter there won't be any kittens, no kittens means no new cats.

You get to sleep at night knowing that the ferals are dealing with rats & mice for you. Rats can chew through concrete did you know that? A house is not secure against a determined rat.

Ferals have a short enough life span - give them a chance to live out their lives the best they can.

Contact the dspca, and the other cat groups, see if they can help with the TNR.

Besides, more ferals will move in if you get rid of this lot and you've got the problem all over again. Healthy neutered ferals are a lot easier to deal with.
I have 3 ferals living in my garden - I rarely see them from one end of the week to the other. My rat population has dropped by a huge amount.

stratos

When was the last time you saw a mouse or a huge rat ?

stratos

didn't think so

NotMe

magpie wrote:

My area is infested with them

Move out of the dump?

Or... get a cat. My cat chases away any other ones that come in the garden.

Tiriel

stratos wrote:

When was the last time you saw a mouse or a huge rat ?

walking along by Glenomena, UCD .. every evening this week.. rats..
wouldn't mind a few of those nice kitties.. drop em out this way!

magpie

Notme: my area is infested with cats, not rats, you fool!

Update from the DSPCA. Get this, if you will. They will come and TNR the cats if I promise to feed and look after them. I enquired if this would stop them defecating on my garden the whole time, to which the halfwit in charge replied that 'cats don't really defecate in gardens, if they do they'll use a flowerbed and cover it up afterwards'.

Whoever those cats have doing PR for them, it's working. Anyway, that's the humane route exhausted, now to move on to the imported russian bear traps...

hadook

stratos wrote:

When was the last time you saw a mouse or a huge rat ?

Last night in Raheny I saw a rat.

Last mouse I saw was walking the dog in Navan on Wed night.

morgana

magpie wrote:

Notme: my area is infested with cats, not rats, you fool!
...

That was fully understood. No cats = Rats & Mice. And they multiply waaay faster than cats.
I'd have cats any time.
Whats so bad about feeding the neutered/spayedferals? A big bag of cat kibbles will go a long way and won't cost a lot. A small price to pay for a good conscience and doing something worthwhile.
Killing them is NOT the best option.

BaZmO*

morgana wrote:

Whats so bad about feeding the neutered/spayedferals? A big bag of cat kibbles will go a long way and won't cost a lot.

:rolleyes: God! Do people actually read the posts of others before they get all sarky and condescending?

If you actually read the original post you would have seen that the original poster said...

magpie wrote:

My area is infested with them and they are posing a serious health risk by defecating all over areas that children play in. Clearly they need at the very least to be neutered, if not culled.

Which in my opinion he has a fair enough point.

B.

CookieCat

Have read this with interest as someone who is actively involved in cat rescue welfare.
1. Yes cats pooping in your garden is no joke, and I do empathize with your situation.
Can anything be done apart from poisoning/killing these animals? Yes.

2.Which agencies have you contacted, about this situation?Cats aid and Kitten Adoption do provide a TNR service which means the cats will be spayed neutered and returned to where they came from. There is no placements for feral cats, which is a welfare issue and perhaps you may like to take that up with the dept of the environment.

3. The word "Free" Has been used in your post.Most agency are not funded and are run by volunteers who depend on public donations to carry on their work, and IMO the Ireland cat population and the public would be worse off without such volunteers. So although we provide this service, the public are expected to donate what they can afford to help. Please note other agencies will only offer TNR for a set fee.Many agencies will KILL the cats. Which is unproductive as euthinasia does not work. It only means more cats will come.

4. What have you done to cat proof your garden? I am afraid none of the suggestions above will work. Kitten Adoption/Cat Aid do provide adequate advice on how to cat proof your garden, but it costs money to do, and in our experience, we have found that the general public who moan about cats in their garden, but when given a logical and humane solution they complain because it may cost them money.

The issue of feral cats is not an animal rights or welfare issue, it is a human responsibility issue. If more people were responsible for neutering/spaying and indeed understanding the nature of cats, there would not be this problem.


Added the DSPCA do not come out and trap cats, so that info is wrong.

magpie

Added the DSPCA do not come out and trap cats, so that info is wrong.

Not what Jimmy Cahill their general manager told me. For more info: dspca@eircom.net

cats will be spayed neutered and returned to where they came from

As I asked the dscpa with no response, will this stop them defecating in my garden? If not why should I donate to have it done?

What have you done to cat proof your garden?

All the usual sprays, powders, bottles and unctions. have stoppped short at construction work. What do you suggest?

LegacyUser

Alun wrote:

We've got two neutered female cats. Despite the fact that they're neutered they still apparently give off the right pheromones or something which every spring attracts the same gang of 3 or 4 scraggy, flea ridden, caterwauling toms on the prowl every night

Is that true!! I have two cats .. only had them since september .. they have had the op already. I thought oncew they had the op the toms would not get the scent.

Alun

bubby wrote:

Is that true!! I have two cats .. only had them since september .. they have had the op already. I thought oncew they had the op the toms would not get the scent.

Well, it certainly didn't stop them last year! We'll have to see whether they still come around this season which can't be too far away.

CookieCat

The DSPCA do not come out and trap cats. They use other agencies to do that.Perhaps you picked Jimmy up wrong.They will however neuter/spay feral cats.

Cats Aid kitten Adoption will spay/neuter and return. Why should you make a donation.Well that would be a matter with you and your conscience. As I said these voluntary agencies can only offer a service if they have adequate funding to continue to work.

To ensure cats do not enter your garden you need adequate cat proof fencing which I am sure either of these agencies would be happy to discuss.

Then it is up to you. You can resolve this matter in a humane matter, it may cost you a few hundred euro.I suppose it comes down to how much you want these cats to stop coming into your garden. Some people readily put up fencing and netting to resolve the problem, others just continue to moan and think someone else should take care of these cats.At the end of the day the feral cat problem in Ireland is down to irresponsible ownership.

magpie

So neutering them doesn't stop them defecating in your garden then? Thanks for the painfully circuitous response there.

CookieCat

Nope. Simple biology deems what goes in must come out Removal of the reproductive organs will not stop them, did you think it would Cat proof fencing will.
Good luck.

magpie

did you think it would

Well, given that all the other cat-loving types suggested this as a way of solving my problem I assumed, obviously rashly, that it was in some way related.

Catproof fence and/or big rat traps with kittikat on them it is then.

landser

poison them. cheap and quick. we do it to rats on a widespread basis and few people have any problem with it, so why not verminous feral cats?

hadook

landser wrote:

poison them. cheap and quick. we do it to rats on a widespread basis and few people have any problem with it, so why not verminous feral cats?

Given that they want to remove the cats partly because of children I don't think rat poison is the way to go.

A catproof fence sounds like the best idea for your situation so far - keeps the cats out without killing them.

Have you considered taking the dspca up on the offer to help neuter/spay? Kittens will find it easier to get through a lot of fencing than adults. Better the devil you know in this case!

landser

hadook wrote:

Given that they want to remove the cats partly because of children I don't think rat poison is the way to go.
QUOTE]

well, i reckon that you might place the poison in an area where kids can't get to. further, the poison is administered directly, i.e. fed to the cats, unlike rat poison, which is left lying around. Feral cats are habituated to humans and therefore will not run away as a rule unless directly threatened. this allows
you to move close enough to them to throw poisoned bait to them.

lomb

landser wrote:

hadook wrote:

Given that they want to remove the cats partly because of children I don't think rat poison is the way to go.
QUOTE]

well, i reckon that you might place the poison in an area where kids can't get to. further, the poison is administered directly, i.e. fed to the cats, unlike rat poison, which is left lying around. Feral cats are habituated to humans and therefore will not run away as a rule unless directly threatened. this allows
you to move close enough to them to throw poisoned bait to them.

not a pleasant way to die though. warfarin causes sever internal bleeding and it is a slow painful death. obviously humanity goes out the window :rolleyes:

landser

lomb wrote:

landser wrote:

not a pleasant way to die though. warfarin causes sever internal bleeding and it is a slow painful death. obviously humanity goes out the window :rolleyes:

This is why we have probelms withe feral cats. they remind people of their kitty at home. there is no moral difference between poisoning rats and poisoning cats.