Neighbourhood CATS!!!

[cntrlwagdnr]

Cats are eaten quite a bit, told they taste like pork with a slightly sour aftertaste. Personally I think it mad to eat a carnivore, but then I am not a meat eater anyway.

Like I said, squirrels are apparently good eating - cats not so much. Didn't say no one eats them. People eat dogs too and quiet a lot, but then people eat a lot of weird things - well weird to many of us anyway. But I'm curious. Those odd people who feed their poor unsuspecting cats and dog vegetarian diets - is it OK to eat their pets? Just yanking your cord, couldn't resist Here's another off the wall thought. Do poultry and fish count as carnivores? A lot of them eat non-vegetable stuff - some exclusively (shark and aligator are pretty good eating BTW). Things get cloudy when you get to farm animals. Cows are not naturally meat eaters, but they used to put ground up dead lamb meal in their feed.... until mad cow disease put the lid on that. So is a carnivore (or omnivore) a genetic thing or merely what they actually eat - albeit maybe forced to? Can one cow be a vegetarian and the next be a carnivore? Life is full of odd paradoxes that we create without intending to. Life must have been much less complex for the cavemen - not necessarily easy ,pleasant or safe, but simpler. They didn't have time to ponder such things.

I couldn't imagine living without meat and other animal products, it must be difficult at times. Gotta respect those that make that choice though. But what gets me is the hypocrisy of those who don't want to eat dead animals, but want to eat stuff concocted out of vegetable matter and made to look like as much like meat as they can. To me it's like they won't eat meat but secretly they really want to, so they make up this "stuff" to pretend they do. I would think they would enjoy the veggies for what they are. I don't think any of us gardeners ruin our crop like that, do we? Actually, from being an incredibly picky (omnivore) eater as a child, I had an epiphany - in an Indian restaurant in Wales of all places. Now I have not met anything "edible" that I will not eat yet - except certain raw stuff for potential sanitary reasons. However, I'm sure there may be a time.... and I do have my preferences with a few things at the bottom of the list. I almost bought some balut once, but the rest of the family I was shopping with at the time gave me a bad time about it - and some of them are Filipino!

Thought you might like this quote too.
"...... I do serve vegetarians, if you tell me how you like them prepared. But I don't serve vegans, they make to much fuss flopping around in the hot bacon grease...."
It's just a joke... Been trying to think of a similar one for us normal omnivore folk, but no success yet.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Shark I can understand, but there are so many diseases that pass between mammals that eat each other it would put me off. Read a thing a little while ago about some walrus hunters stranded on Spitsbergen in the 1600's, they reckoned one of them died from something he caught eating polar bear meat. Yes, I agree wholeheartedly about the 'pretend meat', I can't understand that, I wonder if it is people who learned to cook with meat and never learned anything further. Butternut squash and veg soup with french bread tonight, vegetable lasagne last night. It is easy to get enough protien with pulses and nuts incorporated in things.

 

[DirtMechanic]

 

[Eeilee]

I love cats but I’d be infuriated if one dug and crapped in my garden.
We built a large enclosure off our utility room that is fully fenced with chain link , including the top, where our cats can go outside without damaging anything or killing wildlife.
They lay around twitching their tails while watching the birds they can’t reach lol
Cat owners are often sadly irresponsible and let their cats roam. Bad for the cat and bad for the neighbors.

 

[cntrlwagdnr]

I love cats but I’d be infuriated if one dug and crapped in my garden.
We built a large enclosure off our utility room that is fully fenced with chain link , including the top, where our cats can go outside without damaging anything or killing wildlife.
They lay around twitching their tails while watching the birds they can’t reach lol
Cat owners are often sadly irresponsible and let their cats roam. Bad for the cat and bad for the neighbors.

Now, that is cool. I've thought about it but there's no way to do it at our house. Gives the cats some outdoors time, keeps them safe and away from other animals, fleas, etc. and keeps them from roaming and annoying other people or killing birds, etc. Good for you!

 

[cpp gardener]

Hooray for Eeilee! That’s the best way to let the cats get fresh air outside. I watched a pet home improvement show a few years ago where they built a tunnel for a cat to get into a pen in a tree. Really cool idea and the cat loved it.

 

[Eeilee]

Yes! I love the tunnel idea too. We call ours a “ catio” since they have enclosed access to the patio as well as a run area. The only drawback is the grass all dies in winter leaving mostly mud. Muddy kitty paws on freshly made bed isn’t the best lol

I might try tiny clover that doesn’t flower for inside the cat enclosure and see if that tolerates the shade and heavy rain we get here in winter.
I grow white and red clovers as green manure on my garden beds in fall/ winter but the last thing we need is a bee stung kitty vet bill haha!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I might try tiny clover that doesn’t flower

The species that grow in the South of England and Oregon probably don't compare, but I would try a few different things that make it as weeds, the one that survives best would probably become dominant.

 

[Eeilee]

Yes or moss since it seems to be spreading in there anyway

 

[Logan]

Could get those electric cat scarers, that gives out a beam of light and sound that only cats can hear.

 

[Sean Regan]

Could get those electric cat scarers, that gives out a beam of light and sound that only cats can hear.
View attachment 94498

What about hedgehogs?

 

[Eeilee]

Automatic sprinklers ?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Automatic sprinklers ?

I saw a system advertised that had a motion detector trigger a high power water jet. Must admit I thought that was a bit OTT, I'm not anti cat, I just want to enjoy the garden.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Still no clue why the complaints about cats. Love cats. I have had a total of 9 at one time, all outside type. Some did like to come inside for a bit. But in all the years with them 20 years, I had no digging issues, never ran across cat poop in any of my beds etc. And you all know my garden by now. And I feed birds, not one of them ever jumped at the feeders, I am outside a lot to notice that. As my boys did go to heaven, the neighbors complained that now they see too many rabbits and squirrels about, and the chipmunks about. And sadly I had to tell my neighbors that my 3 best hunters were in heaven. I now have one sweet lady, a 19 year old, she prefers to be outside, has her own heated house. I see her sometime with a mouse in her mouth, or find one dead on the side. But the little girl can only do so much. My neighbor has a few, two houses over, one visits us, hope she is on task as plenty of work here to do. All in all, I miss my boys. So again, no clue your issues, as I have never had any

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Squirrels dig, I have seen Squirrels did big holes and leave the holes. those I can't stand.