The Cat Thread

:(

I wouldn't worry about it unless you live in a hot spot... There's a million and one other things that will get them first.

That line of argument doesn't tend to go down so well with my girlfriend!

Don't worry about the mad cat-killer, they'll probably die of something else first before he gets around to them...

The alternative is to lock them in and if they are used to being outdoors they will be fucking miserable

Yep, locking them in overnight is the compromise we've gone for. And they don't like that too much as it is...

Same here. The thing is though, once they go out the garden door, there's no rules or anyone to protect them. It's literally just brutal nature, with animals killing other animals with their faces.

Or they just go and get fed by the neighbours.

:( WAFC

Arthur's not particularly brutal...

Ha! NSFW.

Yep. According to the police, the culprit (and they have a wikipedia page - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M25_cat_killer) only strikes once in a road.

The cat was mutilated, so they are fairly certain it's the same culprit as the others.

really hope he / she gets caught. very strange and horrible.

There was some concern about the cat killer round our way (Catford) and apparently one of the cat charities is doing most of the tracking/documenting. There were lots of stories of decapitated cats that had nothing to do with the cat killer, though, and were presumed to be work of foxes.

Do foxes attack cats? We had one chase ours into the house, but that was because s/he had young cubs in a den on the embankment behind our garden.

But I don't think they consider them as prey normally.

Fuck yes they do. One had a pretty good go at ours... left two massive holes in his back.

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I'm very much not an authority on such things, but that was what I heard as the explanation for the decapitated cats, ie. not always the work of a human cat killer. It could be that they were dead/dying from other causes and the foxes have a go. I imagine the police can work out whether it's another animal or a human with a blade that's done it though.

Tearing and cutting are very different things - I would imagine that as you say this is fairly clear to a motivated observer.

It's such a nasty act to mutilate a pet, but that said I'm not saying this from the perspective of a mouse I suppose. Still, I'd be hugely upset and very angry if James or Higgs was a victim of this.

I remember as a teen watching my two cats playing with a couple of fox cubs and their mother in my garden. It was slightly scary at first but proper cute.

In our old place our small female cat and an adult fox used to sleep in the garden during the day yards away from each other and just ignore each other. Used to scare the crap out of me but nothing ever happened

Bit more than a nasty act. An animal killing another is one thing, but a human torturing and maiming an animal is aome thing quite different.

Hope the person gets caught soon, and no animal or owner has to suffer.

There are other examples of killing and torturing for kicks in the animal kingdom, but humans seem to have a near monopoly on that sick shit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_killing

There is a fox who sleeps on the roof of our garage most days. Sometimes the neighbours cat curls up with him. I think I saw him grooming her once. Probably not healthy behaviour!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA6yO4PmjJ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnj6cnlIjM4

I have some wormer (Panacur) and have been meaning to treat buddy as I thought it was a preventative kind of thing, but reading the packaging seems to suggest it's more of a treatment for when a cat is infected. How do you guys give treatment as a routine thing, and if not how do you know when to give it?

Also the little guy is getting castrated next week, and his chip put in at the same time. Anything I should know in advance? We're planning to start introducing to the outside world in small doses soon before letting him roam.