Cats on tables or work surfaces!

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

I'm already in a 'moody' after reading the British Census thread about the 1901 Census and GenesReunited, so I thought I'd have another grump!

I'm a dog lover and do not care for cats very much, but I'm appalled by TV adverts showing a cat on a kitchen work surface ........ walking all over it! We all know where cats go during their daily walkabouts, so straight from there onto these surfaces, an area which should be spotlessly clean!

Before anybody asks, although our dogs were loved a lot and were considered as part of the family, they were never allowed on beds or furniture, they laid on the carpets during the day and had their own bed to sleep in overnight.

We also always cleaned up 'their mess' most of this was on gravel behind our garden pond where they were trained to go, but if one had an accident whilst out walking, we picked it up using a poly-bag before pooper-scoopers were invented ...... pity some cat owners don't do the same.

[Chasing Caseys]

I agree with you totally........ and what i find even more discusting is that i have never known anyone i know with a cat to give it a bath ! ( can you bath cats ?) Even my parrot has a shower !

[eli08]

being a animal lover in general "all living creature`s in fact"I felt I had to reply to your opinion with my opinion,fortunately or unfortunately cats do tend to bury the waste product so are you suggesting cat owners dig everyone`s garden up ,although the thought of it does amuse me Dog owners carrying bags,Cat owners carrying shovel`s !!!

We also always cleaned up 'their mess' most of this was on gravel behind our garden pond where they were trained to go, but if one had an accident whilst out walking, we picked it up using a poly-bag before pooper-scoopers were invented ...... pity some cat owners don't do the same.[/QUOTE]

[eli08]

Yes you can bathe cats they generally keep them themselves clean but on the odd occassion it has to be done I have been a dog owner ,bird owner ,donkey owner,hedgehog owner to name but a few and I have found they can be trained equally to do as you wish,I find them equally as intelligent as eachother and kindness is always better than force.

I agree with you totally........ and what i find even more discusting is that i have never known anyone i know with a cat to give it a bath ! ( can you bath cats ?) Even my parrot has a shower !

[Copper]

My cat is not allowed on any suface in the kitchen. I refused to even consider putting an offer in for a house when I saw a cat walking all over the work surface in the kitchen! My cat sleeps on a bed during the day in winter but I have a special blanket which he sleeps on.

I have been known to bath my cat when he has come in with paint? on him but it was a right battle. If you don't bath cats they smell fine but if you don't bath dogs they smell doggy. We used to have a poodle and she was bathed on a regular basis.

[Chasing Caseys]

I cant ever imagine owning a cat unless one decided to own me as has happened to friends of mine when a one turned up at their door and stayed !
But my experience of cats 1. when i was small (for no reason, really !) one swipped my face with claws out and just missed my eye. 2. my aunt had a very spoilt Burmese that wore a gold chain round its neck that used to dive bomb anyone walking under the open plan stairs ! so i havent trusted them since !

[Patrisia]

Diane, you have hit on two of my pet grumps!
I have had cats in the past, as many as four at one time, and they were never allowed on tables or anywhere else they shouldn't have been, it was just a matter of firm but kind training. I certainly bathed them if they needed it, one had a pechant for rifling through rubbish bins and needed de-ponging on a regular basis! Cats do clean themselves but you never know where they have been, so I cannot understand people who let them go anywhere near food areas.
My dog never 'dumps' until she is taken for her daily walk, she will even wait until she can find two blades of grass, and we always pick up after her. So I get absolutely incensed when dogs are allowed to roam, dump outside my door, and even when taken out, their owners can't be bothered to clean up their mess.
Grrrrrr!
Which reminds me, she needs a bath!

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

being a animal lover in general "all living creature`s in fact"I felt I had to reply to your opinion with my opinion,fortunately or unfortunately cats do tend to bury the waste product so are you suggesting cat owners dig everyone`s garden up ,although the thought of it does amuse me Dog owners carrying bags,Cat owners carrying shovel`s !!!

Well, being an avid gardener and wild-life lover, I prefer to garden without wearing gloves, to get the feel of the soil, but owing to cats 'going' in other peoples' gardens, I have to wear gloves to protect myself.

I have two neighbours with different views on their cats. One is a responsible owner and although her two cats are aged about ten, they always go indoors to use their litter tray, so never any mess from them!

My next door neighbour has four cats, not one of them buries their mess ..... I have seen this with all four of them and my husband has to clear the mess up, before he cuts the two lawns of the gardens we look after for neighbours, as these four cats do it on top of the lawn, no attempt to bury it!

[eli08]

I think it`s the same all over cats dogs people rabbits they`ll do whatever you let them get away with is my experience,training them all is easy if you know how,cats will come to you if they want to be friends dogs are more sociable with regard to cats on worktops i cannot think why they would be up there unless they are being fed on the work top. I too have been scratched by a cat as a child i was being too familiar with it and foolishly hugged it to my face,I have also been bitten many times by dogs needing stitches to my face again not knowing the dog my own fault and him not knowing me ,I wouldn`t be so familiar with people so i learnt not to be with animals either.

[eli08]

Both my cats also come inside to use the cat tray because that`s what i trained them to do,but i did object to my neighbour`s cat coming into my house and twice using my lounge as a toilet so 2 carpets later we solved the problem thats a long story,I also have the problem gardening I am however trying something to stop it ,I`ll let you know how I get on ,when I lived in Germany my ex-husband and myself worked as greenkeepers at many golf clubs and the problem there was moles and wild boar digging the greens and fairways up we stumbled accross a old remedy of placing human hair from the local hairdressers in the mole run plus we mixed it in with the soil it kept them at bay,I have toyed with the idea of trying it along my boarders being a retired hairdresser it looks like i`ll be taking a few more customers on to keep up my supplies that`s if it works.