Just found out from my neighbour that she's lost two cats in three days. According to the vet, they were poisoned by antifreeze

Apparently cats love the taste and smell of antifreeze, so just be cautious if you or any neighbours have any easily accessible sources.

Oh that's so sad. Thanks for letting us know.

Poor little things. So glad mine are house cats.

Yes, there was a thread on here about this quite a while back.

IIRC in the USA, they have introduced antifreeze, which has a bitter taste, in order to dissuade cats from eating it. At least in some states.

So the moral is, dispose of anti freeze carefully.

They need to publicise it more so people know.
How many people spill it while topping up. How many people have leaks.

Mind you knowing the idiots in this world if it were publicised more, they would be leaving little pots of it around on purpose

They would, wouldn't they. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with people.

I wish it had been publicised that dogs can't stomach macademia nuts. I gave my dog a macademia nut cookie when she was a pup and she got gastric flu! Strange the way things affect animals and we wouldn't ever think of it. Thanks for posting OP.

Exactly. Your pet cat shouldn't have to die in this way, when it could easily be avoided.

The thing is when you have cats, its not just going to have an effect on your life, I dont know what its called, but is it 'mating season'? ... and cats make those awful sounds. Lucky enough, Im a deep sleeper, and dont wake to that low sounds, but I had a mate who was a light sleeper, and because her neighbour had cats, my friend had to endure the effects of her having a cat, when she herself did not make or have anything that makes her neighbour wake at all hours of the night. So I can understand why someone would be tempted to get rid of noisy cats, while I dont condone it mind, I do find it understandable. To have a cat isnt only going to affect you, its going to affect others, and I think that cat owners who dont keep their cats indoors can be selfish. They also, dig up mud on your walled flower bed, uriniate on your flowers... does my neihgbour compensate me if my flowers were to die as a result of being wee'd on... no. she does not. Yes cats can be nice, but the owners need to be accounted for at the end of the day.

I can understand people getting pissed off but killing them? You understand that? You would not kill your noisy untidy neighbour so no reason to kill a cat.

My SIL was told by a copper once to boil fish in epson salts to kill her neighbour's 6 cats. but then thats the way of the world these days people wont stop thier cats going out and now its not unusual to have 5 or 6 of them. People are getting fed up and will do what it takes to stop it.

Completely agree. That's why I made the decision to have house cats.

My cats = my responsibility.

I think more animal owners should be more like you. And while my post was a wee bit ranty, I do think if we all took a little more thought about how pets can affects those that live near us it would be great. And while killing them would be wrong, there has to be more that people do sometimes to be a bit nicer to their non-pet-owners neighbours, sounds a bit hippy but.... surely we should all be able to live happily together and in peace and all that jazz

I've just posted a status on facebook about it asked people to copy and paste.

My mum is plagued by cats - one neighbour has 6, another 3 and then theres a few singles as well. As Mums' garden is sort of 'neutral ground' it gets treated as one giant litter tray Then theres the effect on the local bird & small animal population. Of course Mum wouldn't harm them, but I can imagine many may well see them as a pest to be controlled like they would moles or rats.
I do think people ought to consider the local cat density before getting more than one cat - maybe hold off having one at all if there are already a lot in the neighbourhood.

Right. And maybe people ought to think of doing that with children too.

Exactly Why don't people just consider the amount of children already in their street (annoying the neighbours with their ball games and screaming etc) before deciding to have children themselves? it's just so inconsiderate

Easy answer for people who don't like cats in their garden is a cat repeller

Or get a particularly visious bulldog on your front garden.

Thats mean .

Yes, my little princess is a house cat too, and she's absolutely fine. It adds years onto their lives and keeps them safe from these nutters.

There was a spate of cat killings in Nottingham not so long ago, where person/persons unknown were putting down antifreeze in random gardens and shooting cats with an air rifle. It saddens me that there are people like this in the world.

Anti freeze does worry me as my cat loves the outdoors. Luckily one of our next door neighbours is too posh to spill anything without cleaning it up and the other next door neighbours have had cats of their own and realise the danger. We are having new houses built near us soon though so I hope the cat doesn't explore too far in their direction once they're built. Fortunately I doubt she will as she seems to like staying fairly close to home and just sleeps in the bushes in the garden.

I know it can be frustrating when cats foul in your garden but it's so easy to deter them (scare them off when you see them, put down anti fouling lemon scented pellets, buy a cat scarer...)

It actually inst easy at all . I know my SIL was driven to despair over it and that when a copper told her about the fish boiled in epson salt

If it were easy people would not take drastic measures.

also dont get to worried about Anti freeze ive had cats all my life and nothing like that happened to them nor to anyone I know. be more worried about the roads!

Why should people have to go to such bother and expense? They didn't buy the cat. Surely it is up to the cat-owner to keep their pet indoors instead of letting them roam free and deficate all over the neighbours gardens?

The cat-owner made the decision to purchase the cat, so they should take full responsibility for looking after it properly and shouldn't expect their neighbours to put up with it or incur additional expense to keep it off their gardens.

I don't have a garden, so cats don't really bother me, but I can I can understand why some people would get so frustrated with them that they would lay down poison.

Cats should be allowed to roam free. It's in their nature. Just like you and me wouldn't like to be confined permanently indoors.

They can have pens in the garden (or garden made escape proof) or even trained to walk on a lead.

Cats are legally allowed to roam so have the law on their side and anyone found guilty of deliberately killing a cat would be held to account. Lots of things that neighbours do annoy me such as loud music and screaming kids and balls coming into my garden etc. Why, therefore, should they complain about the odd cat that ventures into their gardens I also cannot stop other wildlife coming into my garden such as squirrels, hedgehogs, perhaps even foxes - it's all part of nature and it's not just cats that poo in gardens, I can assure you. The winds and storms wreak havoc on my garden and every year I need to spend money getting fences fixed, cleaning the patio and repainting. Keeping a garden demands a bit of maintenance, time and money anyway - and it really doesn't cost that much to install some cat repellants if you were so concerned about a bit of cat poo

My responsibility is to my cats, as their owner, and not to my neighbours. I need to ensure I keep my cats happy and healthy and, as 2 of my cats are rescue cats, part of the deal in adopting them from Cats Protection was to allow them outside access. Most rescues will not rehome cats to indoor homes unless there are good reasons (and neighbours aren't a good reason)

I try to get on with my neighbours despite troublesome noisy kids but I have no qualms about allowing my cats outside. I have no intention of confining my cats to a cat run or pen, I bought my current house with my late Tabitha in mind. There is no through traffic and my garden backs onto other gardens so I considered it a safe outside environment.