Britons warned of plague of the 'supercats' Britain is at risk from being overrun by ferocious "supercats", as domestic moggies interbreed with fierce wildcats increasingly being imported by extreme pet owners. The stark warning comes in both the Daily Mail and the Telegraph. Each paper informed its pussy-loving readers this week of warnings from animal welfare groups …
Britain already has a problem with gangs of feral kids using dogs as weapons. Maybe it's time that the British people stopped milling around and looking saying at their feet "who, us?" and started to act against the new breed of stupid, thuggish and irresponsible people who seem to be intent on ripping the country apart and turning it into one giant ghetto.
@ john 154: taste just like rabbits. Without claws and head You won't spot the difference (so i heard)
@ wickedwitchwest: Full ACK
Similar in our house :-)
@ Simon Brown: Don' worry, cats don't kill each other when they fight. As soon as the 'ranking' is fought out peace is restored
Harboring fugitives of both species in my home (to protect them from a brain heavy, sociopathic, emotionally challenged and over anxious lynch mob), I really can't say who has the bigger potential to cause trouble: cats or dogs.
( I guess it's catually our children I will have to blame my grey hair on in the end ;-) )
All I can say is: the problem is never with the animal. It's ALWAYS the owner who screws up when an animal becomes rogue, usually with the owner being screwed up in the first place. But it's the animal that pays the bill by being euthanize.
And there is also no better or worse breed, not for dogs or for cats. Only inbred, overpriced purebreds may turn out psychopathic be lost cases from the start sometimes. But then, we have a Doberman (uncut, with papers), and she is the most gentle creature You can imagine- to anyone and anything, actually.
Anyways. IMHO there is more trouble to be had from a cow sized Mastino, even 'though they are absolutely friendly by nature, simply because they are massive and clumsy, than from a 'triple sized' cat. If You allow it to be a cat, that is...
Many years ago, a friend of mine wanted to dispose of some kittens of her current moggy to good homes. I chose a cute little tabby (female): definitely of domestic descent, no inbreeding, apparently of perfect temperament (when young). I gave it to my parents. Within a year, it had:
- stripped the wallpaper from the hall by playing "wall of death" on it every night;
- jumped onto my father's bare shoulders while he was shaving (no warning) then slid down with all claws still fully engaged;
- lacerated my mother's hands without warning while lying apparently peacefully in her lap being stroked (several occasions);
- ambushed me from under the bed while I was turning in while staying with Mum and Dad, lacerating both of my bare feet.
My father blamed me for teasing it, but I am sure it had "turned" without any provocation. Other family members blamed my mother for keeping it in all the time. Take your pick.
The name of this pest? "Angel"!
She's got a point, though putting a figure on it (5 years old = safe to be alone) is unrealistic. Any cat or dog can take a good chunk out of a fully fit adult if the fancy takes it.
Our ancestors domesticated dogs because they could, y'know, actually do stuff and work for us. I guess cats can be handy for keeping vermin down, but most owners today don't retain them for this service. We've simply developed this queer mania for "companionship" with animals whose minds we can hardly begin to comprehend. It's a strange mix of ego and insecurity, perhaps with a little bit of misdirected nesting instinct.
With this comes a conceit that we have "tamed" the lil' fluffer to the point that aberrant, anti-social behaviour is no longer a remote possibility. *Wrong* without exception, I'm afraid. You simply cannot rule out animals, be they cat, dog, guinea-pig or parakeet, flipping that switch and acting on deeply-buried genetic imperatives. So if you own a pet, don't leave it in a room with anything that might fit under the categories of Prey, Threat or "Fun Time" and that can't defend itself adequately.
For the record, our cat is 99% of the time a complete soft shite, but about 1 in 5 house-guests will provoke hostility (if not outright fisticuffs) for no apparent reason. And on recent experience we will *never* subject another cat to her company if we can avoid it - she's a bully that has terrorised her own former litter-mate in its own home :(
Domestic cats are bad enough, they run free, unlike dogs, so often leave nasty, stinky messes in other peoples gardens, attack bird life, and annoy/scratch dogs; so I personally regard most 'domestic' cats as vermin.
It is only a matter of time before some idiot owners lets these cross-breeds run feral either by accident or neglect, then they could become far worse problem than feral dogs.
Large cat cross-breeds should be under the same or more stringent restrictions as dangerous dog cross-breeds, because they could do just as much, if not more damage, and even be a threat to native wildlife, like foxes!
Didn't we learn the lesson about the idiocy of importing foreign species, like Grey squirrels, American Crayfish, etc., later to discover that they are driving our native species to extinction.
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