cat in the countryside

[stringvest]

I am looking to move. I found a rural place its in a lane, the garden backs onto a corn field and opposite their are more fields. Driving out of the lane, five mins up the road. I noticed the local hunt and group of hounds. The hounds kept running in the road and stopping the traffic. I have looked up the local hunt. They are quite well supported in the area. The estate they come from covers over 5000 square acres.

Currently I live in a cup-de-sac. My cat turned up as an un neutered stray, skin and bone, limping and ears hanging off from infection, he is a lovely devoted cat. He likes to go out and go "round the block" there are no main roads to worry about.

I don't want him ending up attacked by hounds or injured by a combine, should I keep him in all the time. Or build him a small "patio" or :-(

Thanks.

[Sue]

I thought hunting was illegal?

Are they hunting foxes, or some mechanical thing or what?

[siousxiesue]

Sue, hunting is indeed illegal, unfortunately many hunts have the support (and attendance) of the big wigs of the local constabulary. A cat sanctuary was recently invaded by a hunt and some of the cats are still missing, many were traumatised.

If I had a furry friend living that close to a hunt I would be very worried.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cats-hunt-fox-hounds-deer-sussex-hastings-celia-hammond-a8151911.html

[Sue]

I saw the piece about the sanctuary. Disgraceful.

If there is illegal activity which if I understand you rightly the police are turning a blind eye to (grammar), then cannot the local MP or councillors take the matter up in the appropriate quarters?

Or failing that a local (or indeed national) paper?

[rendelharris]

The idea that hunting with dogs is illegal is a joke. You can trail hunt with dogs and oh whoops, if they go after a fox by accident (sic) no problem (even if you're quite clearly running with terriermen and other illegal accoutrements). Ban it properly or keep it legal, the current arrangements are, in P.J.O'Rourke's memorable phrase, "sticking a 'kick me' sign on the arse of the law."

[stringvest]

I have seen several horrible reports of "out of control" hounds. A greyhound and two owners attacked whilst walking in cornwall, a cat attacked - whats left of its body brought back to the owners in a dog kibble sack ... many terrible tales of when hounds attack things they shouldn't, clambering into gardens after little dogs. I think our cat will have to be an indoor cat now. At the house I want, there is a tall wooden dog run about 6ft x 6ft, I will have to secure the top and let that be the cats outside space ... thens theres the windows to think about? Aaaarrrgh. !!!

Maybe thats why the run is there in the first place. Hmmmmn

[uncleglen]

Oh the irony. Your precious cats are major hunters in the world.....seems only fair that they should get some of their own medicine!

[Blah Blah]

uncleglen Wrote:

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> Oh the irony. Your precious cats are major hunters in the world.....seems only fair that they should

> get some of their own medicine!

Completely uneccesary comment. There is a huge difference between an animal hunting from hard wired instinct and hounds being bred to kill.

[rendelharris]

uncleglen Wrote:

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> Oh the irony. Your precious cats are major hunters

> in the world.....seems only fair that they should

> get some of their own medicine!

Just when you thought he couldn't get any more lovable...

[DaveR]

"Completely uneccesary comment. There is a huge difference between an animal hunting from hard wired instinct and hounds being bred to kill."

Being a bit pedantic, perhaps, but pack hunting is absolutely hard wired instinct for dogs and that's the reason why they were domesticated and bred so successfully for this purpose. It took a lot more effort to breed dogs to do a whole bunch of other things that are more for our benefit than theirs (not least the majority of hunting dogs who are bred not to kill). I don't agree with uncleglen's sentiments but it is fair to say that owning a domestic cat is not uncontroversial - ask a bird lover.

On the general question of having a cat in the countryside, I would be concerned if there was a local hunt very close by. Cats don't tend to have very big territories (even in the countryside) but you wouldn't want to take the risk of that overlapping with hunt territory.

NB - most farmers will take a very dim view of a hunt charging through a corn field!

[Blah Blah]

I take your points Dave. I am opposed to hunting. I grew up on a farm and have seen what hounds do. We don't have to keep dogs in packs anymore. They can be domesticated (although some breeds more than others). But I have also seen what foxes and mink do to chickens. On cats, they seem less likely to hunt birds in the countryside because there are so many rodents around (just my experience). Birds are hard for cats to catch, much harder than a rodent. But I understand the controversy around cats and birds.

And yes, my parents won't tolerate a hunt on their farmland, and the local hunt know it.

[stringvest]

Thanks for most replies! The Fox Hunting debate will go on forever, I am not a supporter of it. I understand people do things differently in the countryside. I do not understand if its a vermin control thing, the pomp and ceremony surrounding it, and that it has a "closed season". Vermin is vermin, the rat man doesn't turn up looking like a matador or say he can only kill them at certain times of year, because killing them all off completely would in effect make them all redundant?

My cat was a stray, his owners moved away and left him, he was in such a state ... he'd been living on scraps and rodents and spiders! People appreciate cats when they are "mousers" but not so much for anything else it would seem.

[rendelharris]

DaveR Wrote:

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> Being a bit pedantic, perhaps, but pack hunting is

> absolutely hard wired instinct for dogs and that's

> the reason why they were domesticated and bred so

> successfully for this purpose.

No dogs would voluntarily chase a fox across four miles of country - from a risk/reward point of view (in terms of calories expended/calorific value of the kill) it simply wouldn't make evolutionary sense. That's why the most important riders in a hunt are the whippers in, who keep the pack together and drive them forward. If the whippers are incompetent or lose touch with the pack they quickly split up and start casting around independently (I've seen this several times on Dartmoor). Yes dogs will chase prey and they will work as a pack, but without being trained and controlled by handlers they won't pursue a fox for miles, that's not "hard wired."

[Blah Blah]

Exactly rendel and that is before we get to how horses are used in hunting as well. It is not about pest control at all. Foxes that are worrying livestock are usally shot and that is far easier to do than chasing it down with a pack of hounds and horses. A lot of country people don't like fox hunting. They see it for what it is.

On your cat Stringvest. You could try only letting him out only at certain times of day or night. He will establish a route for for himself that he will take every time, so he will never be that far away. You could even fit a tracker to his collar if you want to see just where he goes :)

[stringvest]

Thank you blah blah. Its nice to hear from someone knowledgeable about the countryside.

Ive never gone looking for a pet. They've turned up on the doorstep in a sorry state, or been neglected and unwanted and I've took them on, got them well etc.,

I think I'm a responsible cat owner. My cat is only allowed out at certain times, mostly supervised and can be seen on CCTV! He sleeps most of the time, and is kept in at night. NO CAT FLAP.

I also have an interest in birds, I give them food and water. I have robins, blue tits, woodpeckers, wrens, blackbirds, thrushes. I also had a strange water rail/hen take up residence in one of the water bowls. Very FEW SPARROWS though! I had to rescue a swan. My cat hasn't bothered to catch any birds, he has brought us a few mice in NINE YEARS. I think the good I do for animals far outweighs the occasional misdemeanour of my cat.

Even the RSPB says that cats are not as much to blame for decline as people like to think, there are losses of habitat, new buildings not accommodating them, some farming practices and chemicals (killing pests, reducing their food etc). Some farmers are very good, providing wild areas and protecting their hedgerows etc ...

Thank you.