Imagine the uproar if pet dogs acted this badly ...

WE’RE being overrun by cats and wild birds are suffering. The evidence is there in my garden: the beautiful wings of blue tits found on my lawn, birds no longer nesting in bushes and trees, and the pleasure of feeding the birds daily curtailed because of felines. Cats are not only a threat to birds, but also to the health of humans. For two years, my garden became a cat toilet, and it took great expense to try to keep them out of my vegetable plot and flowerbeds. Local cat owners ignored my plea for them to train their cats to use a litter tray. Cat rescue services are a joke. Rehoming a cat to someone who is unable to bend down to clear a cat litter tray, so cat mess becomes someone else’s problem, might mean they can boast of rehoming an animal, but it won’t be in the right household. Cat lovers prefer their gardens to be covered in pebbles and kick out their pets in the morning to roam the area, be a nuisance to others and chase and kill birds and other wildlife. My garden is a memorial to my late father, and I took pride in growing my own veg, fruit and flowers. I can imagine the uproar if I had taken a dog to the local churchyard and allowed it to foul the graves. There are so many irresponsible cat owners in the UK that cats are a problem in both conservation and human health factors.

Miss H. MITCHELL, Mochrum, Wigtownshire. a call for pet cats to be restricted is long overdue. Tigers, lions, cougars, leopards, ocelots and pumas kill for food or defence. The domestic cat, well-fed, bored and a born killer, kills for the sake of it. Birds, mice, frogs, are killed as trophies. It’s high time cat owners accepted responsibility for the behaviour of their pets. one prepares one’s garden for growing fruit, vegetables and flowers, but in no time the word is out: ‘There’s a new toilet at No 75. Come along!’ Seed beds are dug up and soiled, and young plants uprooted. Cat owners supply a dirt tray indoors when they go out to work, but release their pets at night. Cat owners should be obliged, as dog owners are, to take responsibility for their animals. It’s time someone was prepared to speak out about the disease spread by cat faeces. I have yet to see a cat owner carrying a bag to collect what their cats drop. There are effective cat scarers on the market, which mean birds can settle and eat while cats keep their distance. Cat lovers say these are cruel, but there’s no cruelty involved, just an uncomfortable high-pitched sound that keeps cats in their garden and out of mine. J. BODKIN, Tongham, Surrey.