We’re delighted to hear that Wilbur the roaming cat was found – 25km from his home in Cambridge – after he showed up at Waikato Hospital in Hamilton. But it seems that Wilbur’s safe return to his owner, after 16 days away from home, owes an awful lot to good luck.
Last weekend, an 11-year-old free-roaming cat in Christchurch was shot in the leg. With a gun. In the city, for goodness sake. This was a family pet, who has now had her leg amputated. She is lucky that this was a non-lethal wound. The next cat might not be.
A Unitec master’s student has tracked 37 Auckland cats using GPS while recording their activities on video. The 180 hours of footage reveals cats getting into 326 risky situations, ranging from cat fights (11) to wandering on roads (a third of the cats did so). “To better protect cats and also the wildlife species that
This letter to the editor, published in the Salt Lake Tribune, offers a great summary of reasons why cats should not be allowed to roam freely. The author is a veterinarian.
We’ve written before about the studies, where researchers put GPS trackers on people’s cats, and then show them where their pet has travelled. Invariably, cat owners are amazed at how far their pets wander, often crossing busy streets in the process. The latest such research is from New Plymouth.
Ollie the cat was one of the lucky ones. He was found in Takapuna, Auckland after disappearing five months earlier from Botany. Somehow, this one-year-old cat had made it across the Waitemata Harbour, travelling about 30km from his home.
Cats without microchips found roaming in sensitive environments would be killed under Auckland Council’s proposed pest eradication programme.
Paddles, the famous “First Cat of New Zealand,” was killed by a car yesterday in Auckland. Paddles was a polydactyl from the SPCA, and she become a worldwide sensation on Twitter when her mum, Jacinda Ardern, became the country’s Prime Minister last month.
Horrible, but this is what can happen to a roaming cat. Please consider keeping your cat safely contained on your own property. Two cats shot in northwest Auckland An Auckland woman is “terrified” to let her cats outside after one was shot in the leg – causing its limb to be amputated. Lee Attwell’s five-month-old
Moreton Bay regional council near Brisbane impounded more than 1500 roaming cats in the past year, with fines up to AUD$235 for owners, reports the North Lakes Times. Dakabin RSPCA acting shelter manager Claire McCarthy (pictured) said roaming cats were a “big problem” in the area. “There is a misconception out there that keeping your
