Our cat has got us into trouble :")

Cat owners seem to often say "theres nothing we can do" but of course there is. stop her going there, youre responsible, youre the owner. keep her in or whatever, its hardly the surgerys responsibility.

I'm not keeping her in for them! Cats aren't meant to stay indoors and she's been a nightmare the few times we've had to.

How interesting that the 'allergic' person had a panic attack and not an allergic attack. ?

They'll have to change their door system if they're so bothered.

Actually that's not strictly the case Nick. We had some issues when my Mum's next door neighbours got a bit funny about her cats going through their garden. They started giving her a load of abuse and she was really worried about it and didn't know what she could do apart from keep them in, but as some are rescue cats (and were feral) that wasn't really appropriate.

Mum went to the CAB and apparently in law you're not responsible for a cat and it's behaviour in the same way that you are with a dog - something to do with them being treated as a non-domestic animal (not sure of the exact phrasing, it was a long while ago).

So anyway, am not sure what to suggest. Maybe they could try using a water pistol to deter her ? Trouble is, if they've encouraged it, then it's not surprising that she's there so much!

Show us your catflap again.

Oh that sounded rood didn't it? It is you who had the legendary cat flap isn't it?

Oh if it is you with the cat flap that was great had me crying with laughter. haha

?The expanding foam cat flap? No, that wasn't me. It was hilarious though ?
The reason the law on cats is different to dogs is that they're completely different animals. You can't train them or get them to do anything they don't want to do.
We are responsible owners (they're spayed, vaccinated, insured, kept in at night) and believe me I know the pain of them messing in the garden, 'cos it's mostly in mine

Eh? Why would you think that?

L
xx

Loads of reasons! When they were kittens, they'd climb up the curtains. We squirted them with water pistols and they just climbed straight back up, time after time.
They mess in our garden and even a hose won't stop them.
What have you managed to train cats to do?

You can train cats. I don't think it's easy though!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLEA1BgJ6YQ

If there was a cat hanging about in my GP surgery, I'd go fcuking mental and would be writing to the practice, the Health Authority, environmental health and whoever else I could think of to make sure someone did something about it.

Urgh.

Both my cats are house cats and dont go out - there is nothing wrong with that and it does them no harm at all.

WSS, can you not keep your cat in during the day and let her out later? Our cat is indoor, she is fine.

I agree, the surgery are responsible for encouraging her- they shouldn't have done that really as I bet there are lots of users who don't like it. You could suggest they squirt lemon juice around the door as cats hate that but it sounds like she's determined, and who can blame her if she gets cuddles there.

We have a cat who gets into our house, sprays everywhere and terrorises my two cats. I hate it, and I've never hated a cat in my life. Unfortunately I have no idea who it belongs to, how to discourage it coming in (water doesn't work and I can't do much as I have my own cats to think about) and even if I did know the owner I can't imagine how they'd stop it either.

I'm not really sure how you're going to resolve this one without having to seriously think about keeping your cat inside?

It can't be helping that whilst some of the people working there are trying to shoo the cat away and back towards home whilst others are letting them in. Perhaps a sign on the door asking patients not to let the cat in might help? Also maybe equipping someone there with a water pistol to squirt at puss to discourage him/her from visiting.

As much as I like cats (and do have one of my own - who incidentally lives indoors due to being deaf) i'm not sure i'd really like to find one sat in my doctors surgery, an aquarium of tropical fish yes, a cat no.

'Cos doctor's surgeries aren't awash with snotty people carrying god knows what bacteria and viruses that might actually be passed on to you are they? ? It's not like a hospital. I fully understand why they don't want her in the surgery, but in terms of cleanliness, she'll do no more harm than the ill people in there.
And I know some cats are kept as house cats, but that doesn't mean they all can be. She's had illnesses/injuries that have meant we've had to keep her in and she was unbearable.

Ellena, you're getting a bit defensive now. I think there's a big difference between sitting in a GPs surgery with other patients, and having an unknown (to the patients) cat wandering around. I know for sure I wouldn't like it, and I'm a cat person.

It's your cat, therefore it's your problem, if that means you need to keep her in during the day for a while, then so be it. Your comment "I'm not keeping her in for them" is quite rude really, they've asked you to keep your cat away from the surgery, you should do your level best to make that happen.

I do appreciate, of course, that they should never have encouraged her in the first place, but that's neither here nor there now.

? Its not as if Ellena is dropping the cat off round the surgery every morning.

I agree there can be measures taken to help the situation.

It won't only be for a while though. We kept her in for 2 weeks after we found her when she went missing and she went straight back. They haven't asked us to do anything about it, they are being fine and trying to do what they can to discourage her. When the patients are fussing her though, you can see why she doesn't want to stay out.

And if it scratched someone, or jumped on a baby in a pram? Or maybe, ooh, someone had an allergic reaction to it? Or it passed on some minging cat disease to a patient whose immune system is compromised?

Still, if poor little pussykins doesn't like being kept in, what can you do?

I'm sorry but it's the surgery's problem - they're the ones effectively letting the cat in. If someone lets it in they should shoo it out immediately. And they're the ones who've been encouraging her in. If the surgery has a problem they should be the ones clamping down on their patients and staff who are letting the cat in and then making a fuss of it.

Before they had the automatic doors and she sat outside she could do any of those things. Are there any minging cat diseases that can be passed to humans?

I don't think you should keep your cat in. Even if you keep her in for a couple of days / weeks, she will find her way back there and the same thing will probably happen again. Our cat loves being outdoors and goes absolutely mad if she can't go out.

If the surgery don't want her in there (and I do agree that one of the places a cat most definitely should not be in is a Doctor's surgery) then they should not have encouraged her in the first place and they shouldn't continue to encourage her. Any patients who encourage her in should just be told (by the receptionists) that it is soooo not appropriate for a cat to be in there.

There's fault on both side but the buck, ultimately, stops with owners. You can huff and puff all you like elenna, but you need to get your thinking cap on pdq befor environmental health get involved because I suspect once that happens, the chance of this story having a happy ending will diminosh greatly.

What Alison76 said. The surgery have to take responsibility for this. I would pass on a water pistol to them and ask them to put a sign up on the door.

You clearly don't see a problem, so fine. Typical irresponsible cat owner - just let it do what it likes, *** everyone else. There have been numerous cat owners and in Lois, I believe, a pet expert, who've suggested what you, as the owner, can do to be a good citizen. But no, it has to be allowed to roam free, and (again typically of cat owners I've come across who don't give a flying one about anyone else) we've had the letter of the law quoted again - ooh, they're wild, they have to be allowed to do what they like.

I'd imagine they had auto doors installed to allow easier access for disabled people, still, they should have thought about animals dropping in before they made the decision.

Re diseases, I expect there are, especially if one is immuo-suppressed. Otherwise, why not let them in everywhere - hospitals, restaurants, wherever?

How ridiculous. No-one has the right to allow their animal to simply wander where it pleases. It's the owner's responsibility.

I am a cat owner so may have a blinkered view on this or I may be being completely thick but how can an owner of a cat stop a cat from wandering where it pleases? Apart from keeping it indoors of course.

Can anyone else see cat repellent adverts at the bottom of this page or am I seeing things?

You can't keep a cat inside indefinitely unless it's been brought up as a housecat. I couldn't even keep my male cat in for 2 weeks when I moved house- he tried all ways to escape and finally squeezed through when we didn't get the front door closed in time.

The surgery need to be strict about patients petting your cat, they need to shoo her out and use water pistols if possible. If she's getting an unfriendly reception it might eventually discourage her.

Keep it indoors during surgery opening hours, have an adult discussion with the practice manager about whether there is a solution from their end (I hardly think you can ask then to get new doors unless you're offering to pay), perhaps you could borrow a hungry fierce looking dog to tie up at the door (no, because that would likewise be a potential hazard for patients, many of whom are very young, very old, or very unwell. It is quite simple- you choose to own a pet, you take the decision to let it have a free reign of the neighbourhood- you take the consequences. The law doesn't give a stuff about how many old ladies are enticing her in with pilchards, it is your lookout, yours.

<swoon> and <childish snigger> @ old ladies' pilchards.

I love it when Lou gets all masterful.

While i absolutely love cats, and the ? part of me is thinking 'aw how cute' that's it's visiting the poorly patients, the sensible bit of me is with sunnystar, MA et al

cats are flea ridden animals, and having them near ill people is unhygenic. the doctors surgery needs to get tough and start shooing. but if this doesn't work, it needs keeping in while the surgery is open.