Should we have a law about 'How Big' a domestic cat can be

Should really be stricter laws against having a lot of wild or more exotic pets in my opinion. And stop the over-breeding of cats and dogs

You want a pet then adopt one.

Obviously, people are free to do whatever the fuck they want but that's my view.

I can image big dogs turning feral and breeding and getting violent, because it already happens and wild stray dogs are much more likely to attack humans than cats. So hey, why not cats as well?

That said there are plenty of papers documenting how harmful regular sized stray outdoor cats can be to the ecosystem of a location so I can only imagine bigger cats would be an even bigger problem.

People in Texas have tigers as pets

I mean, a bunch of little kids would definitely get abducted and murdered in horrifying ways... and then probably left at the doorstep of whoever in town is giving the widdle kitties some table scraps. But can you imagine those giant smushed widdle faces?

A lot less kidding than I feel comfortable with aside: The domestication of cats is a very interesting subject and bigger cats committing murder for food and fun would definitely screw up ecosystems even more. But there is still a pretty big difference between a feral tabby and Mufasa. In an after the fall situation I could totally imagine bands of roving large breed cats hunting down the last surviving human. But in the case where people still inhabit those cities it will be no less than a mountain town dealing with bears and coyotes or mountain lions.

The problem you bring up is real but I think the biggest one regarding cats is that people allow their cats to be a outdoor cats at all. It destroys animal populations and is very harmful.

Obviously with a bigger cat there are issues you bring up but it already is a bad issue as is.

Touch a normal-sized housecat's soft belly fur, and see how quick it bites your hand. Imagine that kind of viciousness in an animal the size of a Great Dane - you'd likely need medical attention.

Regardless, spay & neuter your pets, and adopt don't shop unless you've got some kind of allergy that you need a specific breed for.

War for the Planet of the Cats.

That was funnier before I read any of the posts on here.

I just came here for photos of big cats. Disappointing thread.

I'd rather not see my city taken over by large cats, so I'm going to say no to all of it. I'm not a cat person though so, yeah I guess I'm a bit biased on this topic.

@casepb: what are your thoughts on big dogs? There is a guy on my block that I see walking some huge wolf looking thing that goes up to his waist and I think THAT should definitely be illegal. No one needs dogs the size of small bears.

@humanity: I'm fine with dogs. I grew up with a Great Dane next door which was the most lovable thing ever. Dogs can be loyal, cats don't give two shits about you though.

@casepb: you don’t actually believe that a cat is incapable of forming a loyal and emotional attachment to its owner do you? Like it’s a popular and dumb thing to say but people that say it must know this is just a silly thing to say to get cat owners riled up.

Understand, I don't think these cats would want to hurt people. But, sometimes when cornered or scared an animal will lash out. My loving cat likes to 'bop' me on the nose when I oversleep and don't feed her at 5AM. One day I was especially tired and kept falling back asleep when she'd bop me - she took out the claws. She cut my face wide open, and face wounds bleed like a mo-fo. If my cat has been 65 lbs like a Rottweiler and not 12 lbs, she would have taken off most of my nose with that paw.

A lot of the bigger cat now like the Servel are spindly and lightweight for the size & height at teh shoulder. However, get an American Shorthair to the size of a Servel , but with its sturdier frame and heavier muscles [whistles] ...not a cat to mess with.

For people who think this is far fetched, consider that in the 1960s hairless cat were a 1 in a million occurrence. Now they are breed there are hundred of thousands of them. In the last eight years, dwarf cats are now being breed with small w/ short legs. Same for Maine Coons the opposite way, in the 60s they were a rare very obscure breed that was not even close to their current breed size. Main coons being crossbred with the biggest examples of Norwegian Forest Cat, Chausie, Ragamuffin, and Ragdolls will yield bigger cats on average. In less than 50 years with concerted effort, which is already there, there could be a cat breed that regularly 'breeds true' at 60 to 70 lb. I will even go so far as to say the people trying to breed bigger cat are considering how dolicle to make them.

@humanity: From my experience with cats, yes I do. They can be emotional toward owners I won't deny that, but cats are not the same as dogs, they are very much more independent and let's say instinctive. They will turn on you in a split second for no reason. I've lived with various different cats over the years and dogs (still have a dog), they are wildly different creatures. Like I said before this is just from my personal experience and I'm not trying to get any cat owner riled up and at arms. I've never seen a dog turn on an owner just for petting them, I've had this happen many times with a cat.

@casepb: Go rub your dog's belly while it is busy eating or anything else it doesn't like. Might not snap at you (or it might), but it will make damned certain you know not to mess around with it in that way.

Cats are definitely different. But raised well they won't "turn on you in a split second for no reason". Same with slicing you up for bothering it. Just like with a person there are some times you don't bother someone and the same is true for cats. You just need to learn what the cat likes and doesn't like just like they'll eventually give you more freedom and tolerate some of the stuff it doesn't like but knows you do.

That isn't to say a cat won't fuck you up. Our old family cat was a stray we rescued and he always had this thing about biting people. It wasn't a vicious "I'm gonna kill you" but was the playful kind of nip that cats do with each other. He would curl up for belly rubs or whatever and then, when you were both done, he would just nip you on your hand or foot. And I mean both done. I remember one time he followed me in to the other room to bite my ankle before rubbing against me again and going to the window for a nap. We tried to break him of it and he never did it to strangers: But if you were family you were going to want to know where the ointment was.

And I do mean it was a family thing. Shitty mistreated neighbor dog got into our backyard one day and was being incredibly aggressive and scaring my sister. Little fucker (cat) straight up burst through the screen window and tore into that dog. Dog needed a lot of stitches (and almost got put to sleep for being dangerous) because when that cat wanted to hurt something, it hurt it. And if you messed with its family it would mess with you.

Which definitely makes for issues with roving bands of feral cats. But like I said, mountain towns already solve this problem when it comes to coyotes, mountain lions, and so forth.

Dog person here. I would not be a fan of laws on this kind of thing. It's not difficult to imagine lawmakers making the jump from large cats to large dogs, and then I have a problem. The only thing I'd want to be sure of is that cats would be treated the same as dogs, e.g., leash laws, fenced yards, what have you. Put some responsibility on the owners to control their pets, and you probably wouldn't see widespread feral populations.

I think owning a large cat would require some additional preparation/training, but the small vs large is not unlike what frequently happens with dogs. Small dogs are often allowed to get away with a lot because they're not physically large/strong enough to do serious harm. There is a much greater responsibility with owning a large dog, and rightfully so. A 70+ pound pet (dog or cat) doing harm to a person would not be long for this world.

For the "large dogs should be illegal" comments, I would point out that even if we ignore dogs with actual jobs (seeing-eye dogs, police dogs, hunting dogs, and a multitude of other types of working dogs), large dogs that are simply family pets can still serve as watchdogs, exercise partners, and obviously, companions. People have kept large dogs as pets for hundreds of years - why should it be illegal all of a sudden?

@gundato:Oh the dog I have currently won't do jack to you. While eating or whatever, I have him trained good. But of course many dogs aren't like that and will snap at you for messing with it while it's eating or whatever, that was never in question. And of course how the dog was raised is a huge factor. Cats on the other hand.... no.

"Cats are definitely different. But raised well they won't "turn on you in a split second for no reason". Same with slicing you up for bothering it."

Yeah that's totally false. Like I've said before I've had this happen to myself, and others. And these same cats were never abused or treated poorly a day in their life we had them since kittens. Cats are very random creatures and will do what they want, when they want. But like I said this is from my personal experience with them. They very much will fuck you up if they feel like it.

@casepb: if your cats that you cared for and showed affection to suddenly snapped and “fucked up” members of your family for no good reason then those cats might have been suffering from dementia or other diseases because that is not normal or common behavior for cats - especially not ones that are brought up in a loving home from the early age of being kittens. Cats, the same as dogs, will not just turn on you on a dime with no reason.

@casepb:Not to be blunt but... maybe there is something in your personal experience that makes the cats you interact with less loving.

So how about you take the hints folk have been dropping you and stop with the "cats will turn on you in a heartbeat" crap? It isn't pertinent to the discussion anyway as these bands of feral cats would never have had an owner.