Neighbourhood Cats Idea (think along the lines of Neighbourhood Watch)-Opinions

[Ellen2010]

I also live in Lincolnshire and to a certain extent here kids think it is fun to get their staffies to attack peoples cats and quite a few undesirables that I would not like to have my email or phone number.  Report anything like that to the RSPCA or Police and they say they are not interested as they are in some ways classed as a pest.

[bunglycat]

Not sure round here (Lincolnshire).
I live on a old RAF camp and like you know almost all the cats round here and there are a lot !

Unfortunately , there isn''t much community spirit though as i found this week when i was in bed all week with quite bad flu and never left the house for 10days -my car never moved and i only opened the back door for Winston to go out for a short while .
No-one saw me all that time and yet no-one ever knocked on the door and ask if i was ok (car not moved, not been outside or anything)-i could have been collapsed for days and not one person came to check (i have lived here 12 years !).

I feed a few of the cats too as some people still put out all night and some i presume go out at night through the cat flap.
Family across from me have 10 cats, i have 5 , top of next road has around 9 , 2 neighbours have 1 each and others have 1-2 cats .

I feed a little black and white one when it turns up which is mostly weekends at night , quite late -it shelters in my outside cat house and when its really cold , i put a hot water bottle in for it. I have fed that on and off for 2-3 years , but not sure whose it is and it won''t let me touch it .
Occasionally there is a black one too.- not sure whose that is either -but i do feed them .

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Like Trigger i live rurally and as far as I know no cats here except mine and the way that the posters for Pussy were pulled down, I dont think that anyone has the slighest interest here, sadly. There is no community spirit and would not give any info to anyone here.

However if you go about 5-10 miles away, the people all know each other and they have a news letter.

In principal I think its a good idea for more civilized places...........assume there are some left!

[Tiggy's Mum]

I think it's a great idea and would definitely join up if there was something like that in my area. If you could get the backing of CP or similar that would be fab 

[Kay and Penny]

I live in a very rural area, Steff, so can't really comment

however, a scheme local to me might be of benefit - many of us in my village have put our e-mail addresses on a local register, and the person who administers it can flash messages around the village very easily

we have had two for missing cats already, both found (though one deceased unfortunately) - and am wondering if making use of e-mails like this would help as part of the scheme you are thinking of

[Steff - Petsearch Bedford HQ]

Even if you haven't got any queries or comments to add it would be handy just to know if you thought it was a good idea or not and if you would be a part of it in your area.

I understand not everyone lives in a very residential area so it wouldn't really work for them.

Anything really, just so I can get a feel for it as an idea.

Thanks

[Steff - Petsearch Bedford HQ]

Please bear with me peeps as this is an idea I have just thought of over the past couple of days!

I recognise most of the cats that live and my street and know who they belong to (although there are a couple I am unsure of). I do generally keep an eye on them all purely and simply because I love cats. Because of my knowledge it makes it pretty easy for me to spot of new cat or a possibly stray cat.

There are getting to be quite a number of cats now so its harder for me to keep track plus not everyone is as observant (nosey about cats) as me lol!

So I was thinking about having a register for cats in the street, not just my street but all streets where there is someone like me willing to take the time to collate the register, keep it up to date and maybe distribute to other residents who would like to be part of the scheme. It means we could all keep an eye on each others cats. If one went missing then a neighbour could have valuable information about a last sighting. If a bew cat turned up we would be able to identify if it was a lost/stray cat. If a cat was found in the street or a street cat was lost then there would be more people aware to help pass on the word, keep a look out, put up posters and if other local streets were also participating in the scheme then you could have a whole network of people keeping an eye on each others cats and reporting in to "Neighbourhood Cats" representatives.

Like I said, very fresh ideas but what does everyone think?

It could be a scheme rolled out through Cats Protection or something? Maybe I should trial it in my street first??

Let me know your thoughts