I like cats and dogs, plenty of people do and have a dog and cat which works fine if they grow up together. I adore my four cats, three of whom - mother and two daughters - are now technically 'elderly', one of those is deteriorating but well enough in herself atm; she's going to see the vet tomorrow. The youngest cat, a male, is quite a free spirit and still hunts. He brings in the occasional mouse through the cat flat, the odd rat, birds (which is sad but doesn't happen too often. The only birds who visit our garden frequently are crows and large birds, like wood pigeons), frogs and has even caught a couple of squirrels and presented me with them. If they are alive and seem to be unharmed, I rescue them and put them back outside but they're usually dead. Sometimes a mouse frees itself and runs round the house which creates havoc.
A domesticated cat who is well fed and contented does not need to hunt for food, unlike foxes, however the hunting instinct is still there. In the past we've had two cats who, despite being well fed at home, crunched their way through anything they caught and swallowed it - in front of us! So the instinct must be stronger in some than others,
Someone above said that cats cause kids to have schizophrenia! I'll go back and read that again but it sounds a bit far fetched.
I found this:
http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/cats.htmlThe answer to that is for cat owners to be responsible and ensure their pets are as healthy as possible. Annual health checks and vaccinations, regular worming whether they appear to need it or not, flea prevention.
My sick cat has recently been screened for everything, a stool sample showed absolutely no bacteria that shouldn't be there, eg no giardia which can be transmitted to humans, and no parasites.
Kids can get worms, tape and round, from pets so it's important that our pets don't have any worms.
Pregnant women can have quite a dangerous condition caught from cat urine so litter boxes, if used, must not be touched or changed by them, though I suppose if they are scrupulous about using disposable gloves it's OK.
Feral cats are a different matter of course, they are not cared for and will take whatever they can get for food. it's the fault of humans that there are feral cats though. They are not like native wild cats.
