I have just, this minute, made my voice heard at the apartment complex where I live in respect of garden weedkillers being put down without a thought for cat companions.
I was sitting at my desk and noticed – and smelled – a chemical being sprayed on the lawn. I asked Michelle to go out and ask if it was “pet safe”. I asked her because I wanted to ensure there was peace in the community. When it comes to protecting my cat, I tend to be too direct and use plain language that some people find hard to digest. They see me as a crazy cat man.
As nothing happened I went out myself and asked. The gardening contractor working for a hired company, who was spraying chemicals on the lawn in lines, said that it was not safe for cats and that it would kill a cat. I asked when would it be safe. He said in about one hour. But can I trust him? The sun is shining. Doesn’t the chemical have to be washed into the ground by rain to guarantee safety? I do not know.
Then the head gardener turned up, who happens to be one of the flat owners, and I made my feelings known. What are my feelings about this?
Well, committees or managing companies who are in charge of managing the maintenance of condos and blocks of flats or apartments should factor in companion animals when instructing contractors (businesses) to maintain gardens. The often don’t.
It is not good enough to say in relation to cat safety that, “nothing has happened for years”. Or, “I don’t know of any cat that has been hurt by weedkiller”. This is not good enough because often people won’t know if cats are being poisoned by weedkiller. No one is keeping records and frankly not many people care.
The cat is particularly vulnerable to garden chemicals because she licks the chemical off her paws and belly. Cats also eat grass they brush against plants. This adds significantly to the concentration and amount of chemical ingested.
A committee who run a complex of apartments should ensure that all chemicals used in the communal garden are cat and dog safe – and child safe too.
If they don’t do that they are open to being sued for compensation for the loss of a companion animal. In my case, if my cat was killed or hurt by weedkiller on communal gardens, I would never forgive myself and someone would pay a heavy price. It would be big negative in my life.
People living in apartments should make sure that people in charge of garden maintenance are thinking of cats when they put down obnoxious chemicals on the lawn to make it look better. I hate chemicals. People do this to make a lawn look attractive. What is more important: an attractive lawn or a poisoned and dying cat? Well, for most people, the lawn is more important.
There must be some “pet safe” weed killers. If there aren’t and if people insist on putting the stuff on lawns be very careful on behalf of your cat.
Earlier post on the subject: Lawn Treatments. And Toxic to Cats.
It’s very worrying that people use chemicals so lightly saying it ‘shouldn’t’ hurt animals, of course it hurts them, not only cats but wild life too.
They actually test chemicals on animals, some European law or other says they have to, so how many lab animals die in agony from poisoning?Surely there must be better ways to kill weeds off, it’s easy to do in small areas, you just pour boiling water on them, why can’t they invent something to do that on a large scale?
But no too many people in this world don’t care about animals or the environment, everything has to be made easy no matter what the cost to living creatures and their habitat.
As Babz already said, our lawns are grassy with daisies and buttercups and clover, our cats love to lie in the long grass, our garden is cat friendly.
Marc what would PoC be without you? Your passion and your humour always cheer me up, I wish all young people were like you because then this world would be a far better place.
Michael yes, bees is a good example – there is a serious worry about bees these days. I haven’t googled it but read about it in our paper. Apparently all the pesticides are killing many many bees and the lack of bees has serious consequences on flower pollination which in turn – at length – has terrible consequences on the entire ecosystem. Through the lack of bees it has become apparent how important they are to our ecology. It’s of course only coming to light because essentially it’s too late – because clearly they weren’t thinking ahead on this one but some real problems have arisen and typically that’s what it takes to get a few people to notice and take it seriously. Bees are terribly important and they are being decimated apparently – by such chemicals, including private, home garden chemicals as well as industrial ones on farms. It’s serious.
My provocative titanic contribution – lol – no but seriously I should be more specific – I’m glad Ruth gave us the example of her parents neighbours lawnifying their land accross the street. Those are the lawns I’d like to vandalise 😉
LOL. I said, if my cat was killed by weedkiller I would hit the person responsible and not care about the consequences. And I would sue them – from prison 😉
I feel that gardeners and the majority of people don’t think about other animals when they chuck chemicals on lawns. They do it for themselves and themselves alone in a blind, programmed way. I wonder how insects and bees etc. cope with these foul chemicals. How much damage is done to invertebrates by herbicides? I don’t think enough people care.
Thanks for your titanic contribution in comments on this page.