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.
Exactly – I’m glad you see it how I do – I do pick on lawns pretty heavily though I will agree. It’s hard not to have a grassy area if you have land but there is a grassy area, a lawn then a lawn in the extreme manicured sense. I’m picking on the latter – I should be more specific so as not to involve everyone in my moan.
I would be very angry at the gardener. I’m not sure how I would handle that situation but in the end if it’s going to cost them extra to use a safe weed product I would be happy to pay for it.
Pesticides are causing enormous damage to the environment. I touched on one of my other pet peaves – golf – I won’t go there but the courses are highly dangerous for our health and the animals that live there. We are not supposed to kill all the insects. We need them. The whole bee debacle is a perfect example. It’s getting serious. All that grass so rich people can go for a walk on it and knock a ball around and call it sport – or just rest their eyes on their vision of nature.
Do you know one of the most ironic things to me – and I don’t even remember the name of the file. One of the default windows XP desktop images is of a big green field with nothing on it, a farmers field – looks like Wiltshire or somewhere, totally barren – just some short green crop growing and it’s got some name like ‘heaven’ or ‘freedom’ or some such when all it is is a total dessicration of nature – the pesticide covered famer’s field with not a tree in sight so they have nothing to mow their machinery around. The irony of it being a desktop image with a heavenly name is just too much for me. Humans are desperate to escape their own nature and feelings – always trying to keep it neat and tidy in every sense. It’s killing us, it’s killing the world. Organic and wild growth is the last refuge of ‘freedom’ or ‘heaven’ left on this planet but our f**ktard species wants to get rid of it and even thinks its ok cuz they can re grow it or something.
I’m digressing enormously – I hope you can stay on good terms with the guy because he is your neighbour and gardener and part owner right? I mean having just moved in it would suck to be on bad terms so hopefully there’s a way to sort it out nicely for all.
Marc, I have to admit I was in stitches reading your rant on lawns and in so many ways you are dead right, but on the other hand there are peeps like Ruth and me who do have lawns but they’re rough grass kept short with things like clover, daisies and the odd dandelion in the mix, we like grass for the boys to lie in, to nibble at and to play on, like you we hate chemicals and have never in all our adult years used, or allowed chemicals to be used, on our gardens.The gardens just look a lot tidier grassy than bare earth. 🙂
This is awful! What if you hadn’t seen/smelled the damned stuff being sprayed and had innocently taken Charlie out onto the grass, he could have been ill or much worse and you wouldn’t have had a clue as to why. I hate weed kller or any other garden chemicals and hate it when the council come out around here spraying the edges of the pavements with weed killer, maybe that’s one good thing to come out of all the spending cuts, maybe they won’t be able to afford to do that anymore. We always ask about it and they say “oh it’s safe once it’s dry” but how do we know for sure and what about other people’s cats that are out for s a stroll or for that matter what about birds, hedgehogs and even worms. I don’t blame you one bit for being f****** livid,and what’s more I bet Michael in protect-Charlie mode is a fearsome being!Good for you!
Yes, you might not be surprised to know that I agree with everything you write in your comment.
People are obsessed with controlling nature. I think it stems from the need to have control and that stems from the human’s vulnerability. Humans are frightened and messed up. They are desperate to control their lives and create some order in the chaos and the bloody manicured lawn sprayed with crappy chemicals is an example of that weakness. Self harming is another bizarrely.
A wild meadow with flowers would be so much better. There is real beauty in a natural environment. Cats would much prefer a wild meadow.
They would have places to hid in and there would be more wildlife in it. Think how sterile a weed-free manicured lawn is.
A lawn is one step from a concrete patio. It is a fuzzy, green, car park.
I was totally f….g livid. I’ll write more in a minute.
Wow – that’s just crazy – I’d have been hopping mad. Just the other day the lady who insists on letting her 2 have kittens every year told me she put weed killer on the lawn and I freaked out saying that tiny kittens would be hurt or killed by it. Luckily she hadn’t let them outside yet due to the cold weather – and she said she only does it once in a while but I think next time she will remember.
Ok now I am going to say it. I don’t care. I HATE lawns. They are proof that our society is ugly and boring. Bloody lawn lawn lawn – the amount of crap that goes into those incredibly boring things is intolerable as is the amount of machinery that gets passed over them to keep them all …lawny, they are so annoying. People even use leaf blowers now to make sure no leaves feed their lawn over the winter because they would rather just put steroids on the lawn in spring rather than let nature do it’s course – oh, because leaves don’t look nice on the lawn? Furthermore the amount of water required to keep them going is criminal. If you live near a golf course don’t let your cat onto it because you will not find an area with more chemicals. Lawns are just so incredibly irritating and I think people like them because they need things to be neat and tidy and empty and uniform, including the nature on their own land. I tell you, lawns are such a huge disaster for the environment and its just so ironic really especially since they are green and all. I remember Red would get all freaked out when they came and cut our grass every few weeks – so sad – all the little flowers gone, the dandelions and buttercups and no more long grass for the cats to stalk each other – or just lie in private and snooze.
Lawns lawns lawns argh – I hate them with a passion. I can’t stand the damn things. If I ever have the opportunity to have one I will take that opportunity to grow the tallest wild flowers I can find even if every other house has it’s damn perfect lawn. For all the work and money and chemicals and petrol and electricity that goes into the damn things – just to end up looking like a green carpet, you would think more people would just use astro turf or …um, a green carpet.
Sometimes I just want to go and stab people’s lawns with a blunt object and flip bits of turf around just to see the look of horror on their boring faces. Oh the pleasure. What is up with us if we take the only bit of nature we have in front of our houses and we make it into a green carpet. 3 cheers for the gardens that are a little wild and have lots of flowers and ivys and a little bit of grassy area.
I am in danger of becoming a serial lawn vandaliser – i just hate them and what they represent and how they tint the reflection of our stupid blithering species. Humans and their lawns – argh.
Ok – I’m done and I apologize to anyone who has a lawn or who knows someone with a lawn, oh wait, that would be everyone in the developed world and some of the rest. Ok I apologize to the world.
I also think that the people laying dangerous chemicals on a lawn that is owned in part by people they might not know and who may have pets should be careful. There should even maybe some laws about this. If you want to turn the whole pet ‘ownership’thing around then Michael you are right, you can take them to court for damaging your ‘property’.
Most of them don’t even think of it. Others don’t care. I believe there are pet safe products out there. Infact I just read about one in ModernCat magazine – they exist. Lets hope they become standard. Weed killers and pesticides are the most carcingenic things around. Apples are the most carcinogenic thing you can buy to eat unless they are organic, because they are sprayed with pesticides. Pesticides are killing the worlds bees and animals. Lawns are the pinnacle of absurdity at a huge price.