this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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Woodworking

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A handmade home for woodworkers and admirers of woodworkers. Our community icon is a planter box made by @Captain Aggravated, the winner of our summer '24 woodworking contest. Congratulations!

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So our neighbor's cat has been visiting us for a while, so I decided to build this ramp so that she could more easily get into and out of our yard. I'm not much of a woodworker, but was happy with how this turned out.

It's made almost entirely from cedar fence posts. Nearly 18 feet long (3 fence posts end to end with the dog ear tip cut off). Ripped cedar planks into 3 for a frame/support to prevent flexing. Posts are pine 2x4, and go 18 inches into the ground, which was the majority of the effort, since our ground is like cement...

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

If you aren't willing or able to understand an alternative view, maybe online discussions aren't for you?

You're not entitled to your opinion when it's objectively harmful, and letting cats roam outside is objectively harmful.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

letting cats roam outside is objectively harmful.

That's very situational. If you're in a rural or semi-rural area that has small wildcats (or foxes or similar) already, adding a handful of domestic cats isn't going to disrupt anything much. The only reason to keep cats inside in such a place is for their own safety (from larger predators like coyotes, and from highway traffic).

If you're in Australia, Antarctica, or a protected island biome with no native small wildcats or canids, or you have a known endangered species in the area that cats are likely to prey upon, that changes the equation. If you're in a highly urban area, that changes things in a different way, because the danger to outdoor cats from traffic and other human activity rises exponentially.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Please reflect on what you've written. What are you expecting to achieve by telling someone they aren't entitled to their opinions?

No one is advocating for genocide here, so maybe redirect some of that outrage to a more appropriate place or try to be constructive in your contributions here.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 months ago

LOL, you make a tone argument and yet I'm the one not being constructive?

And to be clear, what I'm expecting to achieve is to point out that the notion that it's okay for pet cats to be outdoors isn't actually an opinion, but rather an incorrect statement of fact. Cats are an invasive species in North America and decimate bird populations; it is objectively wrong for a cat owner to allow it to roam.