Well this is where it gets delicate. It seems that rational discussion of pets is hard in this country but, encouraged by your response rshdunlop, will try.

An interesting suggestion re thorns. I would rather not do this to our kitchen garden but will bear it in mind.

I have experience of keeping cats and dogs. I choose not to keep either in the city. In the case of a dog, I do not have the time to dedicate to walking one every day, so it would be cruel of me to keep one.

In the case of a cat, I am more concerned about the damage they cause to the local ecosystem, they probably cause comparable damage to habitat loss through development. Thousands of small animals are needlessly killed each year by cats. I know that many will say that their cats do not do this, but collectively they do. So you choose to keep a cat and therefore choose to let it out.

I realise that I am in a minority in this viewpoint. It is only through home study of biogeography that I have reached it.

I hope our fox (top predator) sticks around.