842 days ago

CAT FEEDING FURORE

Michael from Trentham

Cats within a suburb in Christchurch are getting fed by a neighbour or neighbours and within some of the food given are poisonous substances enough to kill some of them and make others seriously ill requiring vet attention.

This is bad and sad.

People should never feed a cat unless they know for sure that the cat is an absolute stray who is extremely and obviously hungry. I know it is difficult for some people to resist.

Less than dogs, but nonetheless, cats can suffer from food allergies and so these allergies can be from any one of the proteins (meats) or in fact all protein as well as many other types of food. So a person who feeds a wandering cat may be harming the cat seriously simply through lack of knowledge in not being the owner of the cat. Same thing here in giving a cat "treats".

Of course, giving a cat food often means that the cat will use your property as a second home.

The other thing is double dipping on food ie - the owner and a neighbour, can create unwanted obesity in a cat.

One of my son's experienced a Siamese cat coming into his stand-alone flat and he said that he didn't have any food to give the cat. Thank goodness for that. It is 100% unlikely that an expensive Siamese cat in any case is a stray.

There is a cat problem where everyone lives in NZ (there are a million cats here) apart from any new housing areas where cats are banned. There is a cat problem growing in the Wallaceville Estate in Wallaceville. More than twice a week, someone is missing their cat is one issue. Just recently on three occasions I noticed an almost pure white coated cat coming through my fenced property late at night - well into the time a cat should be kept indoors in their own owner's property.

More messages from your neighbours
5 days ago

Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑

Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.

We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?

Want to read more? The Press has you covered!

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🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
  • 52.6% Human-centred experience and communication
    52.6% Complete
  • 14.8% Critical thinking
    14.8% Complete
  • 29.8% Resilience and adaptability
    29.8% Complete
  • 2.8% Other - I will share below!
    2.8% Complete
568 votes
1 day ago

Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!

William Hansby Reporter from NZ Gardener & Get Growing

Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.

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11 hours ago

Some Choice News!

Kia pai from Sharing the Good Stuff

DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.

Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.

For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.

Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?

We hope this brings a smile!

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