I've seen at least ten pictures of bullfrogs with fish in their mouths and even a video or two on other pond forums. My friend saw one grab and eat a duckling at a golf course. They are blamed for helping native Western Pond Turtles and native frogs to extinction here in the West including BC Canada so I have no problems believing that bullfrogs eat anything. I have had cats my entire life and have had aquariums my entire life and ponds in various forms since 1985 and have seen plenty of cats watch fish but not catch any. Every time their paw gets wet they draw it back and shake it off. I do know that cats would not climb or jump into a pond and get wet enough to disturb plants unless it was an accident and they fell in. I have seen my own cat fall in. once. No plants were harmed though. If plants are disturbed or pots tipped over morning after morning it is raccoons. I have had dogs in my pond that did a lot of damage, more than once. Loose neighborhood dogs. They were leaping and splashing and knocked over lily pots and their claws put holes in a lot of foliage. They weren't after fish or food they were playing in the water. One kept coming back, I'd chase him out and he would circle behind me and jump back in....This has happed three times in twelve years of ponds at this house. The raccoons come pretty much every night. We sit on our couch and watch animals at our front yard wildlife ponds all the time. Cats, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, birds, dragonflies, treefrogs and many insects too from bees to water fleas. It is raccoons who tear up everything and now we have to cover the ponds every night with covers made of copper and chicken wire. Now they are destroying the rock edges and we have to do extensive work when the tadpoles all morph. The cats never hurt anything. They chased the treefrogs but we never saw one eat one or found any corpses or body parts. They seem more confused by them than anything. Mostly they just drink from the ponds. Having a dog should be deterrent enough for cats in your yard, won't work on raccoons though. An electric fence was the only thing that worked for me on the fish pond which is too big too cover and has plants too tall. I tried two ultrasonic noise makers which did bother the cats but not the raccoons. Motion water cannons will deter cats but not all raccoons.

Cats vs. Dogs...it realy does depend on the individual animal and the renter. I've known destructive/spraying cats, small dogs that do enough damage for ten dogs (my sisters little dog likes to eat drywall - starts on protruding corners and works in), and large breed dogs that are so laid-back that you could leave them unattended for days and they'd just lay on the couch (not that I'd ever recommend leaving any animal unattended for days.) Seeing the vehicle is probably a good suggestion, but even meeting with the animal may not be enough to get a proper feel (especially dogs). Some animals are perfect angels as long as their owner (or any person) is around, but turn into little monsters as soon as they're left alone. My suggestion would be that in addition to a large deposit, the pet owner should be required to hold a pet insurance policy. When I was a tenant with a cat I was req'd to have one that covered property damage, mine was through PetCare (petcareinsurance.com) for about $10.00/month, I never had to use it, so I don't know how they are to deal with for claims, but the landlord had several apartment buildings and required any tenants with pets to get a policy through them, so I'd be guessing that they're OK. I'm sure it must be a challenging decission, because I know that for a lot of people the pets are their 'kids', and a lot of people think their kids can do no wrong... Good Luck!

Our border collie has recently put on a lot of weight, not sure if it is the weather, lack of exercise or perhaps the grands feeding her Christmas snacks of cheese, but she has begun having trouble waddling and getting in the van. Our most precious tuxedo cat died, at 19 years of age, not a long time ago and our 18-year-old highly bred blue Persian was euthanized a few months back secondary to arthritis, debilitation, kidney failure and seizure activity, all taking a toll on the two of us. I am sort of having the waddling trouble too but I refuse, at my age, to allow exercise classes and food to control my life. As long as I hear from all my doctors how sharp my mind is, I am not going to join an exercise regimen and fear losing my mind in a gym to someone not worthy. Yes! also eccentric.

I have had cats all of my life and now I have none. I don't want anymore because they might outlive me and I am enjoying the freedom of not having them to take care of. I never kept a box for my cats until we came to live in the burbs. My cats mostly wandered in and out at will. Even in the burbs I used to let my cats out and they used the box mainly in the winter time. You know that old adage about how if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is not true? Apply that to Febreeze. That stuff is scary! Really? It eliminates odors? Scary, scary, scary. I would never buy it, ever, in any form. One of my cats was doing really poorly with lots of hair loss, losing weight, and just all around bad health. I had been feeding him the Costco brand of wet food. Once I quit that, he turned around quite quickly. I think that stuff was bad, bad, bad. One thing about that litter, though, It seems that if this would be happening to enough cats that it would be a known issue. It seems that a vet might warn people about this. There is so much cat litter sold and so very many cats that it has to have happened before. It can't be an isolated experience. Did your vet directly attribute this blockage to the litter? It certainly seems like it plausible. That stuff is very hard to dissolve with water. I think that type of dirt is used to line livestock ponds with. What a lot of money people spend on kitty litter and kitty food! What an industry it is!