I'm sorry, but I can't keep schtum any longer. The garden blogging world has been infected with a seriously virulent infectious vector, possibly worse than Hosta Virus X, Cucumber Mosaic and Pepper Mild Mottle Tobamovirus all rolled into one.
The problem is cats, my friends. What is the deal with the moggiephilia? Cats are not lovely, Matthew Wilson: cats are utter rubbish. They crap everywhere and then bury it under the surface so you don't know it's there till you put your hand in it. They chase away all the birds, they eat frogs, they scratch the bark off trees; they are just a walking evil plague in the garden.
If anyone moans to me about slugs, my first question will always be "are there cats with access to your garden?" Cats drive away all the natural predators of molluscs, to the point that I honestly believe it is only cat-infested gardens that have really serious slug problems.
Puppies on the other hand, actually eat slugs. If you wanted a single recommendation for having a dog, it would be this.
But apart from that, they are just better. As there don't seem to be any garden bloggers currently sticking up for dogs in the same rabidly partisan fashion as the cat-lovers, I am going to take up the cause. Cats are rubbish. So there, I've said it. My illustration is of one of the puppies I'm currently babysitting. May she grow up to be a cat-chaser.
