IF Colin Heap (Letters, December 28) had read my letter properly, he would have seen that at no point did I condone my cats killing birds.

This is something I have tried to stop.

In fact my oldest cat has never caught one. I also do not think it is acceptable for cats to mess in other people's gardens. I was merely pointing out why they do this and if more cats had litter trays, as mine do, this wouldn't happen as often.

Mr Heap seems to think it is acceptable for people to shoot much-loved pets because of cat intrusion. I'm sure the cat's owner wouldn't agree and I'm pretty sure the RSPCA or Cats Protection League wouldn't either.

Miss W Hartley,

Tudor Road,

Acomb, York.

Updated: 11:37 Saturday, January 08, 2005