Opinion: Feral Cats

[kurmaraja12]

Ok everyone, i need your opinion on something...

We recently moved into the suburbs near St. Louis. Our new house is in a nice, newer subdivision and it's full of families with small children. Our next door neighbors have a lovely backyard full of plants and trees and such. Well, shortly after we moved in I noticed that they had an outdoor cat... or two...ok well more like 4! They usually stay in their yard and will sit on the neighbor's deck. I'm fine with outdoor cats, as long as people have them spayed and neutered as to not allow overpopulation. They do not bother us, but they do come up on our deck and walk around and poo in our yard. However they are not aggressive and run away if we make an approach. None of them wear collars and all of them are somewhat slim.

Today I was outside and i noticed 3 adult cats in the yard between our houses. Then i noticed 3-4 kittens with the adults. The neighbors have two smallish bowls on their deck for one or all of the cats, i don't know. My problem with this is A. the cats are not spayed/neutered and are reproducing and B. We are getting a kitten saturday from a breeder and I do not want the male cats spraying/marking my house because they smell my cat inside (our cat will not be going outdoors). Not to mention if we had the screen door closed but the glass door open, i am afraid they could pass something between them.

Listen, I have no problem with outdoor cats but I have a problem with people who do not keep them responsibly. I see so many cats in shelters and it makes me sad because sometimes those litters are the results of feral, un-fixed cats like these next door.

My question to you all is, what should i do?

I personally want to call animal control and have them taken away. But i also do not want to offend my neighbors. My plan is that tomorrow i am going to go knock on the door, introduce myself, chit-chat, and kindly ask if all of those cats are theirs or not. Then i will ask if they know that the cats had kittens and what they planned on doing with them, and possibly offer to call animal control/humane society for an extraction. I personally don't want my yard overrunning with cats, as they are slowly making their way into our yard as well. Am I way out of line? What do i do if they say they don't care? Are there ordinances against nuisance feral cats?

 

[Jacqui]

Did you just move in next door to me? (which I know you didn't thank goodness)

I am on the other side of this coin, I feed and care for as best as I can all the cats who show up at my door. I spay and nueter, when I have the money. I am also okay with kittens that may happen, because I know I am the one who will be feeding them, they will not be going to shelters. I feel I have done my duty in the past adopting from shelters, so yeah I have the right to have kittens born here on my place. Even when not born here, I get a constant supply dumped out here. Thank goodness I have neighbors who are true cat lovers and have no major problem with my cats. I sorta see them putting up with my cats as part of being a good neighbor. Sorta like I put up with the noise from small children, the extra car traffic (and noise from said cars), of houses filled with those same children or young adults, or loud music from those cars or houses, trash thrown out windows, ect.., I think being a good neighbor means putting up with those things. The watching each other's back and making allowances for each other.

I have a major pet peeve with folks moving into a place and the first thing they want to do is make their neighbors, who were there when they moved in, change their way of doing things.

Believe me, I would become your worse nightmare, if you started calling animal control on my animals. I am the type who thinks what goes around comes around and it would be a war zone with me calling authorities on you and yours for any and every little thing. If your kitten got loose, well good luck finding it.

 

[wellington]

I would call a rescue and see if they would either come catch them or if you can catch them and bring them in. I personally wouldn't say anything to the neighbors. Sounds like they won't care what you say, but if you talk to them, and then they do nothing, but now you have to do something, well now your at war with the neighbor, as they will know you did it.

 

[Jacqui]

I would call a rescue and see if they would either come catch them or if you can catch them and bring them in. I personally wouldn't say anything to the neighbors. Sounds like they won't care what you say, but if you talk to them, and then they do nothing, but now you have to do something, well now your at war with the neighbor, as they will know you did it.

Do you really think they won't know it's her???

 

[wellington]

I would call a rescue and see if they would either come catch them or if you can catch them and bring them in. I personally wouldn't say anything to the neighbors. Sounds like they won't care what you say, but if you talk to them, and then they do nothing, but now you have to do something, well now your at war with the neighbor, as they will know you did it.

Do you really think they won't know it's her???

If she talks to them first they will know. If she just has a rescue take care of it, they might figure it's the new
neighbor, but won't really know if she, or the rest just finally got fed up, now that there are kittens.

 

[Jacqui]

If she talks to them first they will know. If she just has a rescue take care of it, they might figure it's the new
neighbor, but won't really know if she, or the rest just finally got fed up, now that there are kittens.

I can say, if I had a new neighbor and my animals came up missing, the first person I would suspect is the new neighbor.

---

Plus I can not believe you can be so mean as to take away somebody's pets. Believe me, I worry about every one of those wild cats that come to my place to eat. I even worry about the strays whom I persoanlly do not like. Just because they are outside, does not make them feral or does not make them loved. Some folks believe cats should be free outside. Sorta like in here we have folks who think tortoises should never be living inside, some who have them both in and out, and those who have them only inside.

 

[terryo]

Why don't you take one of her kittens (ask her first, of course) instead of getting one from a breeder. It would be one less cat for you to worry about outside. I'm afraid you'd hate me too. I feed everything, all the neighborhood cats, squirrels, birds. My neighbor and I try to catch some and chip in to have them spayed, but they are all over. It's very sad with Winter coming so I leave my garage open just a bit for any to come in out of the cold.

 

[EricIvins]

Feral Cats have no place outside of a household. Same thing goes for a Dog, or any other animal. It has nothing to do with who moved in where. They don't belong. As far as I'm concerned, a responsible "Pet" owner would keep their animals indoors and not let them roam to breed disease and contribute to over whelming Feral populations........

 

[kurmaraja12]

Jacqui, you bring up some very valid points. I don't want to take anyone's animals away. And I do worry about the kittens because it is getting cold out at night. Don't think I want to just stick it to my neighbors, maybe I came off sort of cold. But I also just don't want my yard to be overrun with cats as well. Tomorrow I will ask if she at least knows there are kittens and what she plans on doing with them. Then I will rethink calling animal control.

 

[Jacqui]

Feral Cats have no place outside of a household. Same thing goes for a Dog, or any other animal. It has nothing to do with who moved in where. They don't belong. As far as I'm concerned, a responsible "Pet" owner would keep their animals indoors and not let them roam to breed disease and contribute to over whelming Feral populations........

How do you know these animals are not healthy and have all their shots? How do you know those adults are not spayed and nuetered? Some folks think cats belong outside, just like tortoises. Wait, so all our pet tortoises should be staying inside the house too???

 

[kurmaraja12]

Feral Cats have no place outside of a household. Same thing goes for a Dog, or any other animal. It has nothing to do with who moved in where. They don't belong. As far as I'm concerned, a responsible "Pet" owner would keep their animals indoors and not let them roam to breed disease and contribute to over whelming Feral populations........

I agree, I enjoy animals too but these are posing some threats to me and people in very closeproximity.

 

[CDNPyxis]

I agree with a lot of Jacqui's points, it does not matter how much you chit-chat before, if you bring up the cats on your first meeting with them they will know that the chit-chat was purely keeping up appearances. You can casually ask them if they have cats or about them and see what their response is, you will be able to read a lot about them with that conversation. But IMO you do nothing and say nothing right now, that may be hard for you, but this is your neighbour, I have lived beside some crummy people, and a few cats can be the least of your issues.

As a person myself that does not always abide by every city rule, I appreciate the fact that I have accepting neighbours who will not call in the city when I decide to do something I really shouldn't be. My next door neighbour has 5 sheads in their backyard, I don't like them, but I would never say anything.

You may be able to do something about the cats over time, but unless they are a real issue for you, now is probably not the best time.

Craig

 

[wellington]

If she talks to them first they will know. If she just has a rescue take care of it, they might figure it's the new
neighbor, but won't really know if she, or the rest just finally got fed up, now that there are kittens.

I can say, if I had a new neighbor and my animals came up missing, the first person I would suspect is the new neighbor.

---

Plus I can not believe you can be so mean as to take away somebody's pets. Believe me, I worry about every one of those wild cats that come to my place to eat. I even worry about the strays whom I persoanlly do not like. Just because they are outside, does not make them feral or does not make them loved. Some folks believe cats should be free outside. Sorta like in here we have folks who think tortoises should never be living inside, some who have them both in and out, and those who have
them only inside.

---

It's not that I would want to take someone's pet. Someone that takes care of them that is. I don't feel these are taken care of, or they wouldn't have so many to roam and dirty the neighbors and to reproduce. They can't be spayed or neutered if there are kittens. I also wouldn't call animal control either. A rescue, who will take proper care of them and find them new loving caring homes. The animal control will just kill them. I also don't believe cats should be left outside. They are domesticated. They deserve to be treated as such. Which is in a loving caring warm house. If they weren't bothering anyone, then it wouldn't be a problem. They are, it's a problem. If they neighbors don't care about the cats, they aren't going to care about what they are doing. I fed strays too. I still would again. Would never let an animal go hungry. However, when it becomes a problem, then something has to be done. Besides, my only concern really is for the cats, not the people that own them.

 

[Jacqui]

Jacqui, you bring up some very valid points. I don't want to take anyone's animals away. And I do worry about the kittens because it is getting cold out at night. Don't think I want to just stick it to my neighbors, maybe I came off sort of cold. But I also just don't want my yard to be overrun with cats as well. Tomorrow I will ask if she at least knows there are kittens and what she plans on doing with them. Then I will rethink calling animal control.

As you can tell, this is something very near and dear to me. I spend over $10 a day feeding cats. I spent $50 this week on Vet bills. Every cat I spay cost me about $100. So I invest a lot of time and money into these animals. I have a garage and enclosed porches for the outside cats. I also have some cats which live in the house and only in the house. Currently my bedroom is where I work on taming the wild kittens. I am working with a litter of four and three single kittens (the singles are all dump out kittens by the way) to get them gentled. Anybody who thinks all outside cats should be spayed, if you want to pay for it, send your money to my Vet and I will have them going in for the surgeries the next day. Meanwhile, they will get spayed and nuetered as I have the money to do so. First priority for me, is having everybody feed and healthy.

I feel sorry for the inside only cats for never getting to run and play in the sunshine and for the wild ones for the dangers they face that the house ones will never know. It's funny, my inside cats ALWAYS want to go outside, but the outside cats only want in when it gets cold outside. Watching both groups, I really think the happiest cats are those who live outside. Funny, I think that about my tortoise, too.

 

[EricIvins]

Feral Cats have no place outside of a household. Same thing goes for a Dog, or any other animal. It has nothing to do with who moved in where. They don't belong. As far as I'm concerned, a responsible "Pet" owner would keep their animals indoors and not let them roam to breed disease and contribute to over whelming Feral populations........

How do you know these animals are not healthy and have all their shots? How do you know those adults are not spayed and nuetered? Some folks think cats belong outside, just like tortoises. Wait, so all our pet tortoises should be staying inside the house too???

Usually people keep their Tortoises confined, not roaming the neighborhood. It does not matter if they are spayed, neutered, or are able to carry on a conversation. They are a nuisence. Plain and simple.......

 

[Jacqui]

They can't be spayed or neutered if there are kittens.

Barb in the real world folks dump kittens on those of us who are known to have cats. In most years, I have more kittens dumped here then born here. Currently, I am working with five who were dumped. I know of eight other kittens in this village who were dumped on the other two main "catladies" in town.

 

[mainey34]

Do you realize that ferral cats carry feline aids and can be transmitted from one cat to another? Yes it is true. Along with rabies. Which in Missouri felines are not required to have. I'm assuming that's where you are. I just moved from there. Also you need to check into it. I'm not really sure if you can do a whole lot about them or not. I for one do not believe that their should be animals out there running around having babies, carrying diseases, spreading them and being a nuecience.

 

[Jacqui]

Usually people keep their Tortoises confined, not roaming the neighborhood. It does not matter if they are spayed, neutered, or are able to carry on a conversation. They are a nuisence. Plain and simple.......

Sure seems we hear a lot about "lost" or "missing" tortoises in here, so I guess they all aren't confined.

---

Why are we calling these cats "feral"? Sounds to me like they are just outside animals, not feral animals.

Feral:a. Existing in a wild or untamed state.
b. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication.

 

[wellington]

When I was younger I had a couple indoor outdoor cats. The male got beat up by birds all the time and died at a young age. The female, not spayed, under my parents expense and couldn't afford it, got pregnant. We kept two and the mother. They all got killed, kittens, before a year old, the mother shortly after. Never had an outdoor cat again. The three indoor cats since, have lived much longer, much longer, we're healthy, happy and never wanted outside. My oldest, a Bengal I have now, 15 1/2 years old. Hasn't been sick a day in his life, until now, has Reno failure never wanted outside, never has gone outside except to the vets to be neutered, and declawed and is one happy cat. If they don't know the outside, they don't know what they are or aren't missing.

 

[EricIvins]

Usually people keep their Tortoises confined, not roaming the neighborhood. It does not matter if they are spayed, neutered, or are able to carry on a conversation. They are a nuisence. Plain and simple.......

Sure seems we hear a lot about "lost" or "missing" tortoises in here, so I guess they all aren't confined.

Which comes down to irresponsible owners. They may have good intentions, but stupid is as stupid does.......