Opinion: Feral Cats

[Yvonne G]

I live in the country, but on a busy/high traffic street. People drop their unwanted cats/kittens off all the time around my neighborhood. Because I have food out for my cats all the time, these strays usually end up at my house. At one time I had 15 cats. All of them are spayed or neutered.

These cats are not a problem, but my next door neighbor's cats are. Since my cats are neutered, they USUALLY stay home. I can open my door any time day or night and find all my cats (there are only 4 now, thank goodness). But my neighbor doesn't neuter his cats. Besides eating my cats' food, they come over here and pick fights with my cats in the middle of the night.

So I got a Hav-a-hart trap. Its a big pain because I have to lock my cats up in the garage for the night so I don't catch them in the trap, but if those darned un-neutered neighbor cats get caught in my trap, they're going to the vet for an operation!

 

[Laura]

there is also special fencing that could be used in neighborhood settings. It goes along the top of the fence to keep your cats in your yard. safecatfence i think it is called. or here is one:
http://www.catfence.com/ if you also supply a litter box for the loose cats, ferals etc.. they May be less apt to go the the neighbors..
Coffee grounds are a good thing to try as a repellent. They are good for the soil, free at most coffee shops and wont hurt anything.
If you see unwanterd cats in your yard.. you can spray them with a hose.. its wet, but harmless and a Negative Reinforcement. Make sure you aren't leaving food out for them, they should go elsewhere.

 

[shellysmom]

I really like everyone's ideas, so what I will do is go say hi and tell them that their cats have had kittens, and then offer to bring the adults to a low cost n/s place as to not increase the population. And possibly give the kittens to a rescue (IM poor and I don't know if I could pay for all the kittens to be fixed as well) And I will give them the information on such a place and a rescue also, in case they want to do it themselves.

Here's a link to some free/low cost s-n in Illinois: www.spayillinois.org/

 

[Redstrike]

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........

Agreed. Feral cats are responsible for billions of bird deaths every year, it's a serious conservation problem. There is a classic story of a lighthouse keeper that brought his cat along while he tended the lighthouse. The single cat was responsible for extipating a sparrow that only occured on the island.

http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/101208.html

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Outside cats generally live 6 to 7 years where inside cats live upwards of 20 years.
I am just your opposite Jacqui...I don't believe in you letting your cats walk on my clean cat or s*** in my flower beds where tomorrow I will be weeding and come across that poop. If you want an outside cat you should make sure it's doesn't bother anybody in the neighbourhood. I appreciate what you are doing for the cats, but by the same token it's not right for your cats to pester me. One neighbor has a cats that likes to walk on my deck and knock the flower pots off . Another cat sprays urine all around my house at butt level so when I am all dressed in nice clean clothes I take off my car cover and get cat pee on me from them spraying. I can smell cat pee on me when I get into town. I have 2 inside cats who have a very good life and a better one I'm sure...
I spend money that I really can't afford so I can buy bird seeds for the wild birds in my yard and many times I have been sitting on my deck when a cats comes along and catches one of my birds or I find a dead half eaten bird inn the yard in the morning. I love watching the birds and I have warned my neighbours that I have a cat trap set every night and when I catch one I don't take them to our local shelter. I take it for a long ride.

 

[Jacqui]

Outside cats generally live 6 to 7 years where inside cats live upwards of 20 years.
I am just your opposite Jacqui...I don't believe in you letting your cats walk on my clean cat or s*** in my flower beds where tomorrow I will be weeding and come across that poop. If you want an outside cat you should make sure it's doesn't bother anybody in the neighbourhood. I appreciate what you are doing for the cats, but by the same token it's not right for your cats to pester me. One neighbor has a cats that likes to walk on my deck and knock the flower pots off . Another cat sprays urine all around my house at butt level so when I am all dressed in nice clean clothes I take off my car cover and get cat pee on me from them spraying. I can smell cat pee on me when I get into town. I have 2 inside cats who have a very good life and a better one I'm sure...

Maggie, you have it wrong, none of my neighbors have complained about my cats. Actually except to follow me when walking my dogs, none of my cats have I ever spotted further then the block we live on or just across the street (still in the ditch) but even then it's an empty lot. The one exception is a female who travels between my two houses so she goes two blocks. Three folks live on my block, where we also have a park and a alfalfa field. The rest are empty lots and empty houses which have been that way for years. My house is one of those old fashioned ones with a huge yard. There are two cats which come across the park for "visits", but they belong to the person over there. Now the other two neighbors on my block have cats too and their cats come to my house and vise versa.

Also my cats have plenty of flower beds here at home for doing their digging in or the sand along the road, they don't need to go to the neighbors for that. I do know what you mean about the pee, it ticks me off to be sitting in my yard and have full grown men come around the city hall to pee. Or just a couple of weeks ago I watched a man come behind the brand new bathhouse our village has just built to do his peeing. Twenty feet at most and he could have been inside using the proper bathroom. Or the out of town person who brings their shepherds with them to get the mail and they urinate on my truck and tomato plants.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

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?

I think talking w/ them 1st is a good idea...hopefully, that'll be productive.

If not, call animal control, because feral cats can be a SERIOUS problem, besides overpopulation. They can (and often do carry diseases, from feline distemper, feline leukemia up to rabies,. And they hunt native songbirds, and compete with other native creatures.

 

[CharlieM]

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........

Agreed. Feral cats are responsible for billions of bird deaths every year, it's a serious conservation problem. There is a classic story of a lighthouse keeper that brought his cat along while he tended the lighthouse. The single cat was responsible for extipating a sparrow that only occured on the island.

http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/101208.html

I also agree and worry about our native birds. I am a bird person and hate the damage cats can cause.

 

[kurmaraja12]

Well I.stopped over there today with some contacts for cheap S/N and rescues for my neighbor. I knocked and rang the doorbell but no one answered.I noticed their garbage can was still outside (garbage day was yesterday) so I thought no one was home but I tried anyways. Later I saw a car that I recognized from a couple weeks ago. It is my educated theory that a elderly woman lives there and that the person who stops by is her daughter and she brings her kids over too. It was pouring out today and my boyfriend thought I'd look weird if I came over there in the middle of a storm. Lol. So I will try again tomorrow or whenever I see the car next.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Out here in the country, the law allows us to shoot any feral that comes onto our property, but what I do is ask around, to determine who's pet belongs to whom...the ones that are ownerless get one of two options: (A) If friendly, I try to find them homes, in the mean time, I feed 'em and clean 'em up, for Maximum Adoptability, or (B) if utterly wild, I humanely dispatch them w/ my 30.06.

Had a neighbor who refused to control her two pit-bull-type dogs, and I spoke with her about them...she assured me that they were harmless. When I saw them, a month or so later, tear a cocker puppy apart (literally) that was the pet of a child down the street, in the child's back yard, right in front of her, I shot both and put them on the owner's door-step, leaving a note, explaining all pertinent details. The bullies' owner called the Sheriff's office, a couple of sheriffs came out, spoke w/ her, to me, to the child, and to the child's parents, and then arrested the dog's owner for 2 counts of harboring a dangerous animal.

It's a sad thing when irresponsible pet owners put folks like myself in a position where we have to do the responsible thing.

 

[bigred]

Sounds like everyone has his or her own opinion, I have 2 cats and my Mom next door to me has 1. So I guess you could say I have 3 black cats. My cats are normal cats and they lay on the neighbors cars, fight with other cats, eat birds, eat mice and none of this bothers me. I guess you have several choices to choose from, trap them, feed them, shoot them and whatever you choose to do is what you choose to do. If my cats come up missing I would go check the pound for black cats and bring them back home. If they were not at the pound then I wouldnt have that cat anymore. Only one of the cats comes in the house and the other 2 are just cats that we started feeding. My cats are great cats and I do enjoy them. I would be careful how you handle the neighbor thing, you might be living next to them for years

 

[Pokeymeg]

I would definitely check with the neighbors first...

In my neighborhood we have the 'cat connection'. They trap feral cats, treat for Feline HIV, spay/nueter, rabies, then try to find a home for the young ones. The older ones, and kittens if there's no shelter room, get their left ear clipped and are released back where they came from. It's a GREAT program. Neighbors get to keep the cats (Yes, my neighbors were feeding the feral cats and creating a colony), they don't spread (as much) disease, can't breed, and therefore will dwindle in numbers (for you bird folks ;-) )

We have a feral cat from this colony (his mom abandoned his as an 8 week old kitten in our yard) that has adopted us and has a hut on our back deck. We feed him, he keeps the mouse population down, and occasionally terrorizes birds to bring us a head and show his love. Awwwwww

Maybe your area has a program like this you could find? Our cat-breeding neighbor agreed when they realized they could keep the cats, and it was helping the neighborhood.

 

[CharlieM]

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........

Agreed. Feral cats are responsible for billions of bird deaths every year, it's a serious conservation problem. There is a classic story of a lighthouse keeper that brought his cat along while he tended the lighthouse. The single cat was responsible for extipating a sparrow that only occured on the island.

http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/releases/101208.html

I also agree and worry about our native birds. I am a bird person and hate the damage cats can cause.
[/

http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/predation.pdf

 

[EricIvins]

I find the attitude about Cats nonchalantly killing off Birds and other natural Wildlife to be sickening.........How do you justify that logic?

 

[BowandWalter]

My cat is an island cat, he's inside/outside and is 16 years old. He was neutered young and knows the property lines as well as the dogs. There's no problem with him being outside, he only was friendly to one neighbor (and went to visit her daily before she was carted off to the old folks home), who has since moved, and the others he avoids on sight. He also learned as a kitten that birds are not prey, I've raised many chicks and abandoned hatchlings and he's never shown any interest, he does however capture the big shore rats that roam the island.

Our "crazy" neighbors had a feral female have kittens under their porch, for some hair brained reason they let her raise all of her kittens, out of 6 or 7, 3 survived. All of them are wild, and were only spayed and neutered after everyone on the island complained. They regularly come and jump my cat, luckily he's large, wiry, and fully capable of knocking sense into them.

We had to call the police 8 or 9 years ago because they tried to report Cream as being a wild unneutered tom. After a fair bit of a kerfuffle it was realized that Cream is a lovely well behaved cat, whereas theirs are complete hellions. My cat actually has a restraining order against them, they aren't allowed close to him, it was what was suggested by the police.

If the neighbors end up being completely insane you might want to see if you can get an order against the cats being in your yard.

 

[dmmj]

So I think I am a big an animal lover as anyone, but I think feeding stray cats is wrong. It seems like the nice thing to do on the surface, but stray outdoor cats live shorter lives, usually in bad conditions. Would those who think it ok, be fine with packs of dogs roaming the streets, having puppies and terrorizing the neighborhood? I am no tin favor of shooting them since I would hate to accidentally shoot someone's pet who escaped, no pet owner is perfect and escapes can happen even to the best of us, this irresponsible owner thing is a weak argument at best. I am afraid those who feed the strays, would not like me as a neighbor.

 

[terryo]

I don't have any cats, and I don't want any. Unfortunately there are people who dump cats in neighborhoods that they feel will take care of the animals that they don't want any more. We have called animal control many times and set out traps to catch and neuter the strays. My neighbors and I chip in to do this. I think it's a shame that people just dump off their responsibility hoping that someone...like me....will feel sorry and feed them. Besides catching and fixing them, and leaving my garage open for them in the Winter, I don't know what else to do. They sit outside crying for food, and I would never NOT feed them. I have many bird feeders all around my yard, and never had a problem with the cats killing the birds, as my dogs are back there most of the day in the Summer. We also put out dried corn for the Squirrels. I could never let an animal go hungry, even one that's a pest at times.

 

[Neal]

... no pet owner is perfect and escapes can happen even to the best of us, this irresponsible owner thing is a weak argument at best.

I disagree, it's a pretty good argument. I would add that ID'ing the animal by collar and ID tag would fall under responsible pet ownership in my opinion. This would decrease the chance that someone's pet would accidentally be relocated or taken to a shelter.

 

[Kerryann]

The feral kids were in my yard yesterday and caused me drama. I posted in the pretend chat thread the details but I stand by my thought about not letting your responsibilities become other people's problems.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

The feral kids were in my yard yesterday and caused me drama. I posted in the pretend chat thread the details but I stand by my thought about not letting your responsibilities become other people's problems.

Agreed...While it takes a village to raise a child, most of the responsibility must rest on the parent's shoulders, not on the village, itself.