I need some advice on a cat that wanders our neighborhood. His owners let him out for hours at a time, and he gets into garbage, provokes the dogs in the neighborhood and obviously knows no property boundaries (duh, he's a cat). This has been going on for about a year.
Here's my issue: I have two indoor cats of my own. Last spring was when we started seeing this cat around the neighborhood. One day, the cat was on our back deck while I was in my office. I heard one of my cats growling at the back door, so I got up to see what was happening and before I got there, my other cat came to check it out too. The cat that had been growling at the door turned all of his wrath on my other cat and literally kicked the #### out of him. We're talking biting, scratching, blood. This is called redirected aggression. I sustained some battle wounds as well trying to separate them. Meanwhile, neighbor cat is just sitting on the back deck watching this all go down. Anyways, at that point all trust that had been between my cats was gone (had them together for 6 years with no issues). This was last May. They now hate each other. They tolerate each other, but scrap regularly.
With winter the neighborhood cat hasn't been out as much, but now that the weather is warming up a bit we've started seeing him again over the last few weeks. I'm worried that the same thing will happen between my cats, without one of us there to stop it. We've been putting in complaints with the city, but they just get warnings. Two weeks ago, my boyfriend caught him and brought him over to their house (house number on the tags). The roommate answered and said that they've told the lady who owns the cat that it's not allowed outside and that we wouldn't see him again. This morning at 4:00am, my cat started freaking out at the back door again and sure enough: there's neighbor cat.
What are our options here? The city doesn't seem too willing to enforce their bylaw of no animals running at large and we've already tried talking to these people. This cat has shredded our garbage, dug in our garden and almost gotten us to the point of having to get rid of one of our cats because of their aggression towards each other. We're going to start looking into taking him to the pound, but I'm worried that'll cause conflict with their owners. What are impounding fees like? If we catch this cat again and have him impounded or take him to the Humane Society, what will these people have to pay to get him out? What if this keeps happening - does the fine go up every time your cat is caught at large?
I'm literally at my wits end with this. We've had to start separating out cats during the day as we can't trust that the neighbor cat won't come by while we're not home and cause aggression. Any advice is appreciated, and if you're a person who lets your cat outside thinking 'hey, it's just a cat, no harm can some of this...', you're completely and totally wrong.
My uncle used to grab them when they were on is yard and leash them to the clothesline pole in the backyard. Then he'd paint them with whatever spray paint he had on hand. He wouldn't paint the head or face but I think the owners would get the message as the cats were rarely seen roaming again.
I'd probably soak it with the hose when it came on my property if it upset my cats.
We did that multiple times in the summer, and while it worked to get rid of the cat at that moment, it doesn't keep him away. It's a pretty small cat, and I'm almost tempted to just let my huge cat outside when neighbor cat is in the backyard. Then again, that would be hugely counterproductive as he already has aggression issues now.
Call bylaw and get a cat trap, then drop the cat off at the humane society. When they collect it, the owner will most likely face a fine under the responsible pet ownership bylaw.
This is legal and the city allows/encourages it.
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Call bylaw and get a cat trap, then drop the cat off at the humane society. When they collect it, the owner will most likely face a fine under the responsible pet ownership bylaw.
This is legal and the city allows/encourages it.
this is the best solution. At this point who cares if it causes conflict with your neighbor, she's an irresponsible owner.
What do you think she would say if her cat came home beaten to a pulp. Or dragging its back leg because someone got tired of its antics and kicked it into orbit.
You shouldn't have to pay for her stupidity.
Get the trap, trap the cat and take it in and let the humane society deal with it.
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Call bylaw and get a cat trap, then drop the cat off at the humane society. When they collect it, the owner will most likely face a fine under the responsible pet ownership bylaw.
This is legal and the city allows/encourages it.
Yep...
I had to do that at my old house years ago...
Our house cat would never be out yet some feline kept pissing on my back step.
We got a live trap from the Humane society and set it up where everyone could see it.
Didn't catch the cat but they weren't out as much afterwards either.
So if I understand correctly, your 2 cats who have lived together for years are suddenly beating the #### out of each other because the neighbour's cat trolls them by watching them so they take their anger out on each other? That actually pretty genius on the other cat's part. I'm impressed. I think your cats need anger management counselling.
In all seriousness I've owned cats my entire life and have never heard of that happening before. Weird. The way I see it you have 3 choices.
1. Get rid of one of your own cats. But that option sucks as it shouldn't have to come to that.
2. Set a cat trap and bring it to the humane society. When I was a kid this happened to my family's cat and we never let him out again. Message received.
3. Capture the other cat and murder it, hide it's body. The neighbour will be sad, but cats go missing and are never to be seen again all the time.
Last edited by Huntingwhale; 02-13-2015 at 08:57 AM.
It is a tough situation. Cats are nocturnal hunters - caging them inside is against their nature. But, the rights of the neighbors have to take priority.
Maybe people should not have cats in the city.
Last edited by troutman; 02-13-2015 at 10:37 AM.
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Just let your aggressive cat fight the other cat. Let nature solve things. Then hopefully your other cat won't get picked on as much.
Kidding obviously. I would definitely take their cat in and get them a fine. You can't put up with that forever, especially after confronting the owners.
I hate outdoor cats and this is coming from someone who owns a cat.
They s**t everywhere, they get into everything, they decimate bird populations, they can be annoying when they're howling.
outdoor cats also live considerably shorter lives personally I'd catch it and drop it off at the CHS and say it was a stray because a cat owner who lets their cat outside in the city isn't an owner fit to own a cat.
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Nuisance Neighborhood Cat
