Went for Walk.

Noms in fridge.

Rufus

:0)

Comment by cerridwen — March 17, 2009

Love this. :)

Which really IS the answer, when you stop to think about it.

Remember Kitty Boy, the cat I take care of who doesn’t like to use a litter box and prefers outdoors? He is extremely street savvy and is now 13 or so and has never come home with a problem. Kitty Boy is miserable inside. We have another neighbor, a major cat lover, who doesn’t like roaming cats to bother her three cats and she says she will call animal control if she thinks it is necessary. She has told that to Kitty Boy’s people, who live two houses away.

Kitty Boy’s people let him outside and use a tieout in their back yard for the other two, who remain indoors (although Otto tends to bolt out and then panic after an hour and wants back in).

I don’t pretend to know what the answers are, but realize there is no single answer that is right for every cat and owner.

I have learned so much about how people deal with cats.

No, my present two cats cannot have the rich life that all my other cats have had—because of angry neighbors opposed to them having freedom. However, they will have the best I can give them. After all, they are “just cats” that were throw aways given to two different shelters. So some life is better than no life.

My knowledge how to deal with these cats has been expanded so now I can solve my dilemma of how to deal with the outside/inside problem, thanks to ALL the comments I have read.

What she said.

At this point, I can’t even follow the thread of the argument anymore, and it’s hurting my head to try. I do think Heather’s comments were at times misinterpreted, and that unsavory attitudes and motives were unfairly attributed to her. In Comment #55, 2CatMom provided an accurate interpretation of Heather’s actions - at least, it coincided with my understanding of the situation- and it all seemed very reasonable to me. So I’m jumping in to defend Heather (even though it’s taking me away from the guilty pleasure reading Dr. Phil’s message boards).

When there’s a problem with animals in your neighborhood, I think communicating/negotiating with the neighbors is a win-win strategy - IF the neighbors are rational and are willing to change their minds or their behavior. But even otherwise reasonable, compassionate people have blind spots or rigid beliefs (ref. my former neighbor, in my earlier comment, who would do anything for her dog - but wouldn’t provide medical care for her cat). Maybe the reason this discussion generated so much animosity is that specific solutions for individual situations were interpreted as one-size-fits-all. Dunno - going over to Dr. Phil’s place to see what makes my head explode over there.

P.S. Tonight I discovered a bonus of walking a cat on a leash: I wanted to let my husband know that dinner was waiting for him, so before I took Rufus for his walk, I left this note:

Dear Mr. L,

Went for Walk.

Noms in fridge.

Rufus

:0)

It was not my intent to pick on Heather. I was trying to get to the root of the issues. But I maintain: I NEVER said it was OK for someone’s pet to bother a neighbor. That said, however, I do believe sometimes we have to tolerate many things we don’t like to get along in relatively close proximity.

I also said that I thought an animal-lover should look for animal-friendly solutions. Whether the problem is a feral cat, an owned cat or a barking dog.

Sometimes … I think too damn much.

Cats are IN. We’re going to bed.

Get the motion activated sprinkler as suggested, get a PO Box and voila! - no pesky cat, no wet mailman.

Can’t we all just get along?

Lis: Yes”

NO!!!
And that is why this issue is intractable.
If this, as some are saying, a “neighbor problem”.. please tell me what possible conversation could I have with Lis if she were my neighbor, and believes her cat has a right to my property and that it’s MY responsibility to keep it out? Would she pay to build the necessary fencing? And what if I didn’t want to have such a fence?

My cats are inside—a fact I’ve mentioned more than once in this discussion.

Cats who are outside wander according to feline notions of territory, not human notions. You will never live in an area where 100% of the owned cats are inside and there are no feral cats.

So, yes, if you want to keep cats off your property, you have to deal with the fact that even with 100% cooperation from the owners of the owned cats, you will either take effective measures yourself, or you will have the cats on your property.

And if your “solution” to your problem is trapping or killing the cats or calling Animal Control to have them do it, don’t expect to be loved and admired for it—except by other cat-haters.

And no, Gina, cats are NOT bunnies, or squirrels, or any other form of wildlife, to be allowed or tolerated. For one thing, it’s much more difficult, and much more expensive to exclude them.

Oh, my.

Do you really believe that?

Try telling it to someone who has tried to keep deer or rabbits or raccoons out of their garden.

No, it is not harder.

And we’re evidently not allowed any form of lethal control or trap and remove to Animal Control (which so often does amount to the same thing). Because that would be so cruel.

Yup. And only a cat-hater would be puzzled as to why.

Unless the trespassing animal in question is “vermin” i.e. groundhogs, possums, and other less cute kinds of animals. In THAT case it’s fine to kill, or even to promote a sport like “terrier work” to kill them for fun.

In my area, no, it’s not. Lethal measures may NOT be used against groundhogs, opossums, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, or other nuisance wildlife unless they become an actual threat to human health or safety, not merely a nuisance.

It is, quite naturally and appropriately, different in areas where agriculture is a larger factor—some of those areas being not very far from here. In those areas, however little you’re prepared to credit it, these animals are a real problem. And no, using terriers to do the work they were created to do in controlling them is not remotely comparable to dog fighting.

But God forbid our dog kill a cat.. then it’s a headline, the dog is “dangerous” and subject to seizure and death.

This varies wildly with where you are. What won’t vary is that, if your dog kills someone’s cat, and you equate it to killing a rat, you’ll have made a permanent enemy.

A rat is not a dog is not a boy. And a cat isn’t a rat, either.

Lis: Yes”

NO!!!
And that is why this issue is intractable.
If this, as some are saying, a “neighbor problem”.. please tell me what possible conversation could I have with Lis if she were my neighbor, and believes her cat has a right to my property and that it’s MY responsibility to keep it out? Would she pay to build the necessary fencing? And what if I didn’t want to have such a fence?

I’d like to know, because NONE of my attempts at polite “could you try to keep your cat on your own property” overtures to any of my previous neighbors has resulted in any change in their behavior, or their cat’s. “Sorry, that’s just the way cats are”.

And no, Gina, cats are NOT bunnies, or squirrels, or any other form of wildlife, to be allowed or tolerated. For one thing, it’s much more difficult, and much more expensive to exclude them. And we’re evidently not allowed any form of lethal control or trap and remove to Animal Control (which so often does amount to the same thing). Because that would be so cruel. Unless the trespassing animal in question is “vermin” i.e. groundhogs, possums, and other less cute kinds of animals. In THAT case it’s fine to kill, or even to promote a sport like “terrier work” to kill them for fun. But God forbid our dog kill a cat.. then it’s a headline, the dog is “dangerous” and subject to seizure and death.

Cats seem to be in their own “domestic pets when we want them to be; undomesticated wildlife when we want them to be; feral special status animals when we want them to be” categories. So no, I don’t get it. The double standards make my head heart.