Neighborhood Cats

[ButchGood]

I like the electric fence idea. One strand at the top and they will not come into the yard.

 

[SDSA]

Please don't trap your neighbors cats! A cat should not be brought to a shelter and possibly face death just for being a good hunter. The hot wire and sprinklers are a great idea, you can even train your dog to chase them but not hurt them. Cats are smart and they will learn to stay away. If your yard is to big to equip with sprinklers or a hot wire then keep young birds enclosed or get a protective rooster if you can. My neighbors and I all have barn cats, it is very hard to get a cat to stay on your property unless you lock it in your house. My dogs and tom cats tend to keep cats they don't know off the property so I only have to worry about my own cats eating my chickens (they eat chickens when they run out of cat food). Generally when a cat is bothering one of my neighbors they throw dirt clods at them, after they have been scared off a couple times they avoid their property. Some of my cats I do not see every day but I have had them for years and I can't imagine how upset i would be if someone took them to the shelter and they were gone before I even knew. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think it is irresponsible for people to let their cats have freedom, and as a back yard chicken farmer I understand that predator protection is my responsibility. I would be happy if cats were my biggest problem. Where I live if we did not have cats roaming the neighborhood then I would be constantly trapping rats so that they didn't eat all my eggs at night. Thanks for reading and please take other solutions into consideration before resorting to trapping your neighbors pets. One of my neighbors poisoned my peacocks when it would have probably been less effort for him to scare them away a couple times and taking a cat to a shelter can be just as much of a death sentence as poisoning them.

 

[speckledhen]

Time to remind new folks of the rules of this section of the forum, in case you skipped reading the stickied thread at the top of the section:


Quote: Trapping roaming predators, and make no mistake, a dog or cat off the property of its owner is a predator, is an accepted practice. This is not the place to tell folks NOT to trap predators, please.

 

[srd5757]

I COMPLETELY understand! I'm actually in the same boat right now and it is SO frustrating that we have a 6 ft fence and I still have to worry about their animal on my property.
Anyways, we did set a live trap. Unfortunatly, the cat is apparently smarter than that as we haven't caught it.
One option is calling animal control anytime it's out. You don't have to catch it and they will come. Also, you can annonymously do this so the neighbor doesn't have to know who's telling animal control. Just a thought if you're trying not to confront neighbors.
Good Luck.
I'll be watching this for ideas on what to do also!

 

[linguafranka]

I did offer a non-lethal alternative. Did I violate the code, b/c I didn't intend to.
Interesting that everyone wants to shoot the raccoons but drop the cats at AC. What's the diff?

 

[speckledhen]

Don't necessarily assume I was speaking to one specific person or about only one section of those rules I just quoted. Just a reminder to think before posting, according to the guidelines of Predators & Pests.

When the predator is a neighbor's cat, emotions tend to run high, and we've all seen this on BYC. If someone says trap, someone else yells "Don't trap someone's pet!". If someone says shoot it, someone yells, "Don't shoot a cat, for heavens sake!". Just be careful in this particular thread, okay?

 

[triplepurpose]

I'm going to stick my neck out and attempt to be the gentle voice of reason here! Ahem...

I live on a farm and we have six cats that are outdoors ALL the time and two of them in particular are excellent hunters (everything from rats to lizards to yes, you got it--small birds). Securing your coop against any wandering cat is really easy. Unlike dogs or foxes or coyotes, they can't dig under or rip through chicken wire or netting, and unlike rats they won't chew their way in or squeeze through tiny holes, so to be kitty-proof, all a coop needs is the most BARE BONES level of anti-predator protection (which I assume you already have, right?). However, since chicks are silly and curious and smaller than cats, the biggest issue I find is not keeping the cats out, but keeping the chicks IN. Give your coop and run a once over to make sure there aren't any holes where a chick could squeeze out and you'll be fine.

(By the way If you have the young chicks integrated or at least adjacent to a flock of adult chickens that is a great deterent too, as almost all cats are terrified of full-grown chickens and will usually give them a wide berth. Having a mother hen to look after your chicks is even better--they can even free range with cats around then!--but of course this is not always possible.)

Cats aren't going to be reaching in through tiny holes to fish out chicks like raccoons or something--they don't have prehensile fingers. Just secure your coop with one or two inch mesh or something similar and you'll be fine.

Barring some really weird situation perhaps, there's no need to trap or hunt the cats or anything crazy like that--cats and chickens have coexisted since the dawn of time.

 

[War Chicken]

In the past, people who have had their cats anonymously trapped and delivered to shelters have been able to get the names of the homeowners who trapped them via a FOIA request. Those who put down fake names/addresses were charged with falsifying official records or something.

A lot of animal control agencies will no longer deal with cats due to political pressure or budget cuts.

There are fences designed to keep cats in or or out. Most seem to use some kind of overhang they can't climb.

I couldn't get any to go into cage traps so I resorted to using an air rifle and foothold traps.

 

[SDSA]

In the past, people who have had their cats anonymously trapped and delivered to shelters have been able to get the names of the homeowners who trapped them via a FOIA request. Those who put down fake names/addresses were charged with falsifying official records or something.

A lot of animal control agencies will no longer deal with cats due to political pressure or budget cuts.

There are fences designed to keep cats in or or out. Most seem to use some kind of overhang they can't climb.

I couldn't get any to go into cage traps so I resorted to using an air rifle and foothold traps.

I'm not sure that shooting cats is legal. My neighbor was shooting my cats with his pellet gun only pumped once but it still left some pretty nasty wounds, they quickly learned not to set foot on his property. As a compromise I bought him a cheap $20 airsoft gun to shoot them with, its like a pellet gun but it shoots plastic bb's and that did the trick just as well, after one encounter with him my cats each learned the lesson. I'm not trying to say that cats can't be pests or predators but in my experience the best way to get rid of them is by throwing dirt clods or tennis balls at them. I rareley manage to hit them but an angry human running towards them and throwing things has proven to keep even the most stubborn cat away, after 1 to 3 encounters they never return.

 

[redhen]

Please dont shoot the cats with ANY kind of guns... pellets/bb's CAN and will get shot into the skin of an animal and cause it pain and suffering as the wound festers and gets infected..
Paintball guns HURT LIKE HELL... and can break their bones..
I just trap them and bring them in.. Sad,.. but at least they are put down humanely..
I FIRST would ask my neighbrs to keep their cats inside because they are coming onto MY property though.... if the neighbors dont care enough to keep kitty inside then at least you tried to tell the neighbors...