OK WHAT STORES SELL TRAPS? Huge pest.

[Mattemma]

Home depot trap is $45. Trap it.Befriend it. Once you have it take it somewhere.If you can not trap or befriend,and you don't want to shoot it,then just put up with it.

I have 3 cats,2 dogs,and 8 chickens.They stay in MY yard. There is no excuse for repeat visits from a neighbors pet.One time ok,2 maybe,but 3 or more we are looking at removal without *asking* for permission from anyone.

 

[Little One]

Quote:
Well put, because that is the same situation we have with the neighbors. My chickens, dogs, cats, and horses stay in my yard... And they keep theirs in their yard. Yes, we have had an occasional wanderer from both parties (us and them) but it has only happened a few times over the span of 10+ years. I have never shot someone's pet, and wouldn't unless it was threatening myself, my family or my own pets. I have had one of my young cats drag itself back to our house after having it's rear leg shattered with a .22 by two male teenagers who were out joyriding.

It was never a threat to them, and there was no reason for him to get shot.

 

[kari_dawn]

I didn't read this entire post, so if this was suggested, im sorry. My city offers a traps program through animal control. You request one, trap the animal, they come get the trap and the animal free of charge.

 

[Moochie]

No, I don't want to kill it. The only way I can kill a mammal if it's got one of my birds in it's mouth. I would feel terrible afterwards. It was someone's pet, and I shot it. (I didn't it's an example) Gosh

I guess trapping it and taking it away is no better, but if I gave the cat back to the guy he might get snippy with me and think it's a war. I don't want any of that, especially since Halloween is coming up and people tend to do bad things to other's houses on those kind of holidays. It's not the cat's fault, perhaps it just needs more responsible owners.
That picture is terrible by the way! If I saw that on an ad for one of my animals I'd be mad!

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
I have sprayed cats with a mix of skunk musk and peanut oil ( the oil makes the musk last forever) most times this is enough to get the problem taken care of if this does not work most times the feral animal disappears and they kill in excess of 3-4 birds a day when allowed to run loose

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

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0907_040907_feralcats.html

kina looks like NZ has a handle on the problem with help from USDA/APHIS

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_...sive_symposium/content/Murphy469_473_MVIS.pdf

 

[Little One]

Quote:
People have been too irresponsible about caring for cats and dogs, allowing them to breed and then dumping them on the streets. It has become a problem that is obviously being ignored and quickly became out of control. And I don't claim to know what the answer is. (Different type of situation, but people have intentionally introduced a lot of invasive species over the years, especially in the 1800's, before they had a clue what they were doing to the ecosystem. "American Acclimatization Society", anyone?!) Hopefully NZ has finally found a solution that will work for them without a lot of side casualties.

The other two articles you linked aren't that great, I would argue. The first which declares an economic impact of $17 Billion a year is really stretching it. An impact towards which part of the economy, exactly? A direct quote from the study the article is based on states: "Predation by cats on birds has an economic impact of more than $17 billion per year in the US. The estimated cost per bird is $30, based on literature citing that bird watchers spend $.40 per bird observed, hunters spend $216 per bird shot, and bird rearers spend $800 per bird released." Where is the correlation? Also on a funny side note, it mentioned turkeys as one of the prey of feral cats... Man would I be be impressed if one of my house cats dragged a dead turkey to my front porch!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Hi Moochie - i had a problem with a neighbor's cat in my yard all the time, bothering my birds. Over a year of asking and begging for them to keep the cat on their property did no good. i finally talked to Animal Control who said that cats are "free roaming". But they did say that we can trap any animal on our property and bring it in to them. When the owners come to retrieve it, they will have to pay a fine, make sure it's registered, etc. So i did that, making sure Animal Control had the neighbor's information to contact them.

That has seemed to do the trick. The guy retaliated once by throttling his diesel truck long and hard, spewing the fumes right at our house, until i went out and had words with him. He finally settled down and things are quiet now. The young woman actually came to our door once saying a guest in their house accidentally let their cat out, that she was very sorry, and will keep the cat inside as soon as it returns. That was nice of her. Not sure how much of a fine they had to pay to get their cat out of jail, but it must have had an impact.

 

[BlazeJester]

I have cats. They live indoors and don't get along with my chickens, so not a snowball's chance of going out except on a harness and leash.

Honestly I find all "pet owners" to be a bit holier than thou. I've had neighbors walk their dog into my yard while I was doing yardwork, let it poop and walk away. I always confront anyone who does this and they're embarrassed. If it embarrasses you, take your grocery bag along. I had one neighbor who started walking his dog at 6am so nobody would see him leave poop in others' yards.

Matters of awareness can be fixed (ie many people don't know that cigarette butts are plastic and don't decompose when thrown on the ground), but life experience tells me that disrespectfulness can't. Put your actions where your words fall on deaf ears and perhaps things will change. Animal control sounds like a great plan to me - if they care they'll go get it, if they don't the world is no worse off for being a cat short.

 

[aprophet]

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

http://www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/zoology/members/yom-tov/inbal/cats.pdf

http://archive.csis.msu.edu/Publications/Landowners_and_cat_predation.pdf

http://img2.tapuz.co.il/forums/1_102419784.pdf

 

[desertdarlene]

Can you take it to the humane society? If your local one won't take it, maybe an out of town one might.