what do you do with a neighbors cat.

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
I think you missed the point of TNR.....the cats were ALREADY in those neighborhoods. The only difference is they are no longer able to reproduce. No babies, less feral cats, and hopefully, none eventually. They are released where they were caught. Since these cats were already there you can't exactly accuse these people of dumping them off there.

..........And no native critters such as birds, lizards, small rabbits and so on. I'd rather have to trap a few mice as not have any native wildlife around. Thats why I moved to the country. ESPECIALLY the beneficial ones that help control the bug population. Feral is any domestic gone wild. They are NOT native and upset the natural balance and therefore........SSS!!!

 

[Frosty]

Quote:
Exactly. They know where they caught these cats, and return them. That way, they aren't 'dumping' them into another cats territory. They have tried trapping and finding homes for them, other unaltered cats just move into the territory that is now unguarded. You will probably never have *no* cats, others would move in, but this is your best chance to have *less* cats.

I have a bunch of barn cats, and the only native wildlife I am short of is rodents. I still have lots of birds, and way too many rabbits. The cats get a bird or bunny now and then, but not that often. Yes, my cats are well fed, but so are a lot of the ferals. There are a lot of folks who like to feed the 'feral colony'. Unless you plan to kill all cats for miles, they will be around. At least the TNR program is controling the population.

 

[rufus]

Well, my wife is one of those crazy old ladies that thinks she is on a mission from God to save all the alley cats in this world. Right now, there are about 25 of them showing up to be fed.

She feeds them, but she doesn't clean up after them and their mess. That seems to be my job. I hate the smell of cat pee.

When she heads out to the mall, the slingshot and the China berries come out. I clear those suckers out in no time. Of course as soon as she comes home, they come back.

China berries won't do any real damage, but will let them know they are unwanted and unloved. I am not interested in paying any vet bills for these critters.

The Rhode Island Red rooster keeps them out of the backyard. But they mess up everywhere else.

I am tempted to start drowning the kittens, but the local sherriff is a cat lover, and I am too old to go to jail.

Rufus

 

[Lunachick]

Rufus - perhaps you can do the TNR thing with those cats, in the long run you will save money on the cat food your wife buys for them. And innocent little kittens won't be a problem.

 

[Frosty]

Could also ask around. If there is a TNR program around, it may be free. (Or maybe you can get the sherriff to help pay

)

 

[tx_dane_mom]

Quote:
Ok that is just a God Awful thing to say period, but especially on a public forum where CLEARLY people love animals. I am sorry you feel this way, but you could have kept it to yourself. I, myself, am not really a cat person, only owning 1 at a time...mainly to keep my kids happy, and noticing that they do help w/mice ALOT, and it's good for dogs to be cat friendly, but aside from that, I'd take a pet snake over a cat anyday...Just really wish comments like that were left off here...it's unsettling...and personally I am glad your sheriff would stick your old butt in jail should s/he know you did something so cruel.

 

[gumpsgirl]

My DH uses a slingshot for our neighborhood cat. The water hose sounds like a nicer solution!

The painted tail is a cute idea buy still might not fix problem unless the neighbors keep the cat inside, which will more than likely not happen.

Cats like to roam and in their eyes, have no boundaries. Try the water hose! Shoot, it wouldn't hurt!

 

[Lunachick]

Here's some info on this group that does TNR:

www.alleycat.org or email [email protected]

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
I think you missed the point of TNR.....the cats were ALREADY in those neighborhoods. The only difference is they are no longer able to reproduce. No babies, less feral cats, and hopefully, none eventually. They are released where they were caught. Since these cats were already there you can't exactly accuse these people of dumping them off there.

..........And no native critters such as birds, lizards, small rabbits and so on. I'd rather have to trap a few mice as not have any native wildlife around. Thats why I moved to the country. ESPECIALLY the beneficial ones that help control the bug population. Feral is any domestic gone wild. They are NOT native and upset the natural balance and therefore........SSS!!!

*sigh* That still isn't the point. These people are being accused of dumping cats in someone's neighborhood. They aren't. As Frosty said, unless you kill every cat for miles they will be there. Thankfully, most people don't agree that is the best plan. These people have managed to find something that at least helps. I assure you that no TNR program allows or encourages random dumping of cats. Are there too many feral cats? Of course there are. As long as there are stupid, careless, irresponsible, people in the world there will be. TNR is the same policy my family used while I was growing up (long before it was called TNR) and what I do now and will continue to do. And it is MY songbird, squirrell, and rabbit filled neighborhood.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

All right, I can see the justification for TNR, that folks feel they're helping the situation by sterilizing the feral cats in an existing population. But how does it help to go back and feed those cats almost every day? There's no way they can be sure they're only feeding the sterilized cats, therefore they're enabling the still intact cats to thrive and produce larger litters. And if those cats are so well-fed they'll be more difficult to catch in traps, to neuter & re-release.

Certainly there will always be stray cats, and few would advocate wholesale extermination of them. So perhaps it's not the TNR groups that are the problem but the folks who so frequently feed the feral cats. The feral cat population truly was large enough to be a terrible nuisance in my old neighborhood. They'd dig up flower beds, pee around the houses, poop in kids' sandboxes, dart into traffic on a daily basis. I found it refreshingly noticeable here in my new neighborhood to not have so many stray cats around.