what do you do with a neighbors cat.

[Guitartists]

With feral cats I imagine it is only a matter of time before rabies and other illnesses become as big a problem as they are with other animals like raccoons, skunks and the like. Eventually they will probably be treated just the same, no catch and release due to risk. They will have to be destroyed just like skunks and raccoons that are captured in town. It's just so sad that over-population and irresponsible ownership has led to such a problem.

We have a HUGE problem in our area with feline leukemia and heartworm. My friends have cats that only go outside with supervision and never leave their yard, but even they cannot do that now because they have had sick and dying strays in their yard. Their cats are up to date on their shots, but who knows what else these strays are carrying.

 

[Miltonchix]

Quote:
Every day I watch feral cats hunting/stalking BIRDS. (on others property where I WON'T shoot) No one around here feeds, neuters or encourages them to hang around. But they are EVERYWHERE! Even after practicing SSS they keep coming around. I've lost 27!! chickens to FERAL cats. I won't lose another. If we were talking FERAL DOG'S, would ya'll feel the same? Feral dog's travel in packs, breed like cats, and kill livestock. Would ya'll catch 'em, neuter 'em, and release 'em?
HECK NO you wouldn't!!
So whats the difference????

I don't mean to offend cat owners/lovers. I try to understand your, in my opinion, misguided point of view. I'm no enviro-whacko who's going to spike a tree to keep it from being cut down, BUT, its still the only planet we have. If we keep screwing with the natural balance (FERAL CATS!!) what happens to the animals that BELONG there?? When I moved here the bugs were out of control. First things I noticed were; very few birds, lizards,(anole's should have been everywhere)or other natural bug eaters. But there were cats everywhere. Myself and some other neighbors have pracitced the 3 S's on a number of feral/stray cats. After 4 years they're still around, not as many, and the birds are coming around, I have anole's (lizards) running everywhere and my bug problem, for Florida, is quite minor in comparison to 4 years ago. The only difference is I SSS ANY cat that comes on my property. I have foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opposums, and on rare occasions bobcats and cougars that come around, but they belong here and I simply "invite" them to leave my chickens alone. I've never harmed a natural predator. They keep the undersirables like mice, moles, and rats at bay. AND, I've never lost a chicken to one of them, probably got my ducks, but never a chicken.

 

[greenapple]

Quote:
I agree with you. Unfortunately I do have people around me feeding the feral cats, opposums and racoons. I have caught a few and taken them to animal control, but if I want to use a trap I have to give animal control a $50 deposit so I can put a sign in my front yard letting everyone know I am trapping, or else I get fined if they catch me using a trap. I used to have a colony of Florida Scrub Jays starting up in my field, but the feral cats killed them. If the neighbors that I have had issues with over the cats before caught me shooting them, they would report me. I can't take that chance even though I am zoned agriculture, I am unfortunately surrounded by residential, so I am stuck in a fuzzy grey area as far as using a gun goes. Why can't people be held responsible for the animals they take care of/feed? All of my animals stay on my property. I don't walk my dog around to poo in their front yards. If I had a cat, it would stay inside.

 

[tnkinhunting]

I lived in Cocoa, FL for a year and they protected feral cats!!!! They had signs up - I am at a loss with this thinking. Cats are not an endangered species - they are the number one problem with our song bird species reduction. They carry disease and rabies could become a big factor with them as it is with raccoons. They are the by product of irresponsible people getting a cat and moving off and leaving it or dropping it off for someone else to care for.

Here in TN we had an area where there were feral cats and it happened to be on our Green Belt - a city wide walk way on a stream - lot's of birds, squirrels and water fowl - well meaning people fed these cats, built them houses and they reproduced and created a local stink at city hall - pro's - very few - con's - many - the birds, squirrels and waterfowl numbers were on the decrease - the feral cats disappeared. They were trapped and taken to the pound and either adopted out after spaying or neutering or destroyed. As for the neighbors cat, I would trap it and call animal control. They should keep their animals under control. It's the law.

 

[greenapple]

I used to help with an animal rescue. The person who ran the rescue is one of the people responsible for protecting the feral cats in Cocoa, FL. needless to say she and I had a difference of opinion about feral cats.

 

[jjthink]

I don't know how many cats there are in the U.S. - not an easy number to find! organization says 6-8 million enter shelters each year so we know the actual number is significantly higher - but if even just 1 in 5 people (i.e., >50 million people) sponsored the spay/neuter of just 1 feral cat, the problems enumerated in the posts in this thread would likely be noticeably diminished. Imagine if they did this twice in 5 years time or if 2 in every 5 people participated - then 100 million cats would no longer be breeding.

The cat overpopulation problem arose from irresponsible humans. Responsible humans are the only solution. Ideally, the spay/neuters would be at levels where cats were not starving nor negatively impacting the ecosystem, especially the songbird population. We have a LONG way to go. Right now irresponsible and complacent humans are outnumbering the people trying to do something constructive about the problem.

Killing and starving the cats (who are not to blame in this) would not be necessary if enough people stepped up to the plate and helped with spay/neuter. These procedures can be very economical via vets participating in discounted spay/neuter programs. Populations in colonies would decline with attrition since new kitties would not be born. Obviously, at minimum, very ill cats should be captured and spared further suffering.

I know..... it's not easy.There are other bills to pay. I have to work extra jobs to personally fund a good number of spay/neuters (many of which happily result in adoptions), but for me it feels right to do what I can to help break the cycle of homeless hungry kittens and cats - a sorry situation on so many levels - created by my species. This is an embarassment to me as a human - and I feel obligated to mitigate for as much of our careless and negligent behavior as I possibly can.
JJ

 

[Guitartists]

I wouldn't mind paying to humanely euthanize an unwanted feral cat each year....... but to catch, pay to have it fixed and release back into a harsh environment, I guess I just don;t see the point. I know this comment is going to ruffle a lot of feathers, but it seems that more thinking is being done with the heart than the head. In just about EVERY other situation where a non-native animal has been released into an environment where it is wreaking havok on the local balance of ecosystem, drastic actions are taken. But because we identify with the "cat" as a beloved family pet or member, as oppossed to an animal which has become feral wildlife, we treat the situation differently.

 

[jjthink]

Everytime I get one out of the cold, spayed/neutered and successfully find it a loving home, I sleep better at night knowing it's not out in a harsh environment. I hate that there are cold and starving cats out there and I wish I could rescue every one, though it's better to have them out there spayed and neutered than out there and breeding......
I guess I've gotten to know so many over the years - gotten to know personalities and once you do that (at least for me) it's harder to think about snuffing their life out. Ferals that I have tamed and that lay cradled in my arms purring and gentle and loving life.....(2 'ferals' that adored my chickens come to mind - they loved them and protected them and were deliriously happy hanging out with them). Not that they have to be tame to be worthy - they don't. So I guess for me, it's a little bit head (spay/neuter so we significantly reduce the populations and the very real and serious impact on wildlife) and a little bit heart (try to improve the lives of the ones already here). Taking action that moves the situation in a better direction than it was....although admittedly not perfect by any stretch....:|
JJ

 

[Frosty]

I can see both sides of this argument... I understand why they do TNR on feral populations, and I was trying to explain their point of view. That being said, I do not encourage stray cats here (and will SSS). I love cats, but like I said in my first post, a cat wandered through here and the local population suddenly had distemper. I had to ask myself what if it was something even worse? Watching little kittens (8 weeks old) die of distemper was bad enough. That plus the fact that these cats were coming up here and attacking my cats (including my spayed females...) I was constantly getting my cats treated for abscesses. Currently, I have a few more of my own barn cats to spay/neuter, then my cats will all be done. I do them as I can afford it (between treatment on my renal failure cat, barn cat with a broken leg, etc...) Now that I am up to 8 barn cats, I haven't seen strays around. And at any given time, I can go out to my barn and all of my cats are in the local area (not at the neighbors).

I am grateful to the folks that do TNR for their efforts to control the cat population, but I can't do it. Really sad? I saw a post somewhere that someone wrote, apparently they were mad because their cat was pregnant and the neighbor had her spayed. They said something like 'If they spay all of these cats, there won't be any more cats!' Ummm... sure.

 

[jjthink]

Quote:
Yeesh. With that kind of thinking, it's no wonder there's a problem! Feels like I am forever attempting to educate people who are letting their cats have litters. They'll claim that they have homes for them (convinced that makes it all good) and I explain that that will mean fewer homes available for all the other homeless cats, which number in the millions. They don't think even one step removed from their own actions- it's mindboggling!

p.s. Frosty, I hear you on helping as many as you can and that this becomes a finite number at a point -- the vet bills from mine with special needs are daunting. At one point a neighbor's cat was attacking mine over and over and causing my guy (a lover, not a fighter) to need surgery, abscess tubes etc. He endured so much pain. And then there was the thousands of dollars in vet bills - so many more spay/neuters I could have done if she had been more responsible for her own cat. She never was (nor did she pay my vet bills). Her cat used to rip my window and door screens open and come in the house and attack my cat. Her cat is dead now (not by my hand - he got an illness) and I have let it go because if I stayed mad at every irresponsible neighbor there would be no communication between any of us...but it just seems like too many people - at least here in the U.S. - have forgotten what personal responsibility means, acting selfishly and/or thoughtlessly.

JJ