What is my obligation?

[justbugged]

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If you drop the cat off at the shelter, and you have told the neighbor that is your plan. Then I would think that first place he would start looking for his cat is at the shelter. The cat could be back with the owner by the end of the day.

You could also use chicken wire in your garden. If you lay the wire flat like a ground cover, the cat will not use that garden bed. Then as you plant you would have snip out slightly larger holes for the plants to grow through.

I really disagree that if you keep your cats outside, that it equals someone who does not care. I have indoor/outdoor cats. And yes I care a lot about my cats. All of my cats are spayed or neutered. I will say that the neighbor is wrong about neutering the cat. It doesn't matter how old they are. They are healthier and happier when neutered.

 

[Carols Clucks]

Cats are cats.............my moms used the brand new gravel walk I was laying for a litter box.......

Love them or hate them, they still reduce the number of rodents you are dealing with: mice rats gophers etc.

I would use the sprinkler, why start a fight with some one you have to see every day.


And a cat not picked up from a shelter may end up being a death sentence for the cat, when you are really ticked with the owner.

 

[KimberlyJ]

Pot Stirrer Alert!!!!

Sorry, but I HAVE to go against the crowd on this one. In my town there are leash laws for dogs; no such law for cats. So is a law being broken? I don't know. Yes, having a cat crap in your food garden is absolutely, positively gross. It would really pi** me off, but...Our shelters are horribly crowded and over run with cats that really aren't adoptable--everyone wants a kitten. So taking a somewhat feral cat to a shelter is a "death sentence". If not true death, at least a "soul" death. The poor outside cat will be put in a cage and never see the sun or feel the grass again. I couldn't do that to an animal. It already has a loving? home where it is fed at least. Why add to the burden of the Humane Society? Also around here they charge you a dump fee if you drop something off at the shelter. Is it worth it to you? And really, what price are you willing to pay when you make an enemy out of a neighbor? Please think hard and see if you can come up with a "better" solution. I've heard moth balls help. Maybe planting marigolds around the outside of the garden? Maybe mulch that would retain mositure and benfit your garden too? You are already planning a motion sensitive sprayer....why even bother to trap first?

I personally plant a cat garden for my kitty. Nice sandy soil with catnip plants...keeps him out of MY garden.

JUST MY .02 WORTH. Sorry if it's against the tide!


ETA....Whew, while I was typing several others posted with similar thoughts! I didn't think about it, but the cats do help with rodents. My neighbor had a mole problem for years...until we moved in next door with a cat.

 

[rancher hicks]

First of all the non neutered cat needs to either get neutered or go. Period no ifs ands or butts. If the cats are strays they go period. They are not his if they are strays.

Now you could put a fence around your garden to keep the cats out. A rustic fence is easy enough. (See pic.) I took those green metal posts and put those in and then put two foot chicken wire on them and then put sticks to them and as you can see it does fine. Keeps my chickens out which is what I wanted to do. You can't see the chicken wire but it's there behind the sticks. Of course I always recommend raised beds.

Or you could put the motion sprinkler in if you can afford that.

Or you could put in a "netting" of barbed wire acrossed the ground and the cats would not like to feel that digging into their paws when they try to go.

Check your county laws and see what options you have. Around here if your cat shows up that pound you pay to get it back. He might think twice if he has to pay the fine.

Remember Good fences make good neighbors.

Wish you the best

Rancher

 

[sunflowerenvy]

ok i do have 7 outside feral cats that becoming tame and have inside cats. my inside are all up to date on their shots. this summer they will be all s/n when u get them s/n they will stay on your property .if my feral cats went over to the nieghbors house and poop in theire beds . and they told me that they would take them to AC .i would keep them in a safe area on my land.
when i have a garden this summer i am install sprinkler in the garden
i would put up the sprinkler and take them ac that i catch in traps.

my feral cats live under the chicken coop at night but during the day . i see them in the pen and the coop too. so they became my watch cats[dogs] and they keep other cats away in the nieghborhood too

 

[wildorchid053]

there are sprays to keep them away.. or the wire layed flat like chicken wire is a great idea.. you can plant and they will grow up between the openings

 

[PineappleMama]

You gave him fair warning, he laughed. Tells me what he thinks of a cat being trapped and shipped off.

That's the attitude he presented to you, you take him at his word and assume that he won't be bothered (might not even notice) when a cat goes missing. So long as he doesn't have to see a dog attacked body anyways. Cat's safer at the HS than in that guy's "care" anyways.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We live out in the boonies, but in a subdivision. I have a problem with the neighbor's dog. We can't afford to fence our perimeter, but their three dogs (one large lab) come over constantly and harrass my mini goats and chickens. I asked another neighbor what's normally done out here and she said catch it and turn it in to the shelter. No cost to me, and the owner will need to pay for its release. Out here, our livestock is our food, friends and income. No messing around.

As soon as I see their dogs on our property again, I'm trapping it in our garage or workshop/barn and calling the shelter.

That, or get out the paint gun/dart gun. See how they like a purple-sploshed dog! And it will sting, too!

Don't get me wrong: I love animals but when someone harrasses what's mine, I fight.

 

[EmtheFishLady]

Quote:
Exactly. We have the same problem here. I've called the shelter about it multiple times and the guys actually told me "Just shoot it. Once it's on your property it's bought and paid for." I've trapped and taken to the shelter a lot of the neighbors animals. I just never say anything about it. It's better for them to be taken to a shelter than to let them hurt my daughter, destroy my property, or worse, be killed by someone that's protecting THEIR property too. Still, the motion sprinkler's sound like a win win.

 

[sunflowerenvy]

Quote:
Exactly. We have the same problem here. I've called the shelter about it multiple times and the guys actually told me "Just shoot it. Once it's on your property it's bought and paid for." I've trapped and taken to the shelter a lot of the neighbors animals. I just never say anything about it. It's better for them to be taken to a shelter than to let them hurt my daughter, destroy my property, or worse, be killed by someone that's protecting THEIR property too. Still, the motion sprinkler's sound like a win win.

"Still, the motion sprinkler's sound like a win win"". is good for ALL cats n some dogs