My cat is fat, so now I'll dine
And eat up all this cat of mine.B. Kliban
Posted on 11/25/2012 3:17:35 PM PST by Hot Tabasco
There is a house cat that is being allowed to roam free. What do I do?
Why?
Because the streets in urban neighborhoods are littered with dead cats that have been killed by vehicles.........
When it comes to avoiding traffic, cats are just as dumb as squirrels..........
ROFLMAO!!!!
It seemed the proportionate response...
The complex can prohibit all they want to but if it’s not an ordinance violation by the city not much can be done.
Different products for different critters available.
***
For the record, I am owned by a cat. A cat or two has lived in my house since I bought it in 1989. My first cat came from a shelter. The rest were strays people left to fend for themselves. My second cat was skin and bones when I found her. I brought her in, fed her, and cared for her till she passed a few years ago. If I hadn't taken her in, she would have starved to death.
This isn't the 1950s when I was growing up and people were responsible for their pets. Today, people don't take care of their children, let alone their pets.
The kindest thing a person can do for a stray is to take it in. If the stray can't be kept, take it to a shelter where someone can adopt it and give it a good home.
***
For the record, I am owned by a cat. A cat or two has lived in my house since I bought it in 1989. My first cat came from a shelter. The rest were strays people left to fend for themselves. My second cat was skin and bones when I found her. I brought her in, fed her, and cared for her till she passed a few years ago. If I hadn't taken her in, she would have starved to death.
This isn't the 1950s when I was growing up and people were responsible for their pets. Today, people don't take care of their children, let alone their pets.
The kindest thing a person can do for a stray is to take it in. If the stray can't be kept, take it to a shelter where someone can adopt it and give it a good home.
They also kill songbirds and should be shot on sight. Quoth my birdloving Father -in - law. Personally, I would spray the patio the visitor hangs out on with Tabasco. As soon as it grooms itself, it will vacate the area.
Two years ago I caught a neighbor's cat. the first time I let it go and the second time I put in a pet carrier then walked down to her house to tell her I had it. She had been warned numerous times by the condo association but she firmly believed that just because she let her cats onto her front porch, they weren't going anywhere.
Well, I made her come down to pick it up and I never saw the cat again. What really pissed me off was the fact that this was a really friendly cat walking around in a subdivision with loads of traffic.........
I have one suggestion that WILL work because I’ve used it!
You will have to move your cat for a week or so. Borrow someone else’s yappy dog and let it defend your premises.
The cat will find some where else to hang out.
Your post is the most sensible one on here. My neighbors had a beautiful, soft, friendly gray kitten and turned it out in all kinds of weather. Recently, we got the after affects of Hurricane Sandy, and it turned rainy and very cold. This poor little kitten came to my door, hungry and shivering. I brought her in and here she’ll stay. They have been looking for her, but she isn’t in any hurry to go back with them. She’s quite happy here and well fed.
These neighbors have heathen kids who seem to love animals, but don’t have a clue how to take care of them. Did I mention that they also left her litter box outside in all kinds of weather and expected her to use it like that?
I commented on what I think is the futility of using Liquid Fence to discourage Tabby from visiting, but before I totally evaporate into the woodwork, here’s another thought that probably would work although I have never used it with cats in mind.
Spray the bottom of your door and a portion of the deck floor with plain cheap ammonia. Cats have sensitive noses and that should discourage the furry critter. It keeps the local bear(s) (and racoons) from rooting in our garbage cans so that just might work. You would need to do it each day for a while until Kitty gets the message. Need cheap spray bottle from Home Depot, Lowes, Wallyworld and some generic ammonia (non sudsing). I use it full strength to keep Bruin away. I spray the outside of the cans, and spray each bag I toss in. Worst that happened is that rain washed off enough on the outside that Bruin knocked over the can. Managed to grab a bag and try to run off with it, got less than three feet and dropped his/her booty like a hot potato and ran..
If nothing else, if you have any friends in bear country, let them know about this (also keeps stray dogs away from stuff too..)
Get yourself a spray bottle and squirt the kitty with water. Just the sight of the water bottle totally has my indoor cat trained ;)
I care for a feral cat that lives in our neighborhood. When he first came around, there were a couple other cats too and it was clear they were not ferals but I was unsure if they might be strays. I took the Trap/Neuter/Release (TNR) class and got the trap. With TNR you trap the cat and drop it off for neutering and shots then you return it where it was. This is the most effective way to reduce feral/stray cat colonies.
Step 1 of TNR is to notify all your neighbors for several blocks that you are going to trap cats. Lo and behold, the 2 I thought might be strays were actually pets that lived on the street behind us. After that I only rarely saw those cats and one began sporting a bright orange collar. I suggest you try the “note on the collar”, if the owners are at all responsible they will curtail the roaming. Most likely they won’t though. In that case that I suggest water.
I don’t know why some people think it’s ok to allow their cats to roam and annoy all their neighbors, but in my experience is that there is no reasoning with them. The most common explanation I hear is that their cats would go crazy if they couldn’t go outside. The 2 cats I’ve owned were used, previous indoor/outdoor cats and both adapted to being indoor only very quickly and gratefully. A roaming cat is exposed to all measure of bugs and disease from other cats and wildlife, can eat dead, spoiled or poisoned things, are at risk for being attacked by other animals or people and being run over by cars.
My feral is very large and he went right into the TNR trap which was baited with tuna. However, he’s very large and the door didn’t get closed all the way and he was able to escape. He didn’t come around for about a week after that and would never go near the trap again. He is still intact and 4 years later getting fed twice a day when I feed my pets. The local bird and squirrel (yes, I have seen him dining on squirrel twice) population thanks me for it.
I used to allow him to rub against my legs (this after about a year of trust building) but he has bitten me on 3 occasions so I don’t allow contact anymore.
Why not let the cat out to chase it off?
We had a similar problem a few years ago. A cat was showing up at night, and our male indoor cat would go crazy. The straw for me was our cat’s marking the basement window where he was seeing the other cat.
I thought I had cleaned all of the “marker” urine and treated it with enzyme formula, but apparently I did not get all of it. Next thing was that our kitty, who apparently could smell that urine in the basement, elected to urinate into the heating duct in the living room that was above the previously violated window.
I kept smelling it and then going back to the basement to clean some more. It took about 2 weeks before I realized what had happened. The smell was sometimes stronger and sometimes weaker, so he must have been using the heating vent multiple times.
So it took me a long time, but I cleaned and treated the dang vent. Well, the next time that cat showed up, we let our cat out to chase him off. Worked like a charm.
I wouldn’t say a thing to the owners. Just know that this troublemaking cat needs a free getaway vacation. Just trap the cat, take it on a nice long ride into countryside or the mountains, take a hike a little ways from road, and let the kitty go. Coyotes or another locally observant predator will have a nice and tasty meal!
My cat is fat, so now I'll dine
And eat up all this cat of mine.B. Kliban
There is another option. You can put mothballs on your deck where the cat likes to hang out. Supposedly, cats are put off by the smell. I have never tried this, but I read about it somewhere.
***why are you considering dropping one off ten miles from its home,***
My momma used to sing this song when I was young.
http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/c020.html
Old Mister Johnson had troubles of his own
He had a yellow cat which wouldn’t leave its home;
He tried and he tried to give the cat away,
He gave it to a man goin’ far, far away.
But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner
But the cat came back; it just couldn’t stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea
The man around the corner swore he’d kill the cat on sight,
He loaded up his shotgun with nails and dynamite;
He waited and he waited for the cat to come around,
Ninety seven pieces of the man is all they found.
But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner
But the cat came back; it just couldn’t stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea
He gave it to a little boy with a dollar note,
Told him for to take it up the river in a boat;
They tied a rope around its neck, it must have weighed a pound
Now they drag the river for a little boy that’s drowned.
But the cat came back the very next day,
The cat came back, we thought he was a goner
But the cat came back; it just couldn’t stay away.
Away, away, yea, yea, yea
free roaming dogs?
True, but liquid fence tends to be expensive. See post 72 for another idea (although never used against felines I do know it is effective against ursines, canines, and whatevertheheck a racoon is... ;-)
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