Posted on 08/07/2015 9:48:06 AM PDT by nickcarraway
“There are more cats…than there are Republican presidential candidates,” Neighbors fed up with cat colony
One Norman neighborhood is reportedly the cat’s meow, with resident’s claiming wild felines are running amok.
“There’s a lot of cats now,” said Nathan Hobbs. “There are more cats in this neighborhood, than there are Republican presidential candidates.”
It’s a problem Nathan says has really heated up this summer.
While Santa Claus has Donner, Dancer, and Prancer…Nathan has his own team.
“There’s big gray, there’s little gray, there’s TFC,” said Hobbs. “You’ve got ring tail one, ring tail two, ring tail three…couple tabbies, and that giant Siamese cat.”
Whether they’re pets or strays, some say these cats have terrorized the neighborhood for years.
“They fight all the time, they spray in your yards, and they just keep reproducing,” explained Chelsea Pruitt.
Hands Helping Paws, a cat rescue and adoption organization based in Norman, tells NewsChannel 4 they’re aware of community cats in the neighborhood. They urge those who are concerned to TNR, or trap, neuter, then return the animals to their environment.
Problem is, that’s not cheap.
“If you want to actually get them fixed, they’ll charge you for it,” said Hobbs. “$40 seems to be the going rate, and I don’t have that kinda money to put out $40 for every cat that I see.”
Both Nathan and Chelsea believe the bill should be on the City of Norman.
“I couldn’t imagine them putting any of their resources into cats that aren’t in their protection,” said Pruitt.
NewsChannel 4 reached out to Norman Animal Welfare, but our phone calls were not returned.
Siamese are noted for meowing loudly and often, plus the males are very territorial :)
We were having a problem with cats in our neighborhood. It started after the housing crash and I think cats were dumped after foreclosure, but we also had some that were definitely feral. I paid for two female spays (kittens) and took over the care of those two. It was only $25 each, but I had to do the trapping. Another neighbor took care over a sweet gray boy who was obviously dumped. The key is to only put out enough food for the animal you are caring for (and which has been fixed) and don't let the food sit out there all day to attract others. We had another neighbor who was setting out a huge tray of food and started attracting more. HOA fined her, she stopped feeding, we stopped getting new ones.
I am a middle aged pot smoking guy, and I like cats, but it wasn’t me this time.
I got 3 and we fix them as early as possible as policy.
They serve a purpose: they hunt and kill cockroaches.
Yeah but when you have a male calico he is generally a rip-snorter!
Congrats! That was funny!
The best solution is to live trap, get someone to neuter cheaply, then release the cats where they were captured. This keeps the niche full of cats for a while, so other cats don’t move in to take their place. And eventually the cats die off due to natural causes.
A very effective technique for a cat roundup is to get a female in heat, which will bring a herd of un-neutered males around for live capture.
You win the internet... for 24 hours. Check plus for creativity.
That sounds like the makings of a steel cage match to me! Let's get ready to RRRRUMMMMMMMBLLLLLE!
In all seriousness, though, the problem is good old country doctor type vets that will neuter a male cat for $5 and a female for $30 are gone. It's become far more lucrative to cater to people with Pomeranians they carry around in their purse... and charge them $750/visit to find out the thing has worms.
I am a middle-aged pot smoking guy
Well, air ya or ain't ya? Yer fans in the cheap seats air awaitin' a sign!
This guy was letting them breed unhindered in his house and they sprayed everywhere, apparently. None of us knew that’s where the cats were all coming from until he walked away from an underwater mortgage and turned a bazillion cats out in the street!
Oh, you’re good!
Still laughing.
Letting cats breed like that is immoral.
It really was horrible for a while, couldn’t get Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” out of my head for a whole summer thanks to all the loud late-night kitty trysts :(
Ok, allow me to clarify. I say “pot smoking” because people understand what that is.
In actuality I use a mechanichal method using dry ice to separate the tricomes from the plant material to create what’s called kief, and then I put it in a vaporizer set to 300 degrees so as to heat it and convert it into an airborne form that can be inhaled. Then I inhale it.
Some folks don’t get all that technical stuff, so I just say I smoke it.
I apologize for not being absolutely accurate. My goal was not to deceive but rather make myself understood by a wider, non-pot using audience. There’s lots of those folks here!
No apology necessary.
Didn’t mean to pry either, though I was curious.
Thanks for the info, take care.
FW
LOL!
If I may interrupt: I have a cat problem, and would appreciate any advice. I’ve had cats all my life, and never experienced this before; I’m hoping someone may be able to suggest a solution.
At the beginning of the year, we acquired two rescue cats, after losing the last of the three we’d had for almost 20 years.
They are adorable, intelligent, loving; (Well, one of them is adorable; the other is Devil Spawn...but that’s another story.)
The problem I have is that these cats like to chew electronics wires.
I frequently listen to radio through earplugs at night, a bad habit I picked up during a siege of insomnia many years ago. Since January, I’ve lost five sets of earplugs to the kitties - they must ‘sense’ something through the wire, and they come and quickly bite it off at the point where the jack goes into the radio.
I’ve begun buying the cheapest earplugs I can, and covering the wires up with a towel or extra pillow; but occasionally they still manage to move in for the lethal bite.
My husband and I have now decided to get into shortwave listening, and hope to get ham radio licenses. Last night, we found the cats fascinated by the long wire antenna on our new shortwave; I think we saved it just in time. We also recently found one of them about to bite the wire when we were charging a cell phone.
Is there a harmless but deterrent ‘something’, that I can paint or cover the wires with? I know that cats are supposed to hate the smell of vinegar, and I’ve kept past cats from jumping up on certain things by placing little bowls of vinegar there. But I don’t know how I’d do that, near electronic equipment.
Sorry for the length of this, and appreciate any advice.
-JT
Any person that can just shoot a cat is a black hearted SOB... I hope they get what’s coming to them -—>major suffering before cruel death.
Cheap lead shot works just fine......no need for expensive ammo. Just right behind the ear is super effective.
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