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I have a wall around my property expressly to keep animals out. I don't want cats walking on it because if they do that's it's only a matter of time until they jump down. And I have somebody living in my house who has a cat phobia. I have no desire to deal with the consequences of a meltdown from her, which is a primary reason I have a wall. I'm sure neighbors who let their cats roam free never even consider the kind of consequences I deal with.
People's pets should stay on their own property. They are not "neighborhood" pets.
I absolutely agree. Unfortunately many pet owners think everyone else loves their pet as much as they do. I have had cats much of my life (no longer though - enjoying a pet-free life now ) and most of them were never allowed outside simply because it's much more dangerous for them outside, in the areas where I have lived. You never know when a damn unleashed dog is going to run into your yard, or poop/pee on your property. Yeah there are laws against it, but some people think the laws don't apply to them. But I do see a lot of cats around the neighborhood that clearly enjoy being outside, and I expect that most of them know how to deal with a dog properly. I rarely see them wandering.
In fact I've only seen one cat roaming in my yard, the entire 17 years I have been in this house. I wish I could say the same for the dogs.
When I get my driverless car, should I just allow it to cruise the streets without me in it because it gets bored sitting in the garage all day? If it hits your cat, too bad, your cat only has himself to blame.
What? Who said anything about "cruising the streets"?
And I think you went off the rails a bit using a "driverless car" analogy.
For whatever reasons, the insistence that cats must stay indoors at all times seems to be a more recent phenomena, at least in the US. I'm curious if it's that way elsewhere. Maybe it's because our population has kept increasing, our roads are busier, and more people are living in tighter quarters, which increases the tension of real or perceived trespass.
Yet, we have become less trusting, less likely to know our neighbors, less likely to have a civil discussion about pet or (pardon the pun, but other "petty" issues), but instead react (often back and forth on both sides of the fence) in harsh and litigious fashion when issues like this arise.
Agreed on the bolded. Look at most modern streets. more people living closer together, less yard space. Look at photos from typical burbs in the 60's, and aerial shots. peoples cats had far more free green space to roam, not other peoples yards. Most of our parents growing up did have family indoor/outdoor cats.
Veterinarians also recommend indoor or containing them. FIV and feline leukemia are heartbreaking and caught during fights where biting occurs. They also have to euthanize kitties hit by cars, poisoned, hurt by a sicko that are beyond repair or beyond the owners means for treatment (that may or may not save their pet anyway).
I lived with a woman who had at least 5 cats (I think it might have been 7). She lived outside in her backyard pretty much in the summer and had a pretty clever lead system set up. groups took turns in their harnesses playing in the grass while she enjoyed her deck. Catio's for obvious reasons are even more popular. Our next home we want to make a large catio for ours.
My suggestion: elimnate your neighbor (non-fatally, of course.) Make his life h**l in as many ways as you can think of. But keep your cat safely inside until you successfully get rid of him.
Unless your neighbor has a bird sanctuary, he's being unreasonable. I'd love to tell him to write the city government to ask how to handle it legally, just for fun.
People let cats out all the time; I think the other posters are wrong to demand that the cat be kept indoors.
Indoor only cats live longer and are much safer. I don't trust humans, other animals, or cars! All of our cats are indoor-only.
Please keep your cats inside, or try the Catio. It's safer for them and better for our ecosystem. The number one cause of bird population declines behind loss of habitat is cats.
Except these “love sponges”—Ernest Hemingway’s affectionate name for felines—aren’t exactly natural. They’re out in nature because of us. A 2013 study discovered that domestic cats—that includes both pets and feral cats—are likely the single greatest source of human-related U.S. bird and mammal deaths. The study, vastly exceeding previous estimates, suggests that cats kill 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion birds in the lower 48 states every year—more than buildings, vehicles, and poisoning combined.
If your cat must go outside please use one of these collars to give your neighborhood birds a fighting chance. At the very least one can add a bell to their current collar.
A sad fact is that too many people just don't care. They did a study of this collar and found it highly effective, yet fewer than half of the cat owners who participated in the fall trial agreed to participate again in the spring. And almost 80 percent who participated in the study said afterward that they wouldn't use the collar again, citing reasons ranging from personal taste to the cats’ (perceived) discomfort.
To which we say, if you think wearing a collar is uncomfortable, try wearing an attacking cat.
This neighbor tries to say my cat is invading his personal property.
How should I approach the situation?
The wall is between my backyard and his.
You need to find out exactly what your county's laws are concerning cats. In most places, there are no leash laws for cats, they are allowed to roam. However, you are responsible for any damage done by your cat. A handful of places have a specific nuisance law banning repeated use of someone's flower bed as a litter box. If you belong to a HOA, you need to check the bylaws, no telling what those Nazis are up to. Anyhoo, sitting on a fence would be roaming, which is allowed 99.9% of the time. So, it's pretty much a given that he doesn't have a leg to stand on. However, he may be a future serial killer, they start with domestic animals you know. So, I'd keep the cat inside and hope that the neighbor moves. I'd also mount a camera ($99 at Home Depot) in the back yard, he sounds unstable.
You need to find out exactly what your county's laws are concerning cats. In most places, there are no leash laws for cats, they are allowed to roam. However, you are responsible for any damage done by your cat. A handful of places have a specific nuisance law banning repeated use of someone's flower bed as a litter box. If you belong to a HOA, you need to check the bylaws, no telling what those Nazis are up to. Anyhoo, sitting on a fence would be roaming, which is allowed 99.9% of the time. So, it's pretty much a given that he doesn't have a leg to stand on. However, he may be a future serial killer, they start with domestic animals you know. So, I'd keep the cat inside and hope that the neighbor moves. I'd also mount a camera ($99 at Home Depot) in the back yard, he sounds unstable.
Protecting one's own property -- persons, pets, native birds, wildlife and landscaping -- from disease and predation is both legal and prudent.
No one here is advocating illegal actions or cruelty to any animals.
But I will trap and haul off to the animal shelter any cat that comes in my yard.
When your cat stays in your yard, then that is your business.
When "your" cat sets foot in my yard, it is no longer "your" cat. It is a stray, invasive, non-native predator.
When I set up to trap a cat, there is food and water in the humanely-constructed 'hav-a-hart' cage, and I check the traps multiple times throughout the day and night. I refresh the food and water daily while the traps are open for business.
These traps are not cheap. Between $75 - $100 each. But I undertake that expense rather than, uh, something more expedient out of respect for all animal life. "Your" cat isn't killing birds and spreading disease on my property out of malice. "Your" cat is on my property because you are careless and irresponsible. I'm not going to take that out on the animal.
I have to gear up with long gloves and something like a beekeeper suit to handle the trapped cat. I am severely allergic to them. Many times I am sorely tempted to undertake more 'expedient' stray cat eradication. But I trap them. Ethically. At expense, and with discomfort, rather than treat any animal callously.
Cat gets well fed in the cage, a tarp tossed over the cage, and cat-in-cage gets swiftly hauled off to the animal shelter. If "your" cat was wearing a collar with your information on it, then the animal shelter may contact you to come get it. I'm not getting close enough to the cat to try to read the dang collar tag.
Not all "cat haters" are anything like your hyperbolic 'unstable' 'serial killer'!
I feel compassion for any animal whose "owner" neglects it. In your case, the OP is neglecting his or her animal by letting it roam where it presents a hazard to other people, pets, and wildlife.
I am by no means a 'cat-hater' (though I am a dog lover), but I don't want them wandering into my yard. They annoy my dogs and they crap on my lawn. I haven't had many issues with cats in the 16 years we've lived here, but there was one that would come into my yard, even brazen enough to come up on my porch and sit there. This was a stray that a neighbor down the road decided to leave food outside for all the time, so it was used to sitting on porches. That did not go over well when it chose my house... it took a few times, but I did scare it away for good.
My dogs are trained to stay in our yard (even without electric or traditional fencing) Keep your cats in the house or keep them contained in your yard.
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) and most of them were never allowed outside simply because it's much more dangerous for them outside, in the areas where I have lived. You never know when a damn unleashed dog is going to run into your yard, or poop/pee on your property. Yeah there are laws against it, but some people think the laws don't apply to them. But I do see a lot of cats around the neighborhood that clearly enjoy being outside, and I expect that most of them know how to deal with a dog properly. I rarely see them wandering.
