[future texan]

LOL!!! I can only imagine what thoughts are running through your mind!!..

[SiouxlandLoisLane]

(think Molly Shannon)

Sometimes... when I get nervous... I pick up my cats and I SMELL 'EM LIKE THIS...

[SiouxlandLoisLane]

Originally Posted by ehenningsen

This has got to be the most odd-ball forum I have EVER read, LOL

After reading this board, I had a very scary thought...

You know how weird and scary movies and music and art can get?
People's thoughts are what create those things.. And now we have message boards and I never realized until just now that people are either very messed up or are intrigued by messed up things...

There are some true weirdos out there and this board is not short of them!! LOL

By the way... 'meow.'

I someday hope to be the neighborhood "cat lady."

[Happygolucky]

Feral cat update; 07-22-08
It's been slow this summer, only been able to get a few.
I think I have the neighborhood cleaned up.

Anyone have the same problems in there neighborhood?

[Hoyden]

My apologies for bumping an old and tempestuous thread . . . but I think I have a cat problem. Specifically it is one feral cat that has been tormenting me all summer.

It kills birds and mice and leaves them to rot in my yard. It leaves dead animals on my porch. It left a maimed pigeon under my car. It was awful, because it took the poor thing hours to die a long and miserable death.

This cat has a collar, but seems to prefer living (and peeing) on my patio and my neighbor's deck. I don't know who it belongs to and it is very skittish and won't let me get anywhere near it.

My question is: will animal control do anything about this animal? If I have to trap the cat myself what is the best method? If the owner claims it and they just turn it back out onto the street, what steps should I take to deter the cat? I don't necessarily want to kill it, just make my yard very inhospitable. (Yes, I know I need a dog).

Happygolucky; I'm east of you, near Elmwood Park neighborhood. We don't have a lot of feral cats around. In my experience the cat problem is more prevalent in areas with apartment complexes, student housing and rentals. People who move more frequently tend to dump their cats. Of course, it only takes a couple of fertile cats to create a major problem.

[Katiana]

Call the Humane Society. I think they can answer some of those questions.

[Happygolucky]

HOYDEN,

Check your direct messages. I have all your answers to all your questions.

Glad to help out,

happygolucky

[Stacy From Cali]

You folks who are so hostile to cats really freak me out! So far in this thread I have read about how cats should be kept indoors, how many many cats met their untimely demise, and how the Nebraska "Humane" society has got to be the worst kill shelter I have ever heard about. Good God! Oh, and of course that its all the fault of students and renters.

I have three cats. I let them out. Why? Because they are cats and deserve the freedom (and in one case because if I don't let him out he will cry and cry for days). I would HOPE that I do not have to be afraid of some supposed well-meaning neighbor who traps my cat and "for its own good" sends it off to the kill shelter! Its strange enough that I got a call two days ago from someone telling me I "lost my cat". My cat was not lost, he was only a block from home. Cats roam (especially male cats).

Hoyden, if a cat bothers you squirt it with water and chase it off your property. It will eventually get the idea. If it has a collar on it, it belongs to someone and you should be careful. Someone loves that cat and would be devastated if you harmed it.

Happy Go Lucky you make me sick.

[Happygolucky]

Here we go.......................

So what you are saying is that YOU should be able to let your cats out and let them roam freely, but never mind if they use the next door neighbors prize flower bed as a litter box or kill the birds attracked to a bird bath or feeder that a neighbor set out.

But that's just fine because you have to let your cats roam.

Never mind everyone else.


The fact of the matter is Omaha has a feral cat problem and we as residents have the right to to care of business.

I trapped 16 cats in just a few months and the NHS took care of business.

If you would like to come over and clean up after your cat with a baggie, I'll leave the gate unlocked...........didn't think so.

[Stacy From Cali]

No, the fact of the matter is that you knew with those first few cats what their fate would be and you chose to continue to trap and kill. It does not matter if you were the one holding the needle or not...you trapped the cats so you are responsible for the fact that they are now dead. Pointing to the NHS as the "proper authority" is just a bunch of gas.

What the hell ever happened to catch and release? You fix the damn cats and then you let them go? Eventually the problem resolves itself this way. Or is that another thing only crazy Californians do because here your property is more important than the life of another? In Napa, where I moved here from, there is a huge feral cat colony. People set up a community organization to deal with it. They trap the cats, the vet fixes them for free and then they let them go back at the colony. Any kittens are captured, fixed, and adopted out. The group also makes sure that the cats have enough to eat.

I seriously cannot get my head around this. Again, if you don't want cats on your property then the squirt bottle works wonders. If you have time for your elaborate trapping schemes, surely you can manage that. There are even things that you can do to make you ever-precious flower bed unattractive to cats (or other wildlife such as squirrels and deer). Its all a matter of realizing that you are not the only living thing in the universe and planning accordingly.

But no, you value property over life. How nice.