I've been in this house about a year. The neighbor likes to feed stray cats. Keep in mind that these are basically 75 x 150 lots, and her back porch (feeding area) is about 40 ft from my patio sitting area. I asked on numerous occasions that she "quit feeding and they will go away". Notta. Tree hugger mentality from someplace that has farms & barn cats. This is not a farm, but she won't "comprehend" that concept.
We're talking 10 plus cats roaming the area at any given time, and she feeds them daily. They think my nice sandy yard is their cat box. They have a nice landscaped rock yard, so they can't poop their. The odor is very bad if I open my front windows. Animal control won't do jack.
So I talked to my favorite zoning official to look for "legal options". Rules are 4 pets per household. Back in MI, I'd just grab my 22 and end of story, but here it will get you 10 yrs.
She sent me a couple links she got from the nice animal control officer who seems to just drive around drinking coffee, and one included some home remedies. The best of which was an enriched cayenne pepper powder you sprinkle generously in their selected areas.
Double down on the cayenne in your garden, yard, grand kids sand box, and the cats will be gone. Cheap and effective, but I think I read in one of the reply posts that "...it will burn their eyes...". PERFECT!! This weekend is another dose.....
I love cajun food, but cat's don't seem to like it
Get a dog that hates cats.....
If you have a cat a dog is a useful accessory to keep all the other cats out of your yard so you don't have to pay the vet to fix cat fight damage.
Proof that the internet has a sense of humor
An add about adopting cats at the bottom of a post about getting rid of them.:-P
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
I have "catch & release" season around my 'hood.
There are at least two dozen feral cats at any given time around here. When they start with their "lovefests" in the driveway at 2 A.M. I break out the Havahart live trap and the "Fancy Feast" catfood. No cat can resist.
Up before daylight and get the trap in the back of the truck before the tree-hugging college kids see me. A quick trip up to the Homeland store by the office and they are free to go. There's plenty to eat in the alley and they don't come back.
I've even been known to hum "Born Free" as I let them loose.
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
Interesting Paden, the do nothing nice lady at animal control would offer me one trap that looks just like yours. It's a $25 deposit and $1.50 per day. I told her I want 3. Nope, only have 2 left and they go fast so we only allow 1 per "customer".
Then I asked the nice do nothing lady what I do once I do capture said animal. Much to my amazement her reply was "you can release them in another neighborhood, or bring them in and we will check their status as feral or healthy and either spay/neuter them for adoption or euthanize them". These cats are very healthy, unfortunately.
Before I gagged on my laughter, I said "does the neighborhood have to be in my state". (I'm only 30 miles from the Colorado River and even closer to lots of coyote/lion territory) She laughed back after I asked if "can't you just euthanize them". That's an extra $20.
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
Payden's answer is practical.
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
I only let them loose because of the pressure from SWMBO. She caught me one morning filling the 40 gallon Rubbermaid with the garden house. When she asked what I was doing I told her it was the only container we had that the trap would fit in.:snarky:
I've been taking them up to the grocery store ever since...
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
> I only let them loose because of the pressure from SWMBO. She caught me one morning filling the 40 gallon Rubbermaid with the garden house. When she asked what I was doing I told her it was the only container we had that the trap would fit in.:snarky:
>
> I've been taking them up to the grocery store ever since...
I suppose the grocery store dumpster is better than the local oriental buffet.
The almost ironic part is my SWMBO has a 14 yr old 15+ lb cat who is pretty much geared towards sleeping, getting fed, pooping in the box, won't even eat a spider, and bugging the hell out me when he is awake. They call him "Sassy", but I call him "Cat". Now the grand kid call him "cat", funny. Never goes outside. AKA useless.
I pet him on his head only, and that bugs him. So the dummy just stares at me while I trying to watch the Wings lose. He keeps wanting to make me pet his backside area with his back arched and fur ruffled, which I refuse to do. I have no idea why he likes me, but I almost go with karma on that and go with our big guy in the sky for some direction. It will come.....
I'll never hurt him, but the strays can burn their eyes out on cayenne. As for the dog solution, thunk that one out too. Been there, done that. We travel too much to deal with a dog, and I put more respect in dogs than I do cats. 90% of the dogs I ever met are better than 50% of the humans I've met. Maybe wrong circle, but dogs rule IMO.
I wonder if Ted Dura is lurking? He was kind of a cat guy?
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
> I only let them loose because of the pressure from SWMBO. She caught me one morning filling the 40 gallon Rubbermaid with the garden house. When she asked what I was doing I told her it was the only container we had that the trap would fit in.:snarky:
>
> I've been taking them up to the grocery store ever since...
I could never kill a cat (or dog), even if it was a major headache, but then again... I know not to feed strays and not to leave my garbage outside more than 6 hours/overnight.
Neighbor cat problem solved?
Many years ago I was told the solution was to catch two of them. Tie their tails together. Hang them over a clothes line. One may eventually get away.
Hey, I'm just the messenger. I would never do it.
Tying tails together
My brother and I tried that when we were kids. Each one of us had a cat pressed to our side under an arm; then we back toward each other for a third perpetrator to tie a knot. That way the cats can't see each other and get riled.
You know what? They don't have to see each other. We got close enough for their tails to almost touch before each one sensed the other was nearby.
Neither one of us needed stitches, but we looked like, well...we'd been in a cat fight. That was the last time we tried that. If anybody can tie two cat's tails together, they're a lot tougher than anybody I know.
Neighbor cat problem solved?
> I would never do it.
I don't know about KS, but in CA "doing it" is a crime known as "animal cruelty" that's punishable by a prison/jail sentence and/or a fine up to $20k.
I hate feral cats, all they do is eat the quail, turkeys and doves around here. Its easy to thin the population, but it sounds like you may have a little 5 year old girl for a neighbor that would be crying over her lost cat if you did that.
The feral cat problem is quadrupled by well meaning people dumping live cats away from their house. Half of them end up starving in the winter ( which is a much worse than anything else. ) The other half breed like rabbits to keep the cycle going.
Anymore if you humanely shoot a feral cat , the animal lovers will get you arrested. Somehow they feel better taking the cat to a shelter or city animal control, where they are killed and stuffed in a freezer. Somehow they think with the right amount of love, they will find a home and be a fine pet for somebody.
I'd probably be in prison for life if the statute of limitations hadn't run out on killing cats and dogs. I love animals and have had cats and dogs for pets all my life. Growing up on a farm we had these really nice people who evidently believed that dropping off unwanted animals in the country was a good thing. I never was cruel to the animals but I've "put down" a pile of them. Cruelty and control are two entirely different things.
Andy
I use to put my rosebush trimmings and blackberry trimmings in my yard and flowerbeds and garden. Never had a cat problem after that, but I did have a pissed off neighbor because the cats went to his yard instead. He was such a jerk; he use to shoot the neighborhood pet cats with a pellet gun "just for kicks". Heck, he'd even aim it at the humans that would walk by. He definitely was not wrapped too tight. (No wonder my dog didn't like him either!!) :-@
Speaking of cats, here's one of ours...our Daisy kitty. My sweet baby girl!! :love: :cat:
I'm more a 'pre-emptive' predator
> I only let them loose because of the pressure from SWMBO. She caught me one morning filling the 40 gallon Rubbermaid with the garden house. When she asked what I was doing I told her it was the only container we had that the trap would fit in.:snarky:
>
> I've been taking them up to the grocery store ever since...
Daisy says...
Cayenne pepper works on squirrels too!
Well Wayne at least your neighbor is not feeding “feral bears”. If you filter through all the news media hype it all boils down to the basic stupidity of humans feeding wild animals. One of the people “attacked” by a bear was the same one putting out dog food and cookies for them in the first place.
I'd rather have the bears than the feral cat's anytime. B-)
Buy one of the traps yourself, sounds like you'll need it long enough to pay for it if you're renting it from animal control. After you've trapped one, take it into the garage for some privacy and do the kind thing and use one of the high powered pellet guns on it. Silent and efficient. Taking it to another nieghborhood is great except she's telling every one this all over town so it's just like a big car pool for cats. Their probably in the same neighborhood 3/4 times a year because people from somewhere else are dropping them off.
Or get a cat killing dog. You can train them to leave the cats you want alone but any strang cats that don't belong won't last long. I've got one that will play with the adult females that have been in the barn for years but kills all the kittens and new cats she sees. Didn't take long to teach her I only want the cats already there. Keeps the cat population under control.
Neighbor cat problem solved?
People who live in a vacuum suck. (Not you, Jim, idiots who want to control everything in the world except that over which they could possibly have some direct input)
I think I'll get up a group to study all the horrible things that happen on California freeways and get a bunch of rich people to fund the destruction of those creators of such horror. I've never been on a California freeway, so I think this is a wonderful idea. Then I'll start up a group to ban ships on our oceans, lakes and streams because they are such massive polluters. After that I'll find some windmills to tilt at.;-)
