Program for wayward kitty
I use to live in a very rural setting and was able to lord over all the lesser creatures as I saw fit. Can't do that now. We live in an older neighborhood not far from the university campus...and cats are a BIG problem.
With the police station only a quarter of a mile away, plinking at them with a .22 is not a wise choice. I joke about free anti-freeze for the nocturnal creatures but I've never done it.
My choice is what I call "catch and release". I've got a number of Havahart live traps and it takes absolutely no time at all to fill them up. A can or two of 9-Lives and they come running.
I can back the truck up to the garage so the little old lady across the street can't see me. I load the kitties up and take them to the alley by my office and set them free. It's 300' from the dumpsters behind the grocery store and a block from restaurant row. There's even a pond with a fountain by the high-dollar office complex. It's a wonderful place for a kitty to be. This usually happens around dawn when there is absolutely no one around.
I've even been known to hum "Born Free" as I open the cages. Brings a tear to my eye.
There's a dentist office next door to my office. About a year ago one of the dental assistants brought a cat over to see if anyone wanted it. It was one that I had released only a day earlier...The cat remembered me. It took one look at me and laid its ears back and hissed.
I told the lady that cats really don't like me...:snarky:
Program for wayward kitty
True story here and I got some links from animal control. Did my research and everything added up to much more moola than the risk, but one of them suggested cayenne pepper sprinkles in their favorite areas. They not only do not like the smell, but it apparently burns the little eyeballs. PETA hates it. Oh heck.
A couple big containers later over the course of a month or so, no more cats. But that stuff ain't exactly cheap either. The old ones keep away, but now the new not so kittenish anymore, don't know where the bear puts his goose poop. I may have to re-invest. But it works quite well for drawing lines they do not want to cross, hopefully because they can't see.... ok, now let the lightening strike me.
It was more fun living in the woods in MI. I could hit a quarter at 75 yards. Ok, a paper plate target with a circle of cat food on it the size of a quarter. Can't remember anymore.
Read about the anti-freeze on a sponge treatment and guess it works to liquidate them after is crystalizes in their little tummy and liver and they blow up. Never did that trick. Kind of like a seagull with alka seltzer. Don't mind the gulls and I was a kid, but cats seem to want to be our next president or something since they rule the roost.
Hope Wendell & Angel don't ban me. Some is joking, some is factual.
Program for wayward kitty
Wayne, why not simply drop the cats you catch off at the pound? Wouldn't they hold the cats for a certain amount of time to give the owner a chance to come pick them up, then...well find a place for them?
There has to be an city ordinance regarding how many animals you can have on a city parcel?
I feel sorry for you, but moving is probably a great idea. Less stress and less chance of getting in trouble.
I'd skip the whole poison idea, in fact I distinctly remember how this topic ended up last time it was discussed.
Program for wayward kitty
Actually digger there is an ordinance. Five pets per household. They have a small dog and 2 inside cats. All these are just strays and she provides all the food so they never leave. Her claim is they are not her pets, they are just strays and animal control agrees.
Animal control charges $20 to trap one and decide whether to house them for a short time until somebody wants them, or euthanize them. The $20 is for the medicine to nuke them, or the spay/neuter fee. These cats are very well fed and all appear happy & content. Ok fine, just don't poop in my yard or walk all over my vehicles.
Contrarily I could "rent" a trap from them for $1/day, with a $25 deposit. When I catch one I can drop it off there (about 10 miles each way) and they either kill it or spay/neuter it and return it. When I asked if I could drop it off at a location of my chosing, perhaps in Nevada (35 miles away) or some other area with a high coyote population in BFE desert, they didn't like that idea too much (wink wink). I'd gladly forgo the $25 for that chance, but likely would get in trouble.
SWMBO's 3 yr old grandson has fun shooing them away with a turbo squirt gun.
Easier to just move. We don't like this area anyway.
