Neighborhood Fued: Loose Animals

[motion]

OK here's the situation. The neighbor across the street has a male cat that roams the neighborhood freely. I've always liked the cat. I had a female cat in my house 4 years ago, and there were some problems with his cat spraying around my house and garage. He even sprayed in my Cab sitting in my garage. Trying to be a good neighbor, I didn't say anything.

Now, I have 2 female cats in my house. The male, Momo, is spraying everything. He got in my girlfriend's new MB, sitting in the garage and let loose all over the interior. I confronted my neighbor, and he told me to go to hell. He refused to take responsibility. Now, I'm catching Momo in my Cab again. Its gotten to the point where I can't keep my garage doors open for any length of time. The other night, I went into the garage to get some bottled water and found cat spray all over the bottles of water.

So, I'm starting to lose my patience. I notified him in writing that if I find the cat on my property again, I'll capture him and call Animal Control to have him taken away. He retaliated by writing me a letter stating that he and his family feel threatened by my attitude.

Normally, I wouldn't hesitate for a second, and I'd have the damn cat removed immediately. But, the kids in the neighborhood like the cat. So am I supposed to put up with this crap indefinitely? When do you go from trying to be a good neighbor to being the bad guy?

[motion]

Getting a dog is not an option.

[84porsche]

They should not feel threatened over a letter. I would set up a camera in the garage and catch the cat in action this way you have some evidence, otherwise you really have nothing to prove that their cat is the one spraying.

[911boost]

Are your cats indoor ones? If so...

Catch the cat, drive very far away, and let the cat go. You are setting him free. Just make sure you drive very far away.

Or "accidently" leave a tray of antifreeze in your garage. Hey, you where working on your car (or bike). You can't control if the cat enters your garage.

If your cats are allowed outdoors as well, then that changes the situation.

On a side note, I have 2 dogs and one cat, so I don't want to hear any whiney a$$ PETA crap. If a cat sprayed anything in my garage, it would be on, and I guarentee that cat woudl be gone.

Bill

[Moses]

Catch Momo and take him to the animal shelter, then tell your neighbor. Repeat.

[hoff944]

Or you could capture the cat and go have it fixed for about $50 and bring it back if you don't want to take the cat away from the local kids. I've dealt with these types that talk tough and cuss you, but if you buck up to them, they feel threatened and want to call the Police. Don't give in to that. If he is threatened by a respectful letter, he's a pantywaist.

[304065]

Richard,

I'm not admitted in California and I don't know what the rules are governing property damage caused by domestic animals. Depending on the extent of your damages, you might have a case for small claims. Perhaps some California lawyer can chime in.

What IS pretty clear, however, is that YOU will get in trouble if you harm the cat. Frustrating as the situation may be, I would advise keeping the garage doors closed (also a deterrent to theft) and a small investment in some nonlethal animal repellent technology. http://www.smarthome.com/6207.html

Your neighbor does not sound very neighborly.

[911boost]

How is Richard going to get in trouble? If the cat disappears, it disappears. Hell, cats disappear all the time. Just because he sent a letter requesting that his neighbor control his cat, doesn't prove without a doubt that RIchard is the one that Soprano'd the cat....

[pwd72s]

Farm supply store...electric fence material...use chicken wire instead of electric fence wire....he sprays that once, he won't be back...and he still lives. Killing or kidnapping someone's pet isn't good behavior. Remember the sad pet death threads here...people LOVE their pets. With our neighbor's permission, we did "soprano" a male cat a few years back...he became a nicer cat after that.

[Eric 951]

buy a pellet gun(a pistol would be discreet), pump it up about 3-5 times and shoot the cat's ass with a BB--depending on the gun, it won't break the skin and leave any evidence--just keep popping the thing everytime it wanders onto your property--it should learn after about 2 shots.

[id10t]

Get a web cam with a motion sensor program (many come with, we use hte Logitech Quickcam 4000 pro here at work and it has the motion sensor) and get some vid of the cat in action. Then hand the neighbor the cat, a copy of the video on cd, and another letter stating what you are gonna do (take cat to pound). Next time, catch cat, call neighbor and tell him you are gonna hand up and call AC. Then do it.

[stevepaa]

Just call animal control and ask them. They should be able to either come out or give you a trap.

[304065]

First of all, the standard of proof is not "without a doubt," it's "beyond a reasonable doubt." Second of all, it's California. Home of pet lovers. Home of sympathetic juries. Try this one on for size:

§ 597. Cruelty to animals

(a) * * * every person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, or, alternatively, by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.

Suppose the cat "disappears." The owner phones the cops. Whose door are they going to knock on? Are you suggesting that Richard kill the cat and then lie to the police about it? That's escalating the situation WAY out of proportion to the actual harm.

If it were a wild animal, or one with known hazardous propensities, it would be a different situation.

It's a cat, for heavens sake. It has a brain the size of a walnut. Its internal program is something like:

10 Find Food
20 Find Mate
30 Defecate
40 Lick Fur
50 GOTO 10

Killing a stupid domestic animal out of frustration is inhumane, messy, and could potentially subject you to pretty severe criminal and civil penalties. It's not worth it.

[motion]

Hey guys, there's no way I'm going to drop the cat off in the middle of nowhere or poison it or anything like that. I'm not into that kind of thing. I just want the cat to stop damaging my property. Its no fun getting into my Cab on a humid night and smelling cat piss or spray or whatever the hell that stuff is. Animal Control is probably the right thing to do. Here's the little stinker paying a visit to my home last night:

[widebody911]

"No, I haven't seen Momo lately, why?"

"You're right, your cat is under my tire! How did that happen?"

"Who's Momo?"

"Wanna come over for dinner tonight? My g/f made this wonderful catserole..."

[mikester]

I hate neighborhood cats. We've got one that gets into our backyard and poops every night. I know the who owns him and he isn't a nice cat. I found him in my garage once which kind of irritated me. At our old condo our neighbor had cats that would get ON my car and sleep on the hood or what have you and THAT irritated me a great deal. When I came out in the morning they would get spooked and RUN off the hood leaving scratch marks. I was able to polish them out.

If we hadn't sold the condo and moved there would have been some trouble there. There is also our other neighbor who has two cats who she *escorts* out of the house on a daily basis to make sure they are good and then *escorts* them back into the house.

I can't wait to get a dog but I think I would call AC or the local police to ask them what you should do. Right now you're talking about genuine property damage and trespassing (loosely) which are actionable offenses in a court of law.

As a disclaimer I have two cats who do regular property damage to me inside my house. Damn cats...

[Jeff Higgins]

My how things have changed. It wasn't that long ago that you could tell a neighbor that if you catch the little s.o.b. again you will shoot it. It's just an animal. It has become a problem for you and your neighbor won't deal with it. Pretty simple; shoot it and dispose of it. It should not cost you any more grief and aggravation, and certainly no money. You won't have to lie to the cops, either. Just don't say anything at all. They have better things to do than pursue a missing cat case. Unless the neighbor can present it with a bullet hole in it, and the bullet still in it, does anyone really think the cops have time to go after missing cats? Especially one that is known to run loose? This kind of nonsense has simply gotten out of hand. Why do irresponsible pet owners have any rights or recourse at all when some one that has been inconvenienced at their hands, has tried to negotiate a peaceful resolution, takes matters into their own hands?

[stomachmonkey]

Catch him, call animal control.

Tell them you'll adopt the cat if they fix it.

After everything is attended to send cat home.

[Tim Hancock]

John where is that code from? It does not differentiate between hunting, killing skunks, or killing neighbors beloved pet?


Man, when I was growing up the local gun store owner used to advise us to "gut shoot" tresspassing dogs and cats so they would go home and die! Now that guy would be jailed for sure!



Times are a changing I guess!
Maybe I need to re-think my "skunks eating our catfood nightly" policy.
I wonder if I put my cats in then set out anti-freeze. Would that be considered wrong? I would not be forcing the skunk to drink it, right?

[widebody911]

I have a problem where if I leave the back door of my garage open at night, ie when I'm working on something, cats will come in and sit on the M3.