I've Had Enough of the Neighbor's Cat!

[mamacatnv]

This. The "cats are meant to roam free" argument doesn't work if you wouldn't do the same thing with your dogs (and unless you live in the country, you probably don't). Any domesticated animal was technically "meant to roam free". Your tropical fish wasn't intended to be in a tank, your canary wasn't meant to live in a cage, etc.

If you want your cat to get outside time, they do make harnesses and leashes for cats, but because it's so much easier to just open the door and let the cat out, that's obviously what most people do. As mentioned by other posters, this is something that the two sides will never agree on, but I'm FIRMLY in the indoor cat camp.

Comparing cats to dogs is ludicrous, they are different species. I don't know about you, but every cat I've ever seen that had a harness and leash on promptly fell/laid on their side and refused to move. Cats are not dogs and most do not walk on leashes. My city recognizes the differences, all cats/dogs are licensed by the city ($3 per animal/annually) Dogs are not allowed to roam but cats are. Our city knows they are different and cannot be managed in the same way.

 

[MrJT]

I can't say that any of my neighbors have cats. Unfortunately, I can say that my neighborhood has cats. And they tend to hang out in front of my house. I believe that one left a snake on my front porch, or it cornered the snake there. And recently one of the cats was hanging out on the front porch with its baby.

 

[sonnyjane]

Comparing cats to dogs is ludicrous, they are different species. I don't know about you, but every cat I've ever seen that had a harness and leash on promptly fell/laid on their side and refused to move. Cats are not dogs and most do not walk on leashes. My city recognizes the differences, all cats/dogs are licensed by the city ($3 per animal/annually) Dogs are not allowed to roam but cats are. Our city knows they are different and cannot be managed in the same way.

Yes, dogs and cats are entirely different species... just like how WILD cats and domesticated cats are entirely different species. Despite what those folks in the Blue Buffalo commercials would have you believe, your tabby is not a tiger.

And I wouldn't have brought up the fact that my cat has a leash and harness if he didn't use it. He walks over and sits while you put it on, then walks to the door to go out. Not all cats like to walk on leashes, but it's something that can be trained, or they can just stay inside.

 

[fortwildernessishome]

This thread is fascinating to me!! I so want to share it with all of my family and friends!! We walk our cat daily, year round (in NH, so winter too!) He wears a harness and leash. Soooo many people poke fun at us for leashing our cat! Honestly, I have NEVER known anyone to leash their cat and I am 50 and have known a ton of cat owners over the years. We adopted our cat from a shelter as a kitten and realized when we was about 4 months old that he is a Maine Coon cat. He needs to go our everyday and we are happy to take him, as long as he is on his leash. As soon as he see's his leash, he comes running to go outside!! We call him our little dog.

As a side note, we live in a very rural area, where the few neighbors we have let their cats roam. Never once in my almost 30 years of living here, have I ever seen any cat poop or dead birds on our property. I also have never smelled urine either.

 

[Sabeking]

This thread is fascinating to me!! I so want to share it with all of my family and friends!! We walk our cat daily, year round (in NH, so winter too!) He wears a harness and leash. Soooo many people poke fun at us for leashing our cat! Honestly, I have NEVER known anyone to leash their cat and I am 50 and have known a ton of cat owners over the years. We adopted our cat from a shelter as a kitten and realized when we was about 4 months old that he is a Maine Coon cat. He needs to go our everyday and we are happy to take him, as long as he is on his leash. As soon as he see's his leash, he comes running to go outside!! We call him our little dog.

As a side note, we live in a very rural area, where the few neighbors we have let their cats roam. Never once in my almost 30 years of living here, have I ever seen any cat poop or dead birds on our property. I also have never smelled urine either.

The couple behind us used to pull their cat around the neighborhood in a little red wagon!I thought that was funniest thing I have ever seen.
I don't see many cats roaming today but back in the 70's they were all over the neighborhood. We knew their owners and had one of our own. I truly never remember any issues with it.

 

[Julie's Haircut]

Y

And I wouldn't have brought up the fact that my cat has a leash and harness if he didn't use it. He walks over and sits while you put it on, then walks to the door to go out. Not all cats like to walk on leashes, but it's something that can be trained, or they can just stay inside.

I tried a harness and leash for one of my cats. Upon going outside, he twisted and rolled his body in such a way as to escape almost immediately. I tightened the harness a bit but he still got loose. After a few attempts I gave up. I take him outside occasionally, but I'm always there with him. A few times he ran into the neighbor's yard but I quickly retrieved him. In general he stays in my yard, but I won't trust him to be outside alone.

My other two cats probably wouldn't go outside even if I left the door wide open for an hour.

 

[tasha99]

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with letting a cat go outside. After all, they are an animal and naturally belong outside. They may get an occasional bird. I have three and sometimes I wish they would get more birds( don't flame me I mean the nasty grackles that poop all over every car in the neighborhood). Like the other poster said they do keep the rat/mice/vermin population down. Not to mention snakes!!! And where I live...that's a GOOD thing. I've had coral snakes in my backyard and glad I have my little hunters out there to take care of them!
I have had both indoor cats and outdoor cats and my outdoor cats actually have lived as long or longer than my indoor cats. They are far less stressed and behave more like a cat should. My daughter couldn't keep her indoor cat anymore so we took him. He was awful. Tore up everything. Mean almost. Once he got acclimated and all his shots etc he went outside. He is now so much more happy and better behaved.
I think if you want an indoor cat have an indoor cat. If you want an outdoor cat have an outdoor cat. Just so long as you have a cat

I adopted a cat who couldn't go outside when I first got her due to my living situation (2nd floor apartment). She acted so old and listless, it was like she was a geriatric cat, though the shelter said she was 5. We moved from AK to Oregon, and I had a fenced area for her. It was like she woke up--she wasn't old, she was depressed. Attention, kitty toys, tv, a ledge in the window--none compared to being to sit out in the grass and chase bugs.

I think it's another famous case of "it's regional". In order to adopt my cats, I had to promise they would be indoor kitties or only go for leash walks with me (which is fine - I don't feel they would be safe outside alone where I live, due to cars and wild animals). But in order to adopt hers (in another country) my friend had to promise it would have access to the outdoors. So where you think cats "belong" probably has to do with how you were brought up.

in this case, though, I do agree you should try some humane strategies to convince it that your yard is not the best place to hang out. I like the idea of the mirror to keep it from trying to fight with your kitty, and I would maybe try some citrus near the chipmunk's home and the birds' nest. I've heard cats don't like the smell, and I know one of mine in particular really hates it.

I encountered the same thing! My contract originally said I would give her access to the outdoors on a daily basis, but I couldn't. They crossed it out and let me adopt anyway. This was an Alaska adoption and now she has a fenced yard in Oregon. But . . . we are likely moving to NYC, and I can't see her having an outdoor yard in Manhattan. Not sure what to do, as I'm afraid she'll get depressed again. I do think inside is safer, but I want her life to be interesting.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I encountered the same thing! My contract originally said I would give her access to the outdoors on a daily basis, but I couldn't. They crossed it out and let me adopt anyway. This was an Alaska adoption and now she has a fenced yard in Oregon. But . . . we are likely moving to NYC, and I can't see her having an outdoor yard in Manhattan. Not sure what to do, as I'm afraid she'll get depressed again. I do think inside is safer, but I want her life to be interesting.

Eh, try her on a leash (where you are now, for starters). The worst that will happen is she'll refuse to go anywhere. If it works, you'll have to find out where you can walk her near your new home, but I bet there's someplace. (And look at it as her walking you, not you walking her. - They like to lead. )

Both of my cats will meow by their leashes to go out (sometimes more often than I'd like!) One is especially keen on it. She takes me all over the yard, up the common walking path, etc. The other is more likely to pick a spot on the back deck and let me sit with her and read a book. We also have one of these:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3261+28595+22277&pcatid=22277

for when they really want to sit out but I just can't right then. If your new place has a balcony, maybe one of these would work??

 

[leebee]

Our 2 cats were feral kittens, born to a feral cat that my MIL was feeding in her garage. She didn't realize the cat was pregnant- it just disappeared one day. She figured a coyote or tractor got her until she arrived one day with 4 kittens- brought them right up to the garage, one-by-one, in her mouth. We adopted 2 of these kittens when they were about 3 months old. They are now almost 17 years old and 2 of the sweetest boys you'll ever meet- and they WON'T go outside. I can leave every door open all day and they won't venture out; they just sit a the door sill and watch the world. Silly cats! I think they remember "life in the wild" from when they were kittens, and recognize what a good deal they have now!

We have several neighborhood cats that roam, and we have no problem with them. We never see poop in the yard, have flowers dug up, or find dead critters on the porch. We've even named them. "One-eye" (because that's all he has) is a cat-about-town, roaming the shops and pubs in our little college town "downtown" area. Big Foot (double paws, all the way around) lives in the apartment beneath the bike shop but is an indoor-outdoor cat. Very friendly, and likes to follow us when we walk home from town- sometimes hangs around on our deck. I've never worried about him being there, but I used to worry that he wouldn't find his way home (HAHAHA!). Butch lives up the street and meows in a friendly way when we walk past his house. We always stop to give him a scratch. We like our neighborhood kitties- and think it's cute on the mornings when there are kitty-paw tracks on the hood of the car!

 

[TCRAIG]

But why let your cat roam free in the first place? Dogs aren't allows to roam free, so why allow a cat to roam free? You KNOW that the cat is defecating in other people's yards, do you check the neighborhood for poo and clean it up? Cats will adjust to being inside, entertain them, play with them and they are happy animals. To say that their "nature" dictates they be allowed to roam means that you should live in the country where they can roam, or keep them inside.

Ummm - cats usually - instinctively - bury their poo

 

[mom2rtk]

I can't say that any of my neighbors have cats. Unfortunately, I can say that my neighborhood has cats. And they tend to hang out in front of my house. I believe that one left a snake on my front porch, or it cornered the snake there. And recently one of the cats was hanging out on the front porch with its baby.

I'd be thrilled to have cats out hunting snakes in the neighborhood (as long as said snakes were dead when left on my porch )

 

[Kogo Shuko]

My two cents worth:

In my previous home, we were renting an attached condo with a tiny fenced in backyard. One of the condo rules was that cats were not allowed to roam free. Bonus: Cats were never crying at our back door; there were multiple species of bird for me to ogle at (I'm a birder), having no cats around was one less thing for our neighbor's yapping Yorkie to get frenzied about. Cons: We had too many squirrels and chipmunks, including a red squirrel that harassed pretty much every other wild animal in the neighbourhood. I'm quite certain a cat would have dealt with that evil little squirrel. We had chipmunks living under our patio stones and climbing our patio door screen trying to get in. The entire row of condos was infested with mice last spring/summer, which inspired me to move.

In my new home: We've now got FOUR cats coming through our back yard. And three of the four have come to our back door and cried to be let in! Wah?! Two of them have tags: a one-eyed calico, and a tabby cat. A third cat is on the smaller side, and is an adorable white and grey - this one spends the most time in our yard. I'm worried that one was dropped off in the neighbourhood. The fourth cat is a dirty white cat. At least one of these cats is spraying on our fences and on the side of the house and the central air. And they've been doing it for some time (like before we bought the house) and there are horrible cat pee stains all over the side of the house near my basement window. I don't want cats in my back yard. I have a bird feeder, and a vegetable garden and I intend to plant bushes that attract birds. Not to mention we will be adding a 10 foot trampoline in the next little while, and I don't particularly want the cats climbing the mesh siding or getting inside and poking holes in it with their sharp claws. On the bright side, I have yet to see any mice or chipmunks, and I've only seen one black squirrel.

***

Bottom line: Keeping a cat indoors 24/7 is NOT abuse, IMO. Keeping a cat outdoors DOES risk the cat's health and life, most especially due to cars. When I was a teenager, we had a white cat named Snowball. He lived primarily outside because my mother believed keeping a cat indoors was cruel and abuse. Our cat loved to rush to meet our car when we came home, because he desperately wanted attention my mother refused to give him. And then one day I found him dead, hit by a car at the foot of our driveway, because he tried the "rush around the car" thing one too many times, and got hit by the man who dropped off the bundle of newspapers I handed out every morning. Funny thing is: all the other outdoor cats in the neighbourhood disappeared that year, as their was a fisher roaming the subdivision. I still can't quite figure out how the bright white cat was the one to be hit by a car, but not be caught by the fisher.

 

[MrJT]

I'd be thrilled to have cats out hunting snakes in the neighborhood (as long as said snakes were dead when left on my porch )

It wasn't dead and we're not sure what species it was. It might have been a rat snake. but it might not have been one, because they look an awful lot like diamondbacks. It was on the small side, so if it was a diamondback, it might not have grown its rattles.

 

[mom2rtk]

It wasn't dead and we're not sure what species it was. It might have been a rat snake. but it might not have been one, because they look an awful lot like diamondbacks. It was on the small side, so if it was a diamondback, it might not have grown its rattles.

UGH. I would not have been happy about that.

 

[luvsJack]

Cats are natural predators and so MOST cats do like to go outsides. That is what makes them different from dogs.

We have two and they love the outdoors. They like the indoors when its cold and raining but prefer the outdoors. They like laying in the sun, playing in the woods and catching rats and mice. They are perfectly happy and so far are living a nice long life.

I have never had a cat in my entire life that would walk on a leash. They barely come to "kitty, kitty" unless they hear the food bag lol. They are big beautiful cats and we love them but I am not going to listen to that pitiful meowing of wanting to be outside. Of course, we live pretty far back from the road and in the woods so they can't really bother anyone.

 

[OneOftheB's]

In my area, outdoor cats do not have a long life expectancy due to the large coyote population. We have one particular neighbor who has lost +5 cats in the 13 years we have been in our house, another neighbor found the remains of his semi-feral cat (his daughter is a vet tech and brought the cat to him) after 'Fraidy went missing and my DH found the remains of a cat that showed up on our street (I was trying to trap her). It's sad to see outdoor cats around here.

In our old house, the lady across the street had feral cats. They would come onto our porch and upset my indoor only/very uncat friendly cat. She ended up peeing in the area around our front window by the porch. It was really frustrating and nothing we did kept the feral cats off our porch.

If you live in a neighborhood and your cat(s) go outside, even if you don't thing they are causing a problem, they really may be causing issues in someone else's home. There was even a "My Cat from Hell" episode on about this recently (a cat was spraying in the house because a neighbor's cats were causing territorial issues within the house).

 

[Nancyg56]

In my area, outdoor cats do not have a long life expectancy due to the large coyote population. We have one particular neighbor who has lost +5 cats in the 13 years we have been in our house, another neighbor found the remains of his semi-feral cat (his daughter is a vet tech and brought the cat to him) after 'Fraidy went missing and my DH found the remains of a cat that showed up on our street (I was trying to trap her). It's sad to see outdoor cats around here.

In our old house, the lady across the street had feral cats. They would come onto our porch and upset my indoor only/very uncat friendly cat. She ended up peeing in the area around our front window by the porch. It was really frustrating and nothing we did kept the feral cats off our porch.

If you live in a neighborhood and your cat(s) go outside, even if you don't thing they are causing a problem, they really may be causing issues in someone else's home. There was even a "My Cat from Hell" episode on about this recently (a cat was spraying in the house because a neighbor's cats were causing territorial issues within the house).

In my area as well. It is disturbing to hear the screaming that ensues when one of them is able to catch a neighborhood cat.