Cat, snow and fish....

skylight

Barring the beautiful scene this morning, I have already had a bit of a barney with my neighbours.

We have a cat. They have a fish pond. And he stormed round about 8am, screaming that my cat has taken his fish. He has come to this conclusion, because the trail of cat prints leaves my front door, round the back, over the shed, the fence and stop by his pond!

Anyway. I went round to take a look and there is no evidence the cat has taken a fish (only paw prints - nothing is flattened etc), you can only prove the cat has walked to the pond and walked away again. And there are no fish remains anywhere.

I offered (although I cannot afford it) to buy a net to go over his large pond. That actually made him worse! He wants to have an open pond. Okay, its his pond and he can do what he likes with it, but he then told me that I had to get rid of my cat and he was going to call the RSPCA for them to take it away. I was still grinning here and not rising and told him if thats what he wanted to do he could, but my offer of a net was still open to him.

Then he tells me that he is going to get his air-rifle out the next time he sees the cat and will dump it on my doorstep. Okay. Red rag to a bull here (but still mananged not to swear!)

I said that if he wanted to get out his air rifle, then do so. But expect the police armed units knocking down his front door and his arrest if that happened, afterall How am I supposed to be able to tell the difference between an air gun and a real one? Besides, I have a squeaky clean record, unlike you. And if anything happens to my cat, expect a late-night knock on your door from me.

When I got back indoors I went potty. I have calmed down now, but after 11 years of living here, this is the first instance of anything imense.


If he did call the RSPCA, what would they do?? I assume nothing, but I am worried a bit now.

picklepick

What a horrid horrid man! try not to get too upset about it. the RSPCA will do nothing about it. They only get involved if an animal is being mistreated, which yours clearly isnt.

Its up to him to protect his pond, not you!

This has made me really angry

If I were you id call the councils anti-social behaviour department and tell them that your neighbour has threatened you and that he threatened to get out his air rifle!
That should shut him up! Although probably wouldnt help the situation much

DKLS

It would be much more likely for a heron to take the neighbours fish, and not your cat.
At this time of the year his pond fish will be lurking at the bottom of the pond, barely moving and many will be hidden from view. So I doubt any fish at all will have been taken.
This will be wasted on your neighbour who sounds like a prize numpty.

shoppaholic_returns

Would the pond not have been frozen over today???

Curious_George_2

sounds familiar, we had this woman turn up on our doorstep last year with a bag of cat poo!
she actually said can you stop your cats coming in my yard!
i told her i would ask them to stop it but gave no guarentees...

there are LOADS of cats round here... i see at least 5 regularly scooting through my garden alone but she said all the poo was specifically from our 2 cats (how would you know that??!!) and if she caught them in her garden one more time then we wouldnt have cats anymore!
i told her if either of them didnt come home that i would be reporting her to the police and she would have a whole world of trouble from us and our friends...
the bloody nerve to bang on someones door and threaten thier animals! cheeky cow!

lowis

advise him that his fish will be in the depths of the pond this time of year. we used to have a pond and cats and the cats never got the fish....invariably for the cat to catch one of the fish it would mean the cat getting wet...and we know how much cats LOVE water!

talk some sense in to him and explain the above and ask him to give it a few days for the fish to resurface before he accuses your cat of any wrong-doing.

also, wouldn't the snow have had fish blood and gut stains on it? i reckon the cat probably drinks from the pond more than anything, hence the footprints. cats love drinking from stagnant water or puddles!

picklepick

thats so true lowis. our cat used to prefer the muddy puddle outside to her waterbowl!

skylight

Thanks!

He has this huge pond and it was there long before we ever moved in - so you would have thought that he knows that the fish are on the bottom int his weather??

Not sure about a complaint to the council - that may make things worse. As I mentioned, its the first time we have ever had a "run-in", so perhaps I should give him the benefit of the doubt and see if anything else happens. And keep the cat indoors today.

Much calmer now. Thanks.

frivolous_fay

Curious_George wrote: »

sounds familiar, we had this woman turn up on our doorstep last year with a bag of cat poo!
she actually said can you stop your cats coming in my yard!
i told her i would ask them to stop it but gave no guarentees...

I know for a fact our two are going on next door's communal lawn... but I'm not sure what to do about it. No-one has complained... yet. I would happily give all the flat owners water pistols if that's what it took

LittleTinker

Skylight....dont worry.......he is probably all mouth and just trying to intimidate you....so dont let him!

The RSPCA wouldnt do anything I shouldnt think.....but you could always just phone them and run it past them.

Your cat wont have taken any fish, so really.....dont let him worry you.

*onlyme*

I had a similar situation not that long ago....my cat, who is easily recognisable as he has no tail (had it amputated last year due to it being broken at the end of his spine..no idea how he did it)

About 2 months ago he lost his collar and 2 days later, we had a call from the people that had found it. They were cleaning up birdfeathers and remains (which that has his name all over it) and they wanted to make sure he had found his way back and if we wanted the collar, welcome to collect it. The house was about 3 roads away. When I got there, they asked if he was black and white, without a tail...

Then they told me he breaks in their house, pulled catflap apart cause they locked it, he attacks their cat and next door to theirs he killed several koi carp from their pond :eek:

I wanted to die there and then, so I went next door to go and own up as to be the owner of this cat and find out what happened. They didn't have a net on their pond, and our cat loves water (he will jump in the bath with you if you dont shut the door). They actually had video evidence so there was no way of denying it.

I ended up paying for a net for their pond, a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine to say sorry. Since then he has a few bells on his collar to warn birds he is coming, sadly fish don't take notice of these.

I did ring the cat protection people asking where I stood and there is nothing that people can do. Pond owners have responsibility to cover their pond if they want their fish not to be consumed by herons...or cats in our case.

We had many other issues with our cat, causing trouble everywhere. I keep note of what I am aware of what he does, what he brings home (puzzle pieces, all sorts of tinsel at xmas, screwdriver, foiltrays, etc)

Luckily most people I have to deal with are understanding and see the funny side. I would be inclined to go down your local policestation and ask them to put it on record what has happened and the threats that your neighbour made ref the airriffle.