Cats!

aloise

*doodle* wrote: »

17 cats?! I bet that her house stinks to high heaven. How on earth can she afford to feed them, insure, and keep their jabs up to date?!

You have to be joking. :rotfl:They probley hunt their own food. (hence so many worms )and do you think irresponsible people like that would insure or vaccinate an animal. Tell the RSPCA that you are going to the local paper with this story. Not much help, but then i would probley do something totally illegal, like picking them up one at a time and taking them to the RSPCA and dropping them there. Got 3 cats myself and feeding a feral,but couldn't cope with that.

pineapple

Personally - considering the effects on wildlife and the rest of us, I think people should be restricted to (at most) two cats per household.
In this case, it sounds like the neighbour might have mental health issues. It could be that a call to social services is in order as well as pressurising environmental health. Oh and if the property is rented, a call to the landlord might be an idea.
By the way I have found that used coffee grounds keep cats away from a popular 'lurking spot' near me. I believe that some coffee shops give them away?

somethingcorporate

I am surprised no-one has mentioned Toxoplasmosis yet. Tell EH that you are trying for a baby and the cat poo is potentially fatal to your foetus.

I do like cats but I cannot stand ignorant neighbours.

mad_dr

Full disclosure: I like cats. I have two of them myself but they are confined to my house and the back garden (I have installed netting across the tops of the fences, completely enclosing the garden, keeping birds/squirrels out and my cats in) I live on a main road with only a narrow footpath separating my front door from the A46 and don't want flat cats.

It sounds extremely irritating that your thoughtless neighbours are making your life miserable due to their lack of consideration. I abhor violence towards any animal but I think that water is your best bet here. The cats are likely to do anything to stay away from a good soaking and you're not likely to be prosecuted for using it.

However - all animal cruelty issues aside - (for the benefit of others because I know you don't own one yourself) an air rifle cannot legally be discharged anywhere where it could be reasonably argued that the pellet MIGHT cross your property boundaries onto land belonging to someone else OR within a short distance of a road. Cruelty aside it would be a shame if your idiot neighbours saw you doing it and decided to call the police - they tend to be pretty heavy-handed if someone mentions 'gun' these days.

Most of all though, if you were (or anyone else was) tempted to, please don't use mothballs. The active ingredient in mothballs is unpleasant to us but potentially deadly to cats. I know you (rightly) want to rid your garden of cats and their dump but if they accidentally start dropping dead in your garden, you might wish you'd tried the water idea first - they certainly shouldn't be in your garden but it's the fault of the owner and they probably don't deserve to die for the stupidity of your neighbours: http://www.ehow.com/facts_5640253_moth-balls-dangerous-cats_.html

looopylala

Is the house next door owned by a social landlord? local authority housing? if so I am sure there is something in the small print about how many pets are there it might be worth contacting the landlord.. or the council Also there might be some loophole if the cats keep having kittens could she be classed as an unregistered breeder?

ps just checked, not sure where you are but Northampton council only allows 2 cats per local authority property it also states that they must be cleaned up after or could face fines...

darkpool

the article below is from the NSPCA, it looks like if you like wildlife you should kill cats.....

"Estimates of how many birds are killed by cats vary significantly. The UK estimate is that cats catch up to 275 million prey items a year, of which 55 million are birds. These are the numbers of prey items known to have been caught. It will never be known how many more were caught by cats but were not brought home or how many escaped but subsequently died."

*gem*

I tried to speak to her today about it. It ended up with her and her friend calling all the swear words under the sun, chasing me down the street and threatening me. I'm waiting for the police now (not that they'll do anything) and wondering what I did wrong to desrve that reaction. I certainly didn't raise my voice, swear or threaten them. She did say that the RSPCA are trying to rehome the cats but then went on to say that she would breed more. :eek:

I wouldn't want to harm the cats so that means the mothballs are out. I don't think i'm going to win this battle!

*gem*

darkpool wrote: »

the article below is from the NSPCA, it looks like if you like wildlife you should kill cats.....

"Estimates of how many birds are killed by cats vary significantly. The UK estimate is that cats catch up to 275 million prey items a year, of which 55 million are birds. These are the numbers of prey items known to have been caught. It will never be known how many more were caught by cats but were not brought home or how many escaped but subsequently died."

I get at least a bird or mouse left in my garden everyday. They've even killed the pidgeons round here.

*gem*

bluebeary wrote: »

have you spoken to your neighbour about her cats mess in your garden, is she aware of it, if it were me, my cat, i would be more than happy to come and clear it for you, maybe she would be too ?

If I thought one of my pets was pooing in somebody's garden, I would offer to clean it up too. Just the same if one of my children had broken something of somebody elses, I would offer to replace it.

*gem*

*doodle* wrote: »

17 cats?! I bet that her house stinks to high heaven. How on earth can she afford to feed them, insure, and keep their jabs up to date?!

They are not vacinated or insured and probably not fed very well either. Poor cats.