I Need Neighbor Opinions...

I would not tell them,unless you are close friends with those involved, and could have a rational discussion with them. If they understand the problem, they could make the choice. Otherwise there could be all kinds of problems. If the cat has identification; ie, a tag or chip, they will be contacted and a fine assessed. At that time the owner will have the option of letting it run wild or not & more fines assessed.

PLEASE tell them.
It could be that if you tell them, they will do a great thing and actually adopt the cats, take them in to get them fixed and have them be a part of their family. If you don't tell them, they'll lose the chance to do this.

I see nothing wrong with this. It is a logical and humane way to temporarily get rid of the cats. However it does not solve the issue. Someone needs to speak to the elderly couple.

L.,

Speaking from and elderly persons standpoint. No, I do not believe you should let the neighbors know you are trapping them.

Here's a story, when my mother lived we us and we lived outside of town, Her and I started feeding the wild cats, it started with a pregnant female. She had 6 kittens and we were still feeding the cats. By the time we moved from there we had 57 cats that we were feeding everyday.

We gave them to the farmers in the area, because they all needed mousers. The cats would keep the mice out of their hay and there feed in the barns.

So ask your local farmers if they need some mousers?

Cats are great when you are older, they give us comfort because they cuddle.

I am a cat lover, we have two cats, they stay in the house and do not roam.

The health issue you have a legitimate, so do what you need to do for the health of your family.

If you are close to your neighbors, then discuss it with them, if not then just do what is right for your family.

Even if others in your neighborhood have cats that they allow to roam free at night or during the day. If they get trapped and sent to the Animal Shelter, well, they have no business allowing their pets to roam free in the first place.

You need to protect you environment for you family and that's it period.

Good luck
M.

I notice you are in Utah. Please consider contacting the woderful folks at No More Homeless Pets in Utah (www.utahpets.org)for info about their TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) programs. They may be able to help you reduce the feral cat population permanently in your area AND keep peace with your neighbors. I suggest you Google TNR or visit the Web site for Alley Cat Allies for excellent info about cleaning up the litterbox your neighborhood has become--I am sympathetic to you, but from my experience with feral cats and animal shelter work, I know if you're committed to solving the problem, one big sweep of cats is not going to work in the long term. (And with feral cats, "long-term" is only three or four months.) Study after study shows remove-and-euthanize projects are not effective.
The good news is this is a PERFECT time of year to be working on this. Kitten season hits its peak in April, which means that cats that get fixed NOW will NOT be breeding and overpopulating neighborhoods next spring. I worked on a TNR project with a very overrun neighborhood a few falls ago and both the neighbors and I were thrilled when the cat population held steady the following spring--a managable amount of cared-for cats that were fixed and vaccinated instead of hordes of jaguar-like strays slinking around making noise and messes.

You really should speak with your neighbors before embarking on this project. Whether or not they claim legal ownership of the cats, they feel connected to them and notifying them of the problem and discussing potential solutions with them is the only ethical approach, in my opinion. (I am not suggesting you are not right to be frustrated, however; feral cats can be a huge nuisance and I'm sorry they are interferring with your children's play area. That would bug me, too.) While the cats are interchangable to you--one is as good/bad as another-- your neighbors likely have favorites they are attached to and see them as individuals. Animals are not children, but you know your kids are individuals and having any three kids wouldn't be the same as having YOUR three kids. . . if your neighbors are lonely empty-nesters, they may enjoy feeling needed and have some parental feelings towards some of these cats. Tread gently.
You say your neighbors are elderly; they may not understand the basics of spaying and neutering as part of responsible pet care. They may be able to help you trap effectively and quickly if they have a relationship with some cats. They may be able to identify which cats are actually claimed pets and which are truly feral. If you try to do this behind their backs, you are not only risking creating very hard feelings, but you're missing an opportunity to have their help. They, too, may be feeling overwhelmed and be ready to reduce the population.
Please consider TNR instead of just euthanasia at the shelter. The people at No More Homeless Pets can help, and there is funding available for some projects. You don't have to bring back all the cats, but if you don't have any you can be sure a new colony will find its way to your neighborhood and reproduce to fill the space and leave you exactly where you started. Nobody wants that.
Please keep us posted. Best of luck!

If they are truly feral cats, and not just pets living outside, I wouldn't bother telling the neighbors. In my opinion, you are just cleaning up your own property without damaging anyone else's.

Personally, I would let your neighbors know. This way they can do something to help control it if they choose to. If they choose not to do anything and their cat dissapears, then they'll at least know why. It's only fair to give them warning, and let them know of the problem that you're having before hand.

If you are close to the neighbors do explain what your plans are. Explain the health risks to your family as well as the bird population with large numbers of feral cats running around.

Explain that giving them the possibility for intervention (if they are really young cats) and maybe getting them a chance to find good homes is far better then them breeding like crazy and being unhealthy. They get hit by cars, attacked by dogs and fight with other cats. It isn't a good life for them at all.

You are doing a positive thing. I have three cats, all indoors and won't ever be outside! I get really irratated with my neighbors who let their darn cats run around I am sick of finding cat poop in my garden, on the school playground and seeing dead birds and these aren't feral cats.

Only true responsible cat owners keep their cats inside.
Being outside they breed disease and it is not a good life for them. Even a partially indoor/outdoor cat can have his or her life span reduced by years by being let outside.

I think if they truly respect you and you have a good relationship with them, they will understand and maybe even offer to help. Good for you doing this!

This is exactly what we went through a few years ago. We were really good friends with our neighbors that were feeding the stray cats. Those blasted cats kept using our backyard as their toilet, and nesting grounds. It was a mess. We told them we were going to start trapping them. They were okay with it. But we already had a good relationship with them. They were an elderly couple, and we took care of feeding the birds and squirrels for them when they left on trips, and checking on their house. We never caught a pet though... it's obvious which ones are pets and not, even without tags. So if we had, we'd have let them go. Anyway, we caught several and took every one of them to the shelter. After doing it religiously for 6 months, the cats stopped nesting and messing in our yard. We never did catch the main male and two females. Good luck!!!

Cats can introduce a lot to your backyard that you're right for not wanting, especially feral cats. I would talk to the neighbors about your concern. If you can't come to some kind of arrangement, you could then mention that you'd like to start taking them to a shelter so they can get a good home that can take care of them properly. I wouldn't start out with that, and I would only offer it as a way to help the cats and therefore help your neighbors. You might not need them now, but you don't want to burn bridges with your neighbors in case you need help another time. Elderly neighbors can be a great asset and blessing. I'd try to keep the friendship if at all possible. GL!

Hi L., I think your neighbor will think it is just the natural order of things. They won't really think that you have done anything with the cats. So, I would not say anything to anyone. (not anyone!) I think it is important that you are able to play with the boy's without kitty poo in your yard. You are not hurting or poisoning the cats just providing them with a new home and hopefully someone that will care for them responsibly. For what my two cents are worth who knows? But that is what I think. K. K.

I am hoping that you have tried to talk them about this already, and if not, that you will try that avenue first. After no success with that, I would call Animal Control for your city and file a formal report/complaint. There are restrictions governed by ordinance in cities regarding pets and the number any one household may keep. And, there is such a thing as "nuisance animals". If you are uncomfortable doing this, ask to be listed as an anonymous reporter. You are correct that you deserve a clean environment for your small children to play in--feces are feces, buried or not, and your neighbors do have the right to have a reasonable numbers of pets. Ask for outside help if talking to your neighbors doesn't work, and that way you are giving them a chance to be considerate without saying you just took matters into your own hands. The third party helps them understand this isn't just a personal thing....Good Luck!

L.,

I am a cat lover, but you are with in your rights and obligation to your children to do what is best. It is your property and no one needs to know. If you want to advise your neighbors that is your privleage, but under no social more or legal obligation do you need to broadcast your intent. It sounds like you want to do what is best for the cats and your family. Personally, I would have taken it a step further and reported the issue to animal control. Outdoor "wild" cats can have multiple health hazards attached to them. I was even attacked by a cat with 22 stiches in my forehead. God forbid that be one of your kids. Just my never so humble opinion.

Good luck,
M.

Before you start trapping the animals, I would suggest doing more than mentioning that you don't like them around. I would make a point to talk to them and let them know that you think that it's really sweet idea to feed the cats, but that they are doing their business all over your yard since they're in the area and that needs to stop. Tell them gently that you'd appreciate it if they stopped setting out food for the cats, so the cats will stop coming around...although the damage may already have been done, and they may need to be trapped anyway. If your neighbors say no, then at that point, you have done the "neighborly" thing, and they are, at this point, out of line...the fact that they are elderly shouldn't matter. Age isn't an excuse, young or old. If they continue, then at that point, let them know that you will start calling animal control.

I would try to be nice, but upfront about it from the start. It's entirely possible your neighbors simply haven't thought about the impact the cats are having on others in the neighborhood. A gentle conversation can take care of the whole issue without feelings getting hurt. Good luck.

Hi L.,
I had the expererience of needing to take an animal to the local shelter so I just thought I would share with you that you have to pay when you drop off an animal. What were you planning to do with the cats once you catch them? You may want to just call animal control and let them take care of it.
If you have already expressed your concerns to your neighbors in the past, then I would just go ahead and call the authorities.
Take care,
B.

You definitely need to tell your neighbors. Also, if they really are feral (meaning they cannot be domesticated), then try contacting Rocky Mountain Alley Cat Alliance. They will come out and trap them for you, spay and neuter them and give them shots to make sure they are healthy.

Good luck on finding a sound solution. S..

I'd like to share my story of what happened when one of my neighbors went trapping "feral" cats. My domesticated cat went missing for a few days and we souldn't figure out what happened to her. My son was so upset as he had saved her life originally and they had a delightful bond together. 2 days later we got a call from the animal shelter that they had our cat and that a neighbor had trapped her. I was FURIOUS as the shelter called me at 5:30pm when they were closed so I arrived first thing in the morning with my carrier only to find out they didn't even open until 10am. THEN, they charged me $80.00 for an "overnight" stay and I had to fax proof of her rabies shot which was a trip to her vet. That evening our cat started to sneeze uncontrollably, and she had gotten sick from the kennel with kennel cough, and never recovered. We found her dead 2 days later. All this because of a neighbor wanting to trap wild animals, well the domestics get caught too and that is evil. Please re-think of what you are about to do. If it's not cats, it'd be dogs, geese and other wild animals, it's just nature.

It might be hard to talk with them, but I definitely think it's in everyone's best interest. If you trap cats without talking to anyone, some of your neighbors are really going to resent you. (Even though, I know, you're kind of resenting them right now.) But, you've got to give people the benefit of the doubt first. We've had several neighbor problems with various neighbors (barking dogs, their cats pooping in our borders...), and the neighbors have all worked hard to make it not a problem anymore. Most people want to get along.

Cats are very clean when it comes to their bathroom habits. They prefer to go somewhere in dirt where they cna bury it to cover their scent. If your lawn is covered in poop, it is not the cats. Don't get rid of anybodys pets, they are not yours to get rid of. There is such thing as a fence if you want to keep animals out of your yard.

I would say something, the only concern I would have is if you got someones pet and not a feral cat, my MIL has had this happen in her neighborhood, a neighbor trapping cats and taking peoples pets. Hasn't made for a harmonious group of people.

I come from the school of thought that communication helps almost everything. If you can explain to them how the cats are dirtying up your property, they may understand. In fact, you may just be able to request them to stop feeding the cats altogether using their new understanding of how their actions are impacting other people. Getting them to stop feeding them should be the primary goal because as long as the food is there, so will the cats. Plus, if you happen to capture a neighbors pet, there would be some serious damage control that would need to happen! If they won't listen, then I believe you have every right to start a catch and release program. Bye the way, how do your other neighbors feel about this situation? One of them may have some friendly influence with these folks, or at the least, you could start exerting some "whole neighborhood" pressure rather than a one-on-one battle.

Hope this helps!
H. G

Hi L. - If it were me, I would contact animal control and file a complaint and ask them to frequently patrol your area. Ask them to speak with your neighbor about feeding and attracting feral cats. Kids, sandboxes and feral cats are definately a problem. Those critters are mean! You are absolutely correct that even the sweetest cat does not belong in your yard using your sandbox as a bathroom. It does cost the owner money to have their cat picked up but that's the price of having a pet that is not properly controlled.

Personally, I would be a little reluctant to set traps for the cats especially if they are baited just for liability issues -ie: someone accuses you of poisoning their pet when it might be another neighbor, etc. If it is just cages and the animals are merely trapped and not harmed, I don't think that you need to inform anyone that you are doing it. Perhaps animal control can offer advice on an appropriate warning sign to hang on your gate.

You might also consider filing a homeowner complaint to your HOA if you have one - most communities have a "pet clause" that require cats to be kept indoors or on a leash. You might also contact your city police dept and filing a complaint considering your neighbor is feeding wild animals.

Good luck! You have every reason to be annoyed.

Call your local animal control and tell them what's going on. Don't be cruel to the cats! There's a "legal limit" for animals that can be kept in a persons home. They will know what to do about it.

Well...my mom's cat disappeard. She later learned that the neighbor who worked for the city had borrowed a cat trap from the pound. She was disgusted and still is. It wasn't a situation with multiple feral cats though.
I would try to discuss it with them somehow. That won't get the cats to stop coming around. Let them see somebody from the pound catch the cats.

Hi L.,
I would tell my neighbors and tell them your concern. I would also make sure that none of them are actual pets and not just ferrel cats. I've lived all over the country and every where I live people let there cats run free and I've never heard complaints from anyone. These have been peoples pets and not ferrel cats. I have a cat now that won't keep his collar on no matter how tight so he doesn't wear one but has a chip in his hip so if he is turned in by someone they can scan him and know where he belongs. That's why I say make sure these aren't their pets because you will start a very heated discussion with your neighbors if you start hauling their pets off to the pound with out telling them.
Good luck,
SarahMM

Please talk to them. There is nothing worse than having a rude neighbor which is what you will be if you take their pets regardless of how foul their pets are. We deal with a neighbor that has an incesant barking and mean dog. This means our children cannot play in our backyard at all due to the fact that the dog has broken the fence in order to attack our dog and we don't want to take the risk. When we have talked with her she doesn't see the problem so we've just had to work around it. We have had animal control come out to assess the situation and they have done what they can. My point is that you just have to make the best of the situation. If these are truely a problem I'd do everything you can, talking to your neighors and calling the authorities before just randomly killing cats which is exactly what will happen. True feral cats are not adoptable. We also have a cat and our neighbors love that she roams around because no one has had a mouse problem since we got her but she is spayed and not producing annoying amounts of kittens.

I have never known a pet-owner to act rationally and politely when people express concerns about their animals. Good luck with that! When people complained to my mother about barking, she would ridicule them (behind their backs) to no end for days and weeks to come.

I can't begin to tell you how grossed out I am when I'm gardening and I find cat poop while I'm moving soil around.

Good luck! Cat traps, huh?. . . .

I am a cat lover, we have 3. If you talk to one of their workers they will give you a scary long list of what a unvacanated cat can transmit in their poop. I do home daycare and have had them trap the cats that were using our backyard for a bathroom. (Saftey of the kids come first)

If you feel like the older person needs a pet, how about offering to give them a fixed and vacanated cat to keep inside. In agreement they will not feed other animals outside. The animal shelter offers spaying/nutering for about $20 and shots for about $5.

I have gone through that same problem, when my family moved inot our nice new home and put in sod in the yard we were frustrated to find that it was teh favorite place for stray cats to poop! We started trapping them and sending them to the pound right away, and then we got a very angry and sad letter from an old woman who had been feeding them, she accused us of sending her "pets" off to die. It was sad, but I know that we made the right choice, a pet is an animal that you carebaout enough to vaccinate and spay or neuter, and that you provide shelter and a safe environment for. Just feeding stray cats is not a kindness, it is cruelty, it just leads to the cats breeding more unfortunate kittens who will also have no home and no medical care. It is gruesome to see the deformities and diseases that can develop in unvaccinated animals. Even rabies is becoming more prevelant as we encroach on wild animals and they pass their illnesses on to our pets. I have a pet dog that I love and care for properly, in my mind if you are not willing to put forth the kind of time and money needed to properly care for a pet (and that mean NOT letting them roam around on their own to cause trouble for the neighbors!) then you should not even try to own a pet, or call stray animals your pets!

I guess my point is, you are doing the right thing. If you tell your neighbors about it they may not be happy about it, but they can not leagally stop you from doing it, it is also illegal to free the cats once they are in the pound's traps. Good luck! In my experience the pound did not charge us any money to trap the cats, and as soon as a cat was in a trap we just called and a man came and took the cats to the pound, some of the traped cats were in bad condition with fleas and ear mites and cat flu etc. our dog even caught a parasite from the cat poop in our yard, and the vet told us that we were lucky that our children had not caught it too as it is transmutable to humans and can casue horrible problems in children.

I guess their reaction would depend on what would happen to the cats after being sent to the shelter. Its a catch 22, if I care enough about feeding the cats, then surely I should care enough to trap them and have them 'fixed'. I adore cats, have one of my own and every neighbour around us has one as well. Feral cats are not immunised, are feisty and would have no hesitation in ripping your own pet to pieces. You could explain to the neighbour gently that you know they love the cats but that they are in fact creating a bigger problem by feeding them, keeping them healthy enough to breed even more feral cats.

I would be more worried about trapping some poor families loved pet my mistake.

I would tell them exactly what you said here, that you are concerned for your boys and having all the cat poop in your yard is not a safe environment for them to play in. I would hope that they would understand otherwise you do what you need to do. Good luck

Hi L.,
I would do one of 2 things
1)personally go to each of your neighbors and ask them if they actually own any cats then mention that you'll be placing traps and taking the cats to the shelter but you only want to take actual strays so if you catch a pet you can return it saving your neighbors shelter fees and such. When I was first married a neighbor had trapped cats like you're saying and they caught my 2cats and after paying nearly $100 in fees they ended up with distemper and I had over $200 in vet bills to pay, needless to say I wasn't a happy neighbor. or
2) Call the shelter or animal control and see if they'll set the traps, then they're the ones doing the job not you.

Good luck!

C. C

L., I am in a similar situation, and frankly, if I were your neighbor I would be grateful to someone for taking the initiative to get rid of some of these cats that seem to adopt our neighborhood. I wouldn't tell them beforehand, because unless the cats actually belong to the neighbors, it isn't really their call and it could set you up for a conflict you don't want. Just my opinion.

This struck a bit of a nerve with me as I spent last night in the hospital with a former 'elderly neighbor'. He's dying and he was one of the nicest people we knew. As neighbors we had one of the nicest relationships and it makes me so sad that he's not going to be around for another holiday.

Thats where I'm coming from when I say talk to your neighbors! Befriend them. Figure out a way they can feel like they are 'helping' the animals that doesn't involve feeding them. Maybe they just need some way to feel needed...be a part of a life on a daily basis. Maybe they just need one cat they can care for, or switch to feeing birds.

I'd wholeheartedly suggest approaching this in the nicest manner possible. Being hostile and angry won't get you anywhere and approaching the issue with a willingness to help will move worlds.

I'd also suggest raking up all the leaves, covering the sandbox and ensuring the messes are indeed due to cats.

GL!

First off, let me say that I understand that some people do not like cats. I am not one of them, however. I have had a cat, sometimes two, for most of my married life....about 32 years. I have not had anyone say they have had problems with any of my cats. They DO go outside, and most of the time stay close to home. I would be very upset if one of my neighbors trappped them, and sent them to an animal shelter, without letting me know that they had planned to do so. Most of my neighbors know my cats, but what if one did not? It is very hard to keep cats out of other people's yard, they can not be put on a chain or in a fence. My cats, and MOST cats are very concerned about burying their waste, so for a yard to get poop in it from other's cats, would be very unlikely.
I understand that your neighbors are feeding stray cats, that would make an overly large number of cats to be around your yard....I think I would at least tell my neighbor what I planned to do, and explain why. If they get really upset, that is their problem.....but just be aware that you may be sending someone's pet to the shelter. If one of my cats had been "lost", my children would have been so SAD. I don't know if you have pets or not, but children get VERY attached to their pets. Please be a little carwful about what you decide to do. I DO care about how you feel, and I know it is hard when your "space" is made uncomfortable.

L.,
I have a neighbor 2 houses down who starting trapping all cats in the neighborhood 2 years ago. I would have appriciated so forwarning. Now I felt what she was doing was a little wrong because she was putting out tuna to intice the cats to come in her yard. She caught my cat and we had to pay 40 dollars and her trap injured my cat and when we got her from the pound she was covered in blood. The good thing is if they are cats that belong to someone, usually the will not go back to the trap. Maybe if you let the neighbors know the can keep thier cats in for a while to help with the problem.

This happened in my subdivision a couple of years ago, and I was quite frankly disgusted with the neighbor who was trapping all of the cats. It does bother me when owners do not take excellent care of their animals, and just let them roam the neighborhood, however, there are other ways to keep cats from using your lawn as a "potty." Just visit your local pet store or go online to find out safe ways to keep cats away from your house. From what I understand, in my city, the animal shelter charges $10 a cat when you trap one and bring it in. Sadly, some of the neighbors never found their cats at the shelter. I have a feeling the cats were trapped and dropped in other neighborhoods or fields to save cost. I WAS actually friends with the neighbor who was doing this, and I know for a fact that they were baiting the trap with tuna and mice. I saw it with my own eyes when my kids wanted to show me the cage in the neighbor's back yard. The father who was doing this was on our HOA board, and was subsequently let go of his position because of what he was doing. This also affected his daughter who absolutely LOVED cats. She was at my house one day drawing on the driveway with chalk along with her brother and my two kids, and she was drawing the cats in cages that she saw at the shelter. She was very sad. You know, if my neighbor, who was on the board, would have just sent out notices to the neighborhood that if everyone didn't keep their cats in, they would be trapped and taken to the shelter(although I don't agree with trapping) it may not have been as bad as it was because my neighbors would have had the chance to save their cats. The guy directly behind this neighbor had to pay $100 to get his 2 cats out of the shelter just because he let them out in the back yard one night. That just doesn't seem right. I really think there is a better way to handle the situation. Do some research before you go trapping animals.