Problem with an outdoor cat..

[jennipea382]

I actually wasn't sure what to put in the subject line. I'll try to keep this short but it could be a long story.

FI's parents have an outdoor cat. She was born at their house and the many cats they used to have disappeared. Freckles reappeared a few years ago and has stuck around since. They estimate she is at least 12 years old (crazy old for an outdoor cat, especially in their area). She has become more and more tame over the years, but still not enough to make her an indoor cat.

Anyways, the problem. FILs have had many many issues with their neighbors. Nothing too serious (other than one of them hitting FI over the head with a croquet mallet when they were kids.. another story), but lots of problems. Well, the latest one has to do with Freckles. Apparently she's been going in their yard and "digging up" their yard when she does her business over there (on the edge of the woods, not in a garden or anything). So the other day, FFIL goes outside and Freckles is in a TRAP. A humane one, but still. He got her out of there but the poor thing was probably having several heart attacks.

They ended up calling the cops to see what they could do. The neighbors claimed that they were trapping her to bring her back over to FILs house. We know that's total BS. They were trapping her to kill her. Oh, did I mention she's currently taking care of 7 kittens?

The cops basically told them there's nothing they can do other than keep her in their yard. She's an outdoor cat, she hunts all over both yards. She's not going to pay attention to the imaginary line between their properties. So now, the neighbors have the trap set up RIGHT on the lot line. We know if they catch her again, they're going to shoot her. Who does that to an innocent cat? It's not like she's attacking their kids or annoying dogs or anything. If anything she's keeping mice and other rodents out of their house and gardens!

So anyways, this is partially a vent and partially me seeing if there is ANYTHING at all that they can do about this. She mostly stays in FIL's yard (on the deck, where the kittens and her food are). I'm hoping the trapping will make her stay away but like I said, she hunts over there too. I'm just so angry about this!

It got a little long so just in case, here are some CNs: FI's parents have an outdoor cat who was recently trapped by their neighbors, with the intent to kill her. Cops said there's nothing they can do but keep her in their yard. Neighbors moved trap to right along the lot line. Looking for anything we can do to keep them from killing her.

[DorkFish]

Get a large dog kennel and keep her and her kittens in it? Move her to their garage if they have one. Other than that, nope. Also, could they be trapping her to take her to animal control?

[msmerymac]

Why can't she be inside? I'd at least keep her in the garage. You could try an electric fence, but I'm not sure it works well for cats. And please get her spayed, along with the kittens.

Honestly, this is one of the problems with outdoor pets. It's not just bad for your pet, it's bad for the environment. The US song bird population has been decimated by outdoor cats. Your neighbors don't want cat urine (which stinks) and cat feces on their property. They don't want their gardens torn up by cats. I don't even have a garden, but the indoor/outdoor cats in my neighborhood often come up to my porch or windows and absolutely terrify my own cats. It's a nuisance to your neighbors.

[kellbell191]

Why does she have kittens? Is she spayed? How do you know they're going to shoot her? I trap stray cats that wander onto my property and have them spayed or neutered. You don't have a legal right to let your animals go onto other people's property and damage it.

They either need to find an appropriate barn home for her or find a safe place to keep her inside. We've adopted and socialized plenty of "feral" cats at my house.

[jennipea382]

They've been wanting to spay her for a very long time but the problem is she probably wouldn't even survive the surgery. We're all actually surprised that she is still alive with all the coyotes and stuff out in their woods. She's a very smart cat.. I'm shocked that they were even able to trap her.

They have the kittens in a pen type thing on the deck to keep them safe, but she would find a way out or seriously freak out if she were kept in a pen or their garage. They also don't have money to build a fence or anything to keep her in their yard (they're both disabled and on a very low income, plus she'd just climb a fence or pull a collar off if they tried an electric fence).

She can't be inside partially because she would go insane (they brought her in once, she almost knocked down their Christmas tree, then ran outside and was shaking and everything), plus FFIL is really allergic to cats. They've tried. She's still somewhat feral, but she's gotten very used to us so we're able to pet her and be near her, but she's still very leery.

There's a small side of me that kinda hopes she leaves this winter and doesn't come back. She's a great cat and I'd never wish anything bad on her, but it sucks dealing with this kind of stuff. Plus the kittens. We've been lucky enough to find homes for most of them (sadly the first litter she had when she came back, all but one disappeared, but the rest are in good homes). If it were up to me, I'd find a way to spay her and keep her somewhere safe but it's not that easy. Or I'd build a huge fence on that side of the property. Honestly, they're doing it out of spite. These neighbors constantly cause issues. Their dog attacked FIL's dog (who is the sweetest dog in the world, she didn't even fight back), they set off small bomb things in their trash can which rattles their house and scares the crap out of the dog.. and the cops don't do anything about it because they're friends with the neighbors. So there's a lot to this story, but the main problem is them trying to kill the cat.

Thanks for the responses so far, I appreciate it. I'm probably going to talk to them and just see again if they think there's a possibility of keeping her in the garage until she gets too old. It's frustrating. And it doesn't help that the male cats in the area are actually pets that people got to be outdoor cats, and they won't neuter the cats. It's just a mess. I just wish they could move or get new neighbors or something. Honestly, she's not causing problems. They just want to kill her to "get back" at FILs. Ugh.

Anyways, thanks for letting me vent about this. I don't know how they'd even get her into the garage but I'll see if I can get them to agree to it..

[jennipea382]

By the way, I should maybe reiterate that she showed up at their house. They didn't go buy her or anything. There are a lot of cats in the area, and she chose to come back to their house after they didn't have cats out there for years. She's basically a stray. They started to feed her because they're nice like that and felt bad for her. She doesn't "need" them to feed her since she finds plenty of food in their yard and the woods, but they still do. They just recently started considering her "their" cat and not just the cat that lives outside. So to be fair to them, they didn't necessarily choose this situation. It sucks that now they feel obligated and terrible that they can't do more for her, like get her spayed (mostly because of money issues, but also what I said in the other post).

[audnicole]

Outdoor dog pen. Often you can find them on Craigslist pretty cheap. Large enough for her to not feel trapped, but will keep her in (with a lid). and will keep Tom's out after this litter is gone. Once she kicks the bucket, they can take it down.

I don't think there's really many other options. There are plants and such you can plant to keep cats out, supposedly, but they don't work perfectly.

the neighbors are within their rights to trap her (not to shoot her, but to take her to the local Animal control or whatever). Not much you can do about that.

[gbck]

They've been wanting to spay her for a very long time but the problem is she probably wouldn't even survive the surgery.


We've gotta be missing some background because...why does anyone think she wouldn't survive the surgery?

A vet thinks she wouldn't survive the surgery? so she's been to the vet?
Or has someone in the family arbitrarily decided she's not up for surgery?

[fivemutts]

Why can't the cat be spayed? We spay feral cats all the time.

[msmerymac]

She sounds healthy enough to be spayed from what you've said. She had kittens recently!

Also, look up trap-neuter-release programs in your area. You can take the neighborhood toms in and get them fixed free or cheap.

[jennipea382]

I'm not a vet, so I really don't know if she'd survive the surgery. She's at least 12 years old and they think her age in combination with the stress she'd be under being trapped and spayed might kill her. Like I said, I really have no idea but that's how they feel. Also, they don't have the money to spay her. I know there are vans that will go around and do it for cheap/free but they don't travel in their area. So unless anyone else knows of a place that will do it free without keeping her. I know they could trap her and take her to the humane society but there's no way she'd get adopted out as a pet. They'd probably put her down before they'd work with her (I know there are no kill shelters, but I'm sorry but I don't think living the rest of her life in a tiny cage in a loud room is a good life for her).

Right now she seems to be doing ok. She's limping some but I don't know if that has to do with the trapping or if she's just sore. She came up on the deck while I was there to feed her kittens and get some food. We talked about some of the options brought up. Ideally they want to put up one of those big dog pens, but they just don't have the money for it. I'd offer to help but we don't make much more than they do, plus they have house payments and bills we don't have.

So for now there's a small fence along the area by the trap and where she usually goes into their yard. FILs tilled up a spot in their yard, hoping she will do her business there instead. As morbid as it sounds, I kinda wish her age would get to her. I'd rather her go that way then being shot by the neighbor.

Oh, and we do know they'd shoot her. They've shot other cats in their yard. I think they've also threatened to shoot their dog when she just barely wandered a bit into their yard. So.. I guess we'll just keep looking into options and hope for the best for now.

[redheadbaker]

What . . . the . . . fuck?

Do your FILs care about this cat at all?? Why do they keep blaming the neighbors? They're letting their cat wander onto and damage other people's property! They have no one to blame but themselves!

[gbck]

So...she's never been to a vet.
SHe keeps having kittens (and contributing to the overpopulation and short-lived kitten-lives).
And no one can afford the $75 to have her spayed...
ANd no one has educated themselves on it?

Okay, if you want to do right by this cat, this is what you do:
1-Get the cat fixed or get her inside. (preferably both)
2-CALL A VET. Medical decisions aren't made on the basis of how someone 'feels'. I don't get to decide that I wouldn't survive necessary sugery because I 'feel' it would be scary.
3-Call places like your local humane society/no kill shelter, etc.
If no one can truly afford to fix this cat, you call them,you explain that the animal needs to be fixed but it can't be afforded, you ask for help.

[DorkFish]

Jun 6, 2012 20:51:56 GMT -5 gbck said:

So...she's never been to a vet.
SHe keeps having kittens (and contributing to the overpopulation and short-lived kitten-lives).
And no one can afford the $75 to have her spayed...
ANd no one has educated themselves on it?

Okay, if you want to do right by this cat, this is what you do:
1-Get the cat fixed or get her inside. (preferably both)
2-CALL A VET. Medical decisions aren't made on the basis of how someone 'feels'. I don't get to decide that I wouldn't survive necessary sugery because I 'feel' it would be scary.
3-Call places like your local humane society/no kill shelter, etc.
If no one can truly afford to fix this cat, you call them,you explain that the animal needs to be fixed but it can't be afforded, you ask for help.

Ditto the bolded. There's a rescue in my area that will help you get it fixed. They've done it a few times when someone wanted to surrender their cat because it kept getting knocked up and they couldn't deal with the kittens.

[notamrs]

Ditto everyone else about a trap neuter release program. If they are really worried about this cat and her kittens and are willing/able to try and keep her in their yard, there are several companies that have outdoor cat fences:

purrfectfence.com/products.asp

www.kittyfence.com/

www.catfencein.com/index.php

catfence.com/index.htm

[independencegirl74]

Ditto other's advice on getting her spayed (her not surviving that surgery would be better than her dying at the hands of FIL's neigbours).

Then: get a calming collar, rescue remedy, feliway diffusers and HELP her adjus to life indoors. All these things help calm kitties' frazzled nerves so they can learn and adapt to new situations without their heightened stress getting in the way.

These things need to be done. Otherwise, she's just another stray cat belonging to no one and those neighbors are pretty much within in their rights to trap her. NOT to shoot her; if they shoot her, you call the cops.

[SallySparrow]

Look. I love cats. Love them. I have three of my own. I help maintain a feral colony and helped organize the trapping/transporting to get them all spayed a released back at their home. That said, I would be really freaking irritated if someone else's pet (which is basically what she is, whether your parents want to claim her or not) kept coming into my yard when I didn't want them there. Some people are not cat people and should not have to deal with someone else's pet. Does that mean they should shoot the cat? No, that makes them insane, if you ask me, but I understand why they wouldn't want the cat in their yard.

You need to look into a TNR (trap/neuter/release) program that might be able to find a farm or some other "safe" place for a feral cat to live out her life. There are people who want barn cats who might agree to take her. My MIL just took like, 10 ferals from our local TNR/animal control to live in her barn. It might take some legwork on your part to find someone who can take her, but it's better than letting her get hurt. Get her fixed and find her a new, safer home. And get the kittens that she's taking care of fixed. Good God, spay and neuter everyone! lol

[foundmylazybum]

Back up here...
Just back up.

OP--are YOU interested in helping your FIL's or are you just telling the story here?

It sounds like your IL's are old, infirm ad poor, which make a lot of the solutions posted (TNR, taming a half feral cat, setting up some fence situation :-| etc difficult) but YOU have the potential to do something nice and help them out.

As everyone has previously pointed out there are things you could do that are low cost.

You know that humane trap the cat was in? If YOU (yeah you) contact your local TNR resource--which can be found on google or through your humane society (also by checking google or a vet) they can provide you with everything you need, the trap, instructions, dates etc. Most TNR's are donation based. I've paid as little as $25 a cat to get them fixed and it seriously solved the problem.

Every. Single. Humane Society in every. Single. Area I have ever lived in offers low cost spay/neuter, vaccine, vet visits--for approx $!50 you could get this cat checked out, vaccinated, and determine by a professional her ability to get a surgery that has MULTIPLE benefits to her and your family's neighborhood.

While it may not be possible to keep the cat off their neighbor's property OR (let's get real here) get her indoors--by demonstrating an effort to end the cycle of kittens in the area--your family shows to your neighbors they "get it." They have empathy towards THEIR concerns...and in return can then ask for empathy in return (IE: the cat probably does have a limited life span, and this is a temporary problem--so please don't hurt the temporary problem)

If you really wanted to get some points, you could do a group of cats in the neighborhood..I've done that--gone to each house on our block and said, "Hey I'm sure you have noticed the feral cat problem, in order to reduce it we were thinking of doing a TNR--have you noticed cats? Where? How many, I will get that many traps and come by and set some for you--we are taking donations to help for the Spay and neuter anything helps--and it WILL help reduce the population"

But honestly--it sounds like it has to be you and your FI helping your FIL's out with this task..and it's gotta be your motivation to help them.

I'd do it but that's me.

[yellowumbrella]

I wouldn't kill a cat but you bet your a$$ that I would trap a neighbors outdoor cat if they repeatedly refused to contain their pet and keep it off my property.

Please try and help your IL's find a solution to keep their cat contained, safe and spayed. And the same goes for those kittens.

[jennipea382]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. It's hard to hear but to be honest, I would say the same thing to a random stranger asking the same question.

Anyways, she's been gone since Friday. She never leaves her kittens for more than a few hours at a time. I don't know all the details, and there isn't concrete proof, but FMIL overheard something the neighbor's girlfriend said that leads us to believe even further that they had something to do with it. And no, they didn't nicely take her to a shelter like a normal person would do. They've let their dogs out to kill cats before, so I wouldn't put it past them to do it again. Luckily the kittens are old enough (barely) to survive without her.

I get that she shouldn't have been in their yard, and I agree. If we actually had some money to spare (I know, things can be cheap, but seriously none of us make much money), I would have loved to put up a fence, build a big kennel, something. But I felt kinda stuck between caring about the cat and it not feeling like my responsibility, KWIM? But at the same time, I don't think it's right to kill an innocent cat.

I'm angry about it, but there's nothing we can really do now other than give away her kittens and hope none of them continue the cycle. I just feel bad for the kittens who are barely eating kitten food and drinking water, who are crying and wondering what happened to their mom. I just wish things didn't have to happen the way they did.

Anyways, thanks again for the advice. Just thought I'd let you all know what happened.

[redheadbaker]

Jun 10, 2012 12:56:01 GMT -5 jennipea382 said:

I'm angry about it, but there's nothing we can really do now other than give away her kittens and hope none of them continue the cycle. I just feel bad for the kittens who are barely eating kitten food and drinking water, who are crying and wondering what happened to their mom. I just wish things didn't have to happen the way they did.

You can do more than just "hope" the kittens don't continue the cycle. You can find out about low-cost spay/neuter options, find out the cost, and charge that as an "adoption fee." That way, the kittens DON'T continue the cycle, and you're not out any of your own money.

[niemand88f]

Jun 10, 2012 13:56:06 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Jun 10, 2012 12:56:01 GMT -5 jennipea382 said:

I'm angry about it, but there's nothing we can really do now other than give away her kittens and hope none of them continue the cycle. I just feel bad for the kittens who are barely eating kitten food and drinking water, who are crying and wondering what happened to their mom. I just wish things didn't have to happen the way they did.

You can do more than just "hope" the kittens don't continue the cycle. You can find out about low-cost spay/neuter options, find out the cost, and charge that as an "adoption fee." That way, the kittens DON'T continue the cycle, and you're not out any of your own money.

Exactly this. Please make sure that the kittens get spayed before they get sent to their new homes.

[gbck]

What they said...if you can't make sure the kittens are fixed before they go to the new home, please contact a rescue/shelter and let THEM help you find homes for these kittens.