If you wanted to be nice, could you knock on the neighbors' doors to see if it belongs to them before calling animal control?
ETA: I'm not saying you necessarily SHOULD be, btw. I realize my phrasing may have sounded snotty.
Who exactly would this be considered "nice" for though?
The neighbors: The neighbors obviously don't care about the cat that much anyway if the cat is even their cat. They don't believe that letting the cat roam outside is bad or wrong--or they wouldn't let the cat do it in the first place. If a cat "owner" is fine with allowing their cat to roam outdoors then they must be fine with their cat being trapped and sent to a shelter (that being one of the best possible outcomes for the cat in this case).
The cat? The cat will be better cared for if it got new "owners" that actually cared for it.
The OP? It would be "nice" for her to waste her time bugging the neighbors about something they don't give a rats ass about?
Seriously, though, even if your shelters are not no-kill I'd be surprised if they'd kill a healthy animal in the first 24 hours. So, the owners would have time to notice it's gone missing and call around.
I like cats but it drives me nuts when people let them run free. I actually caught one eating - or at least chewing/destroying - my lettuce once, and I'm furious when I find their crap in my garden. Stupid irresponsible, inconsiderate owners.
At my local animal control shelter, the cat surrender rate is three times what it is for dogs. Also, by law, a stray dog must be held for 48 hours to give owners time to claim it but there is no such hold for cats. So yeah, busy season + finite number of cages = some shelters will kill a healthy cat less than 24 hours after taking it in.
Trap it or shoot the garden hose at it. Let it know that it's not welcome there, if he wants to be dick and fight you over his toilet, let him find out with a blast of water.
If you wanted to be nice, could you knock on the neighbors' doors to see if it belongs to them before calling animal control?
ETA: I'm not saying you necessarily SHOULD be, btw. I realize my phrasing may have sounded snotty.
Who exactly would this be considered "nice" for though?
The neighbors: The neighbors obviously don't care about the cat that much anyway if the cat is even their cat. They don't believe that letting the cat roam outside is bad or wrong--or they wouldn't let the cat do it in the first place. If a cat "owner" is fine with allowing their cat to roam outdoors then they must be fine with their cat being trapped and sent to a shelter (that being one of the best possible outcomes for the cat in this case).
The cat? The cat will be better cared for if it got new "owners" that actually cared for it.
The OP? It would be "nice" for her to waste her time bugging the neighbors about something they don't give a rats ass about?
So, my brother and his FI had a cat who would come to their front door almost everyday when they got home and want to come inside. One day, they noticed he was limping. They took him to a vet who said he had arthritis, and being outside in the fluctuating temps was probably exacerbating it. They "adopted" the cat by bringing him inside.
The same week, the neighbor who apparently owned the cat (his name is now Gus) put up a flyer saying something about how a black Jeep Patriot stole all three of his cats and he wants them returned. My brother was thinking, "Three? I only stole one. No idea what happened to the other two." Which is kind of sad, but 1) that's what happens with outdoor cats, people steal them and 2) no way is that asshole getting the cat back.
So, my brother and his FI had a cat who would come to their front door almost everyday when they got home and want to come inside. One day, they noticed he was limping. They took him to a vet who said he had arthritis, and being outside in the fluctuating temps was probably exacerbating it. They "adopted" the cat by bringing him inside.
The same week, the neighbor who apparently owned the cat (his name is now Gus) put up a flyer saying something about how a black Jeep Patriot stole all three of his cats and he wants them returned. My brother was thinking, "Three? I only stole one. No idea what happened to the other two." Which is kind of sad, but 1) that's what happens with outdoor cats, people steal them and 2) no way is that asshole getting the cat back.
Not that I think he should give the cat back, but aren't pets considered property? I know they can be confiscated for abuse, but does letting an arthritic cat roam outside constitute animal abuse? I know not these things, hence my comment about knocking on her neighbors' doors as a preliminary courtesy to let them know she was about to have the cat carted off.
You might be able to spin failure to seek medical treatment as abuse. Gus has gotten much better, though, being inside.
Frankly, my brother takes the cat to a vet in another town because he doesn't want to be discovered, so he DOES know he stole the cat. Personally, I can sort of see how it's justified.