Not every cat has a caring owner and a home to live in. There are tens of millions of feral (or stray) cats in the U.S., possibly as many or more than the number of cats kept as pets. These cats, of course, reproduce uncontrollably since they are not neutered. There are many kind-hearted people who trap stray cats and have them neutered, then release them outdoors, but not nearly enough to bring the population under control. And if you catch kittens young enough, they can be socialized and adopted out. But the TL;DR reason is, too many cats, not enough homes.
FWIW, I’ve always had good luck putting cayenne pepper out in the garden between rains to keep various animals away.
My Mother bought large cans of cheap black pepper and sprinkled it onto her car to keep cats off.
You make it sound like its a fight we can’t win…but we can. Education is the key, many people don’t understand that pets don’t want to have a litter so that the kids can see the “miracle of birth”. TNR is a stop gap solution, it helps locally, but the problem will not go away until people start fixing their pets. We (us kind-hearted people) will win in the end, its just going to be a long slog.
I used to pepper my car on a regular basis. I don’t really care about kitty footprints, but that asshole cat who kept peeing on my windshield really ticked me off. He hasn’t done it since I had his balls cut off, so all is good now.
Wow.
Remind me not to tick you off.
:dubious:
I believe an income tax deduction would be in order.
Folks would even adopt cats so they could get them fixed. If they kicked them out the door after April 15, it would still be a Good Thing.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I hate cats.
I’ve had good luck planting chives in the corners of my garden areas. Cats don’t seem to like that onion smell, and I get to use yummy fresh chives in my cooking 