I took in a stray cat and unleashed HELL! How do I get rid of her (harming her is not an option!)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have a situation that I don’t quite how to describe- moral dilemma, ethical dilemma, crisis of conscience,….

I am doing something and I don’t have any guilt about it. But I’m disturbed by the fact that I don’t feel guilty about it. I’ll just explain it rather than being vague and make you start wondering if I’m murdering, raping or worse….sorry, no mortal sins today…

I have always loved animals but have a real soft spot for cats. My parents fought constantly when I was a kid because my dad hated cats and I fed every stray that ever walked into our yard! Then I usually moved it into my bedroom and didn’t bother to tell mom and it didn’t occur to me that I needed a litter box or, at the very least, some newspaper and air freshener! It didn’t take long for everyone in the house to realize we had a guest, especially if the visitor was a male cat who hadn’t been neutered and wanted to ‘mark’ his new digs! Mom refused to allow my dad to punish or even yell at me for doing it and she never tried to stop me either. She just told me to let her know if I brought an animal inside the house to stay with us…and not just cats, she needed to know about any animals in the house! Apparently, she hadn’t forgot about the squirrel that I tamed outside my window who eventually made his way INSIDE my window….it didn’t turn out so well when our German Shepherd discovered my friend, but at least everyone survived…and my squirrel moved on to my neighbors yard.

About six months ago, a stray cat appeared in my yard and, of course, I fed her. I also noticed that she had a collar on her neck that had she had outgrown and it was cutting into her throat! It took a few weeks before I could get close enough to grab her with a towel and snip the collar with scissors…and she managed to claw and bit me thru the towel anyway, but I’m sure it hurt and she was terrified.

My cat, who was like my child, died a few days after Thanksgiving 2012 and I obviously miss the hell out of her. =( My grandmother’s cat came to live with me about two years ago, so he became an ‘only’ child and he was NOT happy about it! By this point, I had made the stray kitty a cozy bed in my well house and even put a climbing tree that belonged to my kitty that died recently. She had a sweet setup and was out of the weather and had a bed as warm as some people’s including a goose down comforter that I got at a yard sale!

We started having colder than normal weather in mid-December here in Georgia and I decided to see how stray kitty (who I had named ‘Piper’) would do sleeping inside the house. She immediately took over the place! She was like a fat, rude, mean houseguest that you’re not sure how to get rid of without committing a felony and disposing of a body! She also displayed some very disturbing behavior, including slapping and hissing at Morris (kitty inherited from grandma, age 13, sweet and gentle even with annoying children) and she started doing the same to me! I would sit a few feet away from “her” spot on the couch and she would back her ears, hiss and show her teeth and growl for a bit! She also did not have any sort of fear response- clapping, banging pots and pans on the counter, yelling at the top of my lungs- none of it phased her a bit and she just sat on her haunches with dilated pupils watching me with a look that said, “If you come over here, you’ll be limpin’ back….I will cut you!”

Mafia cat spent a few weeks holding us hostage! By the way, when I inherited grandma’s cat, the grandma came with her. =) My 93-year old grandma moved into my finished basement two years ago when it was obvious she shouldn’t live alone. Her only alternative was to move in with my mom and I wouldn’t wish that on Satan himself! She can’t climb stairs, so she doesn’t just pop upstairs whenever she feels like it. And since I blocked the Jimmy Swaggart channel using the Parental Controls on DirecTV, I don’t even know that she’s here most of the time! But Morris had a thing for my baby girl and he quickly moved upstairs where he might get some action! Sadly, Anna (my girl) didn’t have the lovin’ feeling and he bombed out, but he stayed upstairs with me anyway.

So Psycho-Bitch cat started attacking Morris at random and she would aggressively pursue him wherever he ran from her! When I heard the commotion, I would go try to stop her and she got me with the fangs and claws more than once! She is a freakishly large cat, about 18lbs but it isn’t a bit of fat! She’s some sort of demon-cat hybrid, light on the cat part! I finally started grabbing her by the nape of the neck when she entered attack mode! And I stayed awake at night with door closed (and Morris with me) feeling like a prisoner in my own home and trying to figure out what the hell to do….

Last week, she pounced on Morris when I was in the shower and hurt him! He fell off the deck when he was 2yrs old and broke his back. My grandma spent $3500 to save his life and he has always been very sensitive about being touched in that area. Whatever she did to him caused him to start limping and I realized that he couldn’t move his right rear leg at all! I literally THREW her out the front door and, for the first time in my 38 years, for a brief second I thought about grabbing the loaded .22 in the front closet and putting an end to the nightmare….but I didn’t. I rushed Morris to the vet and they x-rayed him and determined that he had severe arthritis in the area of the old break and some bits of one or more vertebrae had chipped off and were pressing on his spinal cord. That was why he couldn’t move his leg and, thanks to my wonderful vet, he stayed until 9pm to perform surgery and remove the bone fragments! His wife, also a vet, spent the night at the office to monitor him…and they only charged me $350 for everything….it should have been $1500+. They’re in my will now….literally!

So now I have Sitting Bull who shows up a few times per day to perch right in the middle of the front stoop, daring anyone to come near the door….I don’t know what the fuck to do about her! When I take a step back and try to look at the situation from a neutral perspective, I never dreamed of a situation where I would feel this way about a cat! But, as I said, I don’t feel guilty about it and I wish the coyotes would venture out of woods for a late night snack! I can’t bring myself to do anything to harm or kill her myself, even with all that has happened, I would rather put the gun to my own head than cross that line. If she was human, I would already have a restraining order and probably taken a baseball bat to her if she trespassed on my property….but I love animals more than I do most humans, and cat’s don’t comply with restraining orders, so that’s no good.

I feel like I have Cujo guarding my front door…actually, Cujo would probably run along if he tangled with her! I thought about moving, but I’d never sell the house with her around….and I forced myself to quit feeding her, but she’s eating something because she’s not losing weight or begging as I do a “Mary Lou Retton” over her and hit the sidewalk at top speed to get in my car…

It’s fucking ridiculous that I’m letting a deranged bully cat make me feel uncomfortable going in and out of my own house! If she ever gets near Morris again, and she’s very quick so she could sneak in, she might kill him….

Help! What the hell should I do?

2

Surely there’s an animal shelter in your area? Even if the poor thing has to be put down, it’s better than freezing to death or being eaten by a wild animal!

3

No idea what you should do, but wanted to tell you your story is highly entertaining.
Sorry no help. :frowning:

4

Pepper spray? I really think the best answer is to call animal control. I don’t think he would be back after getting a few drops of pepper spray in the eyes though.

5

You’re a very funny writer dude! Love your descriptions. :stuck_out_tongue:

But in all seriousness, you are being held hostage by a fucking feral cat. Yeah, yeah, every animal has a right to life, right?

Actually, no. Cats are vermin. They annihilate any environment they occupy by killing off native animals, wrecking the eco-balance, and reproducing like there’s no tomorrow.

And your blow-in-cat is wreaking havoc upon your household as well? It’s nice to be nice and all, but comes a time…

Either capture the cat and have it euthanased at your local vet, or call in the Animal Control folks and have THEM capture the cat and have it euthanased.

If I had (or could even use) a gun, I’d be taking that simpler option myself.

6

  1. Animal Control - if she has drawn blood, a rabies test is in order.

  2. If there is no Animal Control, you could try the Sheriff, but be aware that the officer will probably shoot the animal if it attacks.

  3. If it has not drawn blood:
    Get the comforter and spring out of the door with it ready to bag the demon. Wrap the comforter around the cat and tape around the comforter. Toss in trunk and drive to either Shelter (if any) or nearest farm (which will have a feral colony in residence) she will either find her spot in the tribe or be sent on her way, Whatever the cats decide to do with her, she’s off your hands and facing the ultimate kitty justice system.

Me, I’d fill the tub with water and place a large, heavy object over the comforter - but I don’t have a .22 (which would be well muffled by a few layers of comforter).

7

Squirt bottle with vinegar or vinegar and water, and set the nozzle so you get a stream not a spray. Or use a water pistol.

Or, walk out towards her with a jug of plain ol’ water in your hands, make a TSSST! GIT! sorta noise and if she ignores you, toss the water at her. Repeat as necessary. Definitely don’t feed her.

If you really think she’s a danger and needs to go, get a live animal trap and take her to be euthanized, or see if there’s a stray-cat-assistance type group in your area and let them deal with her. Depending on what part of GA you are in, Animal Control often is worse than useless.

8

I live in a rural community in the opposite corner of the county from the animal shelter (it’s at least a 45 minute drive). Animal control refuses to come out here, even when they are called. Stray dogs are not uncommon in the area and I’ve had neighbors call many times only to be told no!

If not for the dog rescue groups scattered throughout North Georgia, we’d have stray dogs all over the place. There aren’t nearly as many cat rescue groups and, even if I could get one out here, I wouldn’t want to send Psycho Pussy in to terrorize all the other poor homeless cats!

I’m leaving for Los Angeles next Tuesday to visit my cousin for a week. If I were to tell my dad (bio-dad who lives 30 minutes away, not step-dad who lives next door) about my situation, everything would be back normal and peace would be restored. I wouldn’t ask any questions and he wouldn’t know what I was talking about even if I did ask anything…I’ve got to find a way to quit dwelling on this situation and the moral implications and if I do something drastic does that say something deep and profound about who I am, blah, blah, blah…I need to do what they do with unwanted houseguests- grab Satan by the nape of the neck, force a Valium down her gullet and drive her to a neighborhood where someone I despise lives and dump her in their yard…I’ve done it to overnight guests who were far more attractive when I drunk but in the morning light I wish they had left when it was still dark…or that I was drunk again! If they stayed for breakfast, a nice Mimosa or Bloody Mary with few crushed Xanax and Buspar would do the trick, just get them up on their feet in about five minutes and get them to their car (or a dumpster) before they become dead weight. If they ever show up at your door again, speak with a British accent, assure them you’ve never seen them in your life and call the cops! If that fails, hit them with a tazer jolt or two, put them in a stranger’s trunk and walk away…they’ll wake up and scare the hell out of car’s owner and start telling stories about going to some dude’s door that they remember hooking up with the night before but he had never seen them before…and hookup guy had a Southern accent but he was British the next day…for the next few years, they’ll be in the looney bin and you’ll learn that dating (or hooking up) tends to work out much better if you’re sober…and then you’ll hit your 30s and be too lazy to hook up and too bitter to date, so you’ll resume drinking…but that isn’t really relevant to any of this…

9

They won’t turn the cat loose in a room with other rescue cats (or at least a reputable rescue won’t), they’ll evaluate and probably euthanize in a kind manner - not drowning the poor thing :rolleyes: or otherwise torturing it.

Seriously, make your house unpleasant for the critter. Cats hate vinegar and citrus, go out your door with a squirt bottle blazing a few times and it’ll get the message.

If your Dad is a VERY good shot, and you live in an area where shooting from the front doorstep won’t be noticed, well… it beats drowning or poisoning or something.

I still feel bad for the cat :frowning:

10

Okay, I’m liking the create an unpleasant atmosphere idea…I know black pepper will keep dogs from tearing open garbage bags and making a mess…cats despise the smell of rubbing alcohol and astringents (like Sea Breeze skin cleanser)…this is worth a shot…even if somebody passes out from the fumes on the front porch, at least they won’t need a blood transfusion and rabies shot from being mauled! :smiley:

11

All cats aren’t vermin…or at least cats raised inside and around people and other animals aren’t…and they need to be surgically altered so they can never reproduce…so cats aren’t vermin once we capture them, force them to live with us and by our rules and ensure that they can’t reproduce…

But feral cats are out-of-control alpha-predators and their hunting skills are pretty amazing and scary as fuck at the same time…and they do scatter bastard offspring like a lawn sprinkler disperses water…okay, feral cats are vermin…

The cats I’ve had are far too lazy to kill anything and, even if they knew how, it would be beneath them to do so when they have a human who feeds them all the time and they don’t even have to do anything!

I’ve had friends give me a hard time about having a cat instead of a dog. But they’re really the perfect pet for someone who works a lot or even someone who is just really lazy. Cats bathe themselves, shit in a box and as long as they get food, they could not care less if you were there or not, they don’t care if you live or die…as long as someone will keep feeding them…:smiley:

12

You said Cujo lived in the well house before she moved inside? Is she living in the well house again now? I think that’s where she belongs. There’s nothing wrong with living in a well house.

If she’s living in the well house and still bothering you, then I guess I don’t understand. I’ve never heard of a cat that would wait at the front door and try to claw anyone who approaches. Is she sick?

13

Since you live in a rural area maybe one of those airhorn in a can thingies might be helpful. you said the cat wasn’t afraid of noise but having one of those go off in your face would be a different matter.
It would be a great incentive and clue to the cat that its time to move on to the next victim.

If I was in your situation I’d take a baseball bat to the cat. Not out of cruelty. I’m a bad shot with a gun so I’d fear that I would miss and cause pain. But I know that I could make a kill swing with a bat.

14

If your step-dad would “take care” of her, I’d say do that. Getting terrorized by a demon cat is no fun.

15

If you don’t want the cat around, the kindest thing would be to take the cat to a shelter or vet to be euthanized (and it would be euthanized - aggressive cats are not “adoptable”).

As a tropical fish keeper (most serious fish keepers have had to euthanize fish at one point or another), I would NOT recommend that people try to euthanize animals at home if there are other options. It’s easy for things to go wrong and the attempt at euthanasia can end up becoming unintentionally cruel. I know many people in the country drown pest animals, but I think drowning is never a humane way to kill an animal. Shooting can be cruel if the animal doesn’t die right away. Don’t make the animal suffer in fear due to some crude form of trying to kill it at home. Just trap it and take it to a vet or shelter where they can give the animal a quick and hopefully painless as possible end.

16

I live in Middle Tennessee and could use a feral barn cat (I have a part-time barn cat, but I trust that 15 lb Nick can fend for himself). If you can catch her, spay her and get her half way, I’ll meet you there and take her off your hands. She won’t be a beloved pet, but she’ll have shelter and a free feeder.

StG

17

Wow, you are a truly a kind soul to even suggest this! It might be a win-win situation and I get to keep my morals and conscience intact. =)
She definitely has the skills to be an effective barn cat. She has left quite a few little presents on my front doormat when she was finished with them….yuck!
Middle Tennessee covers a pretty big area, if I remember my college geography teacher correctly (she was from Franklin, TN, so she had to teach us Georgia folk about your fine state). How far are you located from Chattanooga (which is actually in East Tennessee, but I have to go thru it to get anywhere else in TN, so it’s a good point of reference for me.
If we both decide to make this happen, I will be more than happy to drive all the way to you! I have a good sized cat/dog carrier that I can put her in and if she starts too much of a ruckus, I’ll put her in the way back behind the 3rd row seat and crank up the radio! This is kinda sad, but because of that collar growing into her neck and constricting her throat, her meow is very quiet and almost sounds like a squeak. But I was the one who sacrificed my own blood (and skin) to cut it off of her and put some ointment on it…so I’m not going start feeling sorry for her because I’m remembering that….feeling sorry for her is what got me into this mess…and instead of feeling sorry for her, I hope whomever put the damn choker collar on her falls down a flight of stairs (but doesn’t die, just suffers a while).
My cousin lives in East Ridge, which is right over the GA/TN line on I-75 and I am just over 70 miles from her, straight down I-75. But I drive to see an old high school friend and his wife in Nashville at least once or twice per year and it’s an easy drive…
The cat has already been spayed (prior to showing up here). I took her to my vet for a rabies shot and Feline Leukemia test before I would let her come in contact with my older cat, Morris. She verified that she was spayed and she has never had any kittens, so it was done when she was very young. The vet estimated her age as being less than three years old based on her teeth and a full examination. They had to heavily sedate her before they would remove her from the carrier, if you’re wondering how they managed to check her teeth and examine her without losing a few fingers.
I think that an older male cat who will put her in her place is just the attitude adjustment she needs!!! Morris is a 13yr old male but he is literally as meek as a lamb, so she walked all over him from day one! Living in a barn, chasing rodents and not being bothered by humans might be the perfect environment for her…
Not that it makes any difference to you, but she is a strikingly beautiful animal. She is sort of a mix of calico and black/grey tabby striped on the upper half of her body and snow white on the bottom half, belly and paws. Somehow she keeps the white cleaner than I can get a load of whites using bleach and 20-Mule Team Borax! So at least she doesn’t look skanky or smell like roadkill…

Let me know where you’re located, when would be the most convenient time for me to deliver her and if you need some time to make sure you’re okay with taking her. I will also get her vet records including her rabies tag just in case you ever need it for any reason. It will also show that she was already spayed in my vets notes.
I have a good feeling about this and I hope we can make it happen as long as you’re certain that it will work for you and anyone else in your home. I think she will LOVE barn life and you may never see her venture away from it….and I bet old Nick will get her in line real quick! =)
You have my sincere gratitude for making this offer!
By the way, my name is Jason…

18

Beelezebubba - I’m East of Nashville, outside of Murfreesboro. I could meet you west of Chattanooga or in Manchester, at any exit off I-24.

I’m thinking of this as payback for the cat I tried to adopt from the pound a couple years ago as a barn cat. Vicious cat, my vet had treated him and recommended him to me as a not-pet. The pound refused to adopt him out because of his temperament and put him down, even after I explained that I wasn’t looking for a best friend, but a farm worker.

StG

19

Slight hijack… I was told once that a humane way to euthanize fish was to put them in a small bowl of water and then put them in the freezer. As the water cools, they die from hypothermia, but do not suffer. Was this good advice?

20

This story mystifies me. She was essentially a barn cat and doing fine, she came in the house and she wasn’t suited to that environment, so now she has to die and/or go to the shelter? What’s wrong with going back to the well house?