New Neighbour Is A Bitch!

The BBQ Pit
1

So, I walk into the close where I live this evening, coming home from a hard days work, when I meet my new neighbour.

As first impressions go, it wasn’t the best, because… guess what she was doing?

She was kicking my cat.

As she and her inbred daughter were taking small boxes of furniture into their new flat, she was shouting at my cat and she actually kicked it.

So, I walk up to their door, coax my petrified fifteen year old harmless cat out from behind their wheelie bin, pick the poor gal up and give her a huge hug. I was absolutely astonished and horrified that anyone would even dream of doing such a thing to her.

So, the woman comes out of her house, and…
She has a go at me! As my new neighbour, who knew that I had just witnessed her booting my cat in the face, she had the f-ing cheek to have a go at me, for allowing my old, knackered cat to wander around the close.

This is not a rottweiller. As I mentioned, my cat is just old and affectionate. She would not hurt a fly. Literally. She runs scared from specks of dust, for chrissakes.

I just can’t get my head around this. Who the Hell does she think she is?
Unfortunately, I was lost for words. I just went into my house, with my cat, and held her until she stopped crapping herself with fear.

So, how can I possibly make this womans’ life a living hell for all eternity? And can anyone out there actually condone this womans behaviour? Answers on a postcard, please…

2

Kick her daughter.

3

File a police complaint right now!

Don’t jabber useless nonsense about “getting along with the neighbors”.

NO!

If you don’t stand up to her at first, she abuse you and your cat as long as you both live there.

It’s illegal to abuse animals. Protect your pet–call the cops!

4

The only excuse I can think of for kicking a cat is if it attacked my leg while I was carrying boxes into a new apartment. Since I gather that wasn’t the case, your characterization of your new neighbor seems spot on.

Might be better to keep the poor beast indoors (much healthier for cats in general).

5

Keep the poor kitty indoors, and if it’s too late to report the incident to the police, at least document everything you can remember about what was said and done, make sure you put the date and time it happened down. Keep documenting the things she does, and get a restraining order, or prosecute her. (Or show it to her landlord to prove your case that she’s a menace.)
Grrrr… Makes me really angry to hear of such things. What a peice of work! Keep an eye on her kid. Especially if you garden etc. The kid may be nice, despite her mom. She may be just like her mom though. Watch and wait, you may find the daughter isn’t like the mom.

6

Just curious, there aren’t any rules in your rental agreement against letting pets roam are there? If not, you’re in the clear, and can take your problem to the landlord. (If you are on good terms with them, that is.)

7

Good points.

  1. Make sure you’re safe, with the cat being about.
  2. Call police and complain.
  3. Take notes, and be distantly polite otherwise to her. Don’t start anything else, but let her be the bad person.
8

Heh, also make certain the notes are “orderly” as in, all in one notebook, with at least date and time on each entry. Maybe even number the pages, using a fresh notebook.

Defintely don’t become the aggressor in this. Let her “get out enough rope to hang herself”. (Figuretively speaking, of course.) Let her be the one making an ass out of herself, while you can prove she’s the aggressor. Then take action, reporting it to the authority you choose.

9

Was she kicking it like people kick sports balls, or was she using her foot (perhaps because her hands were full of boxes) to move the cat out of her path? Some people have different perceptions of what is acceptable (I’m reminded of a thread a while ago where a woman thought that any sort of hard patting on a cat was beating it). If she did indeed kick it, then yeah, she’s a bitch.

But you should also keep your cat indoors. She’ll live longer that way.

10

Those who hurt animals are subhuman. Period.

11

Thanks for all the ideas. I’m going to be keeping notes, as I’ve had annoying neighbours before. Saying that, none of them ever kicked my cat.
easy e - it was definitely a boot to the face. I can take people “shoo-ing” a cat away, or putting a foot/hand in front of it, to keep it out of the way, but slamming a boot into it’s face is just plain stupid and wrong. I have had this cat for years, and I have never seen it so scared.

Zabali, there are no rules of any kind regarding pets. It’s just a small quiet area where I live, and there are several cats around. I leave mine outside if I’m at work for a couple of hours, because she’s getting on a bit and when she’s got to do her business…

12

Keep us posted on how it goes.

13

Tell her the next time she touches the cat her head goes through the wall.

That usually solves things.

14

Are you sure there are no animal cruelty laws you can use to file a complaint with the police? IANA UK resident, but I’m sure there must be something. after all the humane society etc. started there IIRC.

15

A flaming bag of cat shit in front of her door would pay her back… :smiley:

16

Condone her behavior? No. She clearly went well past the limits of what’s acceptable - deliberately hurting an animal for any reason other than self-defense is wrong.

However, I can’t entirely condone your behavior, either. You should not be allowing your cat to run around loose.

Believe it or not, there are actually people in this world who do not like domestic animals. They don’t want pets, they don’t like pets, and they shouldn’t have to be forced to deal with other people’s wandering pets. Allowing your cat to roam around unsupervised and forcing your cat-hating neighber to interact with her is just as wrong as cranking up your stereo and forcing your neighbors to listen to your music (whether they want to hear it or not).

Show some consideration for your neighbors, and keep your cat confined when you aren’t there to supervise her activities.

(And before legions of irate Dopers descend on me - I am NOT an animal-hater. Far from it; I own pets myself. But I don’t permit my animals to annoy others, and I don’t appreciate it when other pet owners do.)

17

Speaking as someone who breaks out in hives if a cat so much as brushes against my leg, keep the damn thing inside.

As a bonus, your neighbor can’t abuse the critter any more.

18

Well, you can’t do it for all eternity but you can for as long as you and she are neighbors. Just stay on this board and do all the nasty things that you read about, plus any that you can think of and anything your friends can come up with.

Or, you can go over and apologize for any inconvienience that your cat caused her while she was stressed out with the move, introduce yourself etc etc. Become her friend to a degree so that the welfare of your cat becomes important to her.

There are advantages to both options; and of course some middle ground but it is your decision.

19

As mentioned before, this is just a cat! An old cat! Very old, in fact… She’s been walking around this close for years, generally falling asleep under trees, etc.
Nobody has ever had a problem with her before. She is an extremely friendly cat.

I do understand that not everyone likes cats - I’m not so blinkered that I do not see this. My point is, she could have simply asked me to keep the cat away from the house. I don’t see the need for her to boot my cat in the face, then verbally assault me for leaving my cat outside for two whole hours.

The lady - quite simply - is a bitch.

20

Well, I like animals and I pretty much agree based on the info provided that this woman is a real toad, a cancerous wart on the ass of humanity…now you gotta decide what to do.