One of my neighbors is apparently feeding a group of stray cats. The cats are pooping in my yard, creating new kittens, chasing away bird life and having cat flights at night under my window.
Is this legal? Can I do anything to get her to stop? Can I do anything about the cats in my yard?
I love cats very much and have two adored furballs of my own. I most certainly would not want to see the strays hurt. But I think it obvious these kitties need neutering, indoor homes and proper medical care.
I would start by calling the animal control officer in your town. There may be ordinances about stray animals.
If there’s a trap-spay-release feral cat helper type organization in your town you could probably call them up to help. (Out of consideration, I suggest you talk to your neighbor about it first). This would alleviate the “fighting” and extra kitten problems.
Your neighbor might be willing to help trap the kitties to take them in to get snipped.
I had neighbors like this once. They just left food out to feed all the stray cats in the area. They also fed the nutria, but I’m sure that wasn’t who the food was intended for. I’m sure they thought they were being good to the kitties, but they weren’t good enough to take the cats with them when they moved.
Trap them and take them to animal control. They’ll usually take them. Also consult your local ordinances for animals-at-large, which may well be illegal (as well as population limits). When my redneck neighbors caught on to what I was doing (previous neighborhood) and raised a fuss, it was nice to have a handy reference already available to threaten them with (i.e., cats to animal control, or I call the police).
Try www.alleycat.org
There’s a lot of useful advise and possibly you can find someone in your area who knows local ordinances and such. There’s plenty of “crazy” to wade through, but there’s a lot of useful information for people who are dealing with ferals.
This gives me a fun mental image. Do the cats use broomsticks like their witch associates?
Have you had any actual conversations with the neighbor about this? How about any conversations at all - are you on friendly terms? Wave-hello-silently terms?
I fully agree with you about the need to have some sort of kitty birth-control. (If your neighbor assures you that she is finding homes for all the kittens, you can always use this line: “Every time you re-home one of YOUR kitties, a kitty in a shelter dies.” Not very subtle, I know, but it might help drive home the point about overpopulation.)
If your “Is this legal?” question refers to the legality of putting a dish of kibble out on the lawn, then yes, American citizens may put out as many dishes as they like. I can leave 20 lbs of fresh kibble on my porch every night - no cop’s gonna write a ticket for that. (note: HOAs have their own extra rules, and many of them specifically regulate feeding wildlife. If you live in a governed association like that, then start there.)
But in my limited experience on this planet, you can rarely “get” someone to do something. Especially if you want to stay on friendly terms. So if you want to retain civil relations - and even if you don’t, I suppose - start by just, y’know, *talking *to Neighbor about it. Suggest the trap/neuter/release nonprofits. Report back here to us with the results!
If yuo can stand to read the Pit, there’s a lengthy argument there about a very similar-sounding situation. Some solutions are put forward in the thread.
Trap them and take them to animal control. They’ll usually take them.
And they will euthanize them. Then more stray kitties will take advantage of the neighbor’s buffet and we will have an unending cycle of stray kitties reproducing, dying and new ones taking their place. You have to end the cycle somewhere. Be nice, but you also have to let the neighbor know that the cat shit is unhygienic (toxoplasmosis, worms), plus her feeding station is contributing to the spread of disease and overpopulation in the cat colony. She will have two options, stop feeding the cats or get the colony into a TNR program. She probably thinks she is doing the right thing by feeding them, but she really isn’t.
Stray and/or feral colonies can be self-limiting once population control has taken affect. See if there are any trap-neuter-return organizations in your area that can help. This will limit the size of the colony and your neighbor can keep better control of the cats in the colony. New cats can be recognized and neutered promptly. Many TNR efforts will also remove any friendly cats and place them up for adoption.
As much as an animal advocate as I am, I tell people not to feed strays. If you are going to feed strays, you are then responsible for neutering and disease control.
Just a comment, many of the adult cats would be too feral to ever be placed in a home. The best thing for them, as you suggest is good medical care, neutering, then a return to the outdoors to live out their days. At least they won’t be producing any new cats.
If any of the female cats are pregnant, it may be possible to confine them until they give birth and the kittens have weaned and are old enough for adoption. They could be placed in foster homes and properly socialized while the mother is returned to the outdoors, again, never to breed. Any stray kittens still young enough to be properly socialized could also be put up for adoption.
If using a TNR program, the pregnant females will be spayed anyway and the kittens aborted. Any preventable birth will be prevented, whether it’s already on its way or not. More strays are not needed under any circumstance, whether they can be homed or not. They would still be taking away potential homes from already-born kittens and cats.