# Yeah, I moved in next to the Crazy Cat Lady
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 12, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548 "2009-06-12T14:17:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/101 "2009-06-24T15:56:52Z")
I know my position sounds heartless but here’s some background on it:
I just moved from an apartment complex that had a feral cat colony in the woods behind it. Our local CCL would pour cat food out on the tarmac in the parking lot for the little dears, one of which had a severe limp, all of which appeared to have yellowish eye infections and skin disease. Problems included yowling, cat fighting, increased vermin (due to cat food all over the place), stinky cat shit in the bark beds and landscaping, paw prints all over the cars, dead song bird parts and mouse parts left in the entryway, and a dead kitten that was found by my neighbor’s four year old. Nature in all its beauty, IOW. It’s one of the reasons I was giddy with joy when I finally got to move out.
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### Author:  [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_in_South_Shore)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/102 "2009-06-24T17:15:58Z")
Killing this batch of cats will not solve the problem in the long term. More cats will come unless deterrents are in place.
[http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=488](http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=488)
So removal and euthanasia is both needlessly cruel and ultimately useless. The kittens especially can be socialized, but animal control will not bother.
> [@Jodi](#):
>
> This. They either own the cats or they don’t. If they do, they’re responsible for them. If they don’t, what happens to the cats shouldn’t concern them.
>
> It’s the OP’er yard. He doesn’t want the cats in it. IMO he’s authorized to do whatever he wants to (that is otherwise legal) in order to keep them out. If that means the cats go to kitty heaven because they are too feral to find homes, thems the breaks.
>
> And I don’t see why TNR is considered the perfect solution. He has a problem with the cats _now_. He doesn’t want them in his yard _now_. TNR ensures there will be no more cats _later_ but is completely nonresponsive to the existing problem.
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### Author:  [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_in_South_Shore)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/103 "2009-06-24T17:31:33Z")
[quote=“THespos, post:52, topic:499548”]
. . . . Are there other anti-cat technologies?
Yes – I have been researching this for some neighbors.
[http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=375](http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=375)
scroll down for specific quick fixes
Good luck! 🙂
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### Author:  [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/104 "2009-06-24T17:34:23Z")
> [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](#):
>
> Killing this batch of cats will not solve the problem in the long term. More cats will come unless deterrents are in place.
Or unless you take their food source away.
There’s no roaming cat population to speak of out here. There are five of them (well, maybe more if there’s a litter somewhere I don’t yet know about). It’s not like there’s a population that will just shift over to hang out on my property if these five disappear.
> [@](#):
>
> So removal and euthanasia is both needlessly cruel and ultimately useless. The kittens especially can be socialized, but animal control will not bother.
I disagree. What manner of cruelty is involved? As for “useless,” see above.
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### Author:  [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_in_South_Shore)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/105 "2009-06-24T17:43:42Z")
Realistically, do you think your neighbors will agree to stop feeding them?
As for cruelty, do you not think that unnecessary death is cruel?
> [@THespos](#):
>
> Or unless you take their food source away.
>
> There’s no roaming cat population to speak of out here. There are five of them (well, maybe more if there’s a litter somewhere I don’t yet know about). It’s not like there’s a population that will just shift over to hang out on my property if these five disappear.
>
> I disagree. What manner of cruelty is involved? As for “useless,” see above.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/106 "2009-06-24T18:32:36Z")
> [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](#):
>
> Killing this batch of cats will not solve the problem in the long term. More cats will come unless deterrents are in place.
Then you put deterrents in place. Cats need food and shelter, a hospitable place to stay. So you make your yard inhospitable and you remove their source of food by getting the neighbors to stop feeding them – or by repeatedly trapping and removing them if the neighbors _refuse_ to stop feeding them. The fact is that TNR obviously does not solve the problem in _either_ the short term or the long term, since the short term the cats are still there and in the long term – at least according to your theory – more cats will move in.
Getting rid of them as they show up _is_ a deterrent; a remarkably effective one. It is hardly “ultimately useless,” it’s pretty much the only solution there is that has any chance of leaving the OP’er with a cat-free existence on his own property. But then I don’t find humane euthanasia to be either “needless” or “cruel” either.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/107 "2009-06-24T18:34:12Z")
> [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](#):
>
> As for cruelty, do you not think that unnecessary death is cruel?
When is death “necessary”? And who decides?
If the cat is creating a nuisance and so is remanded to the humane society, which makes a reasonable effort to socialize and re-home it but finds it cannot do so, then euthanizing it is the most practical and humane option?
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### Author:  [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/108 "2009-06-24T22:25:57Z")
> [@Carol\_in\_South\_Shore](#):
>
> Realistically, do you think your neighbors will agree to stop feeding them?
I’m not sure. I haven’t asked them yet. They might respond differently and change their tune if I start hinting that what they’re doing is a public health hazard, and that I might report it to the authorities.
> [@](#):
>
> As for cruelty, do you not think that unnecessary death is cruel?
Unnecessary death - maybe. We probably differ on our definitions of “necessary” in this case, though. If pressed, I’d rather have a feral cat-free existence than friendly neighbors. I’m not taking pellet guns or destruction by animal control off the table yet.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/109 "2009-06-24T22:49:42Z")
> [@Jodi](#):
>
> When is death “necessary”? And who decides?
>
> If the cat is creating a nuisance and so is remanded to the humane society, which makes a reasonable effort to socialize and re-home it but finds it cannot do so, then euthanizing it is the most practical and humane option?
Who decides when a cat is creating a nuisance? In this case, the OP seems to feel that the mere existence of the cat is a nuisance, in which case the only non-nuisance scenario is to round them all up and kill them. You can claim that animal control will attempt to socialize them, but the vast majority of feral cats cannot be socialized without extreme efforts. They make lousy pets and there are millions of perfectly sociable cats being euthanized every year.
TNR attempts to manage the population of feral cats so that they do not become a nuisance, but that’s a more general concept of nuisance, where cat existence is tolerable, as long as there aren’t litters of kittens with yowling and fighting every night among the un-neutered cats.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/110 "2009-06-24T23:05:41Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> Who decides when a cat is creating a nuisance? In this case, the OP seems to feel that the mere existence of the cat is a nuisance, in which case the only non-nuisance scenario is to round them all up and kill them. .
Thats the impression I get as well.
Sure, somewhere between the number 1 and 100 there are just too damn many cats. But 5?
Then, there is the fact that it sounds like moving boxes havent even been unloaded before the drama begins, drastic measures are considered, and authorities are gonna be called in. No period of hitting the cats with a water hose, shooing them away…blah blah blah
Sound to me like a mid life crisis version of “get off my lawn”
I said it before and I’ll say it again. Remember this when your neighbor starts using that leafblower at 4 am on a Saturday and there isnt any law against it.
There are two sides to being a good neighbor. One is being considerate. The other is putting up with a little crap if you can.
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### Author:  [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/111 "2009-06-24T23:10:18Z")
What about a friendly anonymous call to the local humane society and have them do an assessment of the situation?
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### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/112 "2009-06-25T00:03:13Z")
I vote land mines.
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### Author:  [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/113 "2009-06-25T12:04:39Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> Who decides when a cat is creating a nuisance? In this case, the OP seems to feel that the mere existence of the cat is a nuisance, in which case the only non-nuisance scenario is to round them all up and kill them.
You’re putting words in my mouth. There are plenty of nuisances the cats are creating.
[ul]
[li]Dead rodents on my patio[/li][li]Messing with the lattice on my porch[/li][li]Setting off my motion detector light at late hours[/li][li]Startling me and my wife by jumping out of the bushes whenever we walk down our front walkway[/li][li]Stalking wildlife on the property[/li][/ul]
I could go on, and I haven’t even mentioned the potential for disease yet. It’s not the mere existence of the cats that bothers me.
That’s not to say, though, that I don’t think that if someone considers the mere presence of a cat on his property to be a nuisance, that such a person doesn’t have a valid gripe.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/114 "2009-06-25T13:07:49Z")
> [@THespos](#):
>
> I could go on, and I haven’t even mentioned the potential for disease yet.
It’s worth noting that the potential for disease – at least diseases you personally could catch – is much greater from having _humans_ in the neighborhood. Humans harbor every communicable disease you can possibly catch, and transmit them very effectively.
The worst sort of humans for carrying disease are children, of course; due to their developing immune systems, exposure in crowded schools, and unhygienic habits, they are hotbeds of communicable disease.
You don’t have any _children_ in the neighborhood, do you? _shudder_
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### Author:  [@THespos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/THespos)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/115 "2009-06-25T13:14:57Z")
> [@Sailboat](#):
>
> You don’t have any _children_ in the neighborhood, do you? _shudder_
Shit. I have one in my HOUSE.
She’s cute, but she’s a walking petrie dish.
😉
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/116 "2009-06-25T15:08:48Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#):
>
> Who decides when a cat is creating a nuisance?
The property owner, obviously. The same person who decides if anything else disturbs his quiet enjoyment of his property and considered what, if anything, he can do to reduce or stop it.
> [@](#):
>
> You can claim that animal control will attempt to socialize them, but the vast majority of feral cats cannot be socialized without extreme efforts. They make lousy pets and there are millions of perfectly sociable cats being euthanized every year.
Then it’s off to cat heaven, I guess. Just so we’re clear, I don’t actually care if the SPA makes extraordinary efforts to socialize them before putting them down or not, so it’s not some “claim” I’m making.
> [@](#):
>
> TNR attempts to manage the population of feral cats so that they do not become a nuisance, but that’s a more general concept of nuisance, where cat existence is tolerable, as long as there aren’t litters of kittens with yowling and fighting every night among the un-neutered cats.
**THespos** has explained that the cats are _already_ a nuisance, so proposing TNR as a solution so that cats “do not become a nuisance” is basically ignoring his problem. The cats are a problem _now_. How does TNR address that problem?
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/117 "2009-06-25T15:10:22Z")
Yeah. I don’t get why **THespos** is heartless for not wanting feral animals all over his property. Is it because “Oh no, cute kitties?!”? If there were raccoons or foxes or rats that his neighbors were feeding, would anyone object to removing them?
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### Author:  [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/118 "2009-06-25T16:09:36Z")
You need to start making your property less desirable to the cats. If they are leaving gifts on your patio, it probably means that the past owners interacted with them in some way, so they consider it a friendly house.
Every time you see a cat, take action; don’t just piss and moan about needing to talk to the neighbors. Buy two super soakers and put them by the front and back doors. When ever you see a cat, run out after it (yelling helps too) and spray it with water. Carry one around with you when you’re working in the yard too. They will learn fast to keep away. The neighbors might even hear you yelling at the cats and confront you about it. Good. tell them you don’t want THEIR cats on your property and go from there.
Fix the lattice; I’d be more worried about something other than a cat getting in there.
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### Author:  [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/119 "2009-06-25T16:22:23Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#):
>
> Fix the lattice; I’d be more worried about something other than a cat getting in there.
If you have lattice (fixed or not) you WILL have rats in there…and probably snakes. Rats in there will probably do damage. They love chewing on stuff like wiring and plumbing just for the hell of it. The cats getting in there are probably doing you a favor in this instance.
If its unfixed, you have to worry about racoons, possums, foxes, bigger rats, and squirrels even if you get rid of the cats.
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### Author:  [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yeah-i-moved-in-next-to-the-crazy-cat-lady/499548/120 "2009-06-25T16:37:27Z")
Do you have a fence? I realize a fence is unlikely to be cat proof, but it’s like that joke about not needing to outrun the bear, just needing to outrun your hunting buddy. The combination of a fence plus occasional visits from your wife’s live-away dog could make your yard much less desirable than the other neighbors’ yards. And if you don’t welcome animals in your yard and live next to a wildlife sanctuary, a fence seems like a prudent move all around.
Alternatively, do the neighbors have a garage? The cats could have a better indoor life in a garage (assuming we really are talking about only a half-dozen or so neutered animals) than they would in the typical no-kill shelter (which might or might not accept them depending on its policies and the cats’ condition). We adopted a cat from a no-kill shelter recently and he was living 3 cats to a “colony cage” about the size of 2 refrigerators put together.
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