stray cats in my neighborhood

[Joe Dirt]

I have 8-10 stray cats that run free around my neighborhood they use my bushes as a toilet, spread flea and ticks through out the street. I have called animal control and they said they would come and pick up any I catch. They want me to do the work for them, set and monitor the traps. I live in they city so shooting them is out. They are huge problem. Any way to convince the city to do their job?

[Seditious]

I think it's more about pet owners doing there job than the city. What was it Bob Barker said? :Spank

[pickaguitar]

They just want a home, love and food...save teh kitties :)

[JimmyB]

They just want a home, love and food...save teh kitties :)
Yes, save 'em... they'll make a great stir fry later. I recommend ginger, garlic and sesame oil. :D

[SGNick]

We have Stray Cats in our neighborhood too, I've only managed to spot 3 of them though. Like you said, they tend to spend a lot of time in the bushes, but they do keep the mice and larger insects at a reasonable population. It's usually pretty entertaining when they inadvertently find themselves together, I managed to grab my camera just in time last time it happened!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlfLI16aWrs

[AllenMance]

Any YOU catch ? UUM, NO.. Tell your animal Control people to GIVE YOU cages first. It's not up to you to control animals, it's theirs... I thought they were called "Animal Control" ??

I went round and round with my local animal control bureaucracy. You have to get nasty with them before they will do ANYTHING. Just another lazy city branch who doesn't want to do anything unless you force them to.

[Mudder]

Ask animal control to drop off some have-a-heart traps and set them. Easy, safe, work great.

[grateful.ed]

We had a lot of strays around for several years, they're all gone. There's a coyote here now.

[Jetrow]

You'd rather have mice?

[hudpucker]

The Stray Cats reformed!!??


Oh wait....

[Buddy Boy]

If you want to keep the strays out of your yard try dusting with ground(not too fine) black pepper...keeps cats out of the garden...why not the whole yard?

[Bob Womack]

Put out a dish of Gretsch and they'll lap it up.

[RL in Fla]

If you want to keep the strays out of your yard

Mothballs ^^ . One every 6 feet or so around the house and 2-3 where the layup spots are .

[Shamus]

Before anyone posts a "this thread is worthless without pics" icon, here it is...
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cFVm-6HBMqo/R59eW7laOkI/AAAAAAAAAEc/ocUhIDx6NTg/s400/stray_cats.jpg

[Curt]

After reading some of the recent "animals" posts here, I would think that it's perfectly acceptable to shoot the cats just like you would a raccoon in your attic, a squirrel in your tree, a coyote on your property, or a harmless snake.

Cats are smaller than a raccoon, so a pellet gun should work fine.
And, they probably taste as good as raccoon or squirrel so bon appetit.

[25orsixtwofour]

i really thought this thread was going to be about a "stray cats" show. not as clever as i had hoped...

[Joe Dirt]

After reading some of the recent "animals" posts here, I would think that it's perfectly acceptable to shoot the cats just like you would a raccoon in your attic, a squirrel in your tree, a coyote on your property, or a harmless snake.

Cats are smaller than a raccoon, so a pellet gun should work fine.
And, they probably taste as good as raccoon or squirrel so bon appetit.

I would shoot them but you can't legally discharge an air gun within city limits
Mothballs and blackpepper are temp fixes it doesn't fix the problem.

[Curt]

I would shoot them but you can't legally discharge an air gun within city limits
Mothballs and blackpepper are temp fixes it doesn't fix the problem.

Actually, my post was sarcastic and directed at the "If you fear something or just hate it, just kill it" crowd.
Call animal control and have them set some live traps.
They'll humanly catch the cats. They'll probably end up killing them, but humanly.

[Tripower455]

The Stray Cats reformed!!??


Oh wait....


LOL... The first thing I thought too.... They lived 2 neighborhoods over from me!

[buddastrat]

Have some too, all over the neighborhood. It's bad, whoever the owners are, should be fined or cited. I think someone could've just dumped them off, or threw them outta the house. They leave them out in the winter and they keep multiplying, you hear them mating all night. It keeps getting worse. We call and report, but nothing happens.

[ecvMatt]

We have tons of them in my area, but we also have a local trap/fix/release program that works pretty well, Most neighbors don't mind so much because they keep rodents out from under our houses. There are some more permanent solutions that I'd rather not list here, PM me if you are interested.

[jjboogie]

Let the dogs out!

[smiert spionam]

Austin's animal control is nearly useless, unless you've got a rabid pitbull hanging from your leg by its teeth. Bummer, but it's the truth. We had a starving deer with two broken legs staggering around my neighborhood, and they wouldn't get involved. The police ended up solving that little bit of misery, though their involvement was precipitated by a stand-off between the "save Bambi!" and the "venison!" factions in the neighborhood.

But I digress.

I know you don't want to be involved and just want the problem to go away, but that's not likely to get results. Trapping and removing isn't much of a solution, either. Catch, spay/neuter, and release works better, since it stabilizes the population and reduces the explosion of new litters.

These folks help run such programs:

http://www.animaltrustees.org/ATA/site/index.asp

http://www.feralcatsocietyofaustin.org/

If you don't want to do it yourself, maybe they can help connect you to others in your neighborhood who are willing to take it on.

[HammyD]

Our animal control is actually quite helpful, but I understand that might be the exception. I have a dozen strays I take care of due to the fact that people seem to be continually evicted from an apartment complex not too far away. We have even found that people, figuring one more couldn't hurt, have tied the leash of a cat on a collar to my tree outside in the middle of the night.

I recall reading two unspayed/neutered cats can produce more than 140 in two years time due to constant breeding and inbreeding.

I am about to have the 30th one fixed, but it has been expensive. There seem to be government programs subsidies right now that have reduced that cost from close to $100, to $5 at our local shelter.

Animal control probably wants you to check the traps so that the captured animals are not in harms way, either from heat exhaustion or other predators.

I know the strays are frustrating, but the reality is that most likely some irresponsible human had them as a pet and abandoned them, or that they are the offspring of those abandoned.

[Joe Dirt]

Austin's animal control is nearly useless, unless you've got a rabid pitbull hanging from your leg by its teeth. Bummer, but it's the truth. We had a starving deer with two broken legs staggering around my neighborhood, and they wouldn't get involved. The police ended up solving that little bit of misery, though their involvement was precipitated by a stand-off between the "save Bambi!" and the "venison!" factions in the neighborhood.

But I digress.

I know you don't want to be involved and just want the problem to go away, but that's not likely to get results. Trapping and removing isn't much of a solution, either. Catch, spay/neuter, and release works better, since it stabilizes the population and reduces the explosion of new litters.

These folks help run such programs:

http://www.animaltrustees.org/ATA/site/index.asp

http://www.feralcatsocietyofaustin.org/

If you don't want to do it yourself, maybe they can help connect you to others in your neighborhood who are willing to take it on.

This is the answer I needed thank you sir.

[gainiac]

They'll probably end up killing them, but humanly.

Not to single you out....... but it's funny what people think of as "humane"........

Humane to most = what's not shocking to them.

A clean head shot is extraordinarily humane. Very difficult on small animals though.

I love meh kitteh's.

They stay indoors.

[JimmyB]

I love meh kitteh's.

They stay indoors.
Thank you for that. I wish my neighbours were as considerate! :peenut

[goodhonk]

we have a lady that drives to our neighborhood and feeds all the strays; they keep multiplying.

[Midnight Lady]

Ask animal control to drop off some have-a-heart traps and set them. Easy, safe, work great.The OP objected to "having to do the work for the Animal Control people". But seriously, it would take a couple of hours of your time and remove YOUR problem. Do this.

Trap them, take them to the ASPCA. Perhaps they will die there but (1) they won't bother you anymore and (2) they have a chance of being adopted into a new family.

Why is there so much animal hate here???

After reading some of the recent "animals" posts here, I would think that it's perfectly acceptable to shoot the cats just like you would a raccoon in your attic, a squirrel in your tree, a coyote on your property, or a harmless snake.

Cats are smaller than a raccoon, so a pellet gun should work fine.
And, they probably taste as good as raccoon or squirrel so bon appetit.

I have 8-10 stray cats that run free around my neighborhood they use my bushes as a toilet, spread flea and ticks through out the street. I have called animal control and they said they would come and pick up any I catch. They want me to do the work for them, set and monitor the traps. I live in they city so shooting them is out. They are huge problem. Any way to convince the city to do their job?

They are going to give you the traps, pick up and dispose of any animals you have. All they're asking you to do is set out traps. Laziness at its best.

[Joe Dirt]

The OP objected to "having to do the work for the Animal Control people". But seriously, it would take a couple of hours of your time and remove YOUR problem. Do this.

Trap them, take them to the ASPCA. Perhaps they will die there but (1) they won't bother you anymore and (2) they have a chance of being adopted into a new family.

Why is there so much animal hate here???

They are going to give you the traps, pick up and dispose of any animals you have. All they're asking you to do is set out traps. Laziness at its best.

When did it become lazy to expect someone to do a job they get paid to do? My time city's job. I work long odd hours and don't have the time to play animal control officer.

[Midnight Lady]

When did it become lazy to expect someone to do a job they get paid to do? My time city's job. I work long odd hours and don't have the time to play animal control officer.

Sorry I shouldn't have said that. I just know that animal control officers are completely overrun, mostly with picking up abandoned and misused/abused animals. Their job is hard and it must be so incredibly depressing to see the cruelty that people exhibit with animals.

It's a sore point with me. Sorry I jumped on you. But if you want the problem solved, you might have to do as they asked.

(and I was in a sour mood by the time I got to the end of the thread after reading the anti-freeze post which I see has been deleted)

[smiert spionam]

This is the answer I needed thank you sir.

You bet -- and I hope it helps.

There's really no perfect solution -- it's impossible to eliminate them all, so removing/killing them just continues the cycle.

I mostly want to strangle people, not cats. In my neighborhood, there are many people for whom dogs and cats are essentially like free-range livestock -- they feed them, but do nothing else to care for them. The result is semi-feral colonies that continuously replenish themselves, no matter how many are killed or removed.

Educating humans to deal with this more responsibly is a pain in the ass, but it seems to be the only thing that really works in the long term. Right now, there's a fresh batch next door -- my (fortunately, responsible) neighbor has been taking care of a tiny female with a litter that was a cast-off from one of the colonies, so we're trying to head off the problem by getting them adopted out, the mom fixed, etc.

Fortunately, they're ugly little bastiges, so there's no chance of one of them making its way into MY house...

... right?

http://mkackman.zenfolio.com/img/s10/v16/p609273340.jpg

http://mkackman.zenfolio.com/img/s7/v7/p617454964.jpg

[Lution]

The Stray Cats reformed!!??


Oh wait....


:rotflmaonice.

[SGNick]

Looks like my Stray Cats joke was so well hidden that everyone passed over it assuming I was serious! lol