QAR
June 2008 
My neighbor's cat
backyarder1
So here's the deal. I love animals. Really. Cats, dogs, birds, lizards, snakes. I'm kind of like Ellie Mae Clampett with her critters. Our yard is a certified wildlife habitat and we created it to be a SAFE and hospitable place for wildlife.
So I REALLY hate seeing my neighbor's cat in my yard. It's not just the fact that the cat is a danger to the wildlife. Or that he poops and pees all over my yard. It's the fact that he makes me feel anger. It's the fact that he disrupts my peace. It's the fact that something that my neighbor is doing (or refusing to do) is making me think things and feel things that I don't want to feel.
I believe so strongly that everyone should Take Care of Their share of everything in life. And in so doing, you can create a certain level of happiness and peace that encircles you. So what do you do when someone else, by their actions or failure to take action, comes in and messes with the life you have created for yourself?
I sent a polite email message to several of my neighbors, reminding them of my wildlife habitat. This particular neighbor responded (from his blackberry, while sitting in church) that email was a very impersonal way of communicating. He then came down to my house after church to lecture me about my impersonal approach to communication. Again, he invaded my personal peace and tranquil environment so that he could lecture me.
It's not the cat. It's the fact that my mood and my environment and my tranquility are disrupted on a daily basis while I deal with the cat.
I'm sure there is a TREMENDOUS life lesson in this.
Access: Public
You could helpfully bell the cat perhaps?
We have many cats, all indoor only as cats are not natural predators to this (or really, any) environment and we don't want to introduce them. And we also have a wildlife-friendly outdoor space with birds, small animals, a water pond with a turtle, habitat areas - you know the drill. But for us too there are neighbor cats. I just have to hope eveyone will find their own place - the cats are not spayed/neutered, the owners are not approachable and don't view pet ownership in the same way I do. I've thought about kidnapping them and having them altered on my own, but there will still be cats hanging out.
Maybe I should tithe to them and feed the neighbor cats so they will be satiated?
But you see the issue, don't you? You are doing the right thing for youself and your property and yet you most deal with someone else's irresponsible behavior.
the cat is already belled. I've written articles about it. A belled cat doesn't really protect the wildlife. The cat scent scares some forms of wildlife and even a belled cat can chase and weaken animals, especially babies, pregnant or nursing mothers, elderly animals, etc.
or you can get yourself a big old nasty dog. We have three cats and three dogs in our household…you'd think I'd come up with a better answer. One of our cats scoots outside all the time and sometimes she lounges on the neighbor's deck and a few times she nestled on his car….and he loves his car a lot. I try to shoo her away from his yard and tell him to put the hose on her if he catches her in his yard. Cats learn quick..and they don't like water. I haven't had any complaints in a while. But, it's getting warmer out so I assume the cat may want to stay out longer.
wow! bless you, the cat and your neighbor. who uses their blackberry at church? I pray that God got your message and will take care of things.
We have a similar problem. Over the eight years I have lived in my house the stray cat population has exploded. Yet the SPCA will not do anything. They tell us they will fix them for free if we will bring them in. So now we need to find someone to trap them. And even then they may not survive at the SPCA. Good thing our cat is an indoor cat.
And they can't always be trapped! Someone dropped off cats at the Nature Center here (!) and they were successful in trapping one of the cats, the other refuses to be trapped and has been there for a couple of years now! Luckily it cannot access most of the animals there that it might be a threat to, and luckily it hasn't attracted a mate. But the Nature Center is all about educating people about and protecting species that are indigenous to this area and having a domestic cat roaming the grounds is an issue. They are such lovely pets and such fierce predators who disrupt every ecosystem they encounter.
Good luck with your neighbor, but there are quite a lot of people who think it's “mean” to keep a cat indoors and it's difficult to get past that conviction.