Cats go outside. It's what they do. City cats roam the neighborhood. Country cats roam the fields. Cats do not stay contained in a yard like dogs do. And they have NO desire to please their masters by staying put.
Earlier this week, a neighbor came over to introduce herself. She mentioned that we might want to keep our cats indoors because there are coyotes here.
Today Rosie disappeared. Eventually a neighbor came over. She had been in the vicinity of his bird feeder, so he took her inside. When he saw the kids outdoors with the basketball, he asked them if she belonged to us. He mentioned that we might want to keep our cats indoors because there are diseased cats around who will likely cause our cats to catch said diseases. Also, she was hanging around his bird feeder.
I know there are bird-watchers who detest cats and want every feline on a leash. I know my cats are going to be utterly miserable if they have to stay indoors forever. I know there is no way to teach a cat to stay in its own yard. I know I don't want to start off on a bad foot with the neighbors. So now what?
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Either a high fence, or an electrified one that positioned so they can't jump without hitting it.
ReplyDeleteMulti-thousands of dollars for a cat-tight and very high fence???
ReplyDeleteThat is a toughie. I"m of the opinion that :
ReplyDelete1 - cats like to be outside and should be allowed to do so
2- c'mon - cats don't eat THAT many birds!
3-we've never lost a cat to a coyote or a disease
4-we neuter our cats and they mostly hang around
5-it would be darn near impossible to fence in a cat
I don't know what to say Susan. Your neighbor is probably suspicious of you and all your chaos because you're new and he's just looking for something to be irrated by (yes, I teach grammar). Take a pie over and make friends.
I think Melody will have some good advice regarding animals and neighbor relationships. : P
Make sure kitty's vaccinated for feline leukemia. I think the statistics are on the side of the birds as far as domestic cats VS songbirds are concerned. After all, the birds CAN FLY.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think coyotes are probably much more in favor of small expensive furry dogs as snacks, than clawed and toothed felines.
How's this for a "how not to get along with your neighbors" story? Years ago (different town, different house, different dog) our next door neighbor came over one day to complain about our dog doing its business in its own fenced back yard because the smell was wafting over to her back yard and ruining the meals she and her husband liked to have out on their deck. She wondered if we could please make our dog do its thing on the other side of our yard?
ReplyDeleteSheesh. One of the advantages of having a fenced in back yard is not having to walk your dog out and oversee the deed! And what about the neighbors on the other side, hmmm? What about their noses?
Needless to say, we never did develop a particularly warm relationship with that couple!
I was thinking about people in town, and even out of town. Most people don't like cats wandering, that's what happened to SMILES cats even though they were country cats.
ReplyDeleteTraining Rosie to be an indoor cat might not be a bad bet, even though it's sad.
Athena on the other hand... there is no good solution for a hunter like her :-(
Rosie's not really going to hunt birds anyway... watch, yes, but not hunt-and-kill.
ReplyDeleteAnd honestly, they'd never SEE Athena if she decided to kill the birds. They'd never see bird bodies, either.
Something I noticed living in both cities and the country. CIty people don't let their cats roam, they keep them in the house. In fact there are programs in some cities to catch feral cats, or any cat that is out and about. My family lived in one such area, there were traps set in each neighborhood and the cats were taken to the pound on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteYour neighbors probably just aren't used to seeing cats out. Maybe you can explain that your cats have always been outdoor cats and thank them for their concern?
Polly, I agree about the fence. And the coyotes. Like Kim suggested, I explained to the first neighbor that I'm not worried about the coyotes. We had coyotes before. The cats stayed away, or knew when to come indoors. And honestly, I figure they (especially Athena, the older one) would prefer to live a shorter [and free!]life and risk getting taken out by coyotes than living safely cooped up indoors.
ReplyDeleteMiss Elephant, yes, we just got feline leukemia shots for both of them, anticipating the possibility of cat fights as newbies are establishing their territory. And yes, birds can fly. Rosie doesn't really hunt, and Athena prefers ground mammals.
Polly, I do NOT need Melody's happy-neighbor advice! ;-P
Katie, I think you and Nathan may be right about wandering cats. Man oh man, I think of some of the fights I've seen in "letters to the editor" or on talk shows. I like watching the birds too, and I can certainly understand frustration over a cat scaring off the birds that you want to feed and watch. But it also seems a little naive to think there should be no predators for those birds. I mean, if the people weren't there with those nasty feline pets, there's be even more wildlife, some of which hunt birds.
Rachel, you're right about Rosie being incapable of catching birdies. But the birds don't know that. If she gets big ideas and starts hanging around the neighbor's feeder (even though she has no hunting ability to follow through) the birds are not going to be visiting the neighbor as they used to. And you're right about Athena: very unlikely that she'll be seen, and she'll certainly leave no evidence of killing. The only problem for her would be traps.
We kept Rosie indoors today much more than she wanted. But we did let her out a couple of times for a little while. Once it started to get dark, we were a little freer with her coming and going -- figuring she was less likely to be seen, and also figuring that it was bedtime for the birds and so she wouldn't be bothering them.
I'm NOT trying to start something, but I want to give you another perspective. Please, do not think that I am implying that you would allow your cats to become this type of problem. But, your neighbors may have had a similar situation happen to them and be leary.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a neighborhood where the homes have very deep yards, with narrow widths. Our neighbors had three cats which roamed free. They used our deck, and its surrounding flower beds as litter boxes. They would fight with other neighborhood cats on the deck. All the cats were marking their territory, pooping all over the place. YUCK! It was so gross. I can't tell you the joy I experienced while having morning sickness trying to clean up our deck each morning. The smell was horrible. This went on for three years. When I complained, I was told cats like to roam. The deck reeked of cat urine all the time. We eventually had to have the deck torn out and replaced to get rid of the smell.
Personally, I don't mind if cats come into my yard. The children and I enjoy watching them. We own a cat. I don't dislike cats. But I can understand your neighbors concern that it MIGHT become a problem.
Here's how we "solved" the problem (or, rather, we discovered it solved). We have two big outside dogs (one we brought, one we inherited). Our cat is scared to death of them, so she doesn't want to go outside.
ReplyDeleteThere's one problem solved and another created. For the dog we inherited had already established a pattern of trotting down to the next farm to visit the neighbor's mutt. I let poor Cody off his lead when we moved in, only to find the neighbor sitting in his truck in front of my house and yelling that, if those dogs come over one more time, I'm shooting them dead. Lucy does not wander and comes when I call her. But she also follows her boyfriend wherever he goes. So he's back on the lead, which means he and his girlfriend are digging their way to China when he gets bored. Cody's going back with his old owners soon.
In other news, the cat is scared of our new pet (freecycled) rabbit, too, which we got for Carl's birthday. The dogs are NOT scared of the delicious chickens. They don't mess with the turkeys, however. The toms puff up and hiss at them.
Didn't some city in Wisconsin recently pass law saying you could shoot stray cats?
ReplyDeleteI'd just get a dog! :)
For what it's worth, we have 2 cats who don't go outside. We signed a paper from the place we got one of them saying we wouldn't let them out, and we don't.
ReplyDeleteYour neighbor is right, cats can get feline leukemia from running loose outside, as well as other diseases from eating diseased birds and rodents. They can get hit by a car, abused by humans - lots of things could happen to them.
When my husband lived in a basement apartment, neighboring cats would wander over and spray his windows, because he had an inside cat who sat in the window from time to time.
Pets are good and wonderful companions - but I think your neighbor has every right to request that your cat be kept in your yard.
My sister-in-law bought a harness for her cat and put a long lead on it. That seemed to satisfy everyone. Might be worth a shot?
Susan,
ReplyDeleteHang a bird feeder or two in your own yard... maybe it will keep the kitties interested and they won't have to wander to hunt!
Wendi in WY