Jul 31, 2008
One of those
Posted by Clifford under Business
This week has been one of those weeks.
Meetings, drama and trying to capture Mr Nichols has sucked up virtually all my time. My “9 to 5″ didn’t help either.
I’ll be back on Monday with more stuff.
If you catch your neighbor’s cat, what will you do with him? Legally, your only option is to take him to your jurisdiction’s animal shelter. Any other disposition of the cat is against the law in California.
If you take the cat to the shelter, the owner has several days to discover this and retrieve him at some cost to the owner. If not retrieved timely, the cat will likely be euthanized.
If the owner does retrieve him, you will not have solved the problem and you will have an enemy in your neighborhood. Believe me, the owner has a good chance of finding out you are the culprit, no matter what they tell you at the shelter. If the cat is euthanized, you will have a very angry neighbor who will tell all the other neighbors what a cruel, heartless jerk you are. There could be retaliation as well.
Having done mitigation work in cooperation with Animal Control in a couple of jurisdictions, my advice is to work with the owner to see if you can solve the problem cooperatively. Often it is enough to educate the owner about the fate likely to befall an outdoor cat to get the owner to keep the cat indoors. Disease, dogs, cars, and cat haters all contribute to a very short average lifespan for outdoor cats.
If education fails, you have two reasonable choices. You can take steps to make your property less attractive to the neighborhood cats, or you can tell the owner you intend to trap and take the cat to the shelter because of the damage the cat is causing. Make sure the owner understands what you intend to do before you trap.
Tread lightly here or you may find yourself with much more serious problems than a little cat poop.
Clifford vs. Mr. Nichols… such a respectable name for a cat! Are you being serious? About capturing Mr. Nichols? I thought you were joking! LOL!
@Paty: Contrary to what others might say, the murder of a cat is not on my list of priorities.
I just want to make sure Mr Nichols is really a cat and not a twilight zone ventriloquist dummy.
Add A Comment