What to do with free roaming cats?

11/25/2012 | Me

[blueunicorn6]

I did that with a neighbor kid. The judge said I was an overage juvenile delinquent. I toilet papered her car after my 30 days was up.

[fatnotlazy]

Take the cat to a shelter, period. Trust me, idiot owners will just keep letting the cat out. Too lazy to feed it or clean up its mess.

[Excellence]

Borrow a cat trap from animal control, catch the cat, and turn it in.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

That is exactly what I would do, and sort of what I did do once. We used to have a black cat come visiting our yard. I would pet her a little and she’d leave again. Then one day she got annoyed and NAILED me with her teeth. It got infected & I went to the doc, who threatened me with rabies shots if I didn’t find the cat and keep her in quarantine. Luckily she showed up again, and I had to keep little Jezebel in our spare bathroom for eight more days! At the end I put a collar on her (she didn’t have one to start) with a sternly worded note and let her go. She never came back again!

[Hot Tabasco]

I trapped a feral cat once, and blasted it with the hose for a good ten minutes. Let it go and never saw it again.

I have done that in the past and it is very effective.......I just might try it again......

[Excellence]

Please don’t dump the cat. Take it to the shelter. It won’t cost you anything if it is a feral cat.

[waynesa98]

So actually trapping neutering and releasing is the program. Go to your aspca and ask for help with trapping, likely they will neuter for free, then release. They should have an rfid reader, so if the cat has a home and isn’t snipped, oops.

Feral cats can be recovered, if found as kittens and your wiling to spend the time. Otherwise they’ll be happier out. Worst case wooden box with tuna rubbed on the door. Heavy door with a counter balance that cuts away once its been opened and the cats well inside.

[Chickensoup]

for gods sake, leave the cat alone. Call the owners and ask then to pick up their cat when it is bothering you. Stop making a drama out of this. Cats have been in urban locations far longer than you have and have fared just fine. Great rat deterents.

[Hot Tabasco]

Please don’t do anything bad to the cat.

I wouldn't do anything bad to it, I'm just trying to figure out a way to keep it from coming around........

[Las Vegas Ron]

Contact the management company or the HOA if you’re an owner.

Yikes, why not just call obama to solve all your problems?

[Hot Tabasco]

Feed the car something that will give it gas and the runs

I'm already getting 31 mpg in the city............LOL!

[A_perfect_lady]

Oh... put a sprinkler in the backyard and turn it on at night! Can you do that?

[Las Vegas Ron]

Put up a notice, ask around, find out who the cat belongs to....then read the owners the riot act.

Finally, a sensible, responsible post.

[Hot Tabasco]

Put up a notice, ask around, find out who the cat belongs to

There's only 72 units in my detached condo sub and we're surrounded by houses and other condos so putting out notices isn't sound advice........

[InvisibleChurch]

Cage it and take it to the humane societ

[ruesrose]

My first thought is that the visiting cat will not go home until it gets that note off. cats are irritated by alien things on them and will be quite adept at removing it.
Trap it and take it to the SPCA and if it has a license they will contact the owner and if not the owner will have to try to locate it or it could be spayed or neutered and adopted out.
I have a female house cat and as I live in the country there are ferals coming around. I do feed them once a day and let them fend for themselves and keep down pests the rest of the time. My cat loves to throw herself at the french doors and carry on and sits and waits for them to show up so she can do that. Mostly they ignore her. There are seldom more than two cats around.

[Las Vegas Ron]

it's not a feral cat

Thanks for reiterating that as you clearly stated in your op that it was a house cat.

I was really amazed where this thread was going....

[A_perfect_lady]

A spray bottle by the back door? If you get woken up, grab the bottle, spritz the cat a few times... maybe it’ll go off and bug someone else for a while.

[Hot Tabasco]

Call the owners and ask then to pick up their cat when it is bothering you.

That's a great idea, why didn't I think of it? Can you give me their name and phone number because I don't know who they are..........thanks!

[TigersEye]

I trapped a feral cat once, and blasted it with the hose for a good ten minutes. Let it go and never saw it again.

That is probably the least expensive and most effective solution. However, if the temps are close to or below freezing it will kill the cat or at least make it very sick. If you catch it you could wait until morning for the hose-and-release treatment so it would survive to learn the lesson.