Let the Birds Die or Kill the Cat? (1 Viewer)

Let the Birds Die or Kill the Cat?

  • Spare the furball

    Votes: 46 69.7%
  • Save the songbirds, kill the furball

    Votes: 20 30.3%

  • Total voters
    66
@RudysNYC I 'm afraid only a true New Yorker like you could appreciate the situation I described and the fun I made of it.:LOL: :laugh:
Mind you, I 've had genuine New Yorker cousins introducing me to (very) deep New York City n the late 80s and 90s.
 
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Did you tell him you love his cat and would like to purchase it from him.
He will now be an INSIDE cat and you may never see him again!
Just kiddin
Hope it went well!
 
His paternal grandparents owned apartments in New York and vacationed in rural Maine. His dad loved the summers his family spent here and he knew he wanted to live here when he grew up, but life threw him a curve ball. He fell head over heels in love with a woman from Long Island and joined the police force to support her and their family. He told his son at the end of his career in law enforcement that he needed to move to Maine after everything he had witnessed as a police officer.

His father took ill in the early 2010's. His son moved to Maine in mid 2013 to care for him and to take him to his hospital appointments. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018. During his radiation treatments I noticed his memory was slipping. Not knowing the outcome of his treatments or his long term cognitive health, I decided to remain in the area instead of moving.

We talked for an hour and a half. Our similarities end there, but I could relate to him on the things we do not share in common.

Unlike my other neighbors, this was our first conversation. Oddly enough, I have never giving my other neighbors a hand or befriended them. Our conversations have been polite, like you would expect, nothing more.

Five years ago during a heavy snowfall, a state plow truck snowed in my neighbor across the street when he drove by. I was outside shoveling at the time. My neighbor was letting his vehicle warm up in his driveway before heading off to work. He grabbed his shovel and I crossed the street to give him a hand, working as quick as I could to get him on his way. A few words of gratitude and a no problem were the only words exchanged.

Five years.
 
His paternal grandparents owned apartments in New York and vacationed in rural Maine. His dad loved the summers his family spent here and he knew he wanted to live here when he grew up, but life threw him a curve ball. He fell head over heels in love with a woman from Long Island and joined the police force to support her and their family. He told his son at the end of his career in law enforcement that he needed to move to Maine after everything he had witnessed as a police officer.

His father took ill in the early 2010's. His son moved to Maine in mid 2013 to care for him and to take him to his hospital appointments. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018. During his radiation treatments I noticed his memory was slipping. Not knowing the outcome of his treatments or his long term cognitive health, I decided to remain in the area instead of moving.

We talked for an hour and a half. Our similarities end there, but I could relate to him on the things we do not share in common.

Unlike my other neighbors, this was our first conversation. Oddly enough, I have never giving my other neighbors a hand or befriended them. Our conversations have been polite, like you would expect, nothing more.

Five years ago during a heavy snowfall, a state plow truck snowed in my neighbor across the street when he drove by. I was outside shoveling at the time. My neighbor was letting his vehicle warm up in his driveway before heading off to work. He grabbed his shovel and I crossed the street to give him a hand, working as quick as I could to get him on his way. A few words of gratitude and a no problem were the only words exchanged.

Five years.
You forgot to ask about the cat didn't you...

Kidding :D glad to hear you talked and were able to connect. Hope that makes the rest of the discussion easier and leads to a Michael Scott win-win-win!
 
Did you tell him you love his cat and would like to purchase it from him.
He will now be an INSIDE cat and you may never see him again!
Just kiddin kitten.
Hope it went well!

FYP.

You could have given me a dozen guesses on how the course of the conversation would go and I would have got them all wrong.

It is late. I will follow up. Finding the right words and deciding what to include and what to leave out is hard sometimes.
 
Restless.

I am not going to get too deep in the weeds except to say that some of the problems my neighbor has had to deal with over the last five years are emblematic of the area.

Keeping it to the cat

Les discovered him last August. He looked to be no more than a few weeks old. He would slip his head and body between the opening of two plywood boards around the base of his trailer where he had made his home. He also hanged out under Les's porch. Les threw table scraps near the opening, explaining to me that he had a problem with mice. (Mice had got into his car and chewed through the filter.) He could see their tracks going here and there around his garage and trailer during the winter.

Les made the mistake one day of letting the cat into his home and closing the door. The cat went ballistic, tearing up the walls and running around the room like a comet. He made an even bigger mistake by picking up the cat to put him outside. The cat shredded his arm. Les's words, not mine. It took two hours for the bleeding to stop.

They have a good relationship now. The cat has Les trained. He shows up for his meals at 11:00AM sharp and again between 6:00 to 7:00PM. Once and a while he will show affection by rubbing his body around Les's leg. He will even let Les pick him up. According to Les, the cat is still uncomfortable being inside. He stays close to the door with his guard up.

Les was somewhat taken aback when I told him the cat was crossing the road and attacking the songbirds. He has observed the cat on multiple occasions near the road, watching the traffic. The cat would always crouch down low whenever a car hissed by. Les figured the cat would live a long life because of its respect/fear of the road.

He was also surprised to hear of the bird killings, because he didn't think cats posed a threat to birds at that age. (10 months, based on his best guess.)

There is more than one fly in the ointment. The cat cannot be domesticated. My neighbor and the cat have what Les terms as a symbiotic relationship. The cat kills mice. In return, he feeds the cat and lets him live under his trailer. The other fly in the ointment? Les has spotted a red fox sniffing around his trailer on two separate occasions. The fox knows the cat is there. And the cat knows the fox is stalking him.

I have seen no evidence of the cat since Saturday. Part of it may be due to the fact that the number of songbirds coming around the feeders has dropped off significantly. I don't know how much of it is seasonal and how much of it is attributable to the cat.

Tell me life isn't unpredictable. Les says he has no problem putting a bell collar on the cat. Now I find myself caught in one of life's little quandaries. This is no longer an issue of an irresponsible pet owner letting their cat roam free. The feral cat that is habitating under Les's trailer is by no fault of his own, the by-product of an irresponsible pet owner.

I am puzzled as to what to do. As unbelievable as it sounds, I told Les that I questioned whether putting a bell collar on a feral cat with a fox underfoot is a good idea.

Crazy, I know.
 
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Well, sounds like talking with the neighbor was a lot more productive than expected. It sounds like the cat would be there whether the new neighbor feeds it or not, and he sounds pretty reasonable and understanding with the bell offer. I agree, not sure about belling a feral cat, might just give the fox too much of an advantage.

Maybe some deterrent around your property (motion activated garden hose as suggested earlier, coyote urine, etc). will keep the cat where he is wanted and not where he isn't.

But regardless, sounds like you at least started a relationship with your neighbor that didn't begin with a pissing contest, so that is a big plus.
 
Well, sounds like talking with the neighbor was a lot more productive than expected. It sounds like the cat would be there whether the new neighbor feeds it or not, and he sounds pretty reasonable and understanding with the bell offer. I agree, not sure about belling a feral cat, might just give the fox too much of an advantage.

Maybe some deterrent around your property (motion activated garden hose as suggested earlier, coyote urine, etc). will keep the cat where he is wanted and not where he isn't.

But regardless, sounds like you at least started a relationship with your neighbor that didn't begin with a pissing contest, so that is a big plus.

It is more nuanced than I could have ever imagined.
 
Dogs do not equal cats. Have you ever had to go to a hospital because a domesticated house cat attacked you?
I've had to go to a hospital because my neighbor's pitbull attacked me.

Not a good example. Next?
My cat that I had in England, scaled the drainpipe of the next door neighbour, snuck into his upstairs open window and proceeded to claw him on the face :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:. Has a dog ever done that lol
 
Good to hear the conversation with the neighbour went OK. I'd tend to agree that putting a bell/collar on the cat is maybe not the best idea with a fox in play too.

From your side of things, maybe take a look into some sprays / smells in your garden to deter the cat from hanging out there. From memory I think cat's have a big dislike to lavender and citrus smells - in the past we've sprayed some on the lower edge of our sofa to stop the cats clawing it.
I guess you'd also need to check it is a smell that doesn't offend the birds, but could be a good solution and will make the cat stop crossing the road for lunch. Plus no visible deterrents in your garden, just a nice lavender smell.
 
Restless.

I am not going to get too deep in the weeds except to say that some of the problems my neighbor has had to deal with over the last five years are emblematic of the area.

Keeping it to the cat

Les discovered him last August. He looked to be no more than a few weeks old. He would slip his head and body between the opening of two plywood boards around the base of his trailer where he had made his home. He also hanged out under Les's porch. Les threw table scraps near the opening, explaining to me that he had a problem with mice. (Mice had got into his car and chewed through the filter.) He could see their tracks going here and there around his garage and trailer during the winter.

Les made the mistake one day of letting the cat into his home and closing the door. The cat went ballistic, tearing up the walls and running around the room like a comet. He made an even bigger mistake by picking up the cat to put him outside. The cat shredded his arm. Les's words, not mine. It took two hours for the bleeding to stop.

They have a good relationship now. The cat has Les trained. He shows up for his meals at 11:00AM sharp and again between 6:00 to 7:00PM. Once and a while he will show affection by rubbing his body around Les's leg. He will even let Les pick him up. According to Les, the cat is still uncomfortable being inside. He stays close to the door with his guard up.

Les was somewhat taken aback when I told him the cat was crossing the road and attacking the songbirds. He has observed the cat on multiple occasions near the road, watching the traffic. The cat would always crouch down low whenever a car hissed by. Les figured the cat would live a long life because of its respect/fear of the road.

He was also surprised to hear of the bird killings, because he didn't think cats posed a threat to birds at that age. (10 months, based on his best guess.)

There is more than one fly in the ointment. The cat cannot be domesticated. My neighbor and the cat have what Les terms as a symbiotic relationship. The cat kills mice. In return, he feeds the cat and lets him live under his trailer. The other fly in the ointment? Les has spotted a red fox sniffing around his trailer on two separate occasions. The fox knows the cat is there. And the cat knows the fox is stalking him.

I have seen no evidence of the cat since Saturday. Part of it may be due to the fact that the number of songbirds coming around the feeders has dropped off significantly. I don't know how much of it is seasonal and how much of it is attributable to the cat.

Tell me life isn't unpredictable. Les says he has no problem putting a bell collar on the cat. Now I find myself caught in one of life's little quandaries. This is no longer an issue of an irresponsible pet owner letting their cat roam free. The feral cat that is habitating under Les's trailer is by no fault of his own, the by-product of an irresponsible pet owner.

I am puzzled as to what to do. As unbelievable as it sounds, I told Les that I questioned whether putting a bell collar on a feral cat with a fox underfoot is a good idea.

Crazy, I know.
Just a random comment that has nothing to with the subject in question, because I noticed it in all your posts in this thread — you’re a very, very good writer. Your prose reminds me of Annie Proulx; simple and pithy. You should write short stories, if you don’t already. If you do, I’d like to read them.
 
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If there's a fox in play, how are we still sure the cat is the culprit? Especially since the owner seems to think the cat isn't a big fan of the road.

I have spotted the cat over here exiting the lilac bush and under the birdfeeder. (Two times in all)

Just a random comment that has nothing to with the subject in question, because I noticed it in all your posts in this thread — you’re a very, very good writer. Your prose reminds me of Annie Proulx; simple and pithy. You should write short stories, if you don’t already. If you do, I’d like to read them.

I don't consider myself a good writer. @Jimulacrum is an excellent writer. This evolved into a human interest story last night, centered on of all things, a feral cat. There is a lot going on across the street. Choosing what to share and what not to share slowed the writing process down, although I do appreciate your kind words.

You might like Robert Olen Butler's, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.
 
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I have spotted the cat over here exiting the lilac bush and under the birdfeeder. (Two times in all)

Your honor, this evidence is circumstantial and I request this case to be dismissed.

(How have we not started a kitty court yet?)
 
A fox taking out a fully grown and healthy cat is extremely rare. Most won't tangle with a fully developed cat, which is quite capable of taking care of itself with unclipped claws in a fight against a fox.

If the two clashed, this is the likely outcome. Lots of hissing, posturing, then going about their business after a minor skirmish.
I’m all for nature videos and “circle of life”, but my goodness that fight was extremely violent. I can’t believe you tube allowed that content. Yikes.


I hope the poor fox recovers.
 
Thanks for sharing your story.

An online friend of mine looks after feral cats, rather like your neighbor is doing. They come and go, sometimes they get injured, sometimes they leave and aren't seen again. Sometimes they return with kittens. He does his best to keep them alive and happy and is rewarded with companionship, although feral cats don't always express affection in the same ways that pets do.

If it would help, I'd be happy to put you and/or your neighbor in touch with him. He might have some advice he could share, or could simply commiserate.
 

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