Accused of spraying!

Hi,

Hoping for some advice here. For 18 years I had just the one cat - a
beautiful maine-coon style moggie who unfortunately succumbed to that
most typical of Maine Coon diseases -- renal failure -- on November
4th 2001.

I wasn't going to get another cat -- she was irreplacable. However,
when a neighbour was 'given' a cat as a pet, which she abandoned, I
took the emaciated, unvaccinated, unspayed creature in while trying to
find her a good home.

Within a month, she RAPIDLY gained weight and gave birth to four
beautiful babies on September 1 2002. Unfortunately, all four babies
have severe congenital HCM and so I now have the mother and the four
babies, all of whom have been vaccinated and desexed and who now have
a loving home with me where their medical, nutritional and emotional
needs are met.

Today I received an aggressive anonymous handwritten note from one of
my neighbours, saying if I can't control my cats then they'll report
me to my council! In particular, it says that the "male without a
collar sprays" their house.

Now, all 5 of my cats have collars and registration tags. I have
never observed them spraying anywhere, but HAVE seen TWO other cats in
our yard, neither of whom has a collar and BOTH of whom spray. I've
also had two dogs in our yard, tearing up the garden and stealing
items which they drag to their homes.

I'm 5 foot 4, so hardly intimidating in stature, and not
confrontational by nature, which is why I hadn't addressed the
barking, wandering dog from the right hand side, the snarling,
stealing labrador from out back or the noisy left-hand neighbours and
their barking black poodle.

I *think* the note came from the right-hand neighbour, but I have no
way to confirm, as the note was anonymous. If it *is* him, then this
could be a problem, as his grey cat was one of the two I observed
spraying in my yard, and taking 2-inch holes out of the rumps of the
heartsick cats, and when I mentioned in passing a few months ago that
we often saw his cat in our yard -- that was it! We haven't seen the
cat since, not even on his own property!

I don't know what to do! Advice, anyone?

Thankyou!

Catherine

"OzFree" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

Hoping for some advice here. For 18 years I had just the one cat - a
beautiful maine-coon style moggie who unfortunately succumbed to that
most typical of Maine Coon diseases -- renal failure -- on November
4th 2001.

I wasn't going to get another cat -- she was irreplacable. However,
when a neighbour was 'given' a cat as a pet, which she abandoned, I
took the emaciated, unvaccinated, unspayed creature in while trying to
find her a good home.

Within a month, she RAPIDLY gained weight and gave birth to four
beautiful babies on September 1 2002. Unfortunately, all four babies
have severe congenital HCM and so I now have the mother and the four
babies, all of whom have been vaccinated and desexed and who now have
a loving home with me where their medical, nutritional and emotional
needs are met.

Today I received an aggressive anonymous handwritten note from one of
my neighbours, saying if I can't control my cats then they'll report
me to my council! In particular, it says that the "male without a
collar sprays" their house.

Now, all 5 of my cats have collars and registration tags. I have
never observed them spraying anywhere, but HAVE seen TWO other cats in
our yard, neither of whom has a collar and BOTH of whom spray. I've
also had two dogs in our yard, tearing up the garden and stealing
items which they drag to their homes.

I'm 5 foot 4, so hardly intimidating in stature, and not
confrontational by nature, which is why I hadn't addressed the
barking, wandering dog from the right hand side, the snarling,
stealing labrador from out back or the noisy left-hand neighbours and
their barking black poodle.

I *think* the note came from the right-hand neighbour, but I have no
way to confirm, as the note was anonymous. If it *is* him, then this
could be a problem, as his grey cat was one of the two I observed
spraying in my yard, and taking 2-inch holes out of the rumps of the
heartsick cats, and when I mentioned in passing a few months ago that
we often saw his cat in our yard -- that was it! We haven't seen the
cat since, not even on his own property!

I don't know what to do! Advice, anyone?

Thankyou!

Catherine

Could you take the note to the council and explain that you don't have a
male cat without a collar and that the person who wrote the note is
incorrect thinking you own the cat in question?

W

"OzFree" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

Hoping for some advice here. For 18 years I had just the one cat - a
beautiful maine-coon style moggie who unfortunately succumbed to that
most typical of Maine Coon diseases -- renal failure -- on November
4th 2001.

I wasn't going to get another cat -- she was irreplacable. However,
when a neighbour was 'given' a cat as a pet, which she abandoned, I
took the emaciated, unvaccinated, unspayed creature in while trying to
find her a good home.

Within a month, she RAPIDLY gained weight and gave birth to four
beautiful babies on September 1 2002. Unfortunately, all four babies
have severe congenital HCM and so I now have the mother and the four
babies, all of whom have been vaccinated and desexed and who now have
a loving home with me where their medical, nutritional and emotional
needs are met.

Today I received an aggressive anonymous handwritten note from one of
my neighbours, saying if I can't control my cats then they'll report
me to my council! In particular, it says that the "male without a
collar sprays" their house.

Now, all 5 of my cats have collars and registration tags. I have
never observed them spraying anywhere, but HAVE seen TWO other cats in
our yard, neither of whom has a collar and BOTH of whom spray. I've
also had two dogs in our yard, tearing up the garden and stealing
items which they drag to their homes.

I'm 5 foot 4, so hardly intimidating in stature, and not
confrontational by nature, which is why I hadn't addressed the
barking, wandering dog from the right hand side, the snarling,
stealing labrador from out back or the noisy left-hand neighbours and
their barking black poodle.

I *think* the note came from the right-hand neighbour, but I have no
way to confirm, as the note was anonymous. If it *is* him, then this
could be a problem, as his grey cat was one of the two I observed
spraying in my yard, and taking 2-inch holes out of the rumps of the
heartsick cats, and when I mentioned in passing a few months ago that
we often saw his cat in our yard -- that was it! We haven't seen the
cat since, not even on his own property!

I don't know what to do! Advice, anyone?

Thankyou!

Catherine

Could you take the note to the council and explain that you don't have a
male cat without a collar and that the person who wrote the note is
incorrect thinking you own the cat in question?

W

Wendy quoth:

Could you take the note to the council and explain that you don't have a
male cat without a collar and that the person who wrote the note is
incorrect thinking you own the cat in question?

I'd write a friendly little note to all my surrounding neighbors, saying
that I'd gotten an anonymous note and what it said, and then explaining
that it's not your cat. I'd probably then put in a helpful little
paragraph about the necessity of collars and tags (and make myself an
example of doing it), and then call upon "us all" to find ways to be
responsible for our pets. I'd then probably ask that if anyone would be
interested in discussing pets in the neighborhood, how to care for them
and so on, and suggest a possibility for getting together for coffee or
the like. IOW, turn it into a positive... someone else has raised this
issue, how about we find ways to improve the lot of our pets and learn a
bit in the process. Like that. Spin it into a positive while making it
very clear that you've been accused of something you haven't done.
Frankly I'd also put in a line about how anonymous notes are not helpful
because it prevents the possibility of follow-up conversation and
community building.

But then I'm big on neighbors connecting. ;-) My nextdoor neighbors and
I care for a small colony of ferals whom we've TNRed. We provide food and
water year round and warm shelter during our nasty winters here in Boston.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Priscilla

Wendy quoth:

Could you take the note to the council and explain that you don't have a
male cat without a collar and that the person who wrote the note is
incorrect thinking you own the cat in question?

I'd write a friendly little note to all my surrounding neighbors, saying
that I'd gotten an anonymous note and what it said, and then explaining
that it's not your cat. I'd probably then put in a helpful little
paragraph about the necessity of collars and tags (and make myself an
example of doing it), and then call upon "us all" to find ways to be
responsible for our pets. I'd then probably ask that if anyone would be
interested in discussing pets in the neighborhood, how to care for them
and so on, and suggest a possibility for getting together for coffee or
the like. IOW, turn it into a positive... someone else has raised this
issue, how about we find ways to improve the lot of our pets and learn a
bit in the process. Like that. Spin it into a positive while making it
very clear that you've been accused of something you haven't done.
Frankly I'd also put in a line about how anonymous notes are not helpful
because it prevents the possibility of follow-up conversation and
community building.

But then I'm big on neighbors connecting. ;-) My nextdoor neighbors and
I care for a small colony of ferals whom we've TNRed. We provide food and
water year round and warm shelter during our nasty winters here in Boston.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Priscilla

In article ,
enlightened us with...

Today I received an aggressive anonymous handwritten note from one of
my neighbours, saying if I can't control my cats then they'll report
me to my council! In particular, it says that the "male without a
collar sprays" their house.


I don't know much about where you live and all (council?), but don't they
have to prove it?

I mean, around here, if someone were to complain about my pet destroying
their property, they'd have to file a report, with their name and everything,
and they'd have to be able to prove that it was my animal that damaged their
property.

How worried are you, and why? What could happen if someone "reported you to
council"? If it isn't your cat, what can they possibly do about it?

--
--
~kaeli~
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

In article ,
enlightened us with...

Today I received an aggressive anonymous handwritten note from one of
my neighbours, saying if I can't control my cats then they'll report
me to my council! In particular, it says that the "male without a
collar sprays" their house.


I don't know much about where you live and all (council?), but don't they
have to prove it?

I mean, around here, if someone were to complain about my pet destroying
their property, they'd have to file a report, with their name and everything,
and they'd have to be able to prove that it was my animal that damaged their
property.

How worried are you, and why? What could happen if someone "reported you to
council"? If it isn't your cat, what can they possibly do about it?

--
--
~kaeli~
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

kaeli wrote in message . ..

[...]

How worried are you, and why? What could happen if someone "reported you to
council"? If it isn't your cat, what can they possibly do about it?

--

The reason why I'm worried is that my cats are registered on the
National database, but not the local council database. The council
permits only 2 cats (and 2 dogs, 2 rabbits etc) ... I have 5 cats, but
nothing else. Apparently exemptions can be made, but only with the
written agreement of 2 out of 3 neighbours.

My neighbours on all sides are 'dog-people' not 'cat-people'. More to
the point, the left-hand neighbours have young kids which yell, scream
and climb the fence.

The back neighbour has a large labrador which keeps digging entrance
into our property, breaking the garden and stealing anything which
isn't tied down to take back to its place as a toy.

The right-hand neighbours are elderly, and the man keeps screaming
abuse at his wife, who appears to have alzheimer's. Their dog has
large protruding lumps in its chest which I can only assume are
tumors.

I actually live in a good neighbourhood, just with some 'iffy'
neighbours. But I'd need the approval of those neighbours to register
my own animals. So, even if the council found that my heart-sick
kitties had NOT been spraying, they'd still be duty-bound to impound
them and impose strong fines.

Moreover, while impounded, the council does NOT medicate the animals
as they would require because of their congenital heart disease, and
they would not receive adequate monitoring. The extra stress that
being impounded would cause, combined with the lack of monitoring and
medication, could easily see them die in a short period of time. Even
if that did not happen, it would significantly shorten their lives.

So yes, I have causes for concern!

Catherine

kaeli wrote in message . ..

[...]

How worried are you, and why? What could happen if someone "reported you to
council"? If it isn't your cat, what can they possibly do about it?

--

The reason why I'm worried is that my cats are registered on the
National database, but not the local council database. The council
permits only 2 cats (and 2 dogs, 2 rabbits etc) ... I have 5 cats, but
nothing else. Apparently exemptions can be made, but only with the
written agreement of 2 out of 3 neighbours.

My neighbours on all sides are 'dog-people' not 'cat-people'. More to
the point, the left-hand neighbours have young kids which yell, scream
and climb the fence.

The back neighbour has a large labrador which keeps digging entrance
into our property, breaking the garden and stealing anything which
isn't tied down to take back to its place as a toy.

The right-hand neighbours are elderly, and the man keeps screaming
abuse at his wife, who appears to have alzheimer's. Their dog has
large protruding lumps in its chest which I can only assume are
tumors.

I actually live in a good neighbourhood, just with some 'iffy'
neighbours. But I'd need the approval of those neighbours to register
my own animals. So, even if the council found that my heart-sick
kitties had NOT been spraying, they'd still be duty-bound to impound
them and impose strong fines.

Moreover, while impounded, the council does NOT medicate the animals
as they would require because of their congenital heart disease, and
they would not receive adequate monitoring. The extra stress that
being impounded would cause, combined with the lack of monitoring and
medication, could easily see them die in a short period of time. Even
if that did not happen, it would significantly shorten their lives.

So yes, I have causes for concern!

Catherine

"OzFree" wrote in message
Moreover, while impounded, the council does NOT medicate the animals
as they would require because of their congenital heart disease, and
they would not receive adequate monitoring. The extra stress that
being impounded would cause, combined with the lack of monitoring and
medication, could easily see them die in a short period of time. Even
if that did not happen, it would significantly shorten their lives.

IMPOUND them? Move.

So yes, I have causes for concern!

Catherine