Thursday, July 30, 2009

What to do about our neighborhood cat lady?

We have this lady on our block that won't get her cats spayed. All three cats have a litter of kittens every time they go into heat. None of the kittens ever see a vet (their eyes are always crusty and noses are drippy) and even worse, sometimes we find them in the middle of street after they have been hit by a car. Our local animal control won't pick up cats because they are "free roaming animals" (seriously that is what the animal control officer said). What can we do as neighbors to get this lady to start taking care of her cats?
Answers:
OMG this makes me so angry I want to smack something. Contact your local humane society or Cats Cradle or Greyfoot, something similar. They will trap the cats, neuter them, and then return them to their environment. Her cats are a danger to other animals if they have drippy or crusty eyes and seriously, your local animal shelter is not doing their job by not picking up these animals. This lady needs to have her head examined. You can't change anyone else, you are only responsible for your own behavior--but you can trap the cats yourself and contact local vets who may be willing to do the neutering for a reduced price. You will be doing those poor kitties a HUGE favor and you can report your do-nothing neighbor to your local police as a nuisance. GOOD LUCK! I will pray for your success.
Contact a humane society and talk to them. If she does not get her pets spayed, they could get taken away from her.
Be sure to let her know that.
Does she love them? (serious question) Because if she does, she will not want them taken away from her.
Have you tried a nearby ASPCA or Humane Society? They'll often come and spay and neuter feral cats as a public service.
Check the laws in your area, as it's often illegal to have that many animals. It would suck to have to call the police on her, but it could be that she's just overwhelmed and doesn't know what to do. She might welcome the assistance in thinning out the number.
call the aspca because crusty eyes and runny noses are a sign of bad health and in need of medical attention. see if they can talk her into spaying her cats. give them her name,number and addresses and let them talk to her. and stay away from the kittens that are sick because that will make you sick!
I share my living space with 3 cats, sometimes 5 (when my mom's come to visit), and I know how expensive keeping your cats healthy can be. I'm sure your neighborhood cat lady has the best intentions by keeping her cloud of cats, and I'm sure she loves every one of them, but it is very easy to become overwhelmed by what we cherish.
I have seen situations where cats were allowed to roam free on private property with unrestricted growth and lacking medical care and regular feedings. It was horrendous, how the cats' life cycles followed that of the rodent population trends, and harrowing to capture the diseased emaciated cats so they could all be put down.
You would be doing yourself, your neighborhood, the little old lady, all of the cared-for undiseased cats and the stray cats a service by calling the ASPCA to come and check out the property. If they won't do anything, you can rent no-harm cat traps from Animal Control and start capturing them yourself to turn in to your local stray animal authority.
*Mabye you could start a neighborhood collection to get all of the cats spayed. Some ASPCSA's have $10 pet spay clinics.
Good luck, I hope you find an answer.
call the ASPCA
I'm with infinity1.Take up a collection to help the woman get the cats fixed and vaccinated,and then try to have her give some of them up for adoption.Have a garage sale /bake sale,put in the paper that the proceeds go to spaying and neutering neighborhood strays.Explain that once the cats are fixed,there won't be anymore kittens,fighting tomcats,and females in heat,but that the cats will still help to keep rodents under control.Maybe you and your neighbors can help feed the cats.The lady probably started out trying to help cats,and it got out of control.Maybe she doesn't have the money to get them all fixed,and is overwhelmed by the situation,so she does nothing.This happens to a lot of people.Explain to the cat lady what you want to do ,and see if she will cooperate.
I agree with many about trying to raise money to help her with her kitty situation. Maybe you could call your local newspaper or radio station and ask them to run an article seeking help for this lady and the poor kittys . Let them know that you are trying to raise money to help this lady. It should not be taken out on the poor kittys who have done nothing wrong. If you get local reporters to report this and make it known to the public, you will no doubt get donations and possibly vets who will volunteer their services. Good Luck
Trap them and haul them away; your neighbor is obviously not responsible enough to own a cat.
poison that son of a *****
i love cats runny noses are not good

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