Writes Susan in Delaware: “My family and I live in a very large apartment complex and recently discovered a mother cat and her five kittens living in the bushes. We called a local trap/neuter/return charity so that we could get the kittens and her mom basic vet care, shots, and neutering. We posted notes next to each trap explaining exactly what we were doing, and that all housecats with collars/tags would be immediately released.”
Over the course of a week, Susan says, no non-feral cats were caught, but for whatever reason one of the neighbors decided to steal all of the traps and replace them with this lovely note.
“The kicker of all this is that trapping feral cats actually protects the health of house cats,” Susan says. “Even if their cat did get accidentally picked up it would have gotten free vet care, since I’m the one coughing up $35 per cat for the honor of watching, baiting, and setting the traps multiple times per day.”
Adds Susan: “The ‘Yetters’ mentioned is a nearby liquor store. I assume the writer of this note spends a lot of time there.”
related: “Place cats in box”
91 responses so far ↓
#1
Maya
I don’t want to get into an “inside vs outside” argument… but if you want to keep people away from your cats, and keep OTHER CATS away from your cats, they shouldn’t be outside. Once they’re outside, they’re free to do as they please and if they’re on other peoples’ property, then those people can do what they want.
Jul 1, 2013 at 4:28 pm rating: 86
#2
H for Toy
Dear drunken poster, the goal of the traps was to keep the (not my) “trash cats” away from your precious kitties. Also, have you been smoking those crack cats behind Yetter’s?
Jul 1, 2013 at 4:31 pm rating: 51
#3
Ginny
Well, I kind of wouldn’t want them to just take my cats either… And what if some of those cats have allergies or something that that the doctors wouldn’t know about? But then again where I live there are no feral cats (or at least not that I’ve ever seen one) and at least all the females are spayed. So I’m not really familiar with the problems that come with these feral little kitten factories
Jul 1, 2013 at 4:40 pm rating: 3
#4
Corviddreams
Feral cat colonies are a pain to deal with. Once one gets established, it is hard to get rid of. I am kind of astonished that anyone would take offense to this, but then people astonish me all the time with their nutty behavior.
Jul 1, 2013 at 4:55 pm rating: 65
#5
kermit
By all means, let’s rehash the indoor/outdoor cat debate again. I bet that server forgot all the pain you put him in the last time we had this tiff.
Jul 1, 2013 at 4:58 pm rating: 14
#6
DS
OUTDOORS. Obviously. You Americans misunderstand the whole point of cats.
Jul 1, 2013 at 5:30 pm rating: 16
#7
Cami
UGH! That’s so freaking annoying. This “note” isn’t even funny…it just pisses me off. My mom and I do rescue work and also lots of work with feral cats as well. It’s imperative to trap and have them spayed/neutered. And yes, it comes out of YOUR pocket. It isn’t free. And most of the time, those traps (Have-A-Heart traps) are on LOAN. Because they are too freaking expensive to purchase! So that idiot that just took them…shame on them. I feel for you Susan
Jul 1, 2013 at 5:37 pm rating: 68
#8
diogenes
Team Susan.
Jul 1, 2013 at 5:59 pm rating: 23
#9
leopara
if you care for your cats and let them go outside? they should be microchipped and collared. THAT is called responsible pet ownership. firmly team Susan!
Jul 1, 2013 at 6:34 pm rating: 18
#10
Poltergeist
This person deserves to be beaten with the cages they stole. This would only affect your cat if they:
A) Don’t have a collar.
B) Aren’t spayed/neutered.
If you haven’t done either of those things, but you still let your cat wander freely, you don’t qualify as the cat’s owner.
Jul 1, 2013 at 7:41 pm rating: 43
#11
Gladystopia
Personally in this case, it seems fine to leave the cats alone.
After all, they’re clearly supporting themselves and their kittens by the sale of crack, behind Yetters. So at least they’re not those nasty pill-head welfare cats sucking the life out of the hard-working Feline-Amurrican taxpayer….
Oh. Wait.
Wrong thread, wrong persona, wrong….everything.
My fault.
Carry on.
Jul 1, 2013 at 8:13 pm rating: 77
#12
nurgleth
What in the fuck.
Jul 2, 2013 at 7:06 am rating: 1
#13
Ely North
Cats are horrible, useless animals. Cats are like the devil in a ball of fur, only worse.
Jul 2, 2013 at 8:29 am rating: 6
#14
Alice B Goode
Team Indoor/Outdoor. Cats need the outside fresh air, but should be supervised or collared/harnessed and leashed at ALL times.
Cats can be skittish, and are tempted to bolt over the smallest things.
My cat is an indoor cat, but he does go outside on a leash and harness for fresh air, sunshine and grass!
Jul 2, 2013 at 11:23 am rating: 14
#15
Will
I love that my neighbors let their cats roam loose. When they fight under my window at 5 in the morning it keeps me from oversleeping. I think that’s thoughtful.
Jul 2, 2013 at 11:30 am rating: 22
#16
Lil'
I was going to jump in on the indoor/outdoor debate, but I’m just so worn out from it. Do you think if we argue back and forth through one more post that any one person will change their mind? Will there be a single person who says, “You know, I never thought of it that way”? I really don’t think so. With that said, why do we bother? Let’s get back to the toilet paper roll under/over debate. That one has greater potential for resolution. I’ll start…UNDER!!
Jul 2, 2013 at 12:57 pm rating: 11
#17
Paula K
Strictly team indoor kitty here. And sweet merciful mother of God, get your female cats fixed. I found out-by nearly losing my current kitty-that if they continue to go into heat, they can accumulate massive, horrifying amounts of pus in the uterus, causing it to rupture & painful, awful death by blood poisoning happens. Ugh.
Jul 2, 2013 at 1:14 pm rating: 10
#18
The Elf
I love this. The ad now showing on this site to me is for “Feliway Comfort Zone”. This is a diffuser for an artificial pherenome. The idea is to keep cats calm so they don’t scratch or spray.
This whole thread needs some Feliway.
Jul 2, 2013 at 1:22 pm rating: 7
#19
RCat
I sincerely hope that Susan didn’t eat the poop of any cats she captured.
Jul 2, 2013 at 3:43 pm rating: 2
#20
Neeeners
You know how they talk about crazy cat people? This is what they mean.
Cats bring out the wacky in everyone. Everyone has an opinion from “black cats are bad luck” to “they’ll smother the baby and take their breath away”.
I think I wouldn’t mind if some of these guys fell asleep with a cat……smothering them.
Jul 2, 2013 at 3:48 pm rating: 9
#21
warns
Some people don’t think before they type angry notes, do they?
How dare you try to help cats that are out in the wild by giving them medical care and reducing the population of ferile cats, so THOSE cats, don’t hurt your precious indoor/outdoors! Some people’s kids, I swear. Common sense is so rare.
Jul 2, 2013 at 4:21 pm rating: 12
#22
Wilma Jo
I’ve never had anything but all indoor cats, whom I’ve made sure were neutered and given their shots and vet care. So the people acting like cats are all evil need to re-think their approach, and everyone needs to vet their cats. If you can’t afford to vet one, you can’t afford to own one. That has always been my policy. You can’t help it if you aren’t a millionaire and your cat has something catastrophic happen to the poor thing, and I contribute to things like that. But normal things like vaccinations and neutering need to be handled by responsible pet owners.
Jul 2, 2013 at 7:55 pm rating: 16
#23
pooham
You are an “ASSHOLE”
Jul 3, 2013 at 11:24 am rating: 0
#24
Dana
Only one of ours goes outside willingly, and she’s dumb enough we don’t let her out without supervision because, for one thing, she was declawed by her original owners. The other cat likes to sit in the window and look, but is terrified of the outdoors.
Jul 4, 2013 at 11:27 am rating: 1
#25
*sigh*
If you can’t afford ____ you don’t deserve to live.
Jul 6, 2013 at 7:15 pm rating: 0
#26
Raichu
Ugh, how nasty and stupid do you have to be to do something like that? I’d have steam coming out of my ears. TEAM SUSAN.
Jul 7, 2013 at 4:04 pm rating: 0
#27
DS
It would be perfectly fine if the person who wrote that note got punched square in the face. Hard.
Jul 9, 2013 at 11:09 am rating: 1
#28
vegangeekgirl
OK I understand who the notewriter means are the “idiots” even if I don’t agree, but who forgot them?
“Hurting for a fix?” a fix of what, exactly? Of coughing up $35? The note makes no sense whatsoever.
Indoor/outdoor cat? Well mostly indoor but it depends on where you live.
We live in the city our cat is indoors only, I take her out on a leash when we visit my Mom who live at the countryside. I tried taking her out here and she freaked out and looked at me like “WTF is wrong with you?”
I think indoor is best for most cats but if depends where you live.
Jul 15, 2013 at 2:50 pm rating: 0
#29
Sonoratboy
Well, I know what apartment complex that is the moment you mentioned Yetters. There is a bizarre mix of folks on that hill. 75% of the apartments are more than one story above ground with balconies. They must have flying cats.
Jul 31, 2013 at 9:56 pm rating: 0
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