a few questions

our neighbors suck and have not fixed their little tortie... she had kittens at the beginning of the summer and they have sort of migrated into our yard and i feed them. so we have a few questions:

if i am feeding them (and i am not sure they are, the reason i put food out for them in the first place was because they were so scrawny) at least as much as they are where do we draw the line over whose kittens these are? if they are still out there when it gets really cold we will probably take them in to the vets for testing and if they are leukemia free we will bring at least the little friendly girl inside. the neighbors don't really seem to do much for these guys, and have avoided my questions about what they are going to do with them and if they are going to get the little female fixed or if they are just going to let her reproduce whenever she wants to like the female cat they already have. we can only bring one more cat in here legally, so we can't keep both the babies no matter how cute they may be. legally we have a 6 cat limit within the city limits, and we have 5.

we don't do shoes in the house, so all shoes come off at the door. we wash our hands as soon as we come inside, since we do pet the friendliest of the kittens. we try to avoid doing anything that might cause our kitties any sort of risk, so clothes are changed if the kittens touch them, that kind of thing. is there anything else i should be doing to protect our indoor kitties and keep them safe from feline illnesses?

and last but not least... how can i keep these guys from pooping in our garden?

About whose these are... The simplest is prob if you do talk with these neigbours and ask if you could have this friendly kitten. Chances are good you will get immediately accept. They neigbours dont want to do something active, but probably they do bother in their own way. Thus, they will be relieved and also grateful at least one of them will be family cat...


Good luck!

Continuing... YOU could perhaps help them neigbours? Of course, how much you help depends if you can and are willing to pay, for example for this neutering of that female cat....
If yes, it should be fairly easy.
If not, you can still do very much. Of course, you must talk with them, in a friendly tone.

Find a cheap vet, and tell them. Or better still, tell about this vet, and suggest YOU follow them to the vet. Or perhaps even - propose you take the cat to the vet, they have just the part of paying...

An obstacle for them is prob not sheer negligence, but they are surely entirely unused to copy with a vet... the practical difficulties, you know.

So if they do get help with all that practical - it may very well be the turning point for them...

Finding a low-cost spay/neuter clinic for someone often goes a long way to helping solve the problem. If there's still no interest, offering to take care of it also (usually) works.

As to the pooping in the garden... the best way to solve that problem is to find homes for the kittens. I'd start by talking to the neighbor about it. But if they basically feel no responsibility for them, I'd contact rescues/foster networks, and even just make posters and work to find them homes.

You can lay down old lattice and plant stuff through it. Wire, such as welded wire, can be laid down in much the same way. Some people will use branches clipped off of thorny plants like roses - though that seems a hazard to any people.

I use lattice and wire for the garden in my backyard because I do have two outdoor only cats that are kept in that backyard. It works.

i like the lattice idea, we will have to try that next year. of course somebody pooped out in the open in the middle of the yard too.

i had tried to talk to the neighbors in question about spay/neuter and had asked if they wanted a list of resources. neighbors blew me off.

now it is a moot point. today i saw new people on their porch and spoke to them... neighbors in question took off and left the mama and her babies to fend for themselves. new neighbors are more than happy to help get kitties fixed and vaccinated, so we will go in on it with them.

Originally Posted by kwren

today i saw new people on their porch and spoke to them... neighbors in question took off and left the mama and her babies to fend for themselves. new neighbors are more than happy to help get kitties fixed and vaccinated, so we will go in on it with them.

Click to expand...

Wow, what a twich! In the world of theater the saying is "Deux ex machina" I think. roughly "saved as by Heavens".

The evil people are suddenly gone, instead there are a much more nice fellows.

But who complains? Not the cats, not you, and certainly not us....

we're waiting to hear back from the rescue people for an appointment so we can get them tested for leukemia... if they are negative we're going to get them fixed and bring them in.

i don't know what to do about mama tortie though, i haven't seen her eating in 4 days or so. there is a diluted calico who has been eating as well... now i am not sure if the babies belong to the calico or the tortie. they're more than old enough to be separated from mama though, they are at least 14 weeks. their eyes changed from blue at least a month and a half ago, maybe longer.

calico and tortie seem to be more feral, they won't let us anywhere near them.