topic should warn you perverts that it's not what you think :)
We have two cats (2 dogs, 2 snakes, 10 fish, lord only knows how many Siberian Dwarf hampsters) which, until recently were outside cats. They are pretty mellow felines as felines go and didn't really stray far from the house.
One day the little old lady from across the street approached me saying that one of my cats was sleeping on her porch at night and asked if I could put a stop to it. When I asked if the cat was causing a problem by sleeping on her porch she said that it was shedding on her indoor/outdoor carpet. I volunteered to clean up the cat hair and told her that there probably wasn't much I could do to keep the cat off her porch, but I would come over every Saturday and clean up her porch. She agreed to that and we went on our merry ways.
Two days later, she again approached me. This time, in addition to the hair on the porch, she complained that the other cat was getting up on the leather roof of her Caddy and scratching it. Well, now, see, both our cats have been frontally declawed and when I pointed that out to her, she was quite adamant that it was my cat.
Keep in mind here that there are a lot of cats in our neighborhood; all different shapes, sizes and colors. I asked her if it were possible that it could have been a different cat which looked like one of our cats. Nope, she said, it was our cat. She then went on to say that she was tired of all the cats in the neighborhood going onto her property and she was going to set up humane animal traps, which she did. When the animals were caught in the traps, she called the ASPCA and had them hauled off. My cats were still around though.
Apparently she stayed up all night waiting for our cats to do their thing, because one night at 3:00 am I got a call from her saying that the cat was shedding on her porch again. Sigh. I went over and got the cat and put him inside. The next morning she called me over as I was trying to go to leave to take the kiddos to school. She showed me some scratch marks on her leather car roof. She told me that she was going to contact an attorney and sue me if I didn't do something about my cats.
A bit of background as I digress...
The lady and I have always had a very good relationship. I have helped her in her garden, re-did her kitchen ceiling, planted trees. My kids have helped her do stuff as well. I always go to her house whenever there is going to be a particularly cold night or a hot day to see if she's doing okay. She made us cookies and casseroles. Everything was great.
Which is why I was a bit surprised about the lawsuit threat.
I understand completely about her concern over the roof scratches, but, my cats couldn't have done that. I asked her what she might suggest as a resolution. Put them in the house, says she. My daughter is allergic to cats, says I. Take them to the pound, says she. But my kids really love those cats and I've been cleaning up the cat hair on your porch, says I. Then she hit me with the big one: You should have both those animals killed. She said it so matter-of-factly that I was sure I misunderstood, but I hadn't. I asked her if she were serious or just sort of kidding around in a not very nice way. She was completely serious. I just stared at her dumbfounded for a few seconds and, for a lack of any other thing to do or say, just turned and walked away.
Well, of course I wasn't going to take the cats to be murdered. I did really the only other thing I could think of: I moved them both into the back playroom. I built the thing myself and it is sealed up tight from the rest of the house when the door is closed. I figured I'd keep them in there while I try to find someone willing to take them. That was 4 months ago. They are still here. I can't find anyone to take them, I can't just drive them out into the country and hope they can fend for themselves and I totally can't take them to the pound where they will be murdered. Okay, euthenized. (murdered). The really big dilemma here is that I can't keep them in the house either. They absolutely have to go. Not only is my daughter being affected by their presence, but the cats are breeding....
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