Humanely prevent cats from crapping all over my yard

[Greg]

Rabies....in theory yes, in practice no.

Oh, about rabies... it's *huge* around here. This is a suburban area, with lots of habitat and food sources for animals like raccoons and skunks and such. They love it around here, and there are a lot them. Well mostly. The populations of animals like raccoons and skunks oscillates widely, because the general conditions would support a large population but every few years it gets almost wiped out by rabies. The rabies then subsides for a while because of a shortage of hosts, and the populations grow back. But the rabies never entirely goes away and when the population gets high enough there's another mass die-off.... it's kind of like the plague.

You *never* let a wild animal that's behaving oddly near you, because it's fairly certain to be rabid. Yeah it's that common.

[Rich]

My last batch of cats were adopted feral types, and very pregnant when "friends" dropped them off. So, I had cats that "insisted" they had to be outdoors when the sun set, and they could hunt rodents.

So, I've been on both sides of this discussion.

If you can convince them they need to stay indoors, great. Otherwise, once the door is open, they're gone. And if you are going to work and won't be back for about 10-12 hours, outside is where they have to stay.

Oh, did I mention that I live alone, by preference.

Meanwhile, I had almost no problem with rodents, except for finding half eaten ones on the doorstep.

Had to de-flea them on a regular basis, but never saw a tick. And neither did the vet on their yearly check up.

[308Mike]

Especially as shooting Feral/abandoned or even just pets running free is par for the course in much of the US. Did NJ ever pass that Feral Cat law they were considering?

That's only a rural thing. But yeah, I know my FiL shoots ferals. You do NOT want a pack of feral dogs on your property when the *soonest* a sheriff's deputy can reach you is 45 minutes, even if you don't have livestock.

And I have no idea about a Feral Cat law. Now I'll have to look it up.

Just making a wild guess here, but *if* it's okay to shoot feral cats, what about roaming loose/feral dogs with no collars/dog-tags?? After all, one time I was in the garage cleaning my scuba gear when a growling, loose dog came onto my driveway, all the while looking at me and growling. I grabbed my nearby crossbow and loaded it (it was the only distance weapon I had available at the time), hoping I wasn't going to have to shoot the dog. I tired to ignore the dog (I was a LOT younger and didn't consider what it might do to other people at the time) and did a pretty good job of it as the dog slowly meandered off - hopefully back to it's owner.

For about 15 minutes, I was ready to put a crossbow bolt right into that dog's chest - but was VERY glad I didn't have to. I would have felt the same about a cat - but they are FAR less likely to accost people working in their garage without bothering them first - and most people would simply boot a cat as a first response rather than shoot one. Now if the cat was as big as a large dog, then ALL bets are off as that cat would be FAR more dangerous than a dog of the same size. If I saw a cat of the same size as a medium-sized dog, and it was growling and coming towards me, I'd shoot it ASAP since I know what an EIGHT POUND cat can do to someone when they get pissed off.

You DO NOT want to underestimate the power and ferocity of ANY cat, and I LOVE cats!!

[Highspeed]

Letting your cat out is STUPID, especially if you actually care about the animal.

I think it's got to depend where you live Greg.

The cat we brought here from the UK was never allowed out until now and it definitely warped his psyche. But then he was a feral cat who was found in a barn. He's a warrior by genetics and it's been a crime to keep him in.

There are some feral toms around here and one day I was watching our own tom ( Feegle ) stalking them in the next field.
Except that they would disappear and re-appear a hundred yards away, which was spooky.
Eventually I figured it out - the indig feral toms were using the underground irrigation tunnels ( built in the Franco fascist era but hardly used, a feature of much of rural Spain ) to wander the battlefield at will.

When Feegle figured all it out I was there when he first went down the tunnels, I said " Hey Bro, want a torch, a 1911 and a K-Bar ? " and he replied ( in cat ) " It's all good, I can see in the dark and I got a flick knife on every paw - see you later, REMF "

He came back with his shield, not on it

[McClarkus]

I'm on 36 acres. Shop has a doggie door and both dog and cat can go in and out at will. Dog stays at the house in the evening but Wife says cat stays in shop. Oh well. His name was "CB" - short for "Cougar Bait". My county has the highest per capita population of mountain lions in the US or so I am led to believe. I think he eventually lived up to his name. I now have another shop cat. I have held (and bathed) a pissed off 10 pound house cat. I can only guess at what a pissed off 150 pound mountain lion could do. I have lived here for 12 years and have only seen two of them.

[SeekHer]

Up at the farm we are not far from a major summer holiday area where all the citified folk go to relax and bring there pets who either escape or let go on their own by the owner who got tired of them.

The develop into feral packs…Early fall you’ll see terriers and great Danes running in the pack, winter you’ll see all mid sized, smaller then German Shepherds, running along as the really big dogs died of malnutrition and are eaten as well as the little ones.

Next they attack the offspring of the sheep, goats, chickens, ducks and two cousins raise bison and race down Whitetail deer the same way that wolves do.

If the dog, is off a leash—unless you know it’s your neighbour’s—It gets shot. Period! We had a couple incidents every couple of years where little kids got attacked in their yards while playing.

[Greg]

I think it's got to depend where you live Greg.

To some degree, sure. But I guaranty that inside the house will always have fewer threats, and less exposure to parasites and disease. Last cat we had made it to (not sure of his exact age when we got him) 20 or so before cancer got him.

The cat we brought here from the UK was never allowed out until now and it definitely warped his psyche. But then he was a feral cat who was found in a barn. He's a warrior by genetics and it's been a crime to keep him in.

That's trouble right there- I mentioned barn cats in my first post in this thread. You don't try to make a pet of a barn cat , with very rare exceptions and the cat should make it clear that he wants to switch to pet status. (I once met a barn cat I wanted to adopt, but according to his "employers" he was very special.) Partly tamed cats that hang around farms and keep the pests down in exchange for shelter, some protection and supplemental food... those are different. Like I wrote before those are supposed to stay outside and for a reason. Best to think of them more as employees than friends. You don't get attached, and you expect attrition...