I'll preface this with saying that I do not want to call animal control. I am trying to TNR these cats and some of them are very sweet (if mostly distant) and I don't want them taken away/killed.
I was talking to a neighbor, who keeps chickens cooped in her fenced yard, about the neighborhood cats. Apparently my neighbor has seen cats literally crawling all over the property next to her from the ground to the roof of that house. This was confirmed by a man and his young son who sometimes stop at that house to see the cats outside. Yesterday, I saw a kitten of socializing age under a covered car. It disappeared before I could photograph it. We've been seeing cats for a year+, and yesterday I confirmed that some of the cats we see on our property are being harbored on this "hoarder" property.
I say "hoarder" because what I saw was moderately alarming. Plush cat beds are left outside the house (bad idea for our environment where they could harbor mold, bedbugs, etc), and there were about a dozen open, half-eaten cat food cans just outside the front door, bugs everywhere. The area had a stench that I couldn't place. I went back there a second time and saw one of the cats I'd seen on our property. This one has a tipped ear it looks like, but the others we know of do not.
Despite being home, the owners of the property did not answer their door.
I don't know these people, but I know that family has lived there for 35+ years (same as us). There is a 90 yo woman and her ~60 yo daughter with I think the daughter's husband.
My immediate neighbor, the one with the chickens, told me that a cat once attacked her chicken which cost her $265 at the vet to save its life (it lived, but it was 'never the same'). Since then, the chickens are cooped and protected by chicken wire on the open side. This neighbor sees cats on their property all the time, as we do. They do not mind the cats and do not want harm to come to them, but they do not want so many cats around.
My immediate neighbors have given me permission to set up traps on THEIR property next to the neighbor harboring all the cats. I intend to TNR as many as I can, though it will taken time as I am doing this alone with the indirect help of a local rescue group.
In our state, it is an offense to harbor cats in such a way that leads to them becoming a nuisance (this includes destruction of property, such as chickens). It is also an offense to let unfixed cats (esp females) roam off your property, which they absolutely are.
The advice I want pertains to how to deal with the neighbor who is irresponsibly feeding cats. The food left there is attracting raccoons, possums, and skunks, activity increased lately judging by how many more times we are hearing, smelling, and seeing these critters. I also hear raccoon and cat screams from that direction occasionally.
Is TNR the only option I have short of calling animal control (which I don't want to do)?
Thanks in advance.
I was talking to a neighbor, who keeps chickens cooped in her fenced yard, about the neighborhood cats. Apparently my neighbor has seen cats literally crawling all over the property next to her from the ground to the roof of that house. This was confirmed by a man and his young son who sometimes stop at that house to see the cats outside. Yesterday, I saw a kitten of socializing age under a covered car. It disappeared before I could photograph it. We've been seeing cats for a year+, and yesterday I confirmed that some of the cats we see on our property are being harbored on this "hoarder" property.
I say "hoarder" because what I saw was moderately alarming. Plush cat beds are left outside the house (bad idea for our environment where they could harbor mold, bedbugs, etc), and there were about a dozen open, half-eaten cat food cans just outside the front door, bugs everywhere. The area had a stench that I couldn't place. I went back there a second time and saw one of the cats I'd seen on our property. This one has a tipped ear it looks like, but the others we know of do not.
Despite being home, the owners of the property did not answer their door.
I don't know these people, but I know that family has lived there for 35+ years (same as us). There is a 90 yo woman and her ~60 yo daughter with I think the daughter's husband.
My immediate neighbor, the one with the chickens, told me that a cat once attacked her chicken which cost her $265 at the vet to save its life (it lived, but it was 'never the same'). Since then, the chickens are cooped and protected by chicken wire on the open side. This neighbor sees cats on their property all the time, as we do. They do not mind the cats and do not want harm to come to them, but they do not want so many cats around.
My immediate neighbors have given me permission to set up traps on THEIR property next to the neighbor harboring all the cats. I intend to TNR as many as I can, though it will taken time as I am doing this alone with the indirect help of a local rescue group.
In our state, it is an offense to harbor cats in such a way that leads to them becoming a nuisance (this includes destruction of property, such as chickens). It is also an offense to let unfixed cats (esp females) roam off your property, which they absolutely are.
The advice I want pertains to how to deal with the neighbor who is irresponsibly feeding cats. The food left there is attracting raccoons, possums, and skunks, activity increased lately judging by how many more times we are hearing, smelling, and seeing these critters. I also hear raccoon and cat screams from that direction occasionally.
Is TNR the only option I have short of calling animal control (which I don't want to do)?
Thanks in advance.