Are You A Responsible Cat Owner?

Is your cat allowed to wander outside freely?

Does he/she use your neighbor's garden, lawn or child's sandbox for a litter box?

Does he/she seranade the neighborhood with howls and fighting?

Does he/she dart across the street making cars swerve and cause possible injury?

If you answered 'Yes' to any of these questions, then you are probably NOT a responsible cat owner.

For you cat's own safety as well as preventing your cat from becoming a neighborhood nuisance, you should keep your cat indoors. Many cat owners have created safe "outdoor" environments (such as the one here) for their cats by enclosing a porch or patio. These two techniques can be constructed relatively inexpensively with lattice work and chicken wire. The addition of a pet door creates easy access to these areas when your cat needs his/her outdoor "fix." Other owners have chosen to top off their current fencing with "cat fencing" that can be purchased via mail order. This is a little more expensive; however, it is very effective.

Is your cat an outdoor or indoor cat?

Please read this letter from someone in my neighborhood.

Letters to the Editor

Dear Tarpey Neighbor,

Is your cat missing?

Was he the fuzzy black and white one that used to come over my fence and fight with that big orange striped one under my bedroom window at two in the morning? Or was he the young sleek one that liked to whiz in the flower bed near my front door and then move on to the backyard to make his pile in my kid's sandbox?

I'm familiar with all these creatures and know where they went. After several seasons of enduring these invasions and mid-nocturnal awakenings by uncontrolled pets, I phoned the SPCA and was advised that I could rent a live trap from them, catch the offending beasts, and bring them in to their facility.

The trap was baited with a generous portion of healthy food, possibly better stuff than they got at home, so that they would be well nourished and content for the ride to their new home at the SPCA impoundment. The nice folks at the SPCA said that I was well within the law to trap them live and humanely, and that they'd take good care of them for a few days until their owners came for them. If the owners didn't come within a few days, since the SPCA has limited space, that the cats would have to go to - well - go to that big litter box in the sky.

So, that may be where your missing cat is, or was. (I wonder if there's a big enough trap for that brown tail-less dog that drops his mess-ages in my front yard?)

Name withheld by request

Please see NSPA's suggested methods for dealing with stray cats.