The stray cats, continued

- Snowy and Fig

Today I had a visit from an Animal Control officer ... the neighbor across the street lodged a complaint against me as having a lot of "sick and injured" cats. I've been dreading this ever since that neighbor yelled at me from his yard "keep your stinking cats on your own property". I had thought of all the stings I would say, like how I had contacted all the animal agencies and charities I knew of for help in finding homes for the cats but how none would help .... the SPCA even suggested I just have them all euthanized as being semi-feral would make them impossible to adopt out. When the lady came to the door, though, I was so upset I couldn't remember all my lines.

First, though, I did say that none of the cats was sick, though one does have a permanent limp from an old injury (Mouse). She wanted to know how many were spayed/neutered and I said all but the most recent additions ... the five kittens who appeared this spring. I gave her the name of the veterinarian place I took them and told her that Mouse's leg had been examined by the vet. And I told her I had been in contact with someone from the Animal Control place before, discussing the cat situation and asking for help finding homes for the kittens.

It wasn't as bad as I feared. She isn't going to take the cats off to kill them. She said that as long as I got them all spayed and neutered and as long as they were in good health, they would leave things as they are. But she took my name and number and said she would check back. I think there's a new reality .... there are just so many abandoned and feral cats and dogs in neighborhoods now. The County kills thousands every year. If some people take it upon themselves to feed and spay/neuter some of these animals, I think the County is willing to look the other way much of the time.

But with the neighbor across the street having made a complaint, I don't know what the County may decide to do about my cats. And what about the neighbor .... when he realizes that the County probably won't make this problem go away, what might he do to the cats himself?