The neighbor's cat has lost all sympathy, cool points, any emotion other than disdain from me. It has crossed the line and it has got to go, and the neighbor too.
Let me start at the beginning. Back in February, back when it was really cold, one Sunday night there was a poor little kitten sitting in front of our door shivering and whining to come it. We had seen the kitten hanging around for a few weeks and we was starting to get concerned that the kitten was a stray and not going to survive the cold. We got a cat carrier, caught the cat, and kept it inside overnight with the plan to take it to the Humane Society the next morning. Unfortunately the Humane Society is closed on Mondays so we let it out the next morning with the plan to get catch it again that night and take it in on Tuesday. The kitten was so cute and sweet, we thought about keeping it and just getting it spayed. Well Monday night I went outside to find the kitten and right when I stepped outside the neighbor two houses down arrived home and I noticed the cat followed him in his house. We didn't know if the cat was his so we waited until the next morning and asked him as he was fetching his newspaper if the cat was his. He said it was and at that moment a cat that looked similar but larger ran around the side of the house so we realized that there were two cats hanging around not just one. (we had been hearing a cat at night whining, I think under our house)
Flash forward two weeks ago, Lily and I decided to have a picnic lunch in the fort on the swing set. As I was climbing in I noticed that there was poop on my shoe, I walked all around the yard looking for the pile and then I discovered the pile was actually in the mulch under the monkey bars of the swing set. I didn't realize at the time it was cat, but I was still quite upset that our yard despite being pet-free has lots of poop in it.
Flash forward one week ago, the kids were playing in the sand box and we went in to eat, after dinner we came back out and noticed one of the neighbor's cats (the one with one ear) was in the lid of the sandbox circling around, we quickly shooed him out.
Then on Saturday, at about 8 am, we heard two cats fighting out on our deck, we immediately went out and one eared cat was on the deck stalking birds trying to come to our feeder. It was then we noticed that it also vomited on the deck railing, not cool, we chased it off immediately and were starting to get irritated that this cat was quickly becoming a pest.
Saturday the kids and I planted strawberry plants in the yard. Sunday afternoon I went out to show Jeff our new plants and I bent down to see how they were doing; I noticed one plant was kind of covered up with dirt, I thought the kids had done it in planting so I tried push away the dirt and quickly discovered I had raked my hands through cat poop. I was MAD.
I should also note that Saturday afternoon the kids and I were playing on the swingset and I had to remove poop that was buried in the mulch. (I then realized the other mulch by the swing set was also cat poop).
So the total is 3 poops, 1 vomit, and who knows how many urines.
Monday, Jeff and the kids were playing outside, they went in to get something and when they came back (within 5 minutes) they discovered the cat had peed in the opened sandbox and pooped in the mulch by the swingset.
That was the last straw, when I got home from book club Monday night it was about 8:30 and since the neighbor was home I went down to his house and rang his doorbell.
I told him we were having a major problem with one of his cats, it was peeing, pooping, and vomiting in our yard and it was unacceptable.
I should note that in the last couple of weeks we had not seen the kitten and our next door neighbor thought both cats were gone because bad neighbor was kind of getting back with his wife and never home.
The neighbor apologized and said he would keep the cat inside during the day and not let her out all day like he had been.
I should also note that neighbor has been gone for days at a time and left the cats out the entire time, but I digress.
He also mentioned that the kitten had just had kittens a week ago.
I was livid, the guy who can't take care of 2 cats, now he has 5.
How I wish the Humane Society was open on Mondays, that cat would have been spayed and our neighborhood would have 3 less cats.
The conversation ended with the neighbor saying that he would not let the cat out during the day and he was sorry for the problems.
Well I quickly found out how sincere he was.
Next morning, Lance and I left for school and what should we see in the backyard?
Yup, you guessed it, the cat squatting beside the sandbox peeing.
I was so angry, the neighbor's car was gone, he had already left for work, so much for not letting the cat out all day.
Last night Jeff went for a bike ride and what did he discover when he got home, the cat, stalking some poor cardinals trying to build a nest in our bushes.
Today when I got home from work, guess who I saw in the corner of our yard?
The cat.
So frustrated. What do I do?
Do I catch the cat and take it to the Humane Society of someone who will take a cat missing an ear?
Or do we use the cat for BB gun practice?
Do I buy the expensive cat deterrent spray and pray it works?
Do I eat a bunch of oranges and leave the rinds all over since cats supposedly don't like citrus?
Do I scoop up all the bodily fluids and return to neighbor on their front porch?
Something has got to change, I hate that we can't play outside without worrying about what lovely gifts the cat has left for us and then what do we do about the sandbox? Dump the sand and start over or what?
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