鄰居's貓s are driving me CRAZY!!!

Let me apologize first for typing in English. I can read and write Chinese but I can't type in Chinese. Please allow me to VENT!!!

I can't stand her cats anymore!!! I used to feel neutral towards cats but that was prior to having our current neighbor. Ever since she became our next door neighbor 7 years ago, we have been having cat sh*t and flea problems. Our neighbor brought over 7 "outdoor" cats when she moved here.

I don't know how anyone can claim the cats hers if all she did was to provide water and food to them. She allows her cats roam around the neighborhood freely and poop all over other neighbor's yard. Because she's feeding "her" cats, she's even attracting other strays to feast on the food.

Worst of all, those cats try to mark their territory by spraying.... the stench!!! The cats have marked INSIDE our garage, came into our home and broke out of the window screen, marked our front door, left fleas in our shoes, left fleas in our front door and thus traveling into our house, left cat poops all over the front and backyard.

And now the latest... the cat marked our minivan that was purchased only 2 months ago. We left the side door open and the cat had gotten in. Inside the minivan, we had the 3 car seats, which included the brand new baby car seat and stroller for my daughter that was born in Jan, 2012. Each car seat was about $300 US (all from Britax). My husband wanted to toss the car seats but I thought it would be too costly to replace them. Thus began my relentless endeavor to clean the car seats. The cat managed to mark all over our van: front seat, front door, back seat, back row carpet, rear door, etc. Just imagined the stench!!! It took me 3 whole days to scrub and clean everywhere and the car still smelled as if a cat had died there. The worst part about cleaning is finding the spots that the cat had marked. Even now, I'm not certain if I had identified all the areas.

I was absolutely furious. I finally gathered my courage and talked to our neighbor about her cats for the first time. We never wanted to complain because we wanted to be neighborly toward her. The minivan incident has just pushed me over the edge. I hope she'll do something about the cats before my husband does something crazy. As for me, I can now honestly say... I HATE CATS!!!!!!!

(原作者於 2012-03-08 19:39:18 重新編輯過)

拍拍...給妳秀秀一下, 我們社區是屬於集合式的住宅, 也是有些很特別的鄰居太想愛護小動物了, 常常餵時那些野貓.野狗, 搞得到處都是牠們的排洩物, 最後是管委會出面制止,才稍為有改善一些, 但.....遇到發情期時, 天殺的,你能想像從早到晚的貓叫春嗎? 剛開始我真的以為是哪家的小朋友在哭, 後來查證後發現, 太可怕了,居然是一群又一群的野貓在叫... 目前..也只能忍耐中, 雖然已經拜託管委會的請人來處理.. 但..也只能期待有天能還給我們平靜的日子 (至少..讓我晚上能安心入睡吧!!!!)

I know how you feel. I am a cat lover and I own one. However, I still hate the stray cats out there that turn my trash can over and leave a mess out there in my front porch. I think what you should do is action. Find the right authority to get your neighbor to learn the right rules of keeping a pet. Definition of a pet, meaning one can have considerable control over it, isn't it? Otherwise, we'd think that it's the SPCA or some other units that should take care of them. If you can't find the right unit, get the 'victims' in your neighborhood, and sign petitions which should forward to the mayor or sth. Good luck and hope your nightmare will be over soon! (原作者於 2012-03-08 20:31:47 重新編輯過)

你們有HOA嗎?如果鄰居屢勸不聽,可以跟HOA反應這問題, 或是直接claim到動物警察那類的單位吧,讓政府出面處理. 這鄰居真沒水準,放任寵物亂跑影響環境衛生實在很糟糕, 現在已經影響到你們的生活了是可以去檢舉的. 另外車子的部分,你可以花點錢送去detail,專業洗車廠會幫你清的很乾淨. 我是滿好奇你們車子的門是忘了關還是刻意打開的?如果家裡沒有車庫,車子放在外面又沒鎖滿危險的呢.

車子的門是忘了關, but in summer, we like to open the garage door for a few hours a day to let out the heat trapped inside the house. We have 車庫 but it's really being used for storage. There's no HOA because it's a single family house. The neighbors across the street try to counter the cat pooping on their lawn by placing a jug in the middle of the yard. They claimed it kept the cats off their lawn but didn't work for us :( I thought about contacting the animal control for a long time but again didn't want to disturb the peace. Gosh, they're her cats yet the rest of the neighborhood is being used as their litter boxes.

噢！版媽 那鄰居都沒在乎對住戶的尊重了 你還顧慮和平問題 這種情形早可以去檢舉了 畢竟已經影響到你們的生活了 美國人的民情和台灣不一樣 你越吞忍對方就越不在乎甚至欺負你 你懂得悍衛自己的權益對方才會收斂 對你從此會更尊重 Just do something, Complain behind their back is useless. 另外你們如果住的是社區形式的住宅的話 應該都有HOA 你們若有公設每年有繳管理費的話就是有 沒有的話就只能自立自強了 (原作者於 2012-03-09 01:07:30 重新編輯過)

there are commercial cat repellents that you can buy from the store. getting a dog can be another alternative. here are 10 ways to keep cats away: http://landscaping.about.com/od/pestcontrol/a/cat_repellents.htm

update: After several more days of cleaning of the minivan, my van still smelled. We bought all kinds of carpet shampoo and pet odor removal solutions and drenched the van with chemicals. Once the shampoo fragrance disappeared, we always managed to smell the cat stench. I finally took the van to the professional auto detailing shop to have an complete interior detailing done. (Nothing was done to the exterior). We paid $325 + $30 in tips and with no guarantee that the smell would be entirely gone. Now, I'm just waiting for a hot day to drive away the shampoo / steam vac smell in order to see if the cat odor is indeed not evident. Another cat episode occurred among all this craziness. While we were in our front yard, the cat got into our family room from the backyard through our patio door. Luckily, this time the cat decided to spare us from the spraying. However, just its nasty paws were enough to carry the disgusting cat smell on our carpet. When I got into the house, I immediately smelled the cat. I thought my nose must be deceiving me and is becoming hypersensitive to cat odor. When I put my nose to the carpet, I realized the cat had indeed took a tour in our family room. We spent the whole night removing furniture from the room and steam vac'd the entire area with pet odor removal shampoo. Our neighbor promised to send all but 2 of his outdoor cats to his brother. As long as there are any cats left roaming about the neighborhood, they will continue to terrorize the neighbors, us, to be specific. Besides, the food left outside for the 2 outdoor cats will attract other strays to come by and feast. My husband wants to gather other neighbor's supports and contact the animal control. It's becoming quite awkward because my neighbor has been ignoring and pretending not to see me since my initial and only complaint about the cats.

Get a dog! Maybe this is not really helpful, but this is the first thing pops out in my mind after reading your story.

可憐的版媽 基於我本身有四隻喵咪的經驗 我來解釋一下喵咪的習性 喵咪與狗不一樣 狗可以被控制 喵咪卻是不被控制的 尤其是室外喵 牠們的野性是與生俱來的 牠們對所有物的所有權與人類的認知不一樣 您的車庫對牠們而言並不屬於您的 有一輛新車還沒下標的當然要趕快下標的 聽版媽這樣說起來 會 mark territory 的話攻擊性與地域性比較強 很可能還沒結紮 換句話說 很可能 breed 喔 結紮過的喵咪就比較懶散了 關於被喵mark過的東西 唉...那個味道喔...沒聞過的人真的無法了解那種酸臭味 版媽記得還得用稀釋過的漂白水再擦過一次 我們人類鼻子聞不到了喵的鼻子卻還聞的到喔 植物欉旁要趕開喵咪 最簡單的方法就是插衛生筷 讓喵咪無法靠近 覺得難看的話 可以去買一種綠色上面有刺刺的一整片的圓洞狀物品 在台灣的話我知道大創有在賣 一片39元 國外的話可能得去 garden centre 問問看 那是防止有種苗的話被鳥吃掉 所以表面做有刺 讓動物無法降落在上面或靠近 喔我的四隻喵全是室內喵 所以沒有造成鄰居的困擾啦 您的鄰居的喵為室外喵 已經定型了也不可能改成室內喵了 也無法訓練 您可以考慮請鄰居在喵身上裝鈴鐺 聽到鈴聲至少可以來趕喵 也不要苛責您的鄰居無法管好自己的喵 喵是無法被管的 要記得 如果鄰居的喵把您家當成牠自家範圍了 牠會把您當成入侵者 大人當然不怕 但若有弱小的嬰兒就得特別注意喔