What would you do - kitten edition

[Stacy]

I know this is totally off topic. But you all always have such great ideas, and I know there are rescue people here so I hope it's okay to bounce this situation off of you and get some ideas. 

The guy who lives in the house across the street from me is odd. He has never bothered me, but he's probably late 40s. Doesn't have a car, doesn't seem to have a job. Maybe doesn't have air conditioning in the house - I've never seen his windows closed in this heat wave we've been having. 

Maybe a month ago I was out mowing the grass and he came over and asked if I wanted a kitten. I explained that I was allergic. He said his cat had kittens and he had 4. That was the end of it. 

Today my dad was over and we were checking the tires on my car. I saw at least 3 of the kittens playing in the bushes in front of his house. I know he has at least 2 grown cats, and now he still has these kittens. I saw them scratching. Maybe it's nothing, or maybe those kittens have fleas! 

My fear is that if his adult cats aren't altered the kittens won't be altered either, and then we're going to end up with a cat colony on my street! 6 cats turn into lots and lots of cats. 

The thing is, I don't really know that he doesn't plan to be responsible for them. I don't know that he doesn't have homes lined up. I would offer to help him get the cats fixed, but I don't really know him so that's awkward. The city won't let you have that many animals, but I don't really care as long as it doesn't get out of control. I've just watched too many episodes of Hoarders and I know what happens when cats start multiplying like crazy. 

Should I do anything at all? What would you do?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My guess is you are going to have a feral cat colony very soon. And they will all be covered with fleas and every other kind of parasite. As time goes by, they will also have all kinds of genetic defects from interbreeding and health issues from being malnourished, and not given proper care. I've had experience with this and it's a very sad situation.

I can tell you now that this man doesn't plan to "be responsible" for these kittens or they wouldn't be outside playing in the bushes, period. And he's already shown that he isn;t responsible for his adult cats either, or he would have had them spayed/neutered long before now. I doubt very much that he has homes for the kittens; if he did, they'd already be in them, or at least safely kept in the house until they are old enough to go home. I mean "Oh, I'm sorry, that grey kitten you wanted got run over by a car/eaten by a coyote/ poisioned/disappeared/whatever" is probably not going to go over too well with the owner he has lined up. All you have to do is search Petfinder for available kittens in your neighborhood to see that it's very doubtful this man had people clamoring to take one. 
Call your local animal control and report it. That's about all you can do. 

[Stacy]

That is exactly what I'm afraid of. And that the fleas and parasites and whatever nastiness will end up at my house. The girls take their flea meds, but still. And once it gets out of control it's going to be a mess. And I'm like you. I'm very doubtful that he has plans to do the right thing, but I hate to jump the gun and make wrong assumptions. I am very much a person who tries to mind my own business, but I hate the idea of a bunch of neglected cats roaming the neighborhood. I just have a hard time deciding if I should call animal control now, when he really hasn't done anything too terrible, or wait until it becomes a problem. I'm not trying to get him in trouble. I just want the right thing for the cats, and for myself too. I don't want a cat colony on the street.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think the fact that he has very young kittens outdoors unsupervised and uncontained is a wrong thing that he is already doing. 

[Stacy]

I know you're right. It's just an unfortunate situation. They're very cute and playful. They seem to be adoptable. I wish for a better life for them.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I was surprised when I went to Kauai a few years ago. They have feral everything. Feral chickens, feral cats and feral pigs. The chickens and the cats are sure annoying and the cats are mean they may be little and cute to look at but they are mean, and they have an attitude. Quite frankly I would not want that in my neighborhood. I would call on him and maybe they can at least check it out and maybe take the kittens to the shelter and offer to spay his adult cats. My guess is unless the kittens end up dead you will be sorry if you don't act now.

[Stacy]

That reminds me of when I went to Jamaica. There were feral cats even at the resort. And they didn't look well. I felt bad for them.

I'm going to give it this week while I'm out of town. Maybe something will be different when I get back. They can't be more than 12 weeks old. Then I will address it. I just really don't want to have to.

[Stacy]

I am about to lose my ever-loving mind about these cats. They seem to show up at dusk and dawn - it's too hot the rest of the day, I don't know where they go. The problem is that they taunt the dogs through the window and the dogs go nuts. Way earlier than I want to be awake. 

So I've been looking at city ordinances and it says you can only have 2 adult cats over 6 months old. These little guys aren't 6 months. I also read that animal control won't deal with "community cats" unless they are sick or dangerous. Apparently there are just too many of them. They advise you not to feed them. I'm not feeding them, but I'm sure the neighbor is. 

They don't even live at the house in the picture. They live in the house to the left of that one. They've just picked that one to camp out at. And this morning when Maggie was going nuts there was one standing in the yard right outside my house. Kitty you don't live here. 

I'm actually thinking the solution might be some sort of window cling that the girls can't see through. It's not what I want to do, but I would like to sleep past 6am. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Some communities have catch-spay/neuter- release programs for feral cats. Others will round up the cats and destroy them. That's what happened in my sister's neighborhood when she stupidly created a huge feral cat community by feeding a few strays. 

Check if there is an SPCA in your county, they may do something. 

I promise you that the city AC will do something when the colony gets really huge. Which it will if nothing is done. 

[Stacy]

We do have the spay/neuter release program around here. And there are also two feral cat colonies nearby. The thing I struggle with is that they really aren't feral cats. Yet. Once there are 20 or 30 of them all bets will be off. One of them in particular is a nice little kitten who followed me home and just begged for attention. It deserves a nice home. But I know where they belong. I feel like I can't just start abducting kittens in the middle of the night. They probably aren't even neglected according to the legal definition. 

I feel like the *right* thing to do is probably to go knock on the door and talk to him about how at the very least we need to get them all spayed or neutered. But I really really hate doing things like that. I wish I could just email him, but somehow I don't think he has email. 

We do have a good spca here. I could at least call them and ask them what they think. That is a better idea than knocking on the neighbors door. Maybe I'm wrong and they can help me. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, I don;t know what the legal definiton of neglected is, but I do know that it usually involves not providing reliable food, water and shelter, and it doesn't seem to me that that's what this neighbor is providing. 

Every kitten deserves a nice home. But do you have any idea at all how many nice homeless kittens there are, just within a mile of your home? Go to Petfinder, put in your zip code and search for available kittens. It will be a good reality check when you see how many hundreds are sitting in shelters, in danger of being euthanized for space. And those kittens are at least vaccinated, used to being handled, and not covered in fleas.  

I honestly do not think it will do any good to talk to your neighbor. There are a lot of people who think I am crazy when I tell them that cats, like dogs, belong inside your home, period, and that it is irresponsible to allow them to wander around outdoors. I am sure your neighbor feels that way and you are not going to change his mind. 
I would call the SPCA.

[DonMarie and Picco]

I'd talk to animal control. And hope there is something they can do about it. And to add; neighborhood kids might be attracted to them too and possibly get scratched or bitten.