# Other peoples cats



## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Hello,

I recently moved into a new place. I have had the wooden balcony door open with the screen door locked. In the past two days since moving in I have seen 4 cats in total, 2 on my balcony and 1 that was staring in at my budgie ladies. The final cat went into stalking mode which was alarming.

I don't want to be cruel to any animal but I got a spray bottle and squirted that cat with water. I want it to find my place unpleasant. 

I really want to be able to go out on the balcony with my ladies in their cage but I am worried now. 

Has anyone dealt with similar and found a solution?

Thanks


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*There is no way for you to know if these cats belong to your neighbors or if they are strays. Is that correct?

Spraying the cats with water is not cruel -- it is a means of teaching the cat to stay away and is fine.

I'm concerned about whether the cat(s) are going to try to claw their way through the screen to get to your birds. 
How secure to you think the screen is? 
Are you comfortable being out of the room with wooden door open and only the screen door protecting the birds?

Until you have the cats on the balcony issue under control, I wouldn't take the chance of being out on the balcony with Cassie and Luna in their cage.
Even being right there next to them and supervising every minute, a cat could jump onto the balcony and frighten the birds tremendously.*


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

The screen door seems very secure. I think even a person would have trouble breaking into it and they don't look like strays to me.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Glad to hear the screen portion of the door seems strong enough to withstand a cat trying to claw through it.

Maybe you'll want to ask your landlord about the problem of having neighbors cats climbing onto your balcony?*


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Yeah I might ask them, maybe they will let me put in a temporary structure to prevent the cats from coming in.


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Hey,

What do you guys think of something like this to keep away cats and other creatures? It looks like it might help keep my ladies safe while still letting direct sunlight in.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Where are you planning to put the lattice? If you put it around the railing of your balcony the cats can simply climb over it.*


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

OMG

You won't believe what I found out when I spoke to my neighbour. Apparently the cats belong to the house just over the fence from our unit block. These people don't look after these animals and they are not desexed. So they keep having litters and more cats all the time.

She feeds them cos the owners don't. They have prolly been coming on my balcony looking for food 😱

Poor little things. I am half tempted to feed them some tuna myself but I don't want to encourage them near my place.

What can I do? They should at least be desexed so there's no more neglected creatures. Argh! How horrible!


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Sorry it is a bit off topic but I decided to lure the young pregnant cat up the road away from my place and give her a can of tuna. More cats came so I dug out two more cans of tuna and then more cats came but I had ran out.

My neighbour where I used to live was schizophrenic and has never worked, he was always hungry so I used to feed him a lot of tuna as well because it is cheap for me but filling and has some nutrients for him. Otherwise I usually have half a dozen cans.

I am NOT cheap but I work long hours and don't earn a huge amount so I can only do a little to help


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## justmoira (Aug 29, 2014)

Personally I would call animal control. You can also see if there's a TNR service for your area and see if they can do anything.


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

I spoke to my neighbour and she said she has been calling the rspca (humane animal control in australia) about at least desexing but they are overwhelmed by the pandemic situation. My mother suggested taking them in one by one but I don't want to get in legal strife as it is technically stealing I guess.

What is TNR? I am unfamiliar with this term


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## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

TNR stands for trap, neuter, release. In the US there are programs with various humane and shelter organizations that work to humanely trap the cats, have them neutered and release them back into their area, that way they are not reproducing and increasing the number of homeless and feral cats.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I would not recommend you feeding the cats.
Doing so is just going to attract more cats to your area and you have enough of a feral cat problem already.*


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