Animal control in our area doesn't care. All cats are someones pets as far as they care. I can't blame them, they're stretched way too thin, and have bigger concerns than stray cats. Just getting around to picking up roadkill is a strain. And of course, they have no where to put whatever they do pick up so...

As for catch and release, well, I used to live out in the country. Where people did the "release" part of catch and release. It's not pretty. I don't know what cityfolk think will happen to the cats when they dump them, but it's just not a good idea. My neighbor, who was closer to the main road got the bulk of them, but they'd reproduce faster than he could deal with them. He had a local vets office that would fix them and knock an ear so he'd know which ones were fixed for $10, and he couldn't keep up. I'd turn down my road at night and see over 50 cats looking at me. And then they'd have kittens. Litter after litter of unhealthy uncared for kittens. That was sad. Out there though they'd boom for a while, then coyotes would come by and thin them out. Or if need be, a .22 would do the trick. But no one "claimed" those cats. No one missed them, or even really noticed. These are different.

So far the neighbors haven't seemed to have noticed that cats keep coming up missing, but I'm sure they will eventually. I suppose I should have mentioned earlier, these cats aren't going home tattered and torn. These cats aren't going home. They might have come over the fence with nine lives, but my dog is ten times the match for a cat.

As for talking to the neighbors, I'm afraid that is easier said then done. For starters, I don't know exactly who the neighbors are, I can't tell who lives there and who is just staying for a while. It seems anytime anyone makes it a permenant home, the SWAT team comes by and changes their minds for them. So, they come and go a lot. There's only one guy that seems to be constant, and he doesn't seem to like the cats much so...

In any case, I just wish the cats would stay in their own yard. I don't want them in mine, but I'm tired of dealing with it. And not looking forward to any confrontations about it.

MV