Have you ever gotten into a fight with your neighbor?

[Deleted]

my neighbour is a 65 year old single woman... no i have never got in a physical fight with her...

[Viscoe]

I haven't. I've wanted to with my current upstairs neighbors who make ungodly amounts of noise (specifically at night), but I dislike confrontation. Also most of their noise comes from their young child who runs around the house and jumps all the time and stays up til 1 in the morning and screams bloody murder every day at bath time, and I can't be upset for the kid being a kid. Kids are noisy. /shrug (I mostly don't like them because they vacuum and run the washer and dryer exclusively at night time when the allocated quiet hours are, which are 10 PM to 9 AM. I'm trying to fucking sleep and you're fucking running a vacuum over my head? Fuck you.)

One time our neighbors from downstairs told us that sometimes our bass is too loud so we apologized and both turned our subwoofers off. Does that count? :P

[Reeve]

It's a needlessly spiteful and cruel approach. Why should innocent animals suffer just so a pair of selfish parents can 'one up' their neighbours? It'd make much more sense to approach local pet charities and see if they could be re-homed. Anyone who can pick up a cat and take it to be put down with no good reason is a terrible person as far as I'm concerned.

As for the main subject of the thread I've had poor luck when it comes to neighbours. I've lived in a variety of places over the years and aside from a handful of lovely neighbours the majority have, unfortunately, been aggressive or very withdrawn and awkward.

But it's totally cool to put out rat traps? At the point that poster mentioned, the cats weren't really anyone's pet. They were pests, like rats. It's no more immoral to deal with a cat infestation than a rat infestation. The reason people see it differently is just that cats are usually pets, but in this case, they weren't really anymore.

[Deleted]

But it's totally cool to put out rat traps? At the point that poster mentioned, the cats weren't really anyone's pet. They were pests, like rats. It's no more immoral to deal with a cat infestation than a rat infestation. The reason people see it differently is just that cats are usually pets, but in this case, they weren't really anymore.

But what they did solved nothing. They could have rang the police, put the cats up for rehoming, made changes to their house so the cats wouldn't want to go there. They did none of those. They just caught the cats to kill them just to spite their neighbours. Didn't solve the problem at all, it was just an extremely callous way of say 'up yours'.

[Reeve]

But what they did solved nothing. They could have rang the police, put the cats up for rehoming, made changes to their house so the cats wouldn't want to go there. They did none of those. They just caught the cats to kill them just to spite their neighbours. Didn't solve the problem at all, it was just an extremely callous way of say 'up yours'.

Oh bullshit, the police would have done nothing. It's a private affair to their eyes they don't want to get involved in. The SPCA and similar organizations are the appropriate organizations to call to deal with these sorts of situations because it's their job.

And again, do you call the police to deal with a rat or roach infestation?

[Deleted]

Oh bullshit, the police would have done nothing. It's a private affair to their eyes they don't want to get involved in. The SPCA and similar organizations are the appropriate organizations to call to deal with these sorts of situations because it's their job.

And again, do you call the police to deal with a rat or roach infestation?

The poster explicitly said the neighbours were breaking the law by owning more cats than is legal. If the person next door to me was illegally supplying the rats, then yes I would call the police. Since killing the rats would do absolutely nothing but kill some rats.

Also, if there was an alternative I could choose which meant no creature had to die, I would choose it. The poster's parents had that choice. In fact, they had more than one of them.

[MartyMad]

But what they did solved nothing. They could have rang the police, put the cats up for rehoming, made changes to their house so the cats wouldn't want to go there. They did none of those. They just caught the cats to kill them just to spite their neighbours. Didn't solve the problem at all, it was just an extremely callous way of say 'up yours'.

The poster's parents attempted to solve the problem by approaching the neighbors. The neighbors said that the cats in question were not theirs. The cats being put down was due to irresponsible owners. Now what would you do in this situation?

[Deleted]

The poster's parents attempted to solve the problem by approaching the neighbors. The neighbors said that the cats in question were not theirs. The cats being put down was due to irresponsible owners. Now what would you do in this situation?

Call the police on the neighbours who were breaking the law. Take the cats away to be rehomed. Sorry, I'm not comfortable with killing animals just to spite the neighbours...

[Raelbo]

Instead of killing loads of cats, couldn't you have just reported them if it is illegal to own more than 4?

As I recall the police referred my parents to the SPCA. The SPCA recommended the course of action - even provided the cat-trap. Officially, however, they denied it when approached by the newspaper.

That way the cats had the possibility of being rehomed and the likelyhood is the remaining would have been neutered (if not taken away for rehoming themselves).

Reality is that the SPCA has to put down thousands of strays every year because there are simply too many of them. Ill behaved adult toms are not exactly peoples' first choice when looking to adopt a cat.

Taking cats in just to die is just horrible.

I agree.

Also, your local SPCA is talking bull. My old tomcat sprayed before he was old enough to be neutered. Once neutered, he never sprayed.

Nice anecdote, but pretty meaningless. How long had he been in the "habit" of spraying before you had him neutered? (sounds like he was still young when you did this) How do you know he didn't spray in places other than your house? Was he your only cat?

Neutering a cat can stop it from spraying. But it is no guarantee, especially if the cat has been doing this for a long time or is living in a crowded household.

Another thing you could have done is added certain smells to your garden / house that cats don't like, or installed motion sprinklers in your garden.

So in other words it's my parent's responsibility to bend over backwards to solve this problem? Sorry, I just don't buy that. My parents suffered with the problem for years. They tried all sorts of humane remedies. I remember spending hours one weekend stripping the furniture down and rinsing the cushions like 100 times with special detergents to get the smell out, and then a week later someone accidentally left a window open one night and all the furniture soiled again.

FYI motion sprinklers didn't exist 30 years ago.

Your parents were rightly vilified...

lol - no they weren't. I learned a valuable lesson from that - people are quick to judge an issue like this on a fickle emotional level because "ooh poor wittle kitty kat" without ever trying to empathise with what drove these people to the level of desperation to do such a thing. Years of emotional trauma, not to mention expense, authorities who do nothing, and neighbours who have caused the problem who dismiss the issue as "not my problem". I lived with it. It is one of my most vivid childhood memories.

Your neighbours were arseholes, the cats were just cats.

The cats were the responsibility of my neighbours. They failed in their duties as pet owners and as decent human beings and are entirely to blame for what happened.

[Deleted]

Call the police on the neighbours who were breaking the law. Take the cats away to be rehomed. Sorry, I'm not comfortable with killing animals just to spite the neighbours...

Yeah they did it to spite the neighbours... not because the cats were a pain in the ass, nope. They actually went to the SPCA. I honestly don't know what else they'd have to do. If SPCA would tell me they'll have to be put down for whatever reason, I'll assume they know better than me. I would definitly not be bothered to look for a "better" (in your eyes) solution than what SPCA suggests, nor would I even spend a dime more than necessary to get rid of them. I know quite a lot of people that probably wouldn't even go get info about stuff like that; just some poison and they wouldn't last long.

[haniburr]

Yelled at them over the fence once telling them i'd call the police for partying for the 6th night in a row until 5-6am. Most tired i'd ever been that week.

Sound like fun neighbours, where you live i wanna come near them n chill :P lol

Mine are prety cool, to the left they speak like 90% portugease and they have an AMAZING garden and backyard area and they even sometimes cut our front lawn when doing theirs(we repay the favor too) but don't really talk to them that much tbh(nothing bad tho) on the other side is some prety chills people too we hang and have bon fires with them*sigh* yay Canada.. oh and once a month we attend the local Moose races together >.> <.<

[Wildtree]

My neighbour is Mike Tyson, so no.

Mine is Brock Lesnar.

For here in the US? Nope... Not at all, rather on the contrary. When a tornado struck our town a few month back, we've removed the debris that cluttered our properties together. My neighbor to the right extensively helped with all the limbs and branches from a tree that's in front of my property, and would be entirely my responsibility. Without their help, we would have been fucked.

While back in Germany.... Which neighbor? There I had more neighbors in a radius of 50 meters than I have here at an entire block... lol
But if I remember right, the answer would be yes on various occasions...
When I was younger I've constantly got in trouble for my music playing too loud. Which was a valid complaint.
Then I've had some hater neighbors who outright falsely complained how we making too much "trampling noises".
And then also people moving into the house into an apt. not getting familiar with the buildings' community.

[MartyMad]

Call the police on the neighbours who were breaking the law. Take the cats away to be rehomed. Sorry, I'm not comfortable with killing animals just to spite the neighbours...

The police will not do anything about that, it is the SPCA's area of expertise. The SPCA advised them to bring the strays in to be put down. Now what will you do?

[Raelbo]

Knowing they're capturing pets and taking them to be put down, instead of reporting the cause of the issue?

as a last resort after years of the problem, including trying all sorts of deterrents, approaching authorities who aren't interested in dealing with the problem - remember, it was the SPCA that gave my parents the trap and informed them they could bring them in.

Yes, rightly vilified.

Villified in the local newspaper. Funny enough I recall my parents maintaining good relations with all our other neighbours after the event, and I am pretty sure everyone around knew of the story. I am guessing we weren't the only ones who had been forced to deal with the issue of rampant tomcats.

They solved nothing except seeding hate and killing cats.

No actually it solved the problem. The neighbours made a plan to ensure that their remaining 10-15 cats stayed on their property. We never had another spraying incident in our house again in the next 5-6 years we lived there. Also it solved the problem of my parents bothering to try and be civil whenever seeing the people they detested.

[Deleted]

As I recall the police referred my parents to the SPCA. The SPCA recommended the course of action - even provided the cat-trap. Officially, however, they denied it when approached by the newspaper.

The SPCA didn't try and take the cats off them, even though they were breaking the law? That's... That would never happen in the UK :P The RSPCA seizes animals all the time and rehomes them.

Reality is that the SPCA has to put down thousands of strays every year because there are simply too many of them. Ill behaved adult toms are not exactly peoples' first choice when looking to adopt a cat.

That is the reality, but it doesn't mean they should be killed before even trying.

Nice anecdote, but pretty meaningless. How long had he been in the "habit" of spraying before you had him neutered? (sounds like he was still young when you did this) How do you know he didn't spray in places other than your house? Was he your only cat?

We had two toms, both stopped spraying after they were neutered. They were young, yes, so they hadn't been doing it for long. My aunty, though, had her tom cat when he was much older. When he was neutered, it stopped. It wasn't immediate, but he lost the urge.

So in other words it's my parent's responsibility to bend over backwards to solve this problem? Sorry, I just don't buy that. My parents suffered with the problem for years. They tried all sorts of humane remedies. I remember spending hours one weekend stripping the furniture down and rinsing the cushions like 100 times with special detergents to get the smell out, and then a week later someone accidentally left a window open one night and all the furniture soiled again.

Yes, the neighbours obviously didn't want to take responsibility. If I was put in that situation, I would try to do everything I could to see the cats taken away from them and rehomed. I would also cat-proof my house (not leave certain windows open etc. Lemon is also really good to get the smell out, and stops the cat from doing it again.

FYI motion sprinklers didn't exist 30 years ago.

Other things did.

lol - no they weren't. I learned a valuable lesson from that - people are quick to judge an issue like this on a fickle emotional level because "ooh poor wittle kitty kat" without ever trying to empathise with what drove these people to the level of desperation to do such a thing. Years of emotional trauma, not to mention expense, authorities who do nothing, and neighbours who have caused the problem who dismiss the issue as "not my problem". I lived with it. It is one of my most vivid childhood memories.

I am coming from a perspective of a UK resident, our police would not have let it carry on. Niether would our RSPCA. It is sad that the SA authorities seem so terrible.

The cats were the responsibility of my neighbours. They failed in their duties as pet owners and as decent human beings and are entirely to blame for what happened.

The cats were the responsbility of them, until your family caught them. Then, they were yours and you chose to kill them. I'm sure there were farms somewhere in SA who wouldn't mind taking in toms to hunt and I'm sure there were animal charities willing to do that.

- - - Updated - - -

No actually it solved the problem. The neighbours made a plan to ensure that their remaining 10-15 cats stayed on their property. We never had another spraying incident in our house again in the next 5-6 years we lived there. Also it solved the problem of my parents bothering to try and be civil whenever seeing the people they detested.

So you couldn't have just taken the cats somewhere they would at least try to be rehomed? Surely everyone would have won then...

[DEATHETERNAL]

Twice when I was eight. It basically amounted to him being annoying, me grabbing his shoulders and throwing him to the ground, and him staying down. Not much of a fight really.

[Faroth]

I actually haven't. I've always had pretty reasonable neighbors, fortunately.

[Raelbo]

Also, if there was an alternative I could choose which meant no creature had to die, I would choose it.

And once you have exhausted those alternatives? This wasn't something that happened overnight. It was a series of events that had escalated for years. From what I remember it was a last resort taken by two people who were literally at their wits' end.

The poster's parents had that choice. In fact, they had more than one of them.

I understand your emotional response. But I think in all fairness, until you have been in a similar situation, it is not fair to judge. This is what the newspaper reporter did - they didn't even bother to present my parents' side of the dispute. It was a simple gung-ho animal hugger knee jerk response outraged at the final result of dead kitties.

And for what it's worth, my parents are pretty compassionate people and have helped many animals in distress - including nursing wounded birds back to health, stopping on the freeway to rescue a stranded dog, and helping another neighbour who had moved by looking after their cat each time it came back, letting them know it had returned and keeping it safe for collection (this happened about 3 times and then we never saw the cat again - hopefully it decided to settle in its new home).

[Cute Chen]

We have called the cops on each other plenty of times if that counts. Once they called the fire department because we had a party and lit a bonfire, a whole fire truck showed up at the gate lol.

I fucking hate people like this, it's so cowardly. Unless you've witnessed violent behavior, just talk to your goddamn neighbors.

[Deleted]

I understand your emotional response. But I think in all fairness, until you have been in a similar situation, it is not fair to judge. This is what the newspaper reporter did - they didn't even bother to present my parents' side of the dispute. It was a simple gung-ho animal hugger knee jerk response outraged at the final result of dead kitties.

And for what it's worth, my parents are pretty compassionate people and have helped many animals in distress - including nursing wounded birds back to health, stopping on the freeway to rescue a stranded dog, and helping another neighbour who had moved by looking after their cat each time it came back, letting them know it had returned and keeping it safe for collection (this happened about 3 times and then we never saw the cat again - hopefully it decided to settle in its new home).

Of course. Knowing more about the inadequacy of the authorities I feel more for your family. I still cannot fathom myself doing the same, though. I would sooner close my windows and lemon the house than kill an animal, or try and find homes for them myself.