Zoe and I came back from our evening walk to find a handsome tuxedo cat taking a massive dump on our lawn. Many of our neighbors have outdoor or partly-outdoor cats. They roam everywhere and make Zoe really, really angry. I don’t have any strong feelings about them either way, but I don’t like it when they poop on the lawn or steal my dead pets.
Now, I can be fined if someone catches Zoe pooping somewhere and I don’t clean it up. But if I knew whose cat that was, could I report them to the city and they would be fined?
I poked around in the city code, and found plenty of mentions of dogs, but hardly any of cats. Dogs can’t be off-leash, but cats can roam free and crap toxoplasmosis wherever they want? How is that fair?
It’s not fair at all, AND it’s bad for the cats. I feel awful for outdoor cats.
On the topic of leash rules: at my old apartment they had put out a letter reminding everyone that all pets needed to be leashed while outside. So, a few days later I see my next-door neighbor’s daughter and she had her hamster…on a leash. She made it a leash. Cutest thing. Lol
That’s great. I think the smallest leash I’ve ever seen is for a ferret. I’ve never made a hamster harness, but I’d like to.
Years ago, a friend warned me that the sandbox I was putting in the backyard was a bad idea. Why? Because the neighborhood cats would use it as a litter box. I never saw any evidence of this — though I did once find a magazine sitting nearby.