The best $50 appearance mod of all time

[Joe 1320]

The T/A and the GN spend all their time safe in the garage. That leaves the Caddy and the Fiero in the driveway. I don't have Norm's garage so outide they sit. Every morning I go out, wipe off the dew...... along with muddy paw prints The neighbors, (who have been warned) simply let their cats out who just love climbing all over the cars at night, leaving their cat hair and muddy prints all over. It ends up being a daily wash job to keep them looking clean. After having enough of this, I decided to take matters in my own hands. For $50, I picked up a small animal trap. So far, I'm 3 for 4. For the last 4 nights, I've caught 2 racoons, nothing 1 night, and a neighbor's cat this morning. Now it's off to the local humane society (not animal control) where it will get de-flea'd food and shelter and a likely adoption. Out the in the sticks, the humane society is not full of cats so their adoption rate is near 100%. This is actually a cute cat, it's just unfortunate that the neighbors don't know how to care for pets. The racoons were taken for a long ride into the woods and released. This little critter will hopefully get a good home or the owner will call around when they discover the cat missing.

Gotta love catfishing! Click the attachment to view today's catch of the day.

[Ruz]

Many cats are outside animals, especially if they have their front claws to defend themselves. You say that the owners don't know how to treat their pets, but the cat looks pretty healthy to me. So what you have managed to do is take a cat away from what he/she knows as his home because you have to deal with paw prints on your car. Pretty low-class move in my opinion, especially when you know this is not a stray cat. If the prints are that big of a problem, invest in a car cover.

Ruz

[MS94TA]

Good looking catch! That's frustrating though. Although spendy, if you've got a spare 20k, install an electric shock auto security system!

You don't think the cat belongs to an elder gentleman that was left in your store recently, do you?

Martin
Utah

[Joe 1320]

LOL! I do have one neighbor who is a client of mine. His two cats are frequently seen running across my driveway, I've seen them on the cars too. I had a talk with him a few weeks ago and he claims his cats never leave the property. Oh well, I warned him. I'll be back to catfishing again and we'll see what the next catch of the day brings.

[Guapo]

Originally posted by Ruz
So what you have managed to do is take a cat away from what he/she knows as his home because you have to deal with paw prints on your car.

Ruz

Yeah, not to mention taking someone's pet from them. Sorry, don't agree with what you did.

[Joe 1320]

Originally posted by Guapo
Yeah, not to mention taking someone's pet from them. Sorry, don't agree with what you did.

Unfortunately I don't argree with either of you guys on this one. It is not my cat. I do have two cats that are kept inside, are well fed and in great health. If you had a neighborhood cat climb up on to your vehicle night after night and when you got in the next day, it smelled like cat urine, you would eventually tire of the process. Not to mention the SCRATCHES that get put into the paint as they climb up and down. I'll tell you what, the critter is lucky to be alive at this point. I am indeed an animal lover, I have not taken the cat away from it's home, I am removing the cat from my home and making sure that another person adopts the animal..... one who will keep it out of harm's way. If I didn't have two cats already, I would have adopted it myself.

It is amazing how someone can think that this is a horrible act when it is not their property being damaged.

[markd79ta]

Joe, I don't disagree with catching the cat on your property, and putting up a sign in your neighborhood. The owners will get the hint. I would have been pretty crushed if I lost my pet when I was a kid. I hope the displaced pets don't belong to a child especially since I am a father of a two year old. He has a hard enough time coping when he can't find his choo choo so I get really sensitive with family pets. I too really hated it when cats were on my car when I lived in an apartment, but it is a fact of life that animals are out there. Actually, I have some claw marks on the '97 from a cat. However, be sensitive to the owners especially if children are involved. I am sure something can be worked out.

[Ruz]

You have not taken the cat away from it's home?? What do you call it when you trap a neighbors pet and take it to the humane society...visiting old friends?? And since you said you are 'making sure someone adopts the animal' I assume you told the people at the H.S. that if nobody adopts it to call you and you will take it before it is destroyed???

I'm not against protecting your property. I just think there are better ways to do it than posting a pic of the cat in a trap and calling it 'The best $50 appearance mod of all time'.

[KnightFire]

Originally posted by Guapo
Yeah, not to mention taking someone's pet from them. Sorry, don't agree with what you did.

LOL, then you would have HATED my solution if that had been a problem for me. At least he spent the $50.00 and cared about the animals safety. Me? I would have saved $49.00 and used an alternate means to correct the problem.



KnightFire

[Joe 1320]

Perhaps you are right about the sign part. I thought about that but the Humane Society is within a ¼ mile and is across the street. You have to pass right by it when exiting the subdivision, which I might add is a deed restricted golf community, mostly elderly, and the rules that govern the the place clearly state that all pets are required to be leashed (which I never see cat owners do that), all fecies are to be picked up when out for a walk and offenders are subject to a $150 fine per incident. Lets see..... an average of 4 incidents per week over the last 10 months comes to $3120 in fines. What I didn't state earlier is that I am such a softy for animals, I donated $100 and a 20lb bag of cat food when I dropped off the cat to ensure that it was fed and cared for along with all the other critters that were there. (Now I have to stop at the store on my way home and buy food so that mine can eat). I also left my name and contact information that in the event the cat doesn't get adopted, they will call me, I'll pick up the cat and find a home for it myself. Nobody can say that I am not a caring person or am being mean in the slightest way.

[markd79ta]

Originally posted by Joe 1320
Nobody can say that I am not a caring person or am being mean in the slightest way.

It sounds like the photo could be given to the Home Owners Association, and they could deal with the home owner along with posting a pic of the animal, and its whereabouts. ...just as long as a poor little guy isn't ing over his/her lost pet; I am OK with it. Like I said, I just have a soft spot for kids and their feelings.

[Joe 1320]

Originally posted by markd79ta
as long as a poor little guy isn't ing over his/her lost pet; I am OK with it. Like I said, I just have a soft spot for kids and their feelings.

I'm with ya on that one. If I knew who the owner was, I would have gone right to his doorstep with the trap in hand and given him the opportunity to fetch the critter. I do not know the owner, when I say neighbor I say that in general as everyone that lives in the community is a neighbor. Besides, there aren't any kids remotely close by. They are elderly kids

Now with my immediate neighbor, whom I've already had a discussion with, I do plan on taking the trap in hand right to his doorstep and am looking foreward to his explaination of how his cats don't leave his property. It will be after the second chance that I'll take the critter for a little ride.

[markd79ta]

Oh, for the elderly, sometimes the cat/pet becomes a person. My grandmother died about a year after she lost her cat who got trapped in a drain. That old cat was her best friend. Even though we visited her, she was very lonely. I guess the people involved are far more important to me then the animal or even "blasphemy" the car.

[Stealth Performance]

Food

[Black97]

If you love your pet you don't let anything harm it. At least that's how my wife and I look at it.

That's why our cats never go outside. The dog has a fenced backyard and goes for walks on a leash.

We used to have a neighbour with cats that would be outside all the time and one of them would use our front yard and porch as her toilet. You can't imagine the stench on a hot humid day. She also loved to sit on our cars and if you left a window open she would sleep in them.

We asked the owner several times to keep the cats inside with no luck. We would spray her with water to chase her away and whenever she saw us she would run away but you can't sit out front 24/7.

Eventually she ended up as a road kill down on main street. Boy were they ing and carrying on when they found out. I felt sorry for the cat but not for them.

I understand the frustration and since it is a free country eveybody can deal with it different. It seems to be a very humane situation for the cat. If the owner doesn't care enough he doesn't deserve to have a pet. If it is a very responsible owner he'll miss the cat right away and check the local places where animals are being brought.

On a lighter note, used to live in VA in a planned community and a guy down the street was a bird lover. He got really mad at the squirrels for eaing the bird food. So he set some traps and caught many of the little rodents with bushy tails. He would drive around the reservoir and release them there. I could swear that they would jump on the rear bumper and ride right back with him. We called it the squirrel relocation program.