[FarmGirl]

smitty, on 05 November 2009 - 06:44 AM, said:

I was about 6. The family was returning from a HS football game in a '67 Pymouth Sport-Fury. We hear faint meows and at the moment daddy started to slow down to investigate......WHAM! It didn't just kill the cat, it threw the cat halfway out of the seam between the inner and outer fenders. It was prodruding, partially visible in the wheelwell. It was terrible.

Trying to control a cat is like nailing jello to a tree... I have dog doors, a cat that adopted me
and a neighbor with a cat...the cat comes and goes as she pleases, and while the fence works for the
dogs it does nothing for the cat. The cat next door is over here as much as it is at home. I love
animals of all types, I understand the frustration here, but you can't 'control' a cat unless it is
a strictly indoor cat. It isn't the cats fault!!

[Mr.Dis]

FarmGirl, on 05 November 2009 - 01:33 PM, said:

Trying to control a cat is like nailing jello to a tree... I have dog doors, a cat that adopted me
and a neighbor with a cat...the cat comes and goes as she pleases, and while the fence works for the
dogs it does nothing for the cat. The cat next door is over here as much as it is at home. I love
animals of all types, I understand the frustration here, but you can't 'control' a cat unless it is
a strictly indoor cat. It isn't the cats fault!!

I understand your point. But the cat's "freedom to roam" , which I could really care less about, ends when it starts destroying the property of the neighbors. The cat owners choose to be responsible for them. That means everything associated with the cats. Just because you feel that you can not control them, does not mean that you can opt out of paying for the damage they cause. Trust me, I know this song and dance quite well. I can not "prove" that it was their cat that did the damage. But I can and have proven that 3 of their cats have come onto my property in violation of the ordinance and have been trapped and taken to the pound. So I believe that circumstances quite readily point to the fact that 1 of the 3 cats they own is responsible for the damage. In short if you do not want to be wholey responsible for their control, then do not have them.