Town approves 3-cat limit

[The Straight Story]

Town approves 3-cat limit

DUDLEY, Mass., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts town outlawed owning three cats without a kennel license after a man complained his neighbor's felines were hurting his lawn.

Voters at a Dudley town meeting Tuesday night approved the addition of the new language to a town bylaw, which will impose a $100 per day fine for violations, after a local man complained that some of the 15 cats owned by Mary Ellen Richards had destroyed his grass, the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette reported Wednesday.

Richards said at the town meeting that she now plans to put her house up for sale and move to a "more cat-friendly community,"

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/11/04/Town-approves-3-...

[ddeclue]

1. I'd be in trouble then...

Have they considered that most cats when they have a litter have 3 to 4 kittens?

[SoCalNative]

Not if you spay and neuter your cats

they have no litter

[ddeclue]

10. Well they are really feral outdoor cats so I'm unemployed right now

and not really interested in spending my bill money on their birth control.

[pennylane100]

17. ask the local humane society if the would consider doing it free.

If you would take them down their.

[robinlynne]

24. There are organizations who will spay and neuter feral acts for free, and help you catch them.

It saves animal lives. really.

[joeybee12]

48. Yeah, check with the Humane Society or ASPCA...here in Vegas there's

a free monthly clinic...those kittens aren't going to have a great life outdoors, so it's best to stop the cats from having any more.

[Matariki]

58. If everyone spays and neuters their cats there will be no more kittens

that would suck

[Dorian Gray]

32. Unless you are a kennel

you should be spaying the cats. I don't understand why people don't do this.

[NNN0LHI]

35. For cats in Florida, listed below are low cost or free spay and neuter programs

http://www.lovethatcat.com/stfl.html#Florida

[valerief]

2. I hear Catalina likes cats. nt

[gateley]

3. And there's always Catmandu. nt

[TK421]

4. I guess they're just trying to avoid a catastrophe

[gateley]

13. Well, that poor woman and her brood will soon be catapulted into a new environment. nt

[KamaAina]

14. Not to mention Kitty Hawk.

[Drunken Irishman]

5. I was on Catalina Island last week. Awesome place.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. They don't in the Catskill Mountains of NY :(

[Ineeda]

6. what a catastrophe.

(actually this stinks like a week-old litter box.)

[Chemisse]

7. Limiting it to 2 cats seems to be a bit draconian

I have had 3 cats at certain times, although never more. I've always thought that having too many cats would be its own punishment, that the sheer misery of it would prevent most people from taking on that many.

I can see people getting perturbed when the neighbor has 15 however, at least if it is a densely packed community.

[Doremus]

8. With a good lawyer, and a few years' time, Mary Ellen Richards could own Dudley, Mass.

Just sayin'.

[TexasObserver]

33. No, she couldn't. She's the reason such laws are necessary.

Irresponsible cat owners - who allow their pets to roam off their property - have proved they require laws or ordinances to behave reasonably. Anyone who allows THEIR pet to roam the neighborhood should not expect their neighbors to love their precious little animal. Cats roaming any neighborhood are a menance. Animal control should catch them and impound them, just like dogs, and if they owner doesn't show up to get them, dispose of them.

Cats should be held to the same standard as other personal pets. If they're off your property, they should be subject to seizure and impounding.

It's amazing that cat owners can rationalize allowing THEIR pet to roam the neighborhood and annoy their neighbors by walking on the cars, sitting on the cars, taunting the birds and squirrels in the yard, and generally being an annoying presence. Cats should not be accorded more rights than any other varmint that comes on one's property.

What's the diffence between a possum and a cat? None, if they're not yours and they're on your property.

[NNN0LHI]

36. Both my neighbors beg me to let my cat out every spring

The reason they want me to let him out (he is neutered) for a few days is so they can both open up their doors on their sheds and let the cat get to work cleaning out the mice who moved in during the winter. They always keep fresh water out for him too.

Doesn't take him no time at all to clean them out. He is very patient. Seems to love his work too.

I keep him in most the time for his own good though. We have a pair of snowy owls moved in for the winter now and they would get the cat if they could get to him. They are death on wings.

I see no problem with the 3 cat limit though.

Don

[TexasObserver]

39. Consensual cats, I think that's called.

For neighbors who like it, I'm sure its fine. I prefer the birds and squirrels that live naturally in my yard, not as pets but as freely living creatures, to having a neighbor's cat chasing them.

I don't have rats or mice. The hawks and other birds of prey take care of those.

[KatyMan]

42. We used to let ours out

we lived in a more rural area, so our 2 older cats were used to going out, but now that we're back in the burbs, we didn't like them being out, considering how it shortens their lifespan. The solution we came up with was to build a cat porch, an 8x8x6 enclosed area that we butted up to the house (not attached to it). We have a cat flap that fits in a window, so they can go in and out as they please, but can't roam the neighborhood:





The second pic is blurry, but that's our Jack, he's about 4 months old.

It also helps that we can now keep the litter box outside!


Edited for Type-O

[AllieB]

53. Great idea. You're very nice to your kitties-I'm sure they appreciate it.

[KatyMan]

56. They're quite spoiled

Since the kids are grown, the cats get the attention, I guess
My next task in the room is to put up shelf like structures for them to lay on higher up on the stucture, with some ramps for them to climb around on.
I told my wife when we finished this project "We've become those cat people"

[DainBramaged]

9. Another prick gets his way and takes a little comfort out of everyone's lives.

I hope he is taunted and hounded out of town for his bullshit.

[KamaAina]

16. Catcalls would work nicely

[ProgressiveProfessor]

28. He could take a more direct approach

Do until no_cat_damage
Live trap cat
Take to the animal control

[Arctic Dave]

11. Three cat limit! How are you supposed to feed a family on a three cat limit?

[ET Awful]

12. It's a combination of an asshole neighbor and an asshole cat owner

If she'd kept her damn cats indoors, she wouldn't have had any problems.

Plain and simple.

Neither would the rest of the town, and her neighbor never would have had a chance to prove his asshole nature.

We have six cats, all are indoor cats, and our neighbors couldn't possibly care less.

[joeybee12]

57. +1

Unless they're feral, keep them inside.

[crim son]

15. In what way do cats damage a lawn?

I've always had cats and while they do damage upholstered furniture I've never noticed any effect on my lawn. Odd.

[nc4bo]

20. Good question. My hobo cat prefers loose dirt and/or pine straw as his litter of choice.

Digging through the grass takes too much effort.

Sounds more like there are some loose dogs in the neighborhood.

[Captain Hilts]

23. I was wondering that too. I'm unfamiliar with this feline talent. nt

[alittlelark]

25. My guess is the guy overferlilized w/chemicals in the spring

He's likely been using petrochemicals on his lawn - the salts build up and death occurs - usually in patches.

I have never owned a cat that did his/her business on a lawn. Gardens are certainly effected.


That being said - a lawn is a chemical infested green desert. I have never grown one and never will. Native plants are more beautiful and easy to maintain.

[csziggy]

44. Mine does his 'business' on the grass - but our red clay is too hard for him to dig in

And it has not hurt our grass at all. Maybe centipede grass is hardier - after all this was transplanted from out in our pastures. My cat only pees on the grass - everything else is somewhere else that I have not found - probably in the flower beds!

[alittlelark]

26. DU burp...... dupe

[Gormy Cuss]

46. A dozen or more cats urinating on it would do damage

and one or two addled older cats may defecate in grass rather than try to bury it.

However, I'm willing to bet the guy just can't stand cats.

[City Lights]

47. Beats me.

When we let our cats go outside, with supervision, they roll on the patio and munch on grass. No harm, no foul.

They don't barf up the grass until they're back inside.

[itsrobert]

18. What's the limit of Bats?

I think Wayne Enterprises might be behind this.

[-..__...]

21. move to a "more cat-friendly community,"

Like, maybe to North Russia...

Crazy cat lady with 136 cats

(I know I posted this in another thread, but this one is appropriate too )

[Cleita]

22. A city that I lived in some time ago had that limit. I always had more though as

I was always taking in strays. I did try to find them homes. Also, some were pregnant and had kittens. The nice thing about cats is, unlike dogs, they don't hang around in a pack, so there usually only appeared to be two or three cats around my home at a time. Although my neighbors knew I had more, they never snitched on me. I really did my best to find homes for my extra cats because I couldn't bear to see them go to the animal shelter. Now I live in the country and can have as many animals as I can afford.

[varelse]

27. I want some laws passed because *I* complain, damn it!

Seriously, is this guy the entire tax base for that town?

[jberryhill]

29. Can you bag more using "catch and release"?

They should increase the limit, but just shorten the season.

[MilesColtrane]

30. On a related note, I'm thinking of buying my Mom this for Xmas.

[hamsterjill]

45. Hee hee! I already have it!

n/t

[SoCalDem]

54. Eeeek.. I have a shoulder-cat (and I have too many cats)

and I have a yellow one too..but no siamese-y ones

I never intended to have ANY cats after our sweet Miss Kitty died at 17 yrs of age, but then I ended up bottle-feeding 2 stray litters, and of course I had a hell of a time finding homes for them all..and after feeding them every 2 hours & whispering to them, and burping them & cuddling them, they were MY babies , so the ones we could not place ended up staying with us ..and now which ones would we part with?

The secret is to love them enough to NOT let them roam outside..that way they do not harm neighbors' yards or kill wildlife, and they stay alive too

[TexasObserver]

31. Finally. Someone willing to take on the powerful "cat" lobby.

Cats have more rights than humans, don't ya know? More than other pets, too.

Don't let your dog roam the neighborhood. Everyone knows that's sane, but cats? Well, they need to freely explore the neighbor's yard, annoy their animals, and crawl up on their car and leave footprints all over the hood and roof of it.

Cats: The spoiled brat of pets.

A three cat limit sounds good.

[northzax]

34. 3 cat limit, huh?

Is this daily or for the whole season?

[Robb]

43. I wasn't going to say it

...I thought it, but self-censored effectively.

Now, with that out of the way: municipalities can do whatever they want on this sort of thing. My old neighborhood finally outlawed horses inside town limits. The horse people were pissed, everyone else was happy. And life went on.

[JCMach1]

37. Would never live in this town...

[PVnRT]

38. Sounds like a good idea

The cat cult, however, will fight this unto the death.

[TZ]

55. Cat cult?! MEOW HISS GRRWOLL

I have two cats..I would never want an uneven number of cats...(two will gang up on a third)..I don't think 4 (which my sister had for awhile) is unreasonable...

[TheKentuckian]

40. Why the hell can someone not have many cats if they and the cats are happy?

Even if you have one cat it can "damage the yard" just the same. It just seems like arbitrary nonsense to me. What is the magic of three rather than 4 or 5. I seriously don't get it as worth codifying any limit but would understand if the problem was directly correlated with the cats being mistreated by circumstances or that the owner would pay awarded damages to their neighbor(s) but pulling number out of the old ass like it has significance isn't right.

[Mari333]

41. That is so easily overturned.

what do they have, a grandfather clause for people with more than 3 cats? what bollocks.
I would contest it, easily, and win. Whats next, you cannot have more than 3 dandelions in your yard?
horsehockey.

[City Lights]

49. My town also has a three-pet limit.

Of course, we didn't know this until after we moved into our home with six cats.

[Jennicut]

50. To me it depends on whether you have the means to take care of the cats.

Many do not and many are elderly with little money. Too me, more then 5 seems like too much for most. I know these people mean well, taking in strays. But sometimes the cats suffer too.

I have one right now, the little Daisy in my pic below.

[tammywammy]

51. I have two indoor cats

But then I'm also taking care of 5 strays that have appeared. I believe they were dumped in our neighborhood and they found their way to me. I've had them spayed/neutered and given rabies shots, but I don't really consider them "mine" but I suppose they are.

[la_chupa]

52. 15 is kind of a lot of cats

I have two. One on purpose and one who moved in and took over. They live inside away from traffic, dogs who are not Bodie, and whatever else is out there in the big outside world. I kind of want a kitten and there were some at the pet store adoption day but BooBoo kitty is old and it doesn't seem fair to make her deal with a kitten. Three cats is not crazy.

Believe me I know crazy. She used to live next door. I have no idea how many she had, but none of them were fixed so there was always a fresh supply. When she moved out the people who bought the place had to completely gut it because of the smell. They even had to replace the walls in a couple of the rooms. I don't know how much it cost but it probably would have been easier to just raze the house and rebuild.

[hamsterjill]

59. Limits do not cure the problem.

The problem isn't the number of cats; the problem is the owner's negligence. Merely setting a limit of three cats does nothing to cure this situation, or any similar situation.

Placing standards of care does.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

60. Live trap and take to the animal shelter. Eventually there will be fewer cats.

Alternatively if the owner chipped the animal, they will have the choice about bailing it out. After that happens a few times either they will keep the can indoors or not buy it back.

I don't have a cat problem where I live, the coyotes take care of that for me.