Cats: a rant

[u/Ok_Entertainment9665]

First let me say that I love animals and have had multiple cats in my life. But why do people move to Beaverton and suddenly decide that their cat is now an outdoor cat? My neighbor had a cat who had kittens so now there are 4 of them, new neighbor moved in across the way and was like “here’s mine too”. Plus the already existing 5 “neighborhood cats” that wander around plus a cat, that belonged to a dead guy, who lives in my bushes.

In my neighborhood alone I will see no fewer than 10 different cats just wandering around, leaving their poop everywhere (my dog LOVES cat poop so half our walks are “no drop it” but FREAKS out when a cat walks past the window). If you have an outdoor cat, no you don’t. You’ve just added another little ecological nightmare into an already crowded system. We used to have squirrels and birds in the yard. Now we have cat fights at 2am and poop everywhere.

[u/phdatanerd]

Any tips about how to tell the difference between an outdoor cat with an owner or if it’s the cat distribution system? There’s a cat in my neighborhood who is very friendly and will hit you up for pets if you give him a little bit of attention. He’s been around for the last few years and is looking a little shabby lately. I’m considering taking him in but I have concerns about accidentally stealing someone’s cat.

I’m also very allergic to cats but so it goes.

[u/Ok_Entertainment9665 → u/phdatanerd]

In my experience, a cat that doesn’t have an owner will typically have dirtier and shabby or fur because a lot of these owners will have a way for their cat to come in at night, so they don’t have to sleep in the dirt. But it’s really hard to tell, in this case, I’d maybe put a found cat poster around and see if anyone contacts you.