To suspect my neighbour killed my cat

[Mani2024]

Three years ago we moved to our new house. Day one we met one of our neighbours and he asks whether we have a cat because he hates them. We didn’t at that point but we had planned to get one as we and our children really wanted one. neighbour begged us not too even though there are many many cat in the area. We reluctantly agreed to keep the peace but after a terrible year with lots of heartache we decided it was non of his business and got two kittens.

When he found out we had cats he made a passive aggressive comment to my six year old child about how one of the cats in particular had been in his garden and on his bird table. Some months later I heard our cats squealing. I thought they found themselves in a fight with another cat so called out to stop it but turned out to be my neighbour doing something to them to get them out of his garden. He said they were stalking his bird house.

We tried to settle things down with him, said feel free to spray them with water if they come over, we would look into a fence with a slope and if they ever mess in his garden (which they doubt they had as they still used litter trays) he could put over the fence with a spade. That conversation went well but he did say he’d killed a cat previously because it had chased a bird and that the killing had been unintentional.

fast forward some weeks and one of our kittens was found at the end of the road dead in the road with a sever head injury. This is the cat that both neighbours had said was the main culprit of jumping on their bird tables. Initially I was extremely upset and couldn’t think clearly but after a week or so I remembered that morning I had heard a cat scream that was worse than you would usually hear and had looked out my window to see what was going on. My husband saw my neighbour around that time walking up the road away from where she was later found and when asked what he was up to today said he was going for a long walk. I saw the neighbour in his garden briefly a week later, when our eyes met he went straight back into his house which is unusual as he usually chats to me. Generally he has been quite friendly apart from the issue with the cats.

i have spoken to my husband and a few friends about this and generally the consensus is that I’m overthinking and that this theory is just generally wild. Im
absolutely convinced he killed her and placed her at the end of the road to make it look like she got run over. Then again, I’m so desperately upset by it all that I’m not sure if the grief is clouding my judgement

Are you any closer to finding out what happened to your cat @Mani2024?

Actually, they're nicer than most people. 🐈

I agree. The poster sounds completely unreasonable and it’s no wonder that she does not get along with her neighbours.

If you have 9 cats and have not cat proofed your garden, there is no way of knowing that those cats don’t enter her garden or poop there - Unless the poster doesn’t have a job and sits at her window all day watching the cats perhaps?

9 cats, free to roam and poop in your neighbours gardens! It’s absolutely shocking. Cats are nice, but this is deeply unfair on other people. Where is personal responsibility? Plus it’s a lazy way to be a pet owner…would people do this with dogs? No they wouldn’t, but it’s easy peasy to let cats out and make them someone else’s problem.

I don’t agree with hurting animals. It isn’t the cat’s fault they have irresponsible owners. But I can understand the frustration caused to neighbours who just want a nice clean garden and to tempt in the birds.

My old neighbour shot both of my cats with an air rifle, one suffered a horrific head wound but survived, the other, the sweetest little tabby ever passed away in my arms after the vet found an air rifle pellet lodged next to her heart. I took the Vet's report to the police and made a statement. Although there was nothing that they could do at the time as air rifle pellets are apparently smooth and leave no striation whereby they can be matched to the rifle and identified. Nevertheless it was then a matter of record with the police. A short time later he killed a bird, again with the air rifle, nesting in the hedge at the bottom of his garden. Beyond that hedge was another garden full of children playing and the terrified parents quickly took the children indoors and called the police. Although air rifles below a certain velocity are legal due to farmer's needs to control vermin etc they are not appropriate in a suburban environment. Our gun laws need to be revised in this country as there are loopholes. His rifles were eventually confiscated but only after several reports had been made to the police. It is absolutely worth reporting the matter so that the police can build a case, even if it is over time as they can then show a pattern of behaviour.

Sorry this has happened OP, totally and entirely possible. Personally the first time I heard distressed shouts from the cats when they were in the neighbours garden (especially knowing that he had been clear in his dislike of cats) would have been the time I put in measures to protect them.

Quite honestly though, as a cat owner, my girls are indoor cats who enjoy the garden heavily supervised. We are in the process of installing fencing they cannot climb with netting type arrangement to keep them in the garden in the long term, but allow them freedom out there.

Cats, free roaming, can be hugely annoying to others in all honesty (the neighbours cat recently shitting in our garden where my SS plays footballs has been highly irritating at times and I say that as a cat owner). A friend of mines cat was also shot with an air rifle. As a pet owner I see it as my responsibility not to inflict my choices on others which is why we have the approach to cat ownership that we do.

Fit Katzecure to your garden. Cats can go outside without leaving the garden. Best investment I made.

Why didn't you have her spayed as soon as possible? Why would you let her have 'several more litters'?

Also, cats aren't 'monogamous' it's more likely that he was the dominant* Tom in the area which is why he fathered all her litters. Don't anthropomorphise, it's just nature/instinct.

*or possibly the only un-neutered Tom

Have you watched The Burbs? This reminds me of that film. Not to belittle your experience, have you moved any more forward with your investigation? Can’t do anything without hard solid evidence. The Burbs.

Thank you for your response, but you are very wrong, I am sorry to say.