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

Sorry for your loss OP, regardless of how it happened. You may well never know tbh. I'd be inclined to keep your own surviving cat indoors now, or make at catio.

This post really just confirms my view that kittens/cats aren't a great pet for children, especially if they are allowed outdoors at all, let alone near roads or other humans (who while not as horrible sounding as this man may also not enjoy the damage created by other people's cats).

While it was your absolute right to have a couple of cats if you wished despite your neighbour asking you not to, I am wondering what you thought the outcome would be with an already strange neighbour who told you he hated and had killed cats?

Some personal responsibility needs to be taken with any pet ownership and cats are no different. It sounds as though you let your cats outside to fend for themselves against a crazy, unpleasant neighbour. While some people, me included hate cats shitting in their garden and worse chasing and frequently killing birds, most of us wouldn't hurt any animal there are some who would and do.

Deffo get the doorbell footage, he admitted e hates cats and killed one before, I don’t think you are overthinking it at all

What on earth was he doing to make them squeal the first time? To me that makes it obvious it could be him.

I'd just go and ask the neighbours.

Well, wouldn’t I be making this man’s life a total living Hell!

This is someone who has told you he has killed a cat. And came up to a total stranger, and then later a 6 year old, to discuss his hatred of cats.

To everyone moaning that cats shouldn't roam free,..it's what they do IT CANT BE CONTROLLED!

He's dangerous AF.

Definitely speak to the police.

Speak to someone face to face at the police station.

I bet there's a criminal history there that isn't just related to cats.

I am very calm, rational person but if I could figure out for sure if he did this I would be submitting said evidence to the police and then would be doing everything within the law to make his life difficult.

Some human males really are doing such a good job of proving themselves to be despicable at the moment.

It's possible. As is a traffic incident.
However you should be doing more to ensure your cats don't bother birds. They may have the right to roam, but it's awful for bird populations and leaves them vulnerable to all sorts of things (such as horrid neighbours or cars).

That's really horrible if he has, and it sounds like he might have been cruel to them anyway, with the squealing. I'm just not sure you can do anything unless you can prove it.

It looks like you're going to have to keep any cats inside for their own well being. If you want to let them outdoors, what about a catio?

I know some people do regard cats as pests. My friend had her cat shot by someone.

It's a huge red flag for a man to kill cats. In all honesty I'd move especially if you have children. I'd also tell the police what you suspect. It is part of a larger picture and I bet there's reports about him if not convictions that don't relate to cats at all.

If you still have the body of your cat you can pay for an autopsy. They can easily tell if a car caused the injury or something else. The police are always interested in purposeful cat killings.

How unpleasant
What a ghastly person you must be

I’ll never understand people who get upset about cats chasing birds. What do they expect them to do? Say “oh are humans quite fond of birds? Well ok I’ll leave them alone then. Not so fond of mice though, can I chase them?”

I mean it’s not as if humans don’t hunt animals and for sport at that.

But I hate them as a species for the environmental damage they do

A human getting uppity about another animal causing environmental damage.
Thats hilarious.

I think I would be explaining everything you have here to the police including his begging you not to get a cat and confession and see if they think he might be worth having a word with. The fact he can't look at you. Maybe just bluff him and ask him did you kill my cat because you were seen going up there carrying something that morning and guage his reaction. He won't know for certain if he was seen or not.

As them now for the footage op before its gone. You can say its too see about how the accident happened

Go and ask the neighbours for the ring footage, they should still have access but it will have only recorded it it triggered motion, and if motion was triggered in the same 10 min period it won’t catch any new motion (if that makes sense, I’ve worked that out from mine!)

That’s not environmental damage. It’s nature 🤦‍♀️

That’s awful, OP, your poor little cat. I’d report him to the police, and I’d get a catio built so the surviving cat is safe. But I’d also consider moving out and letting the house to some kind of psychopathic drug dealing hoarder.

Go and ask for the ring doorbell footage. Tell them your cat was run over and you want to see what happened. If he killed the cat and you get proof don’t put it on Facebook. He’ll be lynched.

YES THEY CAN! Many people have cat runs for this purpose.

I'm sorry op for your loss. Your neughbour sounds very unpleasant and dangerous, and I would definitely be asking for footage to co firm whether or not your suspicions were right. However, right now without this type of evidence you can't prove he did it.

I wonder whether those protesting about cats killing birds are also happy to tuck into a Sunday roast chicken or beef, which has been farmed amd slaughtered, thus intentionally creating environmental damage.

Cats with killer instinct will hunt, chase prey and eat them. It's just what they do and part of nature.