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

Agreed.

"Oh but cats have the right to roammmmmm"

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

If you want a cat then YOU want a cat. Don't make it someone else's problem.

I don't care about birds no but I'm saying people here don't either they just see them as a part of the environment to be protected no one who genuinely cared about birds would eat them

And how many of the same same people who, on the one hand, stand so firmly on the side of the wildlife in the cat argument will, on the other hand be happily using slug pellets, pesticides, rat poison, weed killer in their gardens.

People who care about wildlife won't be using any of these - except slug pellets which have now been modified to be wildlife friendly, the old pellets are banned

Seriously, why would somebody who likes birds kill rats? Rats are also wildlife, as are foxes. Weeds can be removed manually. Copper tape and phosphate pellets work for slugs.

This 'what about' argument isn't even applied properly!

People don't eat wild birds though, just ones bred for the purpose. Unless someone hunts ducks, I suppose.

Errr, I don't think you can infringe someone's privacy like that. At least when I was at law school you couldn't

so they care about wild birds but not farmed birds that's just silly

I definitely don't do any of the listed things. My garden is completely wildlife friendly. In fact, I've recently planted ten more trees in my garden to make it more so.

I will also never get another cat. I don't like the idea of keeping them confined and think it's natural for them to roam, but I see the problems with it so am just not having one.

Another one thinking what @Jackolanterny wasn't remotely sensationalist or graphic.

The delicate Victorian constitutions of the professionally offended on here!

Who says they don't care? They are very different issues. Last time I looked, none of the birds people ate are endangered or protected species, like many in my area. Animal welfare in farmed animals is vitally important, but it's a whole seaparate issue.

So offended that you quoted it again, in bold, for anyone who missed it 😂

How do you unintentionally kill a cat because it chased a bird?

I can't believe you didn't keep them indoors at this point.

This whole story is nuts.

Cats don't have a serious impact on bird or rodent numbers in the UK. Despite the many millions that they kill annually.

People tend to ignore predation by other birds and mammals, even the grey squirrel is a huge predator of birds, when making the claim that decline in numbers is due to roaming cats. For good reason, they're not responsible for species decline in the UK either.

By far the biggest threat they face is from human activity, including both habitat loss and pesticides.

It can't hurt to put a bell on your cat's collar, but it won't make a difference to overall bird numbers.

So sorry. Sending lots of ❤❤

I adore cats and this makes me very angry and sad for you. X

Wtf? His 'position' doesn't really matter. He sounds like a controlling arsehole at best and at worst........

The risks OP knew about were traffic etc, she obviously shouldn't have to think that the neighbour would kill her cat.

Your post is odd.

quoting an edited version of my response really isn’t helpful. Let’s include the example I gave shall we about people who purport to be bird lovers who kill rats and I know and have known several neighbours who do this. I also see it in my job all the time, which deals with property and neighbour disputes. Still you apparently know better

”We have another neighbour who has 2 bird tables and 8 bird feeders which are filled to the brim for the birds all year round. He then wonders why he has a rat infestation. So he puts down rat poison. He then wonders why he keeps finding dead hares in his garden without a mark on them and why the hedgehogs and owls seem to have disappeared. He also found a dead red kite in his garden last week.”

Good idea but just tell them your cat was killed and you want to know how it happened.

Doesn't need to be about getting run over or anything about a neighbour. Could be a fox, or it fell out of a tree.

Lots of people like cats so will only be too happy to help

This is a sensible response. If there is footage and it shows him placing the cat there, 100% go to the police.
If there is footage that shows the cat being hit by a car or being killed some other way, you need to let it go. And perhaps consider that, as you mention neighbours in the plural saying this was the one that was mostly on bird tables and you then know has been killed on the road, you need to make your garden more secure for your cats.

Im confused as to why you would get cats knowing your neighbour actively hated them and killed a previous cat without setting up a safe space for them first. Surely you had ample opportunity to cat proof your garden or set up a catio?
Its like letting your cat free roam when you live next to a busy road....then being shocked when they get run over!

Im sorry for your loss OP but you should of kept your cats safe IMO.

You clearly don’t live very rurally. Where I live in the U.K., it’s perfectly normal to see wild pheasant, guinea fowl, quail and partridge on the menus of local pubs and restaurants. Our local pub’s owner regularly obtains what’s on the menu in wild shoots (inc venison). The latest wild menu kills are then announced on the pub’s socials. He has all the relevant licenses. Shoots of wild birds for personal consumption are organised every year in the season too. We live in the South West of England

Ffs you let your animals be a nuisance to everyone around you take some responsibility your actions got your cat killed keep it indoors and hey presto problem solved my neighbours cat shits under my tree every fucking day I take it and put in in the plant pot by her front door it absolutely stinks - you want the animal but you don’t want to take responsibility for it.

I do live rurally but not in the UK. Definitely don't see wild game on any menus.

I mean this man told you he had accidentally killed a cat before and that he hates cats.

I would have built a catio or got the garden cat fenced to keep your cats in. I still would now.

However honestly right now I wouldn’t be going around asking for peoples cctv. Because even if you see him putting the cat there, that’s not proof he did anything to it. He could just claim it was dead in a bush and he moved it to the road to be spotted.

Your neighbour is still going to be your shitty neighbour. Priority should be keeping your remaining cat safe.

@ScrubbedCauliflower oh you see it in your mysterious job? I believe you. Who pays you to deal with bird disputes, not the taxpayer, I hope?

Have you spoken to the police? If I thought my neighbour was killing animals that is the first thing I would do.

But honestly, the neighbour seems unhinged and I wouldn't get cats while living next to someone like that.

Not sure where you are then, but it’s a practice that goes back here forever and is also common across Europe. Oh and I forgot Wood Pigeon.