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

Thank you. Yep that meh emoji was the icing on the cake.

You'd have to have something really wrong with you to think like that. Maybe the OPs loony neighbour created an account.

I have unwatched this thread because I don't want to read anything sickening like that again.

What a horrible comment. Regardless of whether you like them or not, they are living creatures and legally have the right to roam. Killing an animal like this is an offence. The man sounds dangerous and deranged. I wouldn't be leaving it, I'd be doing all I could to get proof and bring the fucker to justice.

You have to share this planet with all manner of creatures and many things that will inconvenience and irritate you. Doesn't mean you get to go around killing them ffs.

I agree the neighbour sounds like a complete nightmare and I can sympathise with the OP seeing as I have a similar situation with my dogs.
But given as I doubt very much you will get anywhere with police unless you have actual footage of intentional cruelty being commited my main concern would be protecting my other cat and cat proofing ASAP.

Im going to repeat I love cats and hate any kind of animal cruelty (been vegan for many years) however it also isnt fair to expect people to have unwanted pets in their garden. Freedom to roam is a poor excuse IMO for subjecting your presumably much loved pet to potential harm.
I wouldnt just open the door and let my dog (or bird or rabbit, etc) just wander the neighbourhood so I dont see why cats dont get the same level of care.

You can believe that cats shouldnt be allowed to trespass where they arent wanted and also believe that the OPs neighbour is a POS who should be arrested.....the 2 arent mutually exclusive.

Well he sounds unhinged.

Personally, I'd be knocking on all the neighbours doors to ask if they saw anything and to ask them to check doorbell and camera footage; especially the 3 you mention in your post. I doubt very much if they'd mind checking through their footage for you; it takes seconds. If he has killed a cat before, it's likely he was responsible for the death of yours and probably likely to kill your other cat too, given the chance.

If someone provides you with footage, that's when you speak to the Police and start posting dog shit through his letter box.

"however it also isnt fair to expect people to have unwanted pets in their garden.
"

Agreed. I don't see why this is such a controversial remark. I wouldn't want someone else's dog pooing in my garden so why is it acceptable for cats to wander where they like.

Call him out on it and ask him. I wouldn't care less about offending him he sounds like a freak anyway... he was making passive aggressive comments to your 6 year old about their pet? Put him in his place.

Some of the posters on this thread are masters of victim blaming.

This man is a BAD neighbour. He’s persisting with a campaign of borderline harassment culminating in a possible illegal act.

Upsetting the OP, who is already sad about her cat, by berating her for failing to keep the cat in is not on. It’s the same principle as telling your teenage daughter not to wear a short skirt because a neighbour has been sexually harrasing her and she’d be asking for it.

This and…

OP, regardless of whether people like or dislike cats, the callous comments (although the vast majority are on your side) and that horrendous event itself, as long as both your family and your neighbour still live there, you and your DH need to come up with a robust plan on how you now deal with this neighbour day to day going forward.

You and your DH need to be joined up and consistent on this. E.g It’s no good you taking a stronger more abrupt stance with your neighbour if your husband then acts all friendly with him and goes and willingly agrees to comply with any requests he may have.

Just a suggestion, but somehow your family needs to get this person to a place where they’re far more impactfully distant and are causing far less upset and nuisance to you all.

So many disgusting opinions on here, condoning and supporting the brutal killing of a kitten.

OP I hope your neighbour gets his just desserts, one way or another.

to all of you branding the neighbour the next Yorkshire ripper - maybe he didn’t kill the cat - she only THINKS he COULD have because he’s weird and she doesn’t like him absolutely no proof whatsoever that the cat wasn’t hit by a car, attacked by a dog, fox or other creature.

Things happen to animals that roam

No consolation to you, but I don't trust any stranger with my cats. Mine are indoor with a catio for their protection and the wildlifes protection.
My neighbour ran a cat rescue for years and witnessed people intentionally trying to run cats over in front of her, as well as people kicking and throwing them, right there in the open. My nieces neighbour found her cat dead having been shot with an air rifle. Sounds like he did do it. Evil fuckers everywhere.

I’m sorry about your cat. I would probably suspect the neighbour too. Although you don’t have proof, so he might just be a miserable bastard who didn’t kill your cat.

luckily most people who whinge about cats don’t actually want to harm them.

If you let your cats roam, you have to accept that anything can, and possibly will, happen to them. You'd need strong evidence that he had been deliberately cruel for any kind of police or legal involvement. Even if you can get a video of him carrying your dead cat, he can say it was an accident, he found the cat etc.

But that's all based in an idea that because he's a bit weird and doesn't like cats that he killed your cat.

You'd be better spending your energies building a catio or training your remaining cat to live indoors.

It’s entirely possible that he did kill your cat from the sounds of it. He doesn’t sound like a nice person at all. See if you can get any evidence from the doorbell cameras. I don’t think you can report him to the police for it unless you have actual evidence though.

Like others have said - I would be keeping the other cat inside so he can’t harm the second one. It’s just not worth the risk.

I do understand how frustrating it can be to have a neighbours cat come into your garden, poo everywhere and kill birds and rodents. That used to happen to me in a previous house. So I put out things like lemons, stuff from the garden centre that you sprinkle around that they aren’t supposed to like the smell of and a sonic deterrent. It would never have crossed my mind to physically harm one of them. That isn’t normal.

Im assuming those posts have already been removed because I havent seen anything like that!

Some people are just scum and with animals they feel they can get away with it...esp animals that are running free that they can get to and mistreat.
To anybody with a free roaming cat please consider very careful your environment and your cats safety. Cats dont need to roam free to be happy and whilst it makes sense for a barn cat it doesnt make sense for an urban cat to roam the neighbourhood.

I only kept my lot in after a cat hater moved into the area and in a short space of time I lost one to poison and had another go missing and return without his leg after being caught in a trap. So I learnt my lesson too late....
There are some truly horrible people out there.

If you let your cats roam, you have to accept that anything can, and possibly will, happen to them

ODFOD

Confront him, tell him you know he killed this vat, and that the other cat will have a go pro camera on that's connected to the cloud, and if he doesn't anything it'll be on camera.

Can you put cat protective fencing up to keep your cat in your garden? We are in the process of doing this as we have a horribly vicious neighbouring cat which caused my elderly cat a lot of trauma and injuries in the year before he died..

What a good idea.

Am very sorry to hear what happened to your cat. We have similar types of neighbours and no longer on speaking terms after he threatened to do ‘something’ about my cat and two days later she came in with her tail stripped of fur, ‘degloved’ I think is the term for it.
hateful turds, the pair of them

the husband thinks we have equipped our cat with a body cam and warned him I will go to the gard or 4Chan if anything else happens. Been 3 years and nothing since so I believe toomuchfaffs suggestion is a good one.

Why do you even know so much about what he thinks?

He's your neighbour, not your patient.

Don't interact with him.

Things happen to women in dark alleys at night. Is that ok too?

So many psychopaths on this thread.

yeah not the same