Usenet stupidity

[dreamer_easy]

I posted asking for advice on scaring off a neighbour's cat, explaining that our indoor-only cats make noise in the middle of the night when they detect the visitor. I got some good advice, but at least three people said completely stupid things which indicated they hadn't bothered to read the original message:

- Why not let your cats out to scare it off?

- Why not leave food for the visiting cat to quieten it?

- Why not just go out and shoo the cat away?

- And worst of all, an abusive response to the "shoo" suggestion from a self-righteous cat protector who failed to notice (a) the boys are indoor-only and (b) the "shoo" person didn't suggest letting them out. The YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR CATS!!! attitude promoted by the rec.pets.cats FAQ etc is a very important one - it's a *huge* responsibility and you have to be prepared for it - but it does produce some prize know-it-alls just gagging to leap in and censure someone whether they need it or not.

It annoys heck out of me when I misread someone else's message and make a dunderhead posting; it's too easy to do. But I seem to have hit the dunderhead jackpot here! :-)

Comments

[swiftangel.livejournal.com]

That does seem to happen when people are offered the opportunity to share their "knowledge" on a subject.

As for getting rid of the pesky cat... I wish I had an answer. My house was always the one that the cats strayed up to, and we could never bear to turn them away...

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I've been spraying Orange Power around the doorstep. Certainly my boys dislike it intensely - after using the spray, I forgot to wash my hands and tried to pat Frank; he wrinkled his nose and fled as though I were a corpse!

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

My cats do that if I've just been peeling oranges with my hands.

I can't think of anything here... if the cat thinks your house is his territory, he'll keep going there. Is it hearing or seeing him that bothers your cats?

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

S/he's silent as a ghost. I think they can *smell* Enemy Cat; the front door of the House of Sticks doesn't fit, and there's an inch gap at bottom right through which Frank sticks his nose. We refer to this as the "smellovision".

[elsaf]

For the cats outside: Getting a dog works wonders. (Yes, I know that was silly advice.)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

I think Frank *is* a dog. Certainly he barks at the Enemy Cat! (He sounds like a gorilla...)

[jvowles.livejournal.com]

Here's how my mom got rid of a neighborhood cat that decided to pick our deck to repeatedly announce her availability on the slut market, despite there never having been a cat in residence at my folks' place or in any of the nearby homes:

1. Note the pattern: every damned night at 11pm, when presumably the cat's alleged owner went to bed and wanted to be rid of the annoying beast's yowling.

2. At about quarter til, fill up a pail of hot water. (NOT boiling water, just hot water.)

3. Lie in wait on back porch with said water until cat arrives in customary yowling place.

4. Thoroughly douse cat with (now very warm) water. Shout at it a lot. Say words you've spent years telling your children are bad.

5. Repeat five nights running. Cat finally leaves our back porch due to repeated soakings.

6. When cat takes up residence in the vacant house next door's back porch, begin knocking on doors and asking if anyone knows whose cat it is. When culprit is identified, express in no uncertain terms that if the cat isn't contained and/or neutered, it will quickly cease to be a problem, and its remains will be left in several piles on the culprit's front porch.

Yeah, the last was nasty, but this went on for weeks. The neighbor got the hint -- especially after she complained about Mom to another neighbor, who informed her "Don't mess with Pat. One year, someone took the parking place she'd spent all day digging out from 4 feet of snow. She put all the snow back."

(She really did do that -- one year when dad had wrenched his back and both of us kids were sick with chicken pox, she spent all day digging out the car, went to the store to get medicine and food, and came back an hour later to find the neighbor taking her parking space. He had the gaul to laugh at her until she "put the snow back". Needless to say, he never did it again.)

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

OMG LOL etc

Enemy Cat has been hit with the squirt bottle more than once, and definitely doesn't like it. One of the more interesting suggestions from rec.pets.cats.health+behav was to buy an automated motion-detector sprinkler system! By gosh that's tempting.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

I find a rather nice spray bottle of water does wonders to discourage cats.

Also, spray down the siding of the house or wherever they like to go with some barely-diluted Pine Sol (or whatever the equivalent there in Australia is... basically a pine-scented floor cleaner), which my vet informs me will discourage cats from returning and/or spraying, thereby setting your kitties off.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Hey, nice idea!