Not sure if you are trolling or not but what you propose to do is illegal to say the least, not to mention unethical, sneaky and very likely inhumane. Oh yes....pretty dang unneighborly, too!

If you have issues, call Animal Control or the ASPCA and let them deal with it legally.

Buy an outdoor dog.

I have been on this Forum for quite some time. I am NOT a troll ... !!!

Animal Control already came out, but has not been able to make contact with the Cat People, so they are in the process of getting a warrant to enter the Cat People's home ....

It actually IS QUITE LEGAL to trap the stray cats on my property, then take them to the Animal Control Unit.

I have tried reasoning with the Cat Man, but he threatened to KILL ME this morning ... !!!

I made a police report, and will inform our landlord (same landlord as the Cat People) what happened ....

This evening I will start putting out very HOT PEPPERS all around my garden. If that doesn't work, next step is to get the HOTTEST PEPPERS I can find (Habanero and Serrano) ....

I am working on getting a dog ....

If I was the neighbor who had all these cats, and realized that so many neighbors are complaining, I would BE the GOOD NEIGHBOR and start getting rid of my cats, except for the FOUR cats that the law allows us to have.

I am NOT being Un-Neighborly. I have tried to reason with the guy, as others have, but he is not willing to obey the law, and doesn't care the least bit about his neighbors ....

-- Jim

If I was the Cat People, I would also replace the plants that my cats were destroying, and keep only four cats or less, and keep them inside, or just move.

This guy (and his wife) are the ones who are rude and disrespectful, and are being irresponsible, and breaking the law. They are now defying the Authorities, and will pay dearly .... with all the fines, and possibly Eviction, just like they were evicted from their last home because of all the cats (they had 45 cats at the last place down the street !!!!!).

-- Jim

Can you get a Scarecrow (motion activated sprinkler) for the garden? I find cats love newly worked soil but once the plants get to a reasonable size and the soil is harder they leave it alone. I have a cat myself and my neighbour has a lot of cats but I only have trouble early in the season. If I am leaving an area fallow, I put branches (preferably holly) on it.

I've had success laying chicken wire over my seed bed until the plants are up and the ground isn't so soft and inviting to the cats. The chicken wire has big enough holes for the plants to come up through it - just don't leave it on too long or the plants will get too big to pull the wire off over them.

Hey, chicken wire seems to be a good idea!!! I have an extra piece or two I could use ....

This morning there was no evidence of cat activity in my garden from last night. I put a mixture of Hot Peppers and Flour all around my seed beds and seedlings. Not sure if that worked though ....

Chicken wire or any other meshed/grid material or thorny canes will be superior to anything you can sprinkle on the ground.

We use the metal green vinyl-coated material that has a 2x3" grid.

Cats do not like their feet bothered. They need about a one square foot area to do business, so cover your newly planted or soil-worked areas thoroughly.

If my neighbor had 45 cats that came into my yard and damaged my stuff, I'd be ticked too. But please think of the animals when you do what you need to do to get them out. It's not the animals' fault that they're in your yard. The owners are completely irresponsible and I hope they are held responsible. Please don't use the hot pepper on the cats though, because it gets into their eyes and mouth and causes them a lot of pain. So sorry for your situation.

If the neighbor is a animal hoarder and it sounds like they are, the authorities should be dealing with the problem rather than you.

chicken wire, electric fences, water motion sensor sprinkers are all things you can do that aren't cruel.

The Cat People are more than just animal hoarders ... !!! They have tons of stuff all over their house, their patio is completely filled, so you can't even go inside it.

There are piles of stuff all over their house, bedroom is completely filled full of stuff. Maggots and cockroaches, mice and rats all over the house. The cats play with the mice like toys bringing them inside and outside ......

The Cat Man couldn't even see his TV anymore because of all the trash inside the house (piles), so the neighbors helped them out and started cleaning some of the trash.

The Cat Lady got mad and went to the dumpster and brought it all back inside ... !!!

These people are sickos .... Authorities have already been contacted, but I have a feeling that it will take a very long time to take care of this serious problem ....

Got some Habaneros and Garlic to chop up and set out tonight for the nasty buggers ..... I'm also making my own Hot Pepper and Garlic spray to spray on and around my plants every night .....

Oh yes, I have lots of Citrus that I'll be chopping up and setting around the seeds beds and seedlings ....

Unfortunately people like your neighbors are mentally ill, and reasoning and legal action have little effect on them. I am so sorry you are in this situation. Best result would be for the landlord and the sheriff's office to evict them ASAP.

They need a shrink. You need the cats gone. They are no longer pets at this point, they are nuisance animals just like possums and coons. The law will be very slow. Your landlord is your best bet as he can evict them for trashing the property and annoying the neighbors. Meanwhile do whatever you need to do to protect your property. Chicken wire, hot peppers, whatever. Traps might just attract them.

Be careful working the soil where these cats have been digging. Cats can carry toxoplasmosis and people can get it from gardening where cats have been pooping. Indoor, well-cared-for cats are probably clean, but these cats won't be as they aren't being cared for properly and are out catching mice and probably birds and lizards too.

As a side note, recent research reported in the NY Times indicates that people with toxoplasmosis have some very strange behaviors, including - cat hoarding. Apparently some internal parasites affect our behavior to make us do things more likely to pass the parasite along, and the one causing toxoplasmosis is one. Rabies virus is another one. I think humans are a dead end for toxoplasmosis but it still affects our behavior. An interesting subject.

Really Shocking/sad news .... The Cat People asked a neighbor to feed the cats while the Cat People were gambling and fishing ....

Somebody was able to get some good pictures of inside the house, which reveals some of the worst squalor I have ever seen ... !!!

Cat feces all over, piles of junk everywhere, rooms completely filled, and unable to enter, garbage everywhere, toilets so disgusting, I can't imagine a human would actually use them ....

And much more ..... I told them they should develop the pictures and give to the landlord (our landlord too!). He has never been in the house because he has a serious allergy from cats.

Is there anything that will kill the dangerous parasites that they cats can leave in the soil ....

My entire garden area smells very strong like cat poop, so strong that it's terribly annoying .... I hope I don't have to stop gardening .....

The landlord needs to see the pictures!

The fire department should be contacted, as should the city and animal control/humane society they are all experienced with hoarders. Vector control too report them for rats.

Sadly, this is very common.

I have a friend who is a fire fighter and they deal with hoarders all the time. A close friend has a next door neighbor who is a hoarder though there is no problem with filth, when they open their garage it is packed to the ceiling and so is their back and side yards and kids have said the house is piled to the ceilings with pathways through the junk but there is no odor, no pets and no rats that anyone knows about anyway....

We are working on contacting as many places as possible .... I'm helping with editing the pictures, so somebody can print them out to show the landlord and also the authorities ....

I did some researching and found some very alarming information:

1) Toxoplasmosis in Cats:
http://www.vet.cornell.edu/FHC/brochures/toxo.html

Toxoplasmosis is found in humans worldwide, and in many species of animals and birds. Cats are the definitive host of the parasite.

Human infection may result from:

Blood transfusions or solid organ transplants

Carelessly handling cat litter, which can lead to accidental consumption of infectious particles

Eating contaminated soil

Eating raw or undercooked meat (lamb, pork, and beef)

I've read that gardeners can get infected too, from working in the dirt, which I do a lot of ... I can smell cat poop all over my garden, but the cats are burying their poop now (they used to not bury their poop).

We can also smell the cat stench from across the street. Sometimes it's so bad it smells like a sewer!

Somebody is getting together copies of pictures of the inside of the Cat House to give to the landlord and the authorities. Hopefully that will get some action ....

Sounds like they've long since turned your vegetable garden into a heavily used litter box. I wouldn't eat anything grown in it, or do anymore digging in it myself - I think your food gardening project is already a lost cause. I'd look around for other places to grow vegetables, maybe a P-Patch or different, uncontaminated parts of your yard - maybe make new beds elsewhere, after the cats are gone, or bring in tubs and other large containers, fill them with clean soil and plant them up - again, after the cats are gone.

I wish I could do that ..... Don't have any clean space to grow, so I'll just have to hope for the best and wash everything really good ....

Good News (?) .... Sometime this morning, the cats ate the kitty treats I put out four days ago (sardines mixed with Hot Peppers including the seeds!

I'll mix up another batch tonight, with the Habaneros and more sardines .... The Cat People are probably going to have an unexpected messy and runny surprise all over their house, but they probably won't mind one bit ....

Ever since my dad found a den of coyotes about 10 years ago on his wooded property in Portland all the feral cats have disappeared. My dad whose been living there for 60 years says all the new housing developments surrounding his property started the feral cat boom. That's why I mentioned getting a dog earlier. Good luck.

There has been the occasional report and photo of coyotes the past two years in the Reed and Sellwood neighborhoods of SE Portland. "House" cats have been preyed upon. Not a reliable solution to cat digging here.

Feeding these poor cats sardines mixed with hot peppers is just plain cruel.

It is not the animals fault your neighbors are mentally ill hoarders.

Punishing the cats with habenero peppers is really pretty sick of you.

Well, at this stage of the game, I'm left with no option but to put some kitty treats around my garden ....

These Cat People are impossible to deal with. It's obvious the only way they will either get rid of their cats, or leave is if somebody with authority intervenes and forces them to either get rid of their cats or move.

The landlord is giving them a choice: Only two cats, or eviction ....

I have a good supply of sardines and hot peppers to last quite awhile, and lots of Pepper plants still growing ....

I'm also putting out Citrus peelings and the Citrus pulp (not sure if that is working though ....).

I've tried watering the cats, but they don't seem to mind the water. Just a few minutes later, they come right back .....

This has turned into a HUGE problem, and even a serious Health Issue, and not just a couple of cats. Many neighbors are fed up and some are just about to take drastic measures, which I will not try, but I cannot stop the fed-up neighbors from doing whatever they plan on .....

Well, it looks like the Cat Lady might be getting the message .... One of the neighbor kids told her that I'm poisoning her cats and I'm going to kill them!!!

The Cat Lady has been keep all of her 40 cats (!!!) in her back room!!!

There is nothing wrong with trapping cats and taking them to the animal shelter. The other poster was correct in stating that Animal Control is going to be slow at best.

My husband and I trapped cats over and over and over when we lived in Mississippi. It is a respectable and responsible thing to do, when you have children who play in yards infected with disease and muck that feral animals carry.

Pet owners have an obligation to their neighbors, their pets, AND the environment. Trapping and locating the animals is so much more humane than what the owners are doing: allowing their pets to run amok, spreading feces and adding to the pet overpopulation, not to mention spreading disease to healthy animals. How about the cats' impact on local birds and reptiles? Keep your pets spayed and close to home.

I think you're above the pepper/sardine thing, however. Take that for what its worth. Use the sardines to trap them and then take them to the animal shelter to be either adopted by someone who will care for them... or feed them until they will be exterminated. I'm ok with that, its better than a slow, painful death from pneumonia or feline AIDS.

Statistically cats kept inside all the time live much longer than those that are let outdoors.

To kill wildlife and crap in garden beds.

The basis for most problems, including this one is that people are motivated by emotions rather than reason.

Maybe the Citrus is working .... I've been putting Citrus peelings all around my seed beds and seedlings, which have been left alone for at least one week now ....

The cats however have been destroying gardens at two different houses across the street ......

Landlord says there is nothing he can do. People can live however they want. So I guess the Cat People are free to have as many cats as they want.

The past several days the smell from the Cat People's house has been nauseating .....

They just had another litter of eight, so must have well over 40 cats now. I figure by Christmas they will have between 60-80 cats. By next summer, well over 100 cats ... !!!

Your landlord is wrong. He just doesn't want to deal with it. He has a responsibility to make sure his tenants do not create a nuisance or health hazard. And most jurisdictions have limits on numbers of domestic animals a household can have, and health regulations that cover this situation. Your landlord is just passing the buck and refusing to take responsibility for his tenants. Both Animal Control and the local Public Health and Building Enforcement departments have jurisdiction here, regardless of your landlord.

What an awful position to be in. I'd be pretty dissatisfied with that landlord.

Your landlord is a moron. Having an animal hoarder for a tenant is destroying his property.

It is not legal to have over 40 cats (or dogs) without permits and inspections for breeding businesses.

Call the authorities. Call the health department, humane society, animal control. Is there garbage and junk around the house too? Call the city and complain about the visuals and the smells. Call vector control and complain about rats and roaches.

I'm calling the Animal Control again tomorrow! The Cat Lady just got another cat several days ago, and it's pregnant! Her cats have had three litters in the past several weeks: 8-7-5, which makes 20 additional cats, added to the previous 35-40, with another litter on the way .....

The Cat Lady called the police on us (several neighbors) this evening. The officer told us all that he doesn't even know why he is there ....

The Cat Man brought out a large zip-lock bag with what appeared to be toilet paper with brown and black stuff, and accused one of our neighbor's daughters (16 years old) of breaking into his home and stealing his toilet paper ... !!!

The officer just laughed. Obviously these Cat People are deranged and have lots of loose screws ....

The officer told all of us right in front of the Cat People to get some cat traps and trap the cats! Cat People weren't very happy to hear that .....

This whole cat problem has escalated far beyond what I had ever imagined ... Tonight the Manager came over and gave me a stern lecture, in a threatening manner .... telling me to NOT trap the cats!

He didn't tell me point blank, but made it clear that if I trap the cats, something will happen .... It's clear that he means I will be evicted if I trap the cats!

Might be time to move. I suspect the landlord will let you out of your lease...

The Cat Lady called CPS on the girl across the street (who is the landlord's granddaughter), and made a false report. When CPS came out the next day, they saw there was nothing wrong at all, and made a report against the Cat Lady for making a false report.

The girl called her grandfather (our landlord) and he was furious with the Cat Lady). The landlord has given us all permission to trap all the cats and get rid of them ... !!!

So, myself and neighbors will be getting traps soon and taking the strays to the Animal Control ....