I got an anonymous note....

Thats horrible - People like that make me sick.

I would play it safe and probs keep the cat indoors until this is sorted out, you dont want to risk losing your baby ... please keep us informed

Whoever it is: they're repulsive.

I remember we had an issue with our neighbour when we lived in QLD due to our cats too. the old guy didn't want them sleeping under the tree in his front yard!
Both me and my room mate had cats, so there were 3 in total, they were mostly indoor cats, but when they were let out they would venture out and go find a shady place to sleep... generally in our neighbours front yard.
He came over and abused my room mate while I wasn't home threatening to kill them if they kept going in there, and even left a baited meatball at our front door (we were all vego)
We took it to the cops and rspca and couldn't get much done, however the police officer had a similar thing happen with his neighbours and their dogs so he was more than happy to pay him a visit for us. He apologised (to the police) over it, said he'd never intended on hurting them, and we never heard from him again.

If you can get the law involved, generally people will f**k off. If not, hopefully that neighbour makes a threat against you, so you can get an AVO out against them and they're forced to move.

people like this are unbelievable!

So you just leave your cats to roam around outside?

If so, for the sake of the local wildlife it might actually be a good thing if they take out your cat.

Maybe a threat to kill the cat is too much, but how hard is it for you to teach your cat to crap in a litter box? You made the decision to own the pet, not the neighbours. I hate to be harsh but from personal experience, having someone else's cat shit and dead native animal carcasses all over one's yard isn't exactly pleasant.

Not to mention the possibility that your cat could get run over or injured if you just leave it to roam around. Nutty neighbours aside, try take proper care of your pet.

You've never owned a cat, have you?

Cats will shit in a litter box if it's the only place to go. Most cats would prefer to use sand or dirt in the yard.

Most people who own cats will let them venture outside for an hour or two, that does NOT make us bad owners.

I've owned a number of cats and looked after friends' cats a couple of times. In my experience it varies - some cats prefer to do their own thing outside, others have preferred to stay indoors and only liked to go outdoors briefly.

I've found that if they're trained properly and spend most of their times indoors, they've generally crapped in their litter box. A few times they have crapped in my yard, but that's the point - when they've done it it's in MY yard, which is where they stay. Even if you have a cat that prefers to crap outdoors, do you think that it's ok for it to crap in someone else's yard so that that person has to clean up after it? Your cat shouldn't even be in their yard in the first place really.

I also disagree with your assertion that most people who own cats let them outside for a couple of hours. That of course is the responsible thing to do, but I've found most people tend to leave them be and even leave them out all night. The amount of strays, ferals and cats in animal homes is a testament to this.

You want to own a cat that's fair enough, but some of us would prefer not to have to clean up other people's crap and would prefer birds and actual native wildlife in our yards (not to mention the fact that cats must eat meat). You leave any of your property in other people's yards, pets or otherwise, then be prepared to accept responsibility for the risk.

So...you think that a death threat is a perfectly reasonable risk of letting a cat go outside (it shouldn't even be a matter of 'let', really. Cats need to be outside - not 100% of the time, but they need that stimulation)?

At no point have I denied that cats need to be outside. I have however said that they should be kept predominantly inside and when they are outside, you should keep them in your own yard.

As to whether a death threat is a 'reasonable' risk, if you actually read what I wrote I think you'll find I actually said that such a note was excessive:

But that's my point - you leave your cat to its own devices and let it wander where ever it wants to, you have no idea what it might do (to the wildlife or other people's property) or what might happen to it (whether due to unreasonable neighbours or traffic).

I'm not hating on cats because really they don't know any better; however their owners should. It's not necessary to own one and if you do you should look after it, which includes not letting it go into other people's yards.

Personally, despite my many talks to neighbours, to think that the life of some domesticated animal (kept merely for emotional purposes) is more important that the numerous dead birds and slaughtered possums I continually have to pick up off my lawn, because I can't constantly supervise other people's bloody cats, is ridiculous. Bottom line is the cat shouldn't be in the other person's property in the first place.

And how would you police that, though? How can you stop an animal from exploring when they don't know any better?

I'm not going to comment about the cats being unnecessary in great detail, but sometimes there is no other home for them. My feline friend was going to be sent to the pound. On another note, I've actually figured out a way to stop Toast (cat) from killing wilidife - I make sure she's in a certain time every night, because she only brings things in after a certain hour in at night. I do not recall anyone ever mentioning cats killing wildife so to be honest I'm not exactly sure why it's in this thread when the issue was an anonymous death threat.

On topic, if after talking to your neighbour you're still having issues, it might be a good idea to get the authorities involved. There's no need to resort to petty things like notes saying that they're going to kill your animal companion. If they had a problem they should have brought it up with you, not acted like immature brats. IMO, that's the real issue here.