Why do people insist on feeding the coyotes??

I’ve griped about neighbor cats before on here.

The most recently griped about cats are no longer around.  One of the two disappeared, and the owners moved (and took the remaining one with them) back September-ish (I see I never posted about that, oh well).  When that cat was gone the neighborhood cats that had been coming around to visit them stopped coming around, it was a huge relief.  In addition, though we saw a dog when those folks were moving in, we haven’t seen it since, so I’m thinking it belonged to someone who was helping them.

Then, we started seeing a new cat.  I went back and checked the trail cam photos and he showed up on the trail cams just before the one across the street moved out, though I didn’t see him in person till a few weeks later.  Black and white tuxedo.  And by gawd F.A.T. fat.  Like, can barely walk fat.  Seriously.  When I first saw him in person I thought he was injured because he was walking so weird, it wasn’t until I’d seen him a few times that I realized he wasn’t injured, he was just that fat.   And I swear he’s getting fatter and fatter.  He’s definitely not getting any thinner.  This is an owned cat, there’s no way this cat is maintaining that level of pudge on a diet of mice.  Assuming he can even catch mice, I have my doubts, he’s that fat.  I’ve seen him waddle down our yard and off our back line more than once.  No clue how he hasn’t become a meal for someone yet.  I figure it’s a matter of time.

All of which is bad enough.  But as winter set in we started seeing cat tracks not only around the carport (again), but also around and under the porch.  And the dogs suddenly REALLY wanted under the porch.  It wasn’t until I started getting a whiff of cat pee every time I opened the front door that I realized what was happening.

He (or she) had decided my concrete patio was his litter box.  A sprinkle of cayenne powder around the area just pushed him into using the driveway instead.  When the snow melted in the recent thaw we found deposits of cat poo all around the driveway.

How this cat hasn’t already become a coyote meal I have no clue, but it’s just a matter of time.  There’s no way he could run away or climb a tree fast enough to escape one.  I checked, and my local shelter accepts “stray cats” though it’ll cost me $25 to drop him off.  So I’ve borrowed a live trap, maybe if they have to pay to get their cat out of hock they’ll think twice about letting him run loose……