If you have a dog

[janeadams]

I'm going to risk taking this thread where it hasn't touched yet. My pardon if this offends. Let's be fair to the broader pet community.

Cat owners are also guilty of letting their pets stray. We've had two large cats show up in recent months. They use the floor of our ag storage building as their cat box, along with the driveway and some areas under the growing benches. Cat hair adhered to the hood of the truck. Cat paws on the windshield. Cat paws on the roof!!! of the greenhouse. Yowling under the bedroom window at night. We've had a cat-mongoose fight on our front lanai in the middle of the night that broke plants and pots.

I don't care what your pet is as long as its legal (no invasives, please). However, you do have a duty to keep them in your own yard and not let them roam. I know ya'll love your pets, and that's cool. Just don't impose them on your neighbors unwillingly. In the cat's defense, I've never felt threatened by a stray cat, and have done so by roaming angry dogs. I've never been treated to hours of upset and incessant meowing that can be heard for a mile, either. But that doesn't make it OK to let them roam.

Don't shoot me over this one -- I'm not anti-pet, and have been a pet owner in the distant past.

Jane