There are several clinics where I live that do only spay and nueter and charge really reasonable rates, 20 for small dogs and cats and 50 for large dogs. There are also a few more vets that will do it on a sliding scale based on income so I am sure in the San Antonio area there is some sort of a low cost program.

Carolyn

Read my post here. http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=167&Number=217748

Your neighbor's cat will be better off in the pound than in the street. She will be fed and have the chance to be adopted.

If the neighbor is not feeding her maybe he doesn't own her or has abandoned her.

Check your laws. It may be illegal to take someone else's cat to be spayed or to the pound, or it may be encouraged. Personally I hope that she is taken off the street and soon, and she doesn't come to the same end as my neighbor's "stray" cat.

Cats are survivors so don't worry about food or cover. We have a lot of neighborhood cats around, don't really think about it to much. Bring it to get it fixed if it bothers you, lol

 Quote: Carolyn Pike

Tiger who spends almost all of her time on my porch....

For the last 6 months or so Tiger is almost always in my yard or on my porch. She looks pretty skinny....

Obviously she is not fixed (and although I tried to broach the subject the neighbors did not want to talk about it).

I think if the cats disappeared they would be upset...

I think it's safe to say the neighbors would not be upset if the cat was gone (it might bother them if they had to drive past a cat carcass on the street) and I think it's a stretch to say that they own the cat/s. They obviously are not feeding the cat that lives at your house and the cat obviously thinks your brief bits of attention are better than what she gets at the neighbors.

Went to a 2-hr presentation/class on Saturday afternoon by the SA Feral Cat Coalition. Got lots of interesting information, a discount with one of the spay/neuter organizations in my county, and the opportunity to borrow traps (w/a deposit). It also opened my eyes and made me realize that I was being totally emotional about this and wasn't looking at the real problem.

Apparently the city ordinances have changed recently and it is illegal to have an 'outdoor' cat that is not spayed or neutered. If I trapped their cats while trapping numerous neighborhood strays and took them in to get fixed (for the astoundingly low price of $10 ea.) I would be completely within my rights and considered doing the community a favor. The presenters pointed out that I would also be in the right to call animal control and have the neighbors cited for not having their animals spayed/neutered, and that if they complained that I had their cats done, I could point out how much worse it could be and how I was doing them a favor on my dime.

It was kind of funny... the presenters got to the last agenda item about dealing with neighbors. How to listen to their frustrations etc about you feeding a colony of cats, cats in their yards, etc. I finally raised my hand and told them unfortunately I was one of the frustrated neighbors, explained my situation and asked about the laws. They were very kind and gave me some good info on my personal situation.

I'm not ready to take the neighbor's cats the the shelter... I feel like that would be going too far at this point especially because the chance of them being euthanized is fairly high. Shelters here are teeming and good luck finding one with space, especially for half wild cats/kittens. Technically they are feeding them, they look pretty healthy albeit a bit skinny, and not to sound disgusting but they are doing a good job of keeping the rodent population at bay. As long as they are not reproducing, which it sounds like I can now take care of, I'll be satisfied unless something changes.

Thanks for everybody's input!

that's why i was asking whether the cats had collars or anything that proved they were your neighbour's cats. we dealt with a colony that was extremely complicated by roaming pet cats, and had serious disease issues as well. we trapped a lot of tame cats, and as long as they didn't have collars, well, then :shrug:

glad you found the presentation helpful though and got some resources. that's great!