Is my Apartment Complex allowed to take outdoor cats?

[RoiAleTea]

I live in an apartment complex in Florida that allows cats and charges me to keep it. I had to sign a pet addendum, which doesn't mention any rules about an outdoor cat. My cat doesn't wear a collar. A resident complained that two cats were fighting at night and keeping him up, so the staff placed a trap cage and caught my cat. I found him in the cage slightly cut and laying in poop. I was able to release my cat and he is now safe indoors. The staff had the intentions of taking my cat to the SPCA. What can I do to prevent my cat from being captured? Are there laws on domestic vs stray cats in FL? Several cats in the complex are outdoors, and I worry for them, since no one was given any warning of the trap cage placement. Can the staff legally capture residents' cats even though we paid and signed for the right to own them?

 

[Ohiogal]

I live in an apartment complex that allows cats and charges me to keep it. I had to sign a pet addendum, which doesn't mention any rules about an outdoor cat. My cat doesn't wear a collar. A resident complained that two cats were fighting at night and keeping him up, so the staff placed a trap cage and caught my cat. I found him in the cage slightly cut and laying in poop. I was able to release my cat and he is now safe indoors. The staff had the intentions of taking my cat to the SPCA. What can I do to prevent my cat from being captured? Are there laws on domestic vs stray cats in FL? Several cats in the complex are outdoors, and I worry for them, since no one was given any warning of the trap cage placement. Can the staff legally capture residents' cats even though we paid and signed for the right to own them?

You can take care of your cat and keep him indoors. Why do you think you have a right to let your cat run free? Why do you think you have a right to infringe upon other people with YOUR pet. If this cat is yours, be responsible and take care of it. And yes, the staff did nothing wrong. Your cat should be INDOORS and not annoying others. Domestic cats are INDOOR pets. You want an outdoor cat, move to a farm that you own.

 

[Zigner]

I was once told that people don't own cats...cats own people.

 

[TigerD]

I was once told that people don't own cats...cats own people.

5,000 years ago people worshiped cats as gods -- and they haven't forgotten it.

 

[FarmerJ]

Cat with no collar HMMM to anyone else like animal control , LLs maint crew , neighbors no collar = stray cat. ( does your city have a ord requiring a license tag on cats ? ) Ideally yes as a resident with a pet your lease should have made it clear to you that pets found to be roaming with out a collar or leash may end up being removed from the property. ( I had one cat , Tarzan, he was hard core all about being outside as much as he could and did a great job keeping the mice down including keeping them out of my produce garden rows and even though this is a farming area I live in Tarzan was hit by a car & died after working the neighbors soybean field across the road. His sister Jane has little interest in being outside. It would be a good choice to make kitty stay inside from now on so you dont risk the LL changing your next lease renewal into a NO pet lease (since your LL can do this )

 

[Ladyback1]

I live in an apartment complex in Florida that allows cats and charges me to keep it. I had to sign a pet addendum, which doesn't mention any rules about an outdoor cat. My cat doesn't wear a collar. A resident complained that two cats were fighting at night and keeping him up, so the staff placed a trap cage and caught my cat. I found him in the cage slightly cut and laying in poop. I was able to release my cat and he is now safe indoors. The staff had the intentions of taking my cat to the SPCA. What can I do to prevent my cat from being captured? Are there laws on domestic vs stray cats in FL? Several cats in the complex are outdoors, and I worry for them, since no one was given any warning of the trap cage placement. Can the staff legally capture residents' cats even though we paid and signed for the right to own them?

and they knew it was your cat how?

The cat should have been indoors in the first place. Would you allow a dog to run free?
(and yes, people don't own cats. People were put on this Earth to cater to the cats' whims)

 

[Gail in Georgia]

How in the friggin' fart would a complex know that a cat without any collar or identification whatsoever is yours or owned by any other resident in the complex?

"What can I do to keep my cat from being captured?"

Keep it inside where it doesn't get hurt or become a nuisance to other tenants by fighting with other cats.

Gail

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Thanks ya'll. Now I have that ditty about the cat in the kettle at the Peking Moon floating in my head.