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I will try to make this as short and straightforward as possible. We live in an apt complex with a number of buildings. Our building has 6 occupied apts, the demo apt, and the leasing office in it. A woman in our building works for the complex, mostly doing outside stuff, like mulching, planting flowers, filling potholes, and the like. Since we moved in almost 2 years ago, she has been feeding and taking care of stray cats on the property. At first, it was in a small wooded area on the other side of the parking lot. However, for at least 6 months, probably much longer, she has been leaving food and a box/boxes with blankets for the cats to sleep in/on on the shared porch, where no one is allowed to keep their own property. The cats often sit at the door to our building, and prowl around outside the building. We are on the ground floor (partially underground so our windows are at ground level) and the cats have woken me up in the middle of the night, and on weekend mornings, with their noises.<br><br>
The lease is fairly clear about pet rules - no dogs on the property period. No pets permitted besides cats. Max 2 cats per apt, extra deposit and monthly cat rent for each animal. I understand that stray cats are not exactly easy to control, but I do not see these animals as strays, seeing as she feeds, houses, names, and (rumor has it) provides vet care for them. I have complained to the office 4 times about this. Three times the box has disappeared just until the time that the apt manager had left the office that day, then the woman put it right back out there. Every time I see it, I complain, but this is fruitless. The main issue is that there are still cats outside of my windows waking me up. I still can't have people over with cat allergies/fears (yes, I know people who are afraid of cats). I am honestly at the end of my rope with this.<br><br>
So these are my options as I see it:
<ul><li>Continue to go through the "proper channels" and hope that the squeaky wheel gets greased.</li>
<li>Take matters into my own hands and throw the box out myself and risk retaliation from the woman who takes care of the cats.</li>
<li>Take matters further into my own hands and put out cat food/treats laced with rat poison.</li>
<li>Give up, live with little/no sleep, accept that rules are made to be broken and cats are way more important than my sanity.</li>
</ul><br>
I am sure there are other options, but I'm a little <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">: and am having trouble thinking very rationally about this. Talking to the woman is not an option for me. She believes that she is the mother of these animals and that she should have special privileges that other residents don't have. I think she truly believes these animals wouldn't be able to survive without her.<br><br>
I know people will ask about animal control. Their stance is that it is up to me to trap the animals, and then call them to have them pick them up. I relayed this to the apt office and they said if I wanted to do that, it was up to me, but they would not provide any assistance at all (other local complexes trap the animals if/when they have a problem with strays).<br><br>
FWIW, we are moving in about 6-8 weeks due to the utter incompetence of this complex to enforce any of the rules stated in their lease. However, I honestly am not sure I can last that long, especially if I'm going to continue losing 2+ hours of sleep every night because the strays decide my bedroom window is the most romantic spot for GIO.<br><br>
I would really appreciate sincere help/advice/BTDT stories, as opposed to people telling me to suck it up. I have tried to suck it up and ignore it, but I am not at that point in my personal growth yet, and would like to find a solution to the problem that will work for me right now.
The lease is fairly clear about pet rules - no dogs on the property period. No pets permitted besides cats. Max 2 cats per apt, extra deposit and monthly cat rent for each animal. I understand that stray cats are not exactly easy to control, but I do not see these animals as strays, seeing as she feeds, houses, names, and (rumor has it) provides vet care for them. I have complained to the office 4 times about this. Three times the box has disappeared just until the time that the apt manager had left the office that day, then the woman put it right back out there. Every time I see it, I complain, but this is fruitless. The main issue is that there are still cats outside of my windows waking me up. I still can't have people over with cat allergies/fears (yes, I know people who are afraid of cats). I am honestly at the end of my rope with this.<br><br>
So these are my options as I see it:
<ul><li>Continue to go through the "proper channels" and hope that the squeaky wheel gets greased.</li>
<li>Take matters into my own hands and throw the box out myself and risk retaliation from the woman who takes care of the cats.</li>
<li>Take matters further into my own hands and put out cat food/treats laced with rat poison.</li>
<li>Give up, live with little/no sleep, accept that rules are made to be broken and cats are way more important than my sanity.</li>
</ul><br>
I am sure there are other options, but I'm a little <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/irked.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="irked">: and am having trouble thinking very rationally about this. Talking to the woman is not an option for me. She believes that she is the mother of these animals and that she should have special privileges that other residents don't have. I think she truly believes these animals wouldn't be able to survive without her.<br><br>
I know people will ask about animal control. Their stance is that it is up to me to trap the animals, and then call them to have them pick them up. I relayed this to the apt office and they said if I wanted to do that, it was up to me, but they would not provide any assistance at all (other local complexes trap the animals if/when they have a problem with strays).<br><br>
FWIW, we are moving in about 6-8 weeks due to the utter incompetence of this complex to enforce any of the rules stated in their lease. However, I honestly am not sure I can last that long, especially if I'm going to continue losing 2+ hours of sleep every night because the strays decide my bedroom window is the most romantic spot for GIO.<br><br>
I would really appreciate sincere help/advice/BTDT stories, as opposed to people telling me to suck it up. I have tried to suck it up and ignore it, but I am not at that point in my personal growth yet, and would like to find a solution to the problem that will work for me right now.
