Cats in Duquesa Village

I have to say that I have never seen a cat being a problem in the village, so totally disagree.

Biggest problem is dog mess and as other correspondents reported a dog barking constantly on a terrace.

That would drive one mad...... - and the offending dogs and their owners should be removed forthwith.

 John,

I think Tom's key point is - the hard attitude against pet cats means less paying tennants which means loss of rental income for some owners.  (That assumes there other nearby communities that are car friendly - which seems reasonable).

Tennants are hard to come by these days.  I was talking to someone last night whose place has been empty since February.  

Without rental income some owners might struggle to pay their fees.  Its a reasonable argument - we need to make DV a desirable place to live.  

Right now  DV has become reknown locally as the costa del sol  Auschwitz for Cats.

Enjoy the golf.

Paul

I "shot" this cat by the top pool today.

It looked  well fed and its fully grown adult.  But it was very wary of me.  Is it a pet or ferral.   I couldn't tell.

If it gets caught in a trap who plays god to decide its fate?

So far none of the cats I seen have attacked me and scratched me so sadly  I don't get to sue the President !!  :- ))

Dear neighbours

I am an animal lover and I am also very much against animal cruelty. I used to be a dog owner but I can't say I know a lot about owning cats and what their needs are. However I can confirm that I own a ground floor flat and I have experienced regular incidents where cats have jumped into my terrace. They have urinated on my seat covers, blinds and walls, they have used my planters as litter trays and even urinated on my main entrance door.

I only use the flat as a weekend retreat and as you can imagine it's quite frustrating to walk in on a Friday evening wondering what mess I'm going to find next!

Some of you speak of stray cats being the issue but I can assure you that the ones that I've caught in my terrace or roaming in my landing and garage all have collars! So I presume this means that they are somebody's pets!

Given the above you will appreciate that I would like the issue dealt with asap and I will support any humane method used. I would also like to politely ask those cat owners out there to please keep their cats under control.

regards.

Dear Mr/Ms Wood

I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with the cats, it was suggested at the EGM held in November 2011 that litter trays could be placed in and around areas on the urbanisation where there were problems with mess and that  these would be regularly cleaned and maintained by cat caretakers, this would hopefully stop or at least reduce the problem of the cats messing on terraces, however, this suggestion was dismissed by the President who would prefer the cats to be removed  from DV and gassed.  

I do believe however that I have a solution.....I know of a lady who lives on the campo in Estepona and she has offered to take any cats which are caught on DV, she will have them neutered/vaccinated and they will live with her on the Campo in Estepona rather than have them returned to DV.  The lady will do this free of charge, she is not asking for any payment  in return for her kindness.  If we get enough residents who support this solution, then I will email AEA Administration to ask them if any strays/feral cats caught can be given to her rather than gassed at the killing station. 

What do other residents think?  Surely this would be a solution that even the President cannot object to? 

Thank you

Dear Paul (who posted the photo of 'Dad' the cat below)

I meant to email you earlier, but I am pretty certain this old man (Dad as I call him) is a stray, I have been trying to catch him as the lady in Estepona will take him and have him neutered, vaccinated and all his wounds tended to etc. , he is a grand old man and we would like to let him live the remainder of his days in peace in Estepona ...so if anyone can catch this old gentleman please let me know and I will arrange to have him collected from DV asap.

Many thanks