Re: neighbors cat scratchin up my car
When I was 17 I had worked at a grocery store for 2 yrs. to save up enough money for my first truck (a used '86 isuzu 4X4 which was the best truck I've ever had). I washed it about every 3 days and waxed it about every month I was so proud of it. A cat kept leaving tracks all over it for weeks so I devised a plan.....I set a raccoon leg-hold trap between a crack in the fence in the back yard. I lived in front of a small-town hospital....you'll soon see the importance. Well, I forgot that I set the darn trap for a couple of days and didn't check it before school. A few days later, I sat down for supper and my dad casually asks shortly thereafter--"well, what's been going on, Jeremiah Johnson?" I didn't understand the significance of the comment 'cause I had forgotten about my "fence set". I gave him a funny look and said "nothin much". He quizzed me further with no results from me and I guess he finally understood that I had no idea what he was talking about. He then proceeded to remind me about my trap and tell me that my "set" had been successful. A group of old ladies at the hospital had heard a crazy noise across the field toward my house and they could see a cat jumping around. They called the cops and our poor old town policeman came to investigate. He found the cat in the trap and proceeded to TRY to extract him from it. Of course, the cat went berzerk and according to the policeman, he nearly had to shoot the rascal it was scratching and biting him so badly.
Luckily for me, I narrowly avoided a beating probably because my stepmother hated that darn cat, too, for the same reason I did and because my dad probably appreciated my outstanding trapping skills.

My dad was very strict and normally would have got me good for such an idiotic stunt----he also hates cats like me, though. Now, after nearly 20yrs., when I see 'ol J.L. (the policeman--he is a good guy, by the way) he still ribs me about that dang cat incident.
The moral of the story------I FEEL YOUR PAIN!!!!
But I have no recommendations since I narrowly escaped my previous "cat problem" with my rear intact.
Good luck with YOUR cat,
JBJ
