Urgent Advice Needed

[Kitty Bass]

Basically DH and I live in the apartment block from Hell. We moved here about a year ago and our neighbors have always hated us. There are 4 apartments in this block. They never got to know us or wanted to know us, and have been harrassing us in small ways since that day. It's finally gotten to the point where it's unbearable to live here. They know we have cats, and were actually resonsible for telling various people to dump kittens on our doorstep in the past.

Anyway, they just hate us, and complained to the landlord our cats 'stink'. The landlord comes in the apartment every month to collect the rent so I think he would have told us first if our cats did in fact, smell. He told us to ignore it. This morning, a police officer and a health inspector arrive at our door asking to see our ID and our cats' passports. They did not ask to enter the apartment. Our cats that came with us from Fuerteventura do have the green Spanish passports but there is no record of their injections , just worming. Our vet there never gave us the booklets until we needed them to move here. Anyway, the kittens that we got last year do not have passports or a medical history with the vet at this point.

If my neighbors decide that we weren't pushed enough to the limit and call the cops out again, can they actually come in and take my undocumented cats away? If they can, what will happen to them? I'm scared to death. There is no need for any of this to have reached the level of harrassment it has. My cats are my life. If we could afford to move elsewhere, we would in a flash. We are barely making ends meet as it is and feel so trapped.

[CAROL MONTIEL]

Sorry to hear you are going through all this, people can be horrid. I have lived here for 33 years and I have always had cats. You dont need passports for the cats if they were aquired here its only when they come from another country that they need them. If you are worried about their jabs or lack of them, just take them to the vets and get them done with no problem. As far as I know the police would have to give you a warning first about the cats before they could take them away, but if they dont go out of the house and your landlord is ok with you having them, then there should be no problem. My advise is also to get out of the flat as soon as you can afford to, there are a lot of cheap flats about at the moment. Please get in touch if you need any help with anything, I know a lot of people(police etc) you could even put in a complaint to the police about the fact that these people are harrassing you, that would robably shut them up. Anyway good luck to you.
Carol

[The Mad Cat Lady]

OMG Kitty Bass, that is just a nightmare. *hugs*

However, the police can NOT take your cats away from you simply for not having a passport or their jabs. There is no law against not having these for animals, and they were simply just pushing their weight around. If YOU as a foreigner here in Spain didn´t have a passport, that would be another matter, but animals don´t need passports unless you are travelling with them, which you are obviously not.

I wish I could help in some way, but apart from not giving up and not despairing and staying positive, I´m afraid there isn´t anything i can do. One thing that might help with your neighbours - I always found the best defense to nasty or aggressive people is to be *really nice* to them (if you can). That way, they will either lose interest in harrassing you very soon because they realise that they are not successful in doing so, or they will simply mellow out and be nicer back to you too. It might take some time of course, but you can always try that.

[Kitty Bass]

They've been a nightmare since Day 1 of our arrival. The cats weren't even an issue back then. We tried being nice , being cordial, then just trying to stay out of their way. The cats is their 'new' form of harrassment. For whatever their reason, they are just trying to harrass us so much to the point that we move or annoy our landlord so much that he'll want to boot us out. They've just always hated us, that's all I know, and both hubby and I have been worried and physically ill thinking about our cats' safety. They are all Canarian rescue cats, some from Fuerteventura and some from here. Some have their jabs and Spanish passports, and some don't. Our house doesn't 'smell' like cats, the only smell is coming from the guy next door, as far as I'm concerned. We'd love to move, but we just can't afford it right now. I know it's escalating and I know my nerves just can't take it. We were able to tolerate them until they started posing a threat to the cats.

[The Mad Cat Lady]

oh damn. *hugs*

How many cats do you have? Wouldn´t it be possible to find them foster homes just for a little while until you can move? And yes, like Carol says, rents are very cheap at the moment, if you can get your original deposit back then you shouldn´t have a problem finding something else, but you do need to look of course.

Kitty Bass said:

They've been a nightmare since Day 1 of our arrival. The cats weren't even an issue back then. We tried being nice , being cordial, then just trying to stay out of their way. The cats is their 'new' form of harrassment. For whatever their reason, they are just trying to harrass us so much to the point that we move or annoy our landlord so much that he'll want to boot us out. They've just always hated us, that's all I know, and both hubby and I have been worried and physically ill thinking about our cats' safety. They are all Canarian rescue cats, some from Fuerteventura and some from here. Some have their jabs and Spanish passports, and some don't. Our house doesn't 'smell' like cats, the only smell is coming from the guy next door, as far as I'm concerned. We'd love to move, but we just can't afford it right now. I know it's escalating and I know my nerves just can't take it. We were able to tolerate them until they started posing a threat to the cats.

[Kitty Bass]

Well the neighbors are worse then ever and the health inspectors are coming out again. Our landlord got a copy of the 2nd denuncia stating that they are coming back in the next 10 days and they will take our cats off us and evict us. The first denuncia was filled with lies as is the second. It's amazing that trouble making neighbors can turn your world upside down just on their false words.

The landlord doesn't have a problem with our cats and we are tidy people but, we do have 13 of them. I have a friend with 17 cats in an apartment. Anyway, he told us the best thing to do is ask around and see if some people in the area can catsit some of them until this is over with.

I wouldn't expect one foster home to take them ALL. Ideally I would like to have 2 put in a few homes. Many of these cats have lived with us for years and moved with us from Fuerteventura. They are all rescue cats and I can't bear the thought if any harm should come to them because of these neighbors. Could anybody possibly help us? We will pay for any food or medical expenses during the time they are in 'Witness Protection'. This is the only way to ensure their safety until we can resolve this, or ideally move.

We are denouncing them back today--these neighbors damage our property, harrass, taunt , etc. One even made a death threat to us on Saturday. It's getting to real and too scary.

Please help us, I don't care what happens to us, I just want my cats safe until this storm blows over.

[The Mad Cat Lady]

Sad to hear that people can be such utter a*seholes and that things have gone from bad to worse.

The only thing I could do is send an email around to all my Lanzarote (animal-loving) contacts and see if any of them can help. I am doing that now - will include you in the mail.

Otherwise, you´re gonna have to see if you can spread the word yourself via email, phone, friends, word of mouth, anything you can think of, to see if somebody can help.

Anyways, I´m gonna compose that email for you now, and hope that it may possibly help...

Kitty Bass said:

Well the neighbors are worse then ever and the health inspectors are coming out again. Our landlord got a copy of the 2nd denuncia stating that they are coming back in the next 10 days and they will take our cats off us and evict us. The first denuncia was filled with lies as is the second. It's amazing that trouble making neighbors can turn your world upside down just on their false words.

The landlord doesn't have a problem with our cats and we are tidy people but, we do have 13 of them. I have a friend with 17 cats in an apartment. Anyway, he told us the best thing to do is ask around and see if some people in the area can catsit some of them until this is over with.

I wouldn't expect one foster home to take them ALL. Ideally I would like to have 2 put in a few homes. Many of these cats have lived with us for years and moved with us from Fuerteventura. They are all rescue cats and I can't bear the thought if any harm should come to them because of these neighbors. Could anybody possibly help us? We will pay for any food or medical expenses during the time they are in 'Witness Protection'. This is the only way to ensure their safety until we can resolve this, or ideally move.

We are denouncing them back today--these neighbors damage our property, harrass, taunt , etc. One even made a death threat to us on Saturday. It's getting to real and too scary.

Please help us, I don't care what happens to us, I just want my cats safe until this storm blows over.

[Kitty Bass]

Yes, we've been asking friends too if they can help, but not many of them are cat lovers. There have been a few positive developments since I posted as well as a negative one. I did get advice by a person from one of the local charities. I was told that there is no limit to the amount of cats that I have, provided they are properly cared for and they are living in clean conditions--they are, but I would prefer that a few of them go into 'witness protection' just to be on the safe side. The person I spoke to today might be able to find out more information about what day the inspection will be and exactly what my neighbors reported to them, so I can be prepared.


We have no children, our cats are our lives and we've dedicated our almost 6 years here to helping abused and unwanted cats on these islands. Some of our cats have never even interacted with any other human apart from us and I can't bear thinking about the stress they are being put under(as well as us) They are the only children we will ever have and it brakes my heart that I have neighbors that will stop at nothing to get us out of here.

We are supposed to be the good guys here, we are being made out to be the pieces of trash that they are and I never in a million years expected it to go this far. The man threatened to kill my hubby again tonight and attemped to headbutt him as my hubby was walking up the stairs CARRYING GROCERIES. I could hear the man shouting and swearing and hubby was just saying 'just leave us alone we dont want any trouble, in a calm voice.

I am already in fear of our own safety but I can't handle the thought of anything happening to my kitties. I have my own health issues and this whole thing is just sucking the life out of me.

I thought it was hard before, but the battle hasn't even started yet. I just want my cats out of harm's way.

[The Mad Cat Lady]

I sent an email last night to all my catlover contacts (including to you), and maybe, hopefully, somebody will contact you directly. Fingers crossed.

[Kitty Bass]

Thanks so much, I will just feel so better if I know they are safe.We're going to the police today to file our report about them , provided our interpreter shows this time. We should have done this ages ago before it got to this point but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this. These guys aren't going anywhere, they're either related or friends and both own their own apartments. It's going to be tough to stand up against 2 families.