I don't mind cats, the cats over here don't seem to be a menance to ME, anywho, my mother can't stand them though. But I just rather not go though that experience again where my dogs killed a kitten with people letting their cats roam. I known Punky you lost cat{s}? to your dogs before and I know it must of felt horrible.......but image what others too feel about witnessing those sort of things....so don't take what people are saying as an attack, but more of a concern for your cats safety. I believe it when you say your cats are not the ones causing troubles like the stories posted on this thread, but they can become victims from roaming. I'm sure they stay away from houses with big dogs, but my dogs are little and hardly are outside so I doubt it the cat who had a litter in my yard deemed my yard as an unsafe place. I don't want your cats to have the same faith as the little kitten that my dog killed, you've already had to deal with enough losses recently.
Also neighbors can be harsh. The AC over here does not take cat complaints they just say trap them and take them to the AC...some people would find that too much work, so they take matters in their own hands, and sometimes in a not so nice matter. So what my mom does is hose them off with the hose on JET when she finds the cat on top of her car. Your cats might not do much harm to other people's property, but people might be doing harm to your cats without you knowing it....the neighbor's never know that my mom did that to their cat. Nor that nice little Timmy down the block has fun throwing rocks at your cats when they show up in their backyard.
Some neighbor's are not confrontational when it comes to things like pets. If your dog poops in their yard, instead of talking to you about it, they might leave a burning bag of the poop in your front footstep. So in reality you don't really know that ALL your neighbor's don't have an issue about it, unless you do a survey around the neighborhood, you really have no idea. Maybe not the ones who have outdoor cats themselves, but maybe the ones who have no cats or have indoor cats that don't like outside cats on their property.
Here's one of the kittens I saved. I felt horrible about not saving one of the other kittens, I heard it meowing for help, but didn't step in fast enough, because I didn't know if the momma cat was there and didn't want to get scratched/bitten. You can see some blood on the shirt, my dog bit one of its little toes
Had it not been for the owner catching me by suprise and hadn't I had the kitten in my hands, I would of taken the kitten to the HS, because I don't think it was in the right home situation.....what if one of your neighbor's felt the same, they don't know how much you love and how well kept your cats are, neither did I about my neighbor's.....but I felt it would of been better of in an indoor home situation or quite frankly be PTS then see it dead one day in the streets and all my efforts of rescuing the kitten would of been senseless since it would of died a tragic death in the end afterall.
What I didn't get though her owner knew her cat had been preggos and was due anytime soon and she could of atleast kept her indoors during that time to prevent the litter from the elements. I was in denial that my cat would of been killed, since she hardly wandered off....but when I apologized for it, she was like ''its ok, these sort of things happen''....I was in a state of shock. I mean if you knew this could of happen why not prevent it from happening? I also asked her if she wanted the body of the little one that didn't make it, she was like ''why would I want it?''....umm to give it a proper burial? Sigh.