@Symbeline I do get it. I’ve had cats my whole life and I loved them and would do anything to find them if they were lost, but still, you don’t just go into peoples’ yards like that. It’s not about them not having a right to do it or about them violating my property. It’s about them being clueless and scaring the pants off me and possibly getting themselves shot at if I was so inclined. I should have put the time in my details. It was about 9:00 pm, not so late that they couldn’t have simply knocked on my door and at least let me know what they were doing. And it was kind of their attitude that bugged me. They were the ones creeping around in my backyard, at night, uninvited and without warning, and when I asked them what they were doing it was like they were almost offended, as though I had no right. “We’re just looking for our cat.” O.k. You’re just looking for your cat, you’re not criminals, you mean me no harm, fine, but don’t get all huffy because I happen to want to know what the hell perfect strangers are doing wandering through the backyard of my little ¼ acre of suburban paradise in the dark. It may not be much, but it’s mine and they could have at least had the common courtesy to let me know that they were coming onto my property and why.