My old cat goes into the yard with me while I water (I don't leave him outside otherwise). Apparently he has managed to scale a 6ft fence and go into the neighbours yard, because I had a fairly unpleasant encounter with my neighbour today.
I saw my cat pop up (from what I thought was behind the shed) and heard my neighbour mutter through the fence "I'm gonna kill that cat, stay out of my yard".
Now... I didn't respond to him because I was shocked (no one has threatened me or my animals before). I had some time to cool down and I think I will leave him an apology card with a gift card to the garden center. I don't want to talk to him in person because honestly he seems a bit unbalanced.
The majority of the message will be along the lines of "so sorry won't happen again etc". But part of me (a bitter part?) also wants to mention that he shouldn't kill my cat if he sees it again. I don't plan on letting my cat out, but things happens and I don't want him dead. I also don't want him throwing poison around and killing my dog.
What I hope to achieve is getting him not to kill my animals and perhaps act a bit more reasonably if he sees a cat in his yard (talk to me first without death threats through the fence?). I don't know if I should just apologize and leave it at that, or mention that in the future I'd appreciate that he let me know there is a problem first before acting on his impulse? I am worried that adding all this will just make him angrier. On the other hand he already muttered threats so in a way I hope he realizes it might not be an appropriate thing to say.
How to apologize to my neighbour who threatened to kill my cat without annoying him and ending up with him hurting my pets?