I believe, in California, a dog is considered property and a cat is not. That is to say, the owner of a dog is responsible for any damages his pet may cause. A cat belongs to whoever's property is is on at the time. If a cat shreds your car's upholstery, too bad. You should have taken better care of YOUR cat, while it was yours. The other side to this is that you may trap a cat and take it to the pound. If it is tagged or chipped it may be returned to the "owner", if not...

Oh, and good luck getting Animal Control to respond to your complaints in most places.

It is relatively easy to train a single dog. You're it's pack and that's it. If you have two dogs the task can be ten times more difficult because the two little buggers have more in common with each other than you and TWO MAKES a PACK, baby! I've done both. With the two one was always a mischief maker and the leader of the revolution! How to handle it? Divide and conquer and refresher lessons.