You are wise to be afraid to let your cats/kitten outside with coyotes
in the neighborhood. Three cats who had been dumped off on our road
came to our place looking for food and a home, so of course, I took
care of them, and gave them a home. I couldn't take them into the
house; my husband says we have enough cats in the house already, so
they lived in our barn.

The three outside cats all went missing one fall, and although I hate
to think about it, I suspect the coyotes had something to do with it.
We have many packs of them in our area in rural Wisconsin. It was
getting to the point that when one pack would start howling across the
road, another would answer at the end of our five-acre hayfield,
another pack would answer from the neighbor's and another pack would
answer from the other neighbor's.

When the coyotes started howling, I decided to start yelling "KNOCK IT
OFF!!!! GO AWAY!!!!" It was like someone flipped a switch. As soon as
I started yelling, they would all go instantly silent. I did this
about a half dozen times, and now I haven't heard a coyote right
around here in a long while (knock on wood). I can hear them howling
across the river about four miles away, but not right around here. I
think they were surprised to hear a human yelling at midnight when
they figured they had the whole world to themselves.

If coyotes believe that no one is going to bother them, and in fact no
one has bothered them, they are very brave and believe they have free
run. If someone makes it uncomfortable for them to be in an area,
they'll go somewhere else. Perhaps you and your neighbors could make
some "noise-makers" — aluminum cans in a plastic garbage bag — and
whenever you see a coyote, grab the bag, shake it and  run toward the
coyote, yelling for all you're worth.

LeAnn