Neighbourly relations vs cats

[SkyRabbit]

My neighbour has just been round to ask if it's my cats pooing on his lawn, resulting in brown patches all over it.

I have no idea if it's my cats or not - there's a few on the street, and I've not noticed any poo on his lawn myself. I did tell him I've seen a couple of small Shitzus loose in the gardens some mornings (the owner seems to let them have a good wander before he calls for them ) and could it maybe be the dogs?
He's scoffed at that as if I've made these dogs up and gone off muttering to himself.

I don't think this is my cats as tbh they seem to prefer my fecking veg plot but the fact is, none of us know what or who is pooing on his fecking lawn.

Now, I don't want to fall out with this neighbour in spite of the trees in his garden wrecking my lawn and fence, and the fact that he plays Pink Floyd every goddamn night at 11.30pm. Any ideas how I could handle this?

[Mybeardeddragonjustdied2016]

Just tell the neighbours you will give your cats a jolly good telling off and remind them it's very disrespectful to shit on the neighbours lawn. Job done.
Unless she has cctv and your cats appear on cats- stoppers they really will have to put up and shut up.

[SkyRabbit]

Oh dear lord, he's out there in the pissing rain now, shaking something over his lawn, and periodically looking up to scowl at me. I'm pretending to be Very Busy

[ayeokthen]

It's cat/dog pee that turns grass brown not poo!

[SkyRabbit]

ayeok ahhh more likely to be dog wee in the middle of a lawn I'd hazard then?

[SkyRabbit]

ayeok ahhh more likely to be dog wee in the middle of a lawn I'd hazard then?

[ayeokthen]

I'd say so. Bitches are particularly bad for it, there's something in their wee that makes it worse. My cats used to poo on our grass all the time and I never got patches, just pick it up and it's done. Your neighbour sounds like a twat.

[ayeokthen]

Also very unlikely that a cat would pee in the middle of a lawn, they're usually in a corner looking mortally offended if anyone is watching I miss my cats! Doesn't feel like a home without them.

[YoungGirlGrowingOld]

Peeing in the middle of the lawn would not be normal cat behaviour. Their hunt-y instincts compel them to leave no trace (which is why my fuckwit moggy tries to bury her doings even in our paved yard).

[SkyRabbit]

To be fair, one of my cats is a scatty numpty, but even then, I can't imagine even she would wee in the middle of the lawn, where (gasp) someone might see her!

[malin100]

Sounds like he's being unreasonable given it's patches, not cat poo. However I can sympathise to some degree as I've spent much time and energy and over £60 the past few weeks on things to stop a cat pooing ALL OVER my gravel driveway and digging up my border ONTO the driveway, killing my plants and encouraging weeds to grow. I need to walk one step at a time on my driveway, examining where I'm about to place my foot. I need to bend down at over 40 weeks pregnant, picking up oodles of cat shit that I shouldn't be going near anyway. So whilst he's being unreasonable if it's just patches and therefore probably the dogs, if it turns out to be cat shit then he has every right to be annoyed and I'd suggest the nice thing to do in that situation is to buy him an ultrasonic cat deterrent. I tried all the 'smelly' things (granules that smell citrussy, pepper dust, coffee grounds, etc) but that's the only thing that worked and I really could have done with spending that money on the baby and not the neighbour's cat - but can't risk getting cat poo on the pram wheels and our shoes for the rest of time.

Anyway, I know that might not be his problem (though you say you haven't seen the poo - maybe he already picked it up) but I'm overdue and this shall be my rant of the day!

[SkyRabbit]

I have every sympathy with him - for some reason his front lawn is his pride and joy despite the back resembling a jungle
IF it is my cats wrecking it, I will get him the repellent thingy , replace turf etc. My issue is none of us know whether it is mine or not, or if in fact it's not a cat at all. I do think it's slightly odd that the patches are bang in the middle of the lawn, which to my (admittedly non expert) thinking, is less likely to be a cat, but rather a dog or indeed fox.

[malin100]

Well if it turns out to your cat then I think he can't ask for much more than that. I'd be delighted if I'd been bought one!

I have to admit I was also surprised though at the random nature of the pooing. I'd previously had some in the border occasionally, but they are literally scattered all over the driveway and are definitely cat poos, not dogs or foxes. Some of them are just messy pooers I suppose! Fingers crossed not yours though!

[shovetheholly]

I think it's far more likely to be a dog. Most cats at least try to bury it. There are about 20,000 of them in my neighbourhood, and none of them have ever pooed on my lawn.

I find that leaving a patch of tilled earth somewhere easy for me to clean can encourage them to do their business there in preference to my flower beds (they just seem to like the soft, freshly tilled earth really).

I think it's unreasonable of anyone to get in a towering rage about it, though. There are way, way, way more serious things that can happen in life than a bit of cat poo in the garden. A sense of proportion is needed sometimes, and a bit of toleration all ways. We all do things that irritate the people around us, and a bit of give and take is needed. I'm not saying people should just put up with terrible behaviour - of course not - but not sweating the small stuff and reminding yourself that you might also be the beneficiary of tolerance regarding your dog/baby/kids/unusual hobby is important.

[shovetheholly]

Sorry malin - that was absolutely NOT directed at you but a general comment. You sound like a really reasonable person.

[Magstermay]

Unless he's actually seen poo in the centre of the patches, I would say it's 100% going to be dog wee - when you said front lawn and wandering shih tzus I am sure it's this. It's a well known problem and very difficult to stop unfortunately - there's a product called Dog Rocks you can put in their water bowl but that's not helpful if it's not his dog. He's directing his anger at the wrong person!

[SkyRabbit]

I'm pretty convinced it's the shitzus shit as well tbh. He's adamant it's my cats, despite never having seen them on his lawn
I looked out just now, and overnight he's put up a sonic deterrent, several colourful windmill things and his lawn is covered in orange peel
Even if by some minuscule chance this is my cats doing , there's nothing else I can offer him to solve it!

[Magstermay]

I can imagine the shih tzus having a wonderful time barking at the windmills!

[user1474907171]

A photo of the dogs to show him, preferably on his grass