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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel revolted when neighbours' cats crap in my back yard?

91 replies

tiredandgrumpy · 16/07/2007 16:36

We have a small back yard with several pot plants. We have a lovely table & chairs so that we can eat outside when the weather is good. We have two young children who like to get out and explore (and get their hands into everything).

It's disgusting that I should have to clear up buckets of cat poo each time I consider sitting outside or letting the children out. It stinks beyond belief and I am not letting the kids get anywhere near it.

What can I do to stop the cats coming in? I think it's obscene that cat owners think their neighbours should clear up their pet's crap before they can enjoy their own gardens. We've got one of those ultrasonic scarer things which doesn't seem to keep them away. What else is safe for kids and not too hideous?

Nothing against cats, just those that mess in my garden.

OP posts:
maisym · 17/07/2007 13:43

try planting those spinning windmill toys - - we've some some like flowers that turn. Also old cd's put out like a mobile scare them aware.

saffymum · 17/07/2007 13:41

Get a few plastic snakes from the toyshop and put them around the garden, that scares off burglars too -seriously.

ratclare · 17/07/2007 13:36

definately use water ,do you ever see cats in your garden ? if you do get a hose rigged up and each time you see it ,spray it ,they get the message eventually

Flibbertyjibbet · 17/07/2007 12:53

I am revolted when my own cat craps in the back yard. She only started doing it recently when a new tomcat moved in nearby and scares her off all her territory.
She goes by the pot plants, its because there is soil there for her to dig in before she poos, whether she actually poos in the pots or not.
Years ago when next doors cat did it in our yard, we got one of those kids whopper water cannons and would rush out and fire it at the cat whenever we saw it approaching. After the first few goes it didn't bother with our yard.

NeverTickleASleepingSoupDragon · 17/07/2007 12:49

You can't say "I don't use poison" when you are apparently happy for your DH to do so.

Speccy · 17/07/2007 12:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LieselVentouse · 17/07/2007 12:26

Erm yeah. Anyway as I said I dont put poison down

OrmIrian · 17/07/2007 12:25

Rabbits have weak hearts apparently. Perhaps the cat sneaked up on the rabbit and then jumped out and shouted 'Boo!' thus enducing a coronary.

DrNortherner · 17/07/2007 12:20

I still find it hard to beleive a cat would kill a rabbit. Are you sure tis not a fox?

JonRonseal · 17/07/2007 12:14

Buy an owl.

SweetyDarling · 17/07/2007 12:10

Didn't your rabbit poo in your back garden as well?

Speccy · 17/07/2007 12:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LazyLineLegilimens · 17/07/2007 12:06

Birds poo in your garden as well. Do they get poisoned?

LazyLineLegilimens · 17/07/2007 12:03

POISON!??!?

But surely there are cats that come into your garden that do not poo there. Do they deserve to be poisoned as well?

Hope you are not one of my neighbours. I would be devastated to find out one of my cats had been poisoned.

prettybird · 17/07/2007 12:00

My parents had a siamese who regularly caought rabbits

Made him popular with the neighbours, as they were more upset about the rabbits digging up the garden than any (buried) catshit.

Speccy · 17/07/2007 11:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

themoon66 · 17/07/2007 11:56

Cats do kill rabbits. My next door neighbour regularly comes home to dismembered rabbit all over her front path. And HUGE rats. Her cat is only small too.

DangerousBeans · 17/07/2007 11:54

Perhaps the cat purloins the poison from the neighbour's garden and feeds it to the rabbit over a serious of intimate dinners?

Cats are very clever and independent.

DrNortherner · 17/07/2007 11:51

No Db I've never heard of a cat killing a rabbit before. How would that work then?

DrNortherner · 17/07/2007 11:50

Err, because cats go out alone and do not quite understand that your garden is not for their use.

DangerousBeans · 17/07/2007 11:50

We had a cat and a rabbit several years ago.
If the cat got too close, the rabbit would kick it in the head.
It was definitely the superior warrior of the two.
I am very surprised to hear about a cat killing a rabbit - never heard that before.

LieselVentouse · 17/07/2007 11:47

I dont own cats so why should I have cat shit in my garden. I USE PEPPER OKAY

DrNortherner · 17/07/2007 11:47

A cat killing a rabbit? REally?!!

I'm suprised.

Speccy · 17/07/2007 11:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DangerousBeans · 17/07/2007 11:44

Buckets of cat poo?
Really......buckets?

Is this from 8,000 different cats, or a couple with suspected bowel problems?

I know it is unpleasant to have to clear up after someone else's animal, and risky for young children to be around it, but all the cat I have come into contact with have buried their own excrement.

And it is annoying - but I couldn't get up the level of vehemence about it to refer to it as 'obscene'.

The most effective deterrent I have found is to squirt the cats with the hosepipe. Gives them a shock, but doesn't hurt them.

Never mind, I'm sure we'll all be living in hermetically sealed bubbles soon, and won't even have to interact with anyone who isn't bleached before visiting.

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