New neighbours cat

It’s not OP’s responsibility to make sure her garden is safe for cats or that there is an escape route. If a cat can find its way in, it can find its way out.

If the neighbours don’t like it, they can keep their cat on their own property.

@butterflycatching

You are definitely NOT unreasonable! 🤣

The only thing I would add is it might be worth confirming whether they're entitled twats or they're obsessively protective of their cat. I'm only saying this as my partner who is the world's most polite and conscientious person and 100% the absolutely ideal neighbour from heaven, could have easily done the same a few years back (I have since convinced him that this sis very unreasonable behaviour 🤣). Our cat is his world and he doesn't think that anything is unreasonable when it comes to her wellbeing 🤣

Good for you for immediately saying no and nipping this in the bud, just maybe give it a minute before you mentally classify them under "twats", there's a small chance they might not be.

Stick to your no. End of .

They are nuts! If the cat wants to go in the wood, it will regardless of a bush, bin or whatever! And most cats I know would quickly run up the fence if a dog came near. These are bizarre requests IMO!

This.

We had a new neighbour move in with a dog. Our cats soon learned to keep out of their garden!

I am a cat lover and have had many over the years, but would never dream of suggesting to a neighbour what they can and can't do in their own garden!

They'll be asking you not to plant lilies etc next!

On the other hand, we told our neighbour that if our cat is bothering her in her garden, to just chuck water at him - he'll soon learn to keep away.

Oh, and cats can walk along fences anyway - it's not like the cat would be up and over into each garden! We have 6 foot fences all around our gardens and the cats just use the fences as pathways!

I do this as we kept having cats poo in our garden and I was sick of clearing it up. However, I know my dog wouldn't know what to do with a cat if she got near it so it's purely to keep them out rather than to harm them

Can they not cat proof their own garden. So it stays in their garden, so is safer for their cat.
But I have house cats and I don’t care if people think it’s cruel. Better than getting knocked down by a car or even fighting with other wildlife.

Cats never came on my late parents' garden due to the dog behind the patio door, or being walked up the path - never even able to chase them as much as they clearly wanted to! Since the dogs went the odd brave cat checked it out and found it ok to lurk - new cats also now cross the garden - cats learn for themselves and most, whether the dog is in or out will know one lives there and avoid the place - I can't believe a cat owner knows nothing about cats!
My cat never went to the 'dog' houses though occasionally the dogs escaped and came for him - never ever caught him thank goodness - I never blamed the owners for a mistake though nor ask them not to!

I think it will probably be a non-problem because the cat won't want to go in your garden if a dog is there or likely to appear.
There main thing is to make sure that if that happens, the cat won't be injured by the dog, which would be horrible for everyone. Make sure there is something in the garden the cat can quickly jump onto to get away if necessary, or else a small hole in the fence that the cat can use to escape but is too big for the dog. That's a reasonable thing to ask.
I don't think it's reasonable to ask you to plant up your garden differently.
Probably the cat will enjoy itself in the other dog-less gardens close by.

I'd stick to the 'My family, including our dog, will be continuing to make use our own garden. The spiky plants and presence of our dog will hopefully discourage your cat from entering our garden.'
Plant lots more spiky plants if need be.

I honesty think I would have laughed at them & assumed they were making some weird joke.
Never heard anything quite so ridiculous. Absolute entitled madness

Ha I have two cats (and a dog) and never heard of anything so ridiculous.

My neighbour’s cat used to spend house snoozing in our garden. Haven’t seen the sweet thing since we brought our dog home. Cats are very smart and will now to stay clear now

If they bring it up again, tell them to take responsibility for the animal they bought and cat proof their garden.

Honestly just when I thought people couldn't get crazier I'm proven wrong! You haven't been unreasonable at all. If they didn't want neighbours with a dog buy a house in the middle of nowhere! I don't want to live next door to a cat (given the choice) and when we bought our home our neighbours didn't have a cat, but now they do. If they are that concerned they need to find their own solution like a catio or cat proof fencing. They are bonkers!

Cats roam everywhere. They are contrary and make their own choices.
Mine goes at least 10 houses away in every direction.
Am I going to knock on every door in the vicinity and check their plants and dog status?? Of course not!!
The cat will decide where it wants to go, and if it doesn't like the environment it will go a different way.
Totally bonkers and complete CFs.
In fact it feels like they must have been trying to wind you up for some reason.

Mr Tiddles thinks your neighbours are nuts.

Have you got an XL Bully? If not, Yanbu.

Cats aren’t bothered by Pyracantha anyway. We had a big one growing up the previous house, and the cat used to sit in it.

It is hardly your problem they didn’t know they were buying a property next to a dog. It’s also irrelevant. They still don’t have the right to make demands on you. They are essentially asking you not to let your dog out if their cat is in your garden and to rearrange your garden.

If the cat really wants to go to the woods it will find its own way. It will also leave the garden of its own accord if it doesn’t like the dog! They sound a bit bonkers.

YANBU, they are CFs. I would put citrus peel with eucalyptus oil there. It deters cats because of the smell but doesn’t harm them.

I wouldn’t check before I let my dog out because he would be absolutely overjoyed to potentially befriend a new cat however, if he didn’t like strange cats, I would check as I have and love cats and would never want one to be harmed. The plant thing is batshit though!

Cat's are nippy little fuckers! The ones I my garden always beat the dog to the back fence. It'll give your guy some exercise!

Hahahahaha. You need to tell them to have a word with the foxes that live in the woods (even if there aren't any) and ask them to leave the cat alone too.

Some people!

And thank goodness you do have a dog so you hopefully won't have to deal with their cat's poo.

I too am a cat person and agree this is your neighbours' problem not yours.

Hopefully your saying no to both requests will mean they aren't going to make any other ridiculous requests