Cat spikes around garden

OP, YADNBU. This would be really upsetting. As a cat owner of 18 months, I have already said to both my neighbours if our cat causes any issues, pls let me know and I’ll be round to pick up the cat poo. I know what you mean that cat owners can be blind to their cats’ faults/problems they bring but hopefully we are not all ‘selfish and obnoxious’. Our cat has a litter tray too and I have seen him go in our garden so I would hope he doesn’t bother the neighbours too much.

Not sure what else you can do, op. We have a right to peacefully enjoy our home and garden. Have you tried installing the device that emits a high pitched noise to deter cats?

I had this in a previous house where it was a back to back and I had a big decking planter box. Tried all sorts as apparently my garden planter was the local public cat loo 😂 The only thing that eventually stopped them was to put slate chippings on top of the soil (covered as best I could with weed suppressant first) it meant less flowers, but they stopped using it as a toilet.

If it was that bad, personally I would have to grass the lot of it and just have planters (with slate in 😂). It isn’t pleasant at all for you when you can’t even let your children play out or enjoy your garden. And I’m with the throw it back into their garden and sprinkle chilli pepper everywhere brigade!

Sod the songbirds, long as I'm happy 😁🙄

They can secure their own garden so the your cats cant get out. That's what they can do. It happens in other countries.

If you seriously can't control pets to that extent they really shouldn't be kept as pets.

Ive always had cats but I agree this is not fair for you. Cats poo is disgusting. If you like pets perhaps get a cat or dog.

I bet some of the pearl clutchers wish that the government really did order the genocide of roaming cats in 2020, as they considered doing. (They would have had to kill ME first, before I would let any representative of Boris Johnson get their hands on my cats!)

You’re not being unreasonable. But if you’d put up a fence years ago, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad. No, it absolutely not fall on you to control their cats. But if they don’t and you want a clean garden, that might be the sacrifice you need to make. Ask yourself what’s more important to you, having a garden your family can enjoy or the satisfaction of being in the right.

We hag the spikes on top of the fences.
inch sharp gravel on the flower beds.
And anti scratch wrap on around the base of the younger trees.
We also used to have a sprinkler system that was motion sensitive but the neighbours decided to damage both the sprinklers and the tap.

Neither tbh. The dog is secured in its own garden, and cats aren't stupid and typically avoid aggressive dogs. You have made up a non issue.

Put the poo back in their garden which will make tidying up a bit easier. They will at least get some sense of what you’re dealing with.

Oh OP, we have had exactly the same issue, everytime we dig something, they crap in it, new boundary fence, dug the ground ready, yep the next morning it was absolutely stinking and boy does it stink - it's way worse than dog poop! We then starting using chicken wire on the ground if we dug anything, but it looks awful and isn't a long term solution, I will, without hesitation, be using cat spikes this summer and I sincerely hope you do too, don't worry the cats, they will just crap somewhere else..

Just to say that cats can still use fence posts to climb over or some manage to still get over with the spikes. Hedgehog gutter brushes sometimes work if the spikes fail. Hope it keeps them out. Cat poo can be a health hazard for young children.

Hi, I am a cat lover and dog lover and I think you have been more than patient and tried other methods. So spikes stay and if it was my cat (only have 1) I would totally understand. I have also encouraged my cat to use our garden. I was lucky that he followed the dog and would copy. Where he was praised for going. It is possible to encourage them to go elsewhere. Including having a litter tray as well as letting them go out.
you have nothing to feel bad about.

I thank you for trying other things first. And honestly I think I would have had enough after trying for a year.

I can't understand where you are finding all these shitting cats.
Next door has three, I have two although only one goes out, the other is too old, then there are two more in the other houses, we are a small cul de sac of 6 houses so 7 cats altogether. None of us have shitty gardens, all of our cats use their litter trays. I know this because as neighbours all in our 60's we talk to each other and are friends as well as neighbours.
Do your neighbours not have litter trays for their cats?
Cat spikes are perfectly legal as long as they are on your side.
Also motion activated sprinklers are good too, cats hate them. You can turn them off when you are in the garden but they should make the cats associate your garden with getting soaked.

How many cats does the ndn have, if it's definitely their cat poo I'd scoop it up and throw it over the fence every single tine. Cats find a way of walking over and through spikes, cat poo and urine encourages others to visit. You could ask environmental health for advice.

I do this 😂

The mess they create is absolutely disgusting and unique in that, unlike dogs, it seems perfectly acceptable for your cat to shit on everyone else's property. It's mental!!

It's insane how much damage cats do to other people's gardens and to the songbird population and yet people just keeping getting more and more of them, usually without giving a shit what damage they cause. 😢

I had cats fuckimg facing me while they shat in the middle of my lawn. They often don't just appear....

Natural and pretty - thorny bushes on fences. I used to put bramble branches on my veg beds. It stopped.
It is not absolutely immediate solution, but you can buy already wuite matured thorny bushes and climbers. Not cheap though. Looks good, provides shelter for small birds and cats don't climb on or through them. It will hide the spikes eventually.

Herbs don't work. I caught cat shitting in my raised bed while sniffing lavender....

I think we need law changes similar to Australia. So cats are not free to roam in residential areas. Plus a roming cat can be trapped in an appropriate carrier and taken to vet or dog warden if it is caught in a private garden by the property owner.
Cats should also be chipped, registered and have DNA test, so when people ignore the law, they can be traced & held responsible.

Part of registering and chipping the cat will be a DNA test.
If the garden owner finds cat's shit, they can have it tested.
The costs of the test will be paid by the Cat owner. Plus a penalty for dirtying someone's garden.

Get a trap. You can buy a cage like one on Amazon for under a tenner. Then open the trap several miles away.

I had a quick look, does this work the other round too, as in keeps cats out? As it seems to be sold to cat owners to keep their cat in.

Id be interested in a viable alternative to the plastic spikes I currently have up. But I know better than to expect my neighbour to buy these and put them up to keep their cat in. Doubt OP’s neighbours would either.

This is patently absurd as unless you can prove where the turd came from - and I wager the vast majority of turds turn up rather than are witnessed - how do you even do this. I find poos in my garden. I see foxes and cats around. Who knows which animal did it.