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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to ask what you do with cat poo in your garden? (not a cat owner)

24 replies

Figmentofmyimagination · 01/08/2026 11:13

It’s a tiny garden and with the heat, when there is a cat poo in the border, it smells so rank and spoils everything. Do you dig it in or what? It’s so repulsive. Every neighbour seems to have a cat. It’s so anti social. This morning, such a lovely day, I went outside briefly and there was a new one, covered in flies. The stink hit me and I couldn’t face starting the day with it so I decided to go out for the day instead. It is extraordinary that people are allowed to get away with allowing their pets to roam around going to the toilet in other peoples gardens. Any suggestions for an effective deterrent would also be great.

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SuperBlondie28 · 03/08/2026 20:54

I can honestly say my cat only poos in her enclosed litter bowl. She's kept in at night and usually deposits overnight. Something nice for her human slaves to wake to 💩💩 She probably pees outside though.

PocketSand · 01/08/2026 15:39

neighbour hood cat (don’t know who owns it) used to shit in my front border every day. I have befriended it and it sunbathes on the front lawn each day now and has stopped shitting in the border. Luckily the dog is unaware of my betrayal.

Pistachiocake · 01/08/2026 15:23

Borrow a dog (or get one, but obviously only if you want one and will look after it).

Bit remember that unlike with cats, it if jumps over the fence and messes in the neighbours ' gardens, you can get in trouble! Might stop them letting their cat do it, though, or at least trying to do something about it (have you asked them to come and clean up? Anyone I know whose cat/dog/child spoiled something for a neighbour would go and sort it out).

BobbieTables · 01/08/2026 15:11

Following for ideas. A neighbourhood cat has it's massive morning dump in my rhubarb patch. I've tried a sonic cat deterent which doesn't work and also I chase it out or try to spray it with the hose if I see the mangey thing but I think I need to be more persistent. I've just stopped eating rhubarb for this year but I might put down some spikes - that has worked in previous locations.
If there's a dry one I used to just chuck it over the fence onto the street, but I've been on holiday and there are too many of them now.

Passaggressfedup · 01/08/2026 15:07

Foxes will shit anywhere and it is absolutely foul. Cats are much more likely to poo somewhere more private. I suspect most threads moaning about neighbours cats' shit are actually dealing with foxes.

Screamingabdabz · 01/08/2026 15:03

We got a sonic cat repellant. I’ve also studded an area with sharp long skewers or Holly branches. I can’t believe people are just telling you to ‘bag it up’ and put it in your bin. Wtaf. Cleaning up after other people’s animals? No way.

plasticplate · 01/08/2026 14:58

I bag it and bin it. Having had little cat poo in my garden in recent years , a cat (I assume) has been doing it on my lawn most days for the last few months. I haven't seen the cat and none of my neighbours have one.

cinquanta · 01/08/2026 14:49

Passaggressfedup · 01/08/2026 12:50

How do you know it's car poo and not fox?

I was going to say the same thing. We get fox poo. We didn’t when we had a cat.

RaininSummer · 01/08/2026 14:46

Sympathies OP. I have to go and poo pick my front garden in minute. As you say very stinky and riddled with bluebottles. Bloody cats.

Passaggressfedup · 01/08/2026 12:50

How do you know it's car poo and not fox?

Balloonhearts · 01/08/2026 12:39

Get a shovel and throw it back over the offending neighbours fence.

PauliesWalnuts · 01/08/2026 12:37

I throw it on my neighbour’s drive, because it is her cat.

fiftyval · 01/08/2026 12:36

Given that you are surrounded by selfish cat owners, I would get a small trowel to pick it up and fling over to their garden - let them deal with it.

TheHungryHungryLandsharks · 01/08/2026 12:34

Get a dog 😁

I know people say it as a joke. But I didn't have my dogs the first week I moved into my current home as I wanted to unbox/unpack without the chaos around me. Day after the dogs moved in...cat stopped coming in.

Or toss it over the fence into the garden of the neighbours. That'll stop them going on about how 'cats bury their poo' 🙄

We also have a cat deterant. Hard to know if it works given the dogs...but when we come home from holidays there's never any cat poo

fruitpastille · 01/08/2026 12:32

My dog eats it!

PenCreed · 01/08/2026 12:31

Bag it up and bin it. One of the local cats likes to poo directly in front of my electronic cat repellent thing, so I might give up on that…

AgnesMcDoo · 01/08/2026 12:26

I just throw it to the back of a flower bed or dig it in.

Cats are cats. It’s what they do. Completely pointless getting cross about it.

likelysuspect · 01/08/2026 12:20

We have a cat, I bought a flower 'pot' that is the same shape and size as a cat litter tray and put earth in it, so she tends to use that and I have a poopy scoop thing for cat litter trays that I dig out the nuggets with and put them in a doggy poo bag and put in the bin

She also uses other pots when she gets the chance and our gravel so I just do a clear up now and then

DwayneDibleysTeeth · 01/08/2026 12:18

We have cats, as do several other neighbours, so obviously none of us know which cats go where and do what (though generally my cats use the 'outdoor litter tray) in my garden - a raised veg box they've adopted 😳) and generally everyone is tolerant. Neighbours also know they can spray mine with water to shoo them away.

But I would suggest scented babies' nappy sacks for bagging up if needed. We have always used them for the indoor litter trays, and put them in the kitchen bin and you can't smell anything then (old food smells much worse!) Currently next door are away and I've had to bag up random cat poo twice from their gravel while I'm watering their garden, but it's just gone in the bin in a scented bag with ours.

Cat poo really only smells a lot if you're right on top of it (and, imo, dog poo smells much worse!) but a couple of seconds with a scented nappy bag should do the trick. Much as cat owners would like their cats to be better at keeping it all in their own garden (and responsible cat owners never want to intentionally piss off neighbours) they have the right to roam.

I know it's not ideal for non cat owners, but life often isn't ideal. We just have to get on with it.

snobcat · 01/08/2026 11:33

I sympathise OP! I put hessian and bark mulch down in most flower beds, mostly for weed control but it is somewhat effective at deterring the neighbourhood cats. They only go now in specific uncovered areas, so it’s a bit easier to clean up.

Digerydont · 01/08/2026 11:25

I put a flower pot over it. I had a stern word with the offending cat, and it hasn't been back for a while.

Likeiloveyou · 01/08/2026 11:25

Bag it and bin it. At least it’s identifiable and you can easily get rid of it. Unlike bird poo which carries far more diseases and poses a greater risk to health.

Noorandapples · 01/08/2026 11:23

Getting a boy to wee in the garden works but it will obviously smell. Funnily enough sprinkling catnip around regularly worked for me, now the neighbour cats hang out here a lot but never poo any more.

Oldraver · 01/08/2026 11:20

Just bag it up. Yes I know animal poo isn't nice but your asking for trouble if you just leave it there covered in flies. I put the little bags in an old food bin so it can't be got at and put in general waste bin on collection day (I admit I'm obsessed with trying to keep maggots out my bin)

I can't believe you just went out Biscuit

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