Finally lost it with neighbours

[FinnalyCracked]

There’s four houses on the close - and none for miles (converted country barns - hence the being so close together and yet nothing for miles).

Neighbour A has three cats and all are outdoor cats. Me and Neighbour B have dogs. Neighbour C is irrelevant to this pet debacle.

Neighbours A’s cats, since they moved in, have constantly shit in everyone’s garden. Don’t come at me and tell me it’s not them as the closest village is six miles and no one else has sodding cats!! They sit on the garage and hiss at anyone who goes by and are, quite frankly, obnoxious.

I’ve bitten my tongue but neighbour Cs and B have not. Neighbour B has taken much delight in having their dogs chase the cats off. Neighbour C has invested in barbed wire and other such things to keep the cats out

Yesterday, neighbour A knocked on my door and asked me to call my dogs in as they were ‘destroying her enjoyment of her garden.’ I was very polite - but very firm - and told her to fuck off (not quite that frank, but you get the idea). I’d just finished work, so the dogs had been inside with me so they’d been out about five minutes when she appeared. She launched into a a bit of a diatribe about how B and I have been ruining her summers for years now with our dogs barking and running around.

I snapped. Said her cats constantly shit in my garden and I had to pick it up as I had small children and that her fucking hot tub was obnoxiously loud, so was their music and their shitheaps of cars (her partner always has a rotation of them that he tinkers with) all over the driveway lowered the tone and created exhaust fumes, and that if I ever saw her cats in my garden again I’d be taking a leaf out of neighbour Bs book and setting my dogs on them. Then I told her not to come onto my property again and slammed the door in her face.

It’s a first world problem, I know. But I am just so fucking sick of biting my tongue and being a good neighbour )including taking her fucking parcels) and she has the bloody gall to tell me my dogs can’t be in the garden, as their playing ‘ruins her enjoyment.’

WHAT ABOUT MY FUCKING ENJOYMENT, DEBBIE?!?!

That’s it. That’s all I wanted (just a place to rant)

Almost as unnecessary as your reply to me. Obviously missing the point that pregnant women aren’t meant to handle cat shit (due to risk to the baby), and I assume that also means that it isn’t ideal having a dog that eats it in the house spreading the germs around the house?

But that's not the point?

It's the sheer aggression and violence that the threat [or act] of setting your dog on a cat embodies that's the issue. You want to hurt / harm / kill a cat - which is nasty!!!

Yes, OP. Get a lion. That would really settle her hash.

My Greyhounds have the acceleration and speed to do so, as we have a longer clear stretch, which is why I always check my garden first before letting them out. I would be very devastated if they caught an animal, as while they are very gentle, I just would not take the risk of them shaking and injuring it.

I've seen a number of cats injured or killed by dogs. The injuries can be horrific. There's something very wrong with any person who could deliberately set a dog on a cat to try to tear it apart.

I hate barking dogs. My childhood neighbour had 3 alsatians in a small garden with no grass and they barked all day because they were left on their own.
Now our current neighbour, who moved in a couple of years ago, runs some sort of puppy training 'school' from his house (terraced, and not suitable imho) and there's always barking dogs around and it is loud when you're outisde trying to relax.
We also have a cat and we built an outside litter try for her, but she still likes weeing on our grass, but poos in the litter! She doesnt' really leave our garden.
If you had a civilised chat to your neighour then maybe you can see both sides - agree cat shit isn't pleaant, so maybe she can 'train' her cat to do its business elsewhere and you don't let your dogs bark outside/

Totally missing the point - it’s not her mess to clear up.

Not sure my garden can take that...nor my budget.

I could get a 'lion coloured rabbit' (whatever that is - surely it's just a yellow rabbit?!) for £300, but that feels a bit steep for a rabbit!

Cats using my garden as a toilet are very annoying but so are barking dogs.
Sorry but I think you are both at fault and I'm glad I don't live in one of the four houses.

I have a lot of trouble with cat shit. As someone said above, cats tend to bury their excrement. Unfortunately for me, they inevitably select one of my flower beds. So lovely when you're in the middle of planting...or you discover that your seedlings have been dug up.

The next door neighbour's cat has adopted my garden as part of her territory so she doesn't leave her mess here. Unfortunately, now that she's old every other cat in the neighbourhood seems to take liberties here.

Dog mess can be worse - more annoying because the owners are probably aware. I get a lot of dog walkers round here and at one point they were treating my garden as an adjunct of the municipal park, courtesy of the council workers who butchered the council's side of the hawthorn hedge, allowing dogs enough space to get through the stick fence. This, of course, was made even more precarious by owners blundering through after their mutts.

I couldn't afford to have a stronger fence put up and I actually like my hawthorn hedge. I think I've solved that problem. I used all the offcuts in the garage, sharpened one end with my multi-tool and fixed them to the existing posts with some cheap Homebase wood as cross-posts. Painted them all the same shade of brown and I've been weaving the hawthorn in and out as it grows back. Thus far, the council has left well alone and the hawthorn hedge is coming on again. I'm hoping that if I keep the council side flat, the council workers won't feel the need to cut it again.

I don't mind domesticated animals when they're not making a mess. I speak to the neighbour's cat when she wanders in and tell her to leave the birds alone...

I actually prefer dogs, but - for various reasons - won't keep one myself. I just don't like owners who don't care about the bother that they the cause for others. Dogs bark. A dog barking in its own garden isn't a problem, IMO, provided it's not late at night and not constant.

My current dog-related gripe is that I underplanted the exterior of my front hedge last year (just within my boundary) and it briefly looked lovely - until the pansies were killed off by dog pee. I might try a different deterrent this year.

Dogs Playing are not much different from kids playing... so yeh I am OK with it!
Dogs at play is natural behaviour, you can't stop it.
Very different from barking at people walking past the property or when left for hours on end.

Oh for god's sake. I would assume, as would most people, that the phrase "setting the dogs on the cats" simply means opening the back door and letting the dogs out. Nature does the rest. Obviously if you knew your dog was capable of catching (most aren't) or hurting (most aren't) the cat, you would be very unreasonable. There is really no difference in the person or the dog chasing the cat out of the garden.

And dogs don't?

How are you supposed to stop cats wandering into other people's gardens?? Unless you lock them !!

As annoying as it is for some people, cats have the right to roam (act put in place since 1971). You can't control where a cat goes. I would just accept it and not get so worked up.

Weak argument 😂. You could use similar to support the confinement of humans. Fewer on the road = fewer accidents. And don't get me started on how wildlife would thrive without human 'involvement'. But right now, the priority would be the confiscation of certain people's keyboards.

You can control where a cat goes. Most owners just don't want to.

I find these threads so funny. My brother lives in Canada and has a moose who regularly visits. That poo is far more substantial than a cat’s 😂

Despite previously owning cats, I’m not sure I’m a poo expert enough to distinguish from fox/hedgehog etc.

It is much more likely to be foxes

Cat's usually bury it foxes do not and come out at night

We do use that argument. One reason people end up in prison after committing a crime is to protect others. Additionally, people can be committed to a mental institution if they pose a risk to themselves or others. We have speed limits on our roads, which limit an individuals freedom, to protect people. There are also laws to protect certain types of wildlife, although I agree they are not sufficient.

Here you go - https://gardendoctor.org/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-cat-and-fox-poo/

People who let their dogs bark outside are fucking annoying. People who put up barbed wire to deliberately hurt cats are evil. People with hot tubs are inconsiderate outdoor sex weirdos. You all 4 sound absolutely awful. I’m glad you all live in the middle of nowhere and nowhere near me.

'You can control where a cat goes. Most owners just don't want to'

How unless you have an indoor cat?

Id rather a cat in my garden than an xl bully

You should tell that to my neighbour's cat. He didn't get the memo re burying it and he comes out at night as well as during the day.

Using appropriate fencing in your garden.