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)

There are products that will make toletting in your garden unattractive to cats without getting all aggressive.

Good on you! I’ve cut my grass today and had to pick up piles of cat 💩I’d take a barking dog every now and again any day over that.

I knew you were gonna say your neighbour is actually called Debbie. Brilliant 😂

You've said your piece and good for you. I'm a cat owner as well. I've got a big garden so really hope my cats don't soil neighbours gardens. Mind you, next door is a farm and other side is fairly derelict

Some things just have to be said.

My neighbour accused my other neighbour letting their cat poop in the garden, and went insane about it dumping cat poop on their doorstep.

Their cat who was blamed for the poophad sadly passed away two years earlier!

It turns out it was fox poop in their garden… cats usually dig soil over their poop! Foxes don’t!

If you see cat like poop in your garden it’s highly possible its fox poop!

You are all as bad as each other! Why are people so nasty nowadays
You can’t blame the animals cats are free to roam.Dogs should be controlled by humans in a sensible respectful manner to everyone.You don’t live in a war zone Please be kind to others

Sure she is called Debbie. Don't believe that for one second. Nobody uses real names on MN. You are just backtracking.

Sounds like you’re a responsible dog owner. I’m a cat person (had a kitten eaten by a neighbours dog and have been bitten by 2 dogs when I was little)… however… it’s not dogs I dislike … it’s the rubbish owners who don’t care for their animals or consider other people who are the problem. Cats poo in gardens … some dog owners wrap dog shit in plastic bags and then leave the bags for people to tread in… I’ve even seen dog poo in bags hung on trees like some sort of grotesque decoration ! People are the problem never the animals.

That’s such a Debbie/Karen reply 🤣🤣. Do better!

Don't fall out with neighbours. You have to declare it if you want to sell.

I hope it's not a clique area, could turn very nasty.
Also though, where there's people there will be problems. Smile & nod, then ignore is my way.

Do your dogs eat the cat shit or is my dog just weird (and obviously very gross).

Far too many roaming cats killing off wildlife & cr&pping all over (usually everywhere except their own garden). Dogs perpetually barking is a problem but so are loud noise and cats. IMO Cats should be house cats only (I'm aware some breeds are better than others) they are a menace to everything when outdoors as well as themselves in towns or cities (via road accidents).
It's est over 22 million birds are killed by cats in the UK each year.
In a study of recent extinct species it was found cats were a significant cause in 40% of cases.
In America they trialled letting rescue cats that couldn't be rehomed loose in rat infested areas - they begged, killing smaller mammals and songbirds (presumably other small birds). They left the rats alone apparently too big and cunning so went for easier prey.

Guess what team I'm on!

Havent read all the thread but although Im more naturally a dog person, I do like cats & we had a cat along with various dogs when our DCs were growing up.

Keeping cats off your garden - we stopped our cat using our vegetable garden as a giant litter tray by squirting the hose & setting random sprinklers. Cats dont like getting wet. Eventually she avoided that part of the garden.

My next door neighbour kept a couple of hens. When they were out on her lawn, our cat would only walk the fence. And when we had our own hens in a large enclosure in back garden, she would not cross that area to get in our neighbour's garden at the back.

Other than that Ive heard off but not used of a product called Silent Roar. Apparently its made from powdered lion dung & the scent of a larger predator makes cats avoid crossing into big cat territory.

I know barking dogs can be annoying, but it sounds as though they arent constantly doing so, just enjoying being in their garden. Our dogs only bark when someone comes to the door & frankly thats completely natural behaviour. Your garden is your garden & their territory. Unless they are howling day & night like a pack of huskies, Im not sure why anyone should be saying they cant run around in their own garden, or the odd bark to let their owners know about something.

Its part of their nature in the same way that cats explore other people's gardens (& in our cat's case explore our neighbours' houses if back doors left opened), hunt & kill. If it helps the csts may well be keeping the local mouse populstion down.Their poo in other gardens - not great - but you could try heavy mulch of borders - they like to dig a hole in dry loose earth to toilet (hence our problem with our veg patch). But its all natural behaviour for dogs and for cats.

As animal lovers understanding, tolerance & perspective is needed on both sides.

There are some truly frightening stories of people setting their dogs on cats & kittens & killing them. I think you should apologise to your neighbour explaining the issues in more of an adult way.

Hmm. You think that humans aren't more responsible for killing wildlife? Glass alone kills thousands of birds, then there's deliberate hunting...
We kill far more than cats every year.

Laughing at 'Settle her hash' - not heard that expression for years!! 😄 (it was a favourite of my dear departed mum).

Can't understand why so many idiots on here are OK with cats shitting all over the place is OK, it's certainly not and I wouldn't have it, you'd be warned once and that would be it. The dogs on the other hand barking isn't on either to be honest. Seems some consideration from both parties are what's needed here.

I think you will be surprised at the sheer numbers killed world wide by cats....
Here's one example
www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21236690

Ooo what illegal thing would you do tough nut?

“Set on” is not a “figure of speech” it’s a term used in hunting with a very specific meaning: “to encourage or incite a dog to attack or pursue a quarry”. You have three other houses in close proximity but thought it was ok to deliberately choose a breed of dog that’s known for its loud barking?????? (Yes I know, it doesn’t bark blah blah blah, but only because you apparently got a faulty one). WTF is C thinking, hoping that barbed wire will deter cats? I bet it looks ugly and the cats are probably laughing at her too. Your close sounds last like something out of a sitcom and I feel sorry for neighbour D.

My God you are the cul de sac from hell. I used to think living in the country would be peaceful because there are fewer people.

Now I realise I'd be moving to misanthropy central.

Setting the dogs on her cats! 😳

Barbed wire??!!

Good grief. Where is this hellhole?

I have cats and love them but tbf my brother who’s a vet once pointed out that if you suddenly shrank to the size of a Borrower your darling cats would murder you in a heartbeat. They are self obsessed little shits the majority of the time whilst my dog is a comparative saint.

Cats shitting might not be a statutory nuisance but it is a nuisance. People who enjoy gardening don't enjoy having their carefully nurtured plants/seedlings destroyed. I once had an issue with a cat using a small section of my garden as a litter tray. Some bramble branches laid across the soil quickly solved the problem.

That is the U.S. and states that stray and feral cats were the worst offenders, pet cats are mentioned pretty much as a secondary cause. But yeah mortality from cats pales into insignificance compared to that from humans which have destroyed huge areas of land and plunged many species into extinction, and if that wasn't enough, they are changing the climate which if the worst comes to the worst, will compromise the Earth's habitabililty for millions of people and wildlife. There is no animal on Earth more destructive than humans by a long way.

I would just throw any cat crap back into their garden whenever I found it. Also can you maybe get sensor sprinklers or anything that can deter the cats coming into your garden? You have the right to let your dogs out into your garden whenever their cats are there to chase them off