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)

I am amazed that so many people are suggesting cats should be indoor or penned.

Every day is an education! Have literally never heard that before.

I know it’s not the point of this thread but I would love to have GSDs. They sound like amazing dogs.

You should not be feeding birds or wildlife anyway. It brings lice and bird shit all over clothes, buildings and ruins cars, and is 'obnoxious' in itself. Give me a cat in the yard any day than everything being covered in noxious and disgusting bird shit.

Ohh don’t say that as apparently they’re very chavvy (according to posters on this thread)!

But they are incredible and so loyal unlike my last dog which would have sold me for a chicken tender (Labrador)

Glad you got things resolved. I have a cat, she was kept indoors when she was a kitten and learnt to use a tray, she goes out into our garden on a lead and has never used the garden to go to the toilet, only her tray. You can train your cats to use a tray.
The only cat to poo in my garden is the neighbours on the front lawn! So I got a cat deterrent to stop it using the front bed (where I was growing beans) it's an automatic watering thing that goes off if the cat walks near, I positioned it so it faced the fence a slightly in the direction of where cat comes from, as soon as it walks towards that area the water sprays cat goes back the way it comes. It's very effective, only needed to use it for a week at a time, then I leave out the attachment and that frightens off the cats, I leave the water on medium pressure and that gives a nice sprinkle. Motion activated cat sprayer
Far more effective than the noise things.
I don't want my cat pooing in any garden, I've trained her, and keep her indoors at night so no cat fights. People control their dogs, people can control their cats too.

I bet they're gorgeous. I'd love to see pics! But, no worries if too outing, if you think Debbie might be on Mumsnet!

Cats shit, dogs bark and shit, and owners don’t always clear up. Cats roam but don’t shit on the pavement. Kids scream and kick balls over the fence. Barbecues smell and smoke drifts. People have parties and make noise.
If you can’t stand any of that you need to live in the middle of a field.

Not according to plop trumps, the poo based top.trumps game. Cat and snow leopard have the worst smell.

Beware of the crazy cat people, OP 😂
Solidarity!

Cats will never shit on the pavement. Neither will they put their shit in a bag and throw it into a hedge, or hang it it a tree, like lots of dogs seem to where I live.

Dogs have the right to roam in their own land. Cat shit brings disease, poster said she’d only just let them out and yet everyone jumps on her. Jeez get a grip.

She sounds vile? CST shit all over her garden, constant noise from cars and spa, exhaust fumes, I think I’d be rather irritated.

Just to clarify - dogs don't have opposable thumbs.

Saw the advert for "Gas tight" on this thread and misread it as gas light!, really? must read more slowly.

they don't "[go] to the loo". there is no 'loo' 🙄

No, there is something in dog poo which makes it a particular hazard. It can cause blindness and it is bad for the soil. I don't know anything about cat poo - I doubt it's any good either - but dog poo is particularly unpleasant, and I say that as someone with two big dogs.

So are dogs. Even on the lead.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/apr/10/pet-dogs-have-extensive-and-multifarious-impact-on-environment-new-research-finds

If you ever venture into Reddit, you'll find that Americans are appalled when they find that most British cats are not indoor cats.

I thought that cats were the culprit?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/toxoplasmosis/

I’ve often seen converted barns on Escape to the Country and wondered about that strange conundrum: miles of open countryside all around, miles from the village shop and pub yet very close to a few neighbours all sharing the driveway. I can see it’s like any suburban place where you are too close to neighbours and have a fall-out yet somehow worse because there’s so few of you..

Yes, that's the cat poo one. Dog poo can cause toxocariasis, which also can cause blindness.

Thank you. I live and learn.

No, thank you, I didn't know about the cat poo!

Please don't allow your dogs to attack cats, that's just sick!
You can't expect anyone to believe that your dogs don't urinates or poo in your garden, that's just ridiculous. Plus cats poo at the sides, not bang In the middle of the garden. Plus your dogs, you say only bark twice a day🤣. Please do not hurt the cats. Anyone who tortures animals should be shot! Shame you can't all get on considering there's only 3/4 neighbours. Try living with in a block of flats. Sad!

I'm appalled by some things Americans do, but they still voted him in 😂🤣