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)

Yes - and there are laws against that. None so for cat owners.

No, not ignoring this bit of info (altho not entirely sure that is her name - if it is, the OP has potentially outed her) - the OP had not mentioned her name was Debbie when I responded
The way the OP was written turned the 'Karen' into a 'Debbie' - which by the way, has been used in a derogatory way in a previous thread.
So, in case you're so tied up in having a go at me and cannot read clearly, my response was to the demonising of another woman's name, which was the implication before the OP 'explained' the neighbour was called Debbie...

Cats have a legal right to roam, dogs do not have a legal right to be a nuisance and if you set them on the cats and the cats are hurt your dogs may be PTS as dangerously out of control. Causing unnecessary suffering to a cat is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The maximum penalty for anyone found guilty of an offence under the AWA is up to 6 months imprisonment and/or a £20,000 fine.

Cats are clean animals who normally cover their droppings, dogs and foxes dont do this. You could install an automatic garden spray, triggered by an infra­red detector which locates movement but you'd have to switch it off when your annoying animals were in the garden. Your dogs need long walks, doesnt sound like they get them.

if their hot tub/ music is loud enough report it to your local council and they'll maybe check if it qualifies as a nuisance. You can also report the cars if they are running a business fixing them.

barbed wire is potentially illegal if within 2.4 metres of a road. If it harms the cats the Animal Welfare Act may apply. Cats keep down mice. It's possible you would be over-run with them without the cats.

OP said the neighbour complained about the dogs barking so i assumed it must be a lot of barking.

OP referenced another neighbour setting her dogs after the cat and then said:
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.

There's a difference between a dog randomly chasing a cat in the garden and a dog being encouraged to chase the cat, especially if the cat is injured. Also, dog owners are legally obliged to keep their dog under control at all times and can be prosecuted if they don't.

Laws that are never enforced unless someone's horror dog kills or maims someone. Show me one person killed by a cat 🐈.

That is one of the stupidest and insulting comments I've ever read. My cats are indoor, and I spend an enormous amount of time with them making sure they have an enriched and happy environment. I am anything but lazy. I also have ADHD and could not bear a dog barking for a prolonged period. I would never let my cats roam, to be killed on a road and I have dedicated more than 30 years of my life to my individual cats. My eldest lived happily until he was almost 19.

Cats are pets for sensitive and highly empathetic and intelligent people for the most part. We don't all just chuck them outside and I'm sure there are plenty of lazy dog owners. Just barf.

I know I'm missing the point, but the most MN thing I have read for a while was the pearl-clutching reprimand about not calling her Debbie, and then Debbie being her actual name.

It's crazy, isn't it? It's like the adult equivalent of demanding that mummy punish your sister because she broke your toy when you whacked her over the head with it!

I'm baffled too as to how many people have deliberately misrepresented 'barking for a few minutes when it sees an intruder' as 'barking continuously 24/7' - and have then argued against the construction of their imagination rather than against the actual reality!

This thread perfectly highlights the phrase ‘different strokes for different folk’. Some people like cats and hate dogs, and vice versa.

You can’t be childish enough to think that it’s ok for the things you dislike to not exist or be hidden away or that it’s ok to cause them harm because they annoy you. Living in society isn’t like that. People need to exercise a bit of tolerance and common decency.

I agree with all this.

It sounds like a horrible place to live.

I'm not talking about waterboarding them, just a gentle squirt from a hose or water pistol. Isn't it what the rspca recommend?

Was just thinking this! All the major food groups present!

(including you and me being smug and laughing at the frothers, fluffers and flouncers) 🤣

You assumed. OK

I would love to see how you would claim a dog to be out of control when it is in its own garden, chasing some strangers cat. Thats gonna be quite a funny conversation regardless of how you suggest its worded.

If we all quoted a long OP to reply it would be a nightmare trying to read a thread. There's just no need.

https://www.cairnspost.com.au/technology/science/killer-cat-pet-owner-dies-after-being-clawed-to-death-by-his-cat/news-story/b177e7b9299b827c8130d1211f52786b

And obviously those killed by infections, babies being smothered by them accidently, and those who contract toxoplasmosis. Other animals fare worse at the hands of domestic cats, obviously.

You need to stop your dogs barking. I have a dog and cats. So can see both sides, but allowing your dogs to bark without trying to stop it is rude and inconsiderate.

Oh my, only 19. Mine lived happily to 21. Indoors cat too. Are we having a competition here because i think i am winning

I can draw a diagram of the houses positions and the road that services us (which is basically one big shared driveway) along with where all the cars are parked!

That being said, the parking is not an issue (even with Debbie's partners cars everywhere) as the driveways are big enough. About the one thing I can say in Debbie's favour is her cars never overhang my drive...

Your dog doesn't have a free pass just because it's in your garden - if it kills or injures a cat, you're liable.

I’m team cat. You can’t stop cats roaming and shitting where they want. That’s not on the owner I’m afraid. Your dogs barking is absolutely on you. Why are they barking? I think I can count on one hand how many time my dogs have barked. And they are trained to bark at intruders (rural we haven’t had any intruders). Train your dogs!

Cats crapping in garden is horrible. I've had it and it really is disgusting.

Dogs barking continuously is also incredibly annoying.

The facts are - well, we don't know. The list of grievances the OP has against the neighbour (more than just cats) needs to be offset against the way the dogs actually behave and how often and how much they bark.

We have no idea who is the most annoying, or whether one is justified and the other not, and it is quite bizarre to me how many people form an immediate, unswayable opinion on almost no information whatsoever, just based on their initial gut reaction to the general principle of an OP.

My dog never barks and we are just lucky like that. The only time I've heard a bark was when she saw a deckchair in the garden. 😂 She will though dash out growling if she can sense a cat or fox. Sorry, but if your cat comes into my garden then my dog may well chase it. I've never deliberately sent her out to do so but I can't always be there to check. Constant barking is a nuisance but just for a few minutes is perfectly acceptable in my opinion. I remember when I was little the neighbours left their labs out one Sunday and they barked for the whole day well into the evening. I was in tears and when they got home my lovely, usually kind, father absolutely let rip at them and he was a dog lover.

OP your neighbor does sound annoying and I imagine you feel better for your off load of annoyance. I imagine there'll be no nieghbourly drinks at Christmas.

Oh for fuck sake.

also, was there any need to quote the WHOLE post being the first poster to reply?

get a grip 😂

Where's the voting and why wasn't it enabled? Intentional perhaps......

I vote YABU anyway. I also doubt, if you live in a rural area with barking dogs that run around (and probably shit) in your garden that her cats choose to shit in your garden. Cats are not stupid, what animal would leave itself vulnerable to predators whilst it shits. They know dogs live there, they see, hear and smell them.

They could shit quietly and safely in any of those fields that surround your rural little hamlet.