Im scared of cats and now there's one in my garden permanently!!

[90sWasAmazing]

Im scared of cats, I actually have a huge phobia. Luckily I haven't had to deal with any where I live but a neighbour at the end of the road has one and it keeps appearing in my garden. It was on my windowsill. It's freaking me out.
How can i get it to move on? It runs away bit then 5 mins later its back.
I sprayed some water from a spray bottle which it ran but then came back sitting by the front door. Any suggestions? Im really nervous of it and am scared to go out and dreading coming back!
I dont have any food out or anything, why is it even here?

Why is this? I hate cats….well, hate is probably too strong, but I really, really don’t like them - they freak me out, but they follow me EVERYWHERE, why? 😩

These are wonderful. A new neighbour's cat marked my parents' front porch as its territory, tried to get into the house through tilted windows. Sadly my mother loathes cats and wanted something that just works and quickly, these do and cat has moved on to another neighbour. Afaik the buzzing is not harmful in any way, but unpleasant.

You might want to take them down once in a while as cats can get used to it.

I don't understand how you can bring yourself to go near enough to the cat to spray it or interact with it at all. I like cats, and obviously don't have this phobia, but I don't think I would dare to spray a cat in case it scratched me.

Vile. Do better

Most cats hate tin foil. Buy a roll of strong tin foil and wrap around its favourite spots. You could hang some in the garden as well and let it blow in the wind. If you’re brave enough, you can go out shaking a sheet at it. Yes it will be noisy and look odd as fuck, but needs must. Plus, it’s not reliant on you actually being there to chase the cat away.Coupled with the water , it should work. Eventually.

If you deliberately put washing up liquid on a cat, you could be charged with an offence

Hiss at it like a snake very loudly. This is mimicking their defensive reaction and is a strong message to back off.

It works every time and is much more effective than spraying with water. Hiss and then watch the cat run away from you as fast as possible. It's a safe and natural way to tell an unwanted cat to f. off!

A garden sprinkler works well (after the hosepipe ban ends obviously)

Get yourself a cat. It will scare the other cat away.

Not unreasonable! I was badly injured in a cattack last year. A cat I know. In the street! Now I'm scared of them all.

You're not being unreasonable, they have a massive impact on the bird population and crap all over your garden! I dont like cats in my garden either, but I do like them as creatures and wouldn't dream of hurting one. But they should all have to wear a bell and they shouldn't be allowed to roam free in other people's gardens, it's madness! You can get a PDSA approved noise deterrent that emits a noise that cats hate but it doesn't bother other animals.

No idea if it works or not but I have read that a half filled bottle of water laid on its side scares them. No harm in popping a few around the garden to try anyway.

Sympathies with you OP, i love cats but am phobic about moths. Yes, perfectly harmless little moths will scare me out of the room sometimes!

Just get a life
It is a CAT it is not going to kill you
FGS REALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We used to have a cat that was a bugger for killing birds, our neighbour had pigeons. To deter her from the coop and their garden in general I purchased cat deterrent spray from pets at home. And would spray it along their walls. It worked great. Might be worth trying for your own garden? Also you can get a cat siren type thing. It makes a high pitched noise that activates with movement. It helps keep cats and other creatures out the garden. I hope you find something that helps.

You know phobias are a medical issue right? It’s not something people can just get over! How about having some empathy ffs!

People can get over them with the right therapy though.
The OP should concentrate on doing this rather than the many odd suggestions on here to deter cats which may or may not work & probably won't work forever.

Whatever people think about cats, they are allowed to wander freely in this country and that is unlikely to change so dealing with the phobia surely makes more sense that trying to deal with the ever growing cat population.

I’m a massive cat lover, and I think that some of the “FFS” responses on this thread are really aggressive and unhelpful, but I forgot; this is Mumsnet, famous for its aggression. Along with the usual nonsensical ones.
”Move house.” - tick.
”You need therapy.” - tick.
”This is really limiting your life.” - tick
“The cat won’t kill you.” - tick. (Reminds me of “wearing a mask won’t kill you”.)
I’m surprised we haven’t had “all cats should be kept indoors” yet.
Do I need therapy because I don’t like being near balloons that might go pop? Is it limiting my life? I used to be nervous about picking up cats in case they scratched me, but that changed when I got my own cat.

Just spray the cat with water. Don’t use washing up liquid.

Being scared of balloons probably isn't limiting your life day to day but being scared of cats is affecting the OP because a cat is regularly visiting her garden.

I don't see that suggesting she work on trying to deal with a phobia that is affecting her daily is aggressive, unsympathetic or unreasonable, just seems the sensible thing to do because cats are everywhere .

I have cats enter my garden all the time & some bother my own cat. Spraying them with water has never worked as a long term deterrent.

I sprayed from inside with the window open!

Cheers, wish I had thought of that, Im cured

Water is sufficient for your needs. Adding anything to it is cruel. I've got a cat who is bold as brass unless you accidentally flick a bit of water at him with wet hands. That makes him run away and hide behind the sofa for half an hour.

Yes but he comes back later. That maybe what you want but not people who don’t want cats in their garden.

Get a terrier. Or a sprinkler system.

If you spray a cat in the face with a water pistol a number of times it will stop it coming back. There's no need to use chemicals that could cause harm.

It is hard enough getting a cat once in the face let alone a few times!
Chemicals!! Even water is chemicals H2O.