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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you if this is illegal? Cat related.

173 replies

Mummydayandnightcare · 05/12/2010 21:28

Won't bore you with all the details but my friend (yes really my friend lol) has, following months of problems with cats shitting in his garden, placed a hundred or so wooden kebab sticks into his garden to deter them (genuinely not to hurt them, well, so he says!)

Is this illegal? He has been told it maybe based on fact you can't put glass on top of your fence panels to deter burglars etc.

Thoughts please.

OP posts:
jaggythistle · 06/12/2010 05:07

i try really hard not to be provoked by cat poo threads but it's impossible.

people with opinions like this "have you nothing more to worry about than cat poo" have obviously never suffered the daily misery of clearing up cat crap while not actually owning a fecking cat. also having to watch your feet in your own garden (cat shit tracked into the house = boak) and having your lawn destroyed.

no they don't always bury their poo and even if they do i don't like digging a hole to plant something and finding it!

we live with a lot lower local cat density now, DH still goes over a poo or 2 every time he cuts the grass.

at my old cat infested garden i tried pretty much everything you could buy or make, some worked but the cats got used to any weird smells within a couple of weeks. i tried similar to the OP's friend but with thin garden canes, helped a bit.

the bottom line is that the cat's behaviour is the owner's problem but a lot don't care what they do to the property or sanity of neighbours.

SofiaAmes · 06/12/2010 05:23

I found that mouse/rat traps work well (never caught a cat, but it does scare them away). Also chili pepper powder worked for me.

beautyspot · 06/12/2010 05:46

Well said jaggythistle.

Bunbaker · 06/12/2010 06:47

"Interesting that you mentioned fact yours have a litter tray CarGirl as a friend with cats told me that if cats have a litter tray in their home they don't feel the need to crap on other peoples gardens."

When we first got our cats they used a litter tray all the time because the gardens where we lived were tiny and I didn't want them going in other people's gardens. It worked for a while - they even came in from the garden to use the tray, but cats just do what comes naturally and when we moved to a house with a bigger garden they did start using our garden and, no doubt, other people's gardens.

Unless you keep a cat indoors all the time I don't see how you can stop one using other people's gardens as their toilet.

We don't have any cats now as DD is allergic to them, but I accept that cats will use our garden as a toilet, just as I expect to find hedgehog poo, bird poo etc in my garden.

I think it is unfair to blame the owners unless you know that they don't keep a litter tray on standby.

BagofHolly · 06/12/2010 07:26

Newave, if I lived next door to you I'D shit in your garden, never mind my cats. What do you expect owners to do, exactly? Give the animals a damn good talking to? And how are you with foxes/hedgehogs etc? Is it ok to shoot them too? I hope anyone with a cat you injure, sues you from arsehole to breakfast.

Igglystuffedfullofturkey · 06/12/2010 07:31

I absolutely hate cats and hate cat poo. I didn't like letting DS in the garden in the summer as he put his hand in it once. Pretty difficult to restrain a crawling baby from putting his hand in his mouth but I managed it.

Cat shit is anti social.

missalien · 06/12/2010 07:43

Grrr I have a similar problem I live in a second floor housing association flat and the sodding act from downstairs jumps in my bedroom and kitchen windows its disgusting and dangerous when I was pregnant but no one gives a shit. So to speak. And it nearly trips me up when im carrying baby down the stairs. Apparently I can only sue once I have already tripped and dropped my baby or caught act shit germs from my kitchen side. Hate it. It seems to have more rights than me .

kreecherlivesupstairs · 06/12/2010 08:19

Looking with interest. The catocutor in the garden seems to have given up the ghost thanks to the heavy snow.
thin slivers of wood you say? Watch out nine next door, you'll be trying to crap over little teenytiny cat fence things.
The picture in my mind is of Vietnamese war time with the sharpened poles sticking out of leaf mold.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 06/12/2010 08:29

If you injure/kill a cat exactly what law are you breaking?

Trying4Baby1 · 06/12/2010 14:05

Do not use anti freeze this actually smells attractive to them, they'll drink it and die and you'll be charged with animal cruelty! I used to have a cat but he always used his litter tray never our garden or the neighbours. He actually used to come in, do the toilet and head out again. My neighbours cat is bloody annoying me at the moment as it uses our borders as a toilet because she doesn't give them a litter tray. It's bloody unhygienic and having a dog in the house hasn't stopped it from coming in the garden.

porkchops · 06/12/2010 14:07

cruelty to animals, destruction of private property. its a known fact that a lot of serial killers started out killing people's cats. there was a case in Brixton about 4 yrs ago where the police were desperate to find a cat killer who was leaving the cats on the front doorstep of owners. they were v concerned he or she'd move onto people.

NinkyNonker · 06/12/2010 14:18

God this pisses us off, next door neighboyr's cat is constantly digging our veggie patch and shitting in it, as well as all over the lawn and flower beds. Despite us having 2 dogs. We've tried everything, drives us up the wall. Bizarrely people hate dog poo but are told to chill out, have better things to worry about than cat poo etc.

OP, your friend is NBU...I might suggest to DH that he tries it, we lose a small fortune in plants and it isn't fair.

NordicPrincess · 06/12/2010 14:19

well if a cat shits in your garden collect the shit and leave it on the owners door step, warn them if they let their cat do it again youl drown the horrid thing. I really dont like cats. If dogs regularly did this there would be hell to pay

B52s · 06/12/2010 14:22

Newwave doesn't have a rifle. She throws stones. Sounds like a good idea to me if everything else doesn't work.

B52s · 06/12/2010 14:23

And why is there a law saying you have to pick up after your dog but not after cats? Responsible pet ownership, pah.

beautyspot · 06/12/2010 14:27

Porkchops...ahhahahaha. Take a tablet dear.

beautyspot · 06/12/2010 14:29

Trying4baby

If a cat goes into your garden and drinks something there how on earth would you be charged with animal cruelty. Get a life.

Someone told me that they had great luck with anti-freeze as it really did keep their garden free of cats. It was the smell, apparently that did it.

Notevenamouse · 06/12/2010 14:33

"I find cat owners selfish regarding their cats as they seem to assume that their cats have the right to cause as much damage and annoyance as they want with no come backs" This is a massive generalisation.

My cat has a tray and usually goes in our own garden. However, one of our neighbours came round and has told us that if it goes in his garden again he reserves the right to kill it, and will do so.

I asked if it was going to the toilet in his garden and offered to pay for deterrants. He said "No but it walks on the wall and makes my dog bark." We keep it in most of the time now. He said all of this in front of the children, weirdo. I don't think you can fairly say we are all "selfish" thanks.

NordicPrincess · 06/12/2010 14:35

yeah but would you say the same if a dog kept going in your garden notevenamouse? i love your name by the way

Notevenamouse · 06/12/2010 14:41

If it was a lightweight dog that didn't bite or smell my arse I wouldn't mind, but I am an animal lover. I wouldn't be pleased if it was shitting everwhere, that is understandable. I still think hurting and killing animals for "going" not even pooing in your garden is OTT.

moomaa · 06/12/2010 14:42

I am not a cat fan either, we had terrible problems with cat poo at our old house and I hated having to clear it up every morning before I could let the kids out to play. If the cats had been my neighbours then every piece would have been thrown back over the fence.

I had a very spikey hedge in the backgarden so I used to lay bits of that in the borders but that wasn't practical for the grass. My mum put carpet grippers on her borders and that worked too, but I wouldn't personally do that as I wouldn't want the cat to come to be properly hurt. I didn't blame her though.

People say what should the owners do, they can't ask the cat to stop, well the answer is not to have a cat. They are totally pointless animals and are very antisocial.

Notevenamouse · 06/12/2010 14:43

My children don't find our cat pointless.

Notevenamouse · 06/12/2010 14:44

Whats the "point" of any pet unless its a working dog, such as a sheepdog, anyway?

porkchops · 06/12/2010 14:49

beautyspot - what sort of tablet are you talking about? are you passing out stupid pills?

Notevenamouse · 06/12/2010 14:52

antifreeze kills cats and you can be done for it, its against the law to poison a cat.