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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Vallhala · 07/12/2010 10:24

There are some very nasty people on this thread. A lot of bullshit spoken too - cruel to keep cats or dogs in a town? Hmm Please....!

I can be equally nasty though. If it came to my attention that someone I knew had deliberately harmed a cat - or any other animal for that matter - I'd make bloody sure that they got a taste of their own medicine.

ChickensHaveNoMercyForTurkeys · 07/12/2010 10:27

No one has told my neighbour's cats that they're supposed to bury their poo. They present it on the lawn usually. They are long haired, squash faced cats though, so not sure if they're too posh to bury their own poo. Luckily my lovely neighbour can often be seen bent over my lawn with a trowel. That's responsible pet ownership, I think.

ShoppingDays · 07/12/2010 10:47

I don't think buried cat poo is better than non-buried cat poo. It's not what you want to find when you are digging the garden.

Cat poo is also hazardous because of the toxoplasmosis risk mentioned above.

katkit · 07/12/2010 11:16

cats aren't vermin- look at cat bin lady- she went to court!

try lemon peel and running out screaming. this should work.

ChickensHaveNoMercyForTurkeys · 07/12/2010 11:27

I can also recommend a really pissed off chicken. I have a tiny hen with a bad attitude which has seen off all comers to the back garden. Even the semi-feral hunting tom Grin

PeasPlease · 07/12/2010 12:15

What a genius idea! I'm definitely going to look into doing this. We are so sick of the vile cat muck all over our garden.

LaraJade · 07/12/2010 12:18

Really didn't want to let my cat out today with a bunch of potential kitty killers out there!!
But if i keep her in too long she turns into demon cat + attacks me so i'm sure she can cope.
Try sending out your toddlers screaming 'Puddy Tat!!' after the pooing moggies. My cat hides in terror from the local toddlers who are desperate to fuss her.

BagofHolly · 07/12/2010 12:50

As a responsible cat owner, living on the edge of a housing estate backing onto farmland, I have:

  • offered repeatedly to clean up after my cats if they poo outside of our garden
-bought my neighbour a motion sensor water squirter to ward off cats from her lawn -got the cats protection league round to make our garden as poo-friendly as poss
  • offered to buy any other aids my neighbour might think useful.

And her response?

  • refused to plug in the water squirter as it meant trailing a hose pipe across the lawn, which "makes the place look untidy"
  • screaming at me at every opportunity when I'm by myself, to tell me that "everyone hates you. "
  • waiting till I was putting my baby in the car and throwing poo at us
  • telling me that the only solution she would be happy with is our having them put down
  • saying that she recognises that there is nothing else we can do, but says she doesn't want us to be happy when we are ruining her lufe
BagofHolly · 07/12/2010 12:54

#life

And as a final act, installed 4 bird boxes along our adjoining fence!!! How bizarre!

So there are some responsible cat owners out there. The trouble my neighbour has is with a fox, and it was fox poo that she threw at me and the baby, but she refuses to accept that, and prefers to demonise me. There are hundreds of cats around here, and dozens of foxes but she's fixated with one of mine.
As a result of her appalling conduct she's been spoken to by the police and told that if she continues to harass me, and throw excrement over the fence and at my child she'll be the oldest person in the county to have been given an ASBO.

beautyspot · 07/12/2010 14:14

BagofHolly - I'm sure you are intelligent enough to realise that your neighbour has psychiatric problems so why labour the point.

newwave · 07/12/2010 15:41

It seems the response of some of the cat owners on here is

"I cant control my cat so if it gets in your garden tough luck" not all but some.

When my boys were young we built a wooden sand box guess why we had to empty all the sand out.

We was discussing this at work and someone said "just trap the cat and drive about 5 miles from your home and let it out, no harm to the cat and problem solved".

Bunbaker · 07/12/2010 16:15

"What a genius idea! I'm definitely going to look into doing this. We are so sick of the vile cat muck all over our garden."

Are you absolutely sure it is all cat poo? Most cats I know/have known bury theirs. Could it be fox poo that you have found in the middle of your lawn?

PeasPlease · 07/12/2010 16:23

We don't have foxes here. We do have a Cat's Protection League lady with 12 cats two doors down. We constantly have cats in the front and back.

I had cats, I was a cat lover until living with this. Now I hate them and their owners who don't provide adequate shitting facilities on their own property. And to those who object to neighbours returning the poo to its rightful place, why should they have to dispose of it?

It is unhealthy and it stinks.

SouthMum · 07/12/2010 16:25

I clean cat crap and dog shit out of my garden all the time. I just accept that because humans have domesticated these animals to live with and among us that this is part of the deal. They dont know they are doing wrong and yet some of you would kill or harm them.

Some of you are a bit creepy tbh

newwave · 07/12/2010 16:38

SouthMum dont have a pet but if I did it would be a dog, I would know where it is and clean up accordingly, cat owners however seem to think that it is ok for THEIR cats to dig up and crap in ANYONES garden without reproach.

Very easy keep YOUR CATS off OTHER PEOPLES PROPERTY not easy I know but it is the OWNERS problem.

jaggythistle · 07/12/2010 16:47

it's not the cat's fault, but the owners who don't care what their beloved lodgers do when they are out and about. i have never harmed one, despite extreme poo provocation over several years.

OMFG to you too lovecat you are really not getting the point are you.

no one is debating how hard to control cats are. we are not in fact stupid.

but should it be ok for your average residential street to have 20 little furry crap machines living in it, with a large proportion of owners not bothering to ensure they use a litter tray?

not being able to control them and the myth that they all neatly bury their poo are the excuses made on every thread where cat poo is making someone's life hell.

both shit imho, if you do any gardening you'll find out how much fun digging up cat presents is.

pinkhebe · 07/12/2010 17:39

aparently it is only dominant cats who don't bury, and these are mainly feral cats who have a dominant male, domestic cats' owners are the dominant one so most domestics bury. I know it's not relevant to many people but I found it quite interesting Grin

I think in order to deter cats you need a several prong approach as each repellant will not work for all cats.

www.bloomingdirect.com/products/Coleus-Canina-Scardy-Cat-x-5-plants.html

these plants are very good as a deterrant, as well as the sonic device and heavy planting so there isn't much room.
watering lots also helps as cats prefer dry soil to dig in.

kebab sticks probably aren't very toddler friendly, but won't harm the cat, just put him off.

Avoid bark chippings and uncovered sand pits for obvious reasons.

and - this probably will only appeal to the very desperate, have an area of tilled soil for the cats to use, at least you know where it is. I have a rasied veg patch - not used for that reason any more - and this is where my cat (and probably others) now poo.

pinkhebe · 07/12/2010 17:41

oh and my cat won't use a litter tray now he can go out :(

ShoppingDays · 07/12/2010 17:57

For some of us that would be a quarter of our garden gone!

"have an area of tilled soil for the cats to use, at least you know where it is"

ullainga · 07/12/2010 18:14

"just trap the cat and drive about 5 miles from your home and let it out, no harm to the cat and problem solved".

No harm done?? Seriously? Someone actually believes that?

There was a topic here that kids were coming into someone's garden uninvited. Could she just take the kids, drive 5 miles and leave them there? No harm done after all, right?

masochismTangoer · 07/12/2010 18:56

You have to boil the citrus skins - for about ten minutes to get the active ingredient out - usually add washing up liquid and any other smelly essential oils we have - lavender, burgess ect. Put in in a spray bottle and spray round garden - has to be done frequently and after dew or rainfall. Some cats do not mind the chemical though.

Curry, chili power bought whole sale in big bags and spread round.

Sonic devices - sometimes work but some cats appear to be deaf.

Water sprays that attach to hoses - good but found it leaked water everywhere for us.

For different reasons we put up a 2 meter screen - the main cat can not get over this so has cut off the some one of the access routes into the garden. Main one left is further and means I can get out and hit the cat with water as it scrabbles up the fence. You can get cat deterrents that go on fences - little nails beds.

Some plants often smelly one like herbs can help as does good ground cover.

I know a lot of people are saving it does not matter - but I waste a lot of time checking the garden and the buggers still get in and leave piles - including in DC play house and lawn when the DC come in and out. It means we can not have bark or sand pits. I have had all the young DC at some point get covered in cat shit and then had screaming when I sort them out and get other DC in to stop them getting covered. Plus it stinks in summer. It is not like I can take them to the local parks because those are frequently covered in glass, or burned, or covered in dog shit despite there being signs no dogs and there being ample other space in the parks for dogs.

Sometimes spiky branches works - so I do not see that being that different to kebab sticks though one cat does like to shit on these branches.

None of the cats bury the poo - no idea why and I really resent the money spent especially as the main cat owner the horrible woman next door seems to take such delight in her cats actions.

Tolalola · 07/12/2010 19:12

I like cats and have no desire to hurt one, but I do find it sort of odd that people are allowed to keep as pets a species that they can have no control over, that they can't or won't contain, that they can't clean up after and which has faeces that pose some pretty nasty health hazards to humans, esp. children.

I am trying to think of another species that would be equivalent, but I can't.

TheFarSide · 07/12/2010 19:24

... and another thing.

Cats kill birds. They caused a blackbird nesting in my small yard to abandon her nest which really pissed me off.

I wouldn't harm a cat, but I do think it's anti-social to own a cat if you live in a built-up area.

I'd like to play loud music whenever I want, but I accept that I can't because I respect other people's feelings. Similarly, I wouldn't get a cat and think that it's OK for it to crap in other people's gardens because "they can't be controlled."

Cat owners - I do appreciate that some of you are trying to be responsible - thanks. Unfortunately, not all cat owners are as thoughtful.

masochismTangoer · 07/12/2010 19:38

"Cats kill birds. They caused a blackbird nesting in my small yard to abandon her nest which really pissed me off."

We had that plus dead baby birds and half eaten mice all over the lawn. Everyone said at least you will not have mice in the house - ha ha ha ha ha - remembers sobbing quietly day we had all three plus dog shit in front garden and cat shit in back.

LaraJade · 07/12/2010 20:01

Before i got my cat there was cat poo all over my garden.
I wanted a pet for company so intended to get a quiet old sofa loving moggy. Instead i ended up with a scary rescue persian who chases off the local cats + uses a litter tray.
She poos once daily + i don't let her out til she uses the tray.
So - no more stinky poo in the garden, + a lively pet as well!