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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be furious that some cat has sprayed our pushchair.

117 replies

WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 28/03/2011 11:05

Left the pushchair folded on porch last night as weather has been good & our house is cluttered busy.

Just unfolded it to find that has been sprayed by some cat.

I have to take the whole thing apart and wash it in something antibacterial. It might not survive this.

I am sick to death of cats pooing in our garden & having to watch my kids every second in case they roll in it (or in toddler's case, give it the mouth test ), but this has tipped me over the edge, I am FUMING.

Honestly I might just start letting my son wander through the neighbours' front gardens with his nappy off, pissing and shitting at will.

I don't understand the appeal of cats at all, really I don't. If you are a cat owner and you don't know where your cat's effluent goes, then you need to have a fucking word with yourself because it's quite likely that someone, somewhere is having to deal with it for you.

Can anyone tell me how to dismantle and wash a Quinny Zapp and how to humanely keep cats away from my open-plan garden?

And help me to calm down Grin

OP posts:
HappyAsIAm · 28/03/2011 12:17

YANBU in my eyes. I would be fuming too. We choose not to have pets (though I am considering letting DS have a rabbit this summer as it would be good for him to learn about responsibility) and so I don't really want other peoples' pets' poo and wee forced on me tbh.

lesley33 · 28/03/2011 12:21

Lots of cats don't like pooing in litter trays and will only do so if kept permanently inside. So you could ask them, but it may make no difference.

Original poster
WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 28/03/2011 12:21

Tatty, I do object to this notion of yours that I should stop complaining and move to a flat (flats still have paths and doorsteps somewhere, no?) and I think perhaps you are the tighter clencher in this conversation (sadly unlike the sodding cats)

OP posts:
TattyDevine · 28/03/2011 12:23

I doubt it. A bird shat on my car before. Nowt I could do about it except clean it off and get on with my life Smile

MissVerinder · 28/03/2011 12:29

Get some Tesco Value clothes washing liquid and soak the fabric in that- I don't know why, but it really works for stinky stuff, much better than Persil etc. Also, if you're having problems with cats on the garden, pee in a jug and slosh it about the boundary fence. The good news is- you probably haven't got rats...

Pancakeflipper · 28/03/2011 12:31

Soak in bio-logical washing powder. Dry and spray with a diluted mix of surgical spirit and water. Dry. Then I would drop a few drops of essential oil around the buggy to try to get rid of the smell.

Original poster
WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 28/03/2011 12:36

Tatty - I bet it wasn't your neighbour's parrot on a daily basis. Grin

I get pooed on by birds all the time. Perhaps I just need to accept that I am a shitmagnet.

OP posts:
Original poster
WillYouDoTheDamnFanjo · 28/03/2011 12:43

MissVerinder, I am definitely going to try peeing in a jug.

Will do that indoors, though.

OP posts:
ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 28/03/2011 12:49

My cats will only use the litter tray, bloody things are always knocking at the door crosslegged, which is a hassle tbh, but a hassle I prefer to them shitting in the nursery garden next door to the house.

I know most people won't be able to stop cats crapping outside entirely but if provided with an area to 'go' of some kind most cats will use it, whether that be indoors or out.

You need some bicarbonate of soda too op, put in a spray bottle and attack, then when it's dry sprinkle the powder on.

PaperView · 28/03/2011 12:57

Just calm down and be glad that your buggy only got sprayed and not stolen.

We have loads of cats use our garden as a cut thru but have never ever noticed any shot anywhere. They spray one of 2 trees but thats ok - at least i know where they are doing it.

grovel · 28/03/2011 13:04

Catch the cat and put it in a wheelie bin. Have the episode filmed and become famous!

boobandbottle · 28/03/2011 13:08

I think its annoying - but I'm amazed a quinny didnt get pinched from your porch , or is that more about where I live Blush

PaperView · 28/03/2011 13:11

shot = shit. Obviously i have my swear filter on today Wink

onagar · 28/03/2011 13:31

"its a free world for animals to roam in" lol

Yes just like for pheasants, foxes and badgers.

And of course no one minds if the odd dog wanders in and shits on their carpet. It's a free country after all!

Wish I could afford to buy an elephant to see where this sense of entitlement ends. I rather suspect that those saying it is okay really mean "it's okay if it happens to YOU"

bemybebe · 28/03/2011 13:59

I wish it was different but cats cannot be reasonably controlled unless one is in the 2nd floor flat or above. I tried to keep our two indoors (not because of poo, but mainly because they are beautiful and I was afraid them being stolen). For over a year it was "the struggle for freedom". Any tiny draft, any gap in the window would send them wild. We could not go through the doors without having a fight. It was particularly tough for my dh as he has mobility disability. Eventually we had to admit defeat and just let them get on with it.

I can and do pick up my dog's poo, even if there is no one around. I hate seeing it around the parks and afraid to step into a pile. I honestly cannot do anything about my cats. I will probably not get any more after these two because for me pleasure/hassle ratio is not right, but for the next 10-15 years these cats will be with us (they are 6 years old in May).

NotAnotherNewNappy · 28/03/2011 14:13

I have two DC (dear cats) and could have killed them after one of the little shits weed in DD's M&P Pliko. She was my PFB, only about six weeks old and the buggy was also brand new. I tried spongeing it down, handwashing and dry cleaning - but the stench only really came out after I put it through the washing machine with bio powder. Good luck.

LDNmummy · 28/03/2011 14:19

Yuck!

You can buy some things to keep cats out (and before anyone starts, I have a cat of my own), I think they give off smells or hormones or something to keep cats out of gardens.

nightowlmostly · 28/03/2011 14:35

I have cats and give them a litter tray, but they don't really use it unless it's raining out!

I see them sometimes in next door's garden doing their business, and yell at them but they just ignore me. The neighbours never complained to us, and to be honest am not sure what we could do about it.

I have a small area of bare soil at the front of my house that my other neighbours' 5 cats use as a toilet and it does get stinky. They seem to poo away from their own territory unfortunately!

It's just something people probably have to accept as part of outdoor life, it's always been this way. What do you suggest us cat lovers do?

TotorosOcarina · 28/03/2011 15:37

My cat must be wrong somehow as it poos in our garden.

Hes gone off with some fella down the road anyways now and our female cat has bloody followed him!! so they barely come around.

Except the big one came home to have a sleep on my clean bed sheets and do a 'bird bone' poo on my bedroom rug, so yes, thanks for that pussy.

upyourdiva · 28/03/2011 16:00

My garden seems to attract them too and it does my head in.

We have low fences here and can't raise them up as the housing association won't let us... just because other people want to keep them (yet let them wander aimlessly without them Hmm) does not mean I want to have to fight with one to get in and out of my front door as it seems to spend most of it's days waiting for it to be opened and I certainly don't want to have to worry about my son picking up it's shit from his sandpit!

One of my neighbours told me once she was going to call the police because I kicked her cat (not hard)... she did... she failed to mention though that the cat was asleep in the corner of my sons trampoline inside the enclosure so when he started bouncing it lunged at him and started scratching at his face and he was too scared to move :(

They should be kept indoors or walked like a dog.

Wild animals are part of life not bloody 'pets' that people can't or won't look after!

And yes I m grumpy today Angry

PeachesandStrawberry · 28/03/2011 16:07

OP YANBU.

I understand.

I hope that you get it sorted.

millimurphy · 28/03/2011 16:28

No other pet animal is allowed to roam free. Dogs used to be allowed to roam free, but not any more. It is time cat owners took reponsibility for their pets and kept them in. You either want a pet or not - kicking your 'pet' outside at all hours and allowing them to shit in other people's gardens and kill the native wildlife is not being a responsible pet owner. You can't just absolve yourself and tell other people to just suck it up. It is being a lazy pet owner. Before anyone says it is cruel to keep an animal locked up - that is what all other pet owners have to do. It would be illegal for me to let my parrots out for a jaunt round the neighbourhood. Perhaps it is time for the law to be changed and for the cat luvvies to suck it up for a while.

belgo · 28/03/2011 16:30

millimurphy - I don't think you've ever owned a cat. You don't seem to know much about their nature.

smartyparts · 28/03/2011 16:44

It makes me laugh if I see a cat pooing in our garden, they look so ashamed!

upyourdiva · 28/03/2011 16:45

I totally agree with Milli.

I have never owned a cat as I am allergic. My mum got a kitten in December and now says she can't wait for him to go outside so that she can get rid of teh litter tray as it stinks and he digs at it all the time making a mess! She also has a dog and would never dream of just putting her outside to roam so I really don't understand why it is okay to do it to a cat?!

I choose not to have a pet because I coan't be arsed with the demands they make and could'nt afford to keep one anyway but I am sick of having to pick up after other people's.

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