Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

aibu to resent neighbour slinging cat shit into my garden?

186 replies

wipeyuppie · 12/06/2011 22:26

I have 2 cats and an elderly neighbour. I have noticed that our side passage is littered with cat poo but my young ds told me today that he saw *** (our neighbour) throwing poo over the fence into our garden and that he thought it was disgusting. There are several cats in the area. What do you think about that?

OP posts:
Avantia · 13/06/2011 07:30

Get a dog ! Grin and progress to dog poo ! Grin

Ormirian · 13/06/2011 09:42

Wow! I am horrified at the gargantuan numbers of cats that must live in the areas that some of you inhabit. We used to live in cat city - walking down the back lane of our terrace felt a bit like walking through gang territory in Westside Story - you felt like they were going to fall in behind you and start clicking their paws in time Grin But even then I never ever had the need to 'scour the garden' for shit Confused In all our years there I never remember the children picking up/ rolling in/eating or in any other way interacting with animal faeces.

Snails now.... snails are a differnt matter. Hate snails, the little shelly slimy bastards

CurlyBoy · 13/06/2011 11:09

Keep your cat inside and have it use a litterbox. We have two and they don't go around shitting in peoples' yards because we don't let them out. I think it totally off letting them do this. While you should be a bit miffed at your neighbour, your neighbour has every right to be furious about the shit in his yard.

As for the other cats in the area I suggest you feed food dye to yours so your neighbour can accurately identify which cat the poo belongs to.

Amaretti · 13/06/2011 11:14

You're going to try a litter tray? You haven't already? You are bloody inconsiderate then, tbh. You deserve all the flinging you get.

Blu · 13/06/2011 11:18

Train your cats to use a litter tray in your own house or garden .

If my neighbour had 2 cats that shat in my garden I would throw it back over the fence. Cat shit in your border when you are trying to garden is bloody revolting. Local cats don't shit in our garden anymore because I throw water at them, scare them off, and if they are really persistent throw small stones at them. They are territorial animals, it doesn't take long before they realise that our garden is my territory, not theirs. perhaps you would rather your neighhbour take this tack with your cats?

Blu · 13/06/2011 11:20

Sorry - see that you have resolved to instill a litter tray habit in your cats. I hope it is successful.

FionaJT · 13/06/2011 11:23

I live in a flat and when my downstairs neighbour moved in, one of her cats decided that the flat, gravelled roof of the downstairs extension must be a litter tray. My kitchen overlooks it, and I ended up unable to open the window for the smell of shit and flies. I was livid, spent some time cleaning up the mess and dumped a binbag of stinking gravel in her wheelie bin. And her reaction was to apologise, try and help me think of a soloution and offer to pay for whatever was needed.
I love cats, but I also think that if you chose to keep pets in an urban area you need to appreciate that they probably will inconvinience others and that it is your responsibility to deal with that.

TotallyLovely · 13/06/2011 11:23

Salmotrutt Why does your DS think it's disgusting for the neighbour to send cat poo back over but presumably thinks it's OK for your cats to poo in your garden in the first place?

Maybe because when cats poo in your garden they do it in a border and usually bury it, not on the path, middle of your garden table or hitting you in the side of your face at spead?

bluebobbin · 13/06/2011 11:25

I'm disgusted the OP hasn't got a litter tray. It ought to be a legal requirement for owning a cat. If you aren't cleaning up your cat's shit - then someone else is and the chances are they are very annoyed about it. I have to go outside now and clear up someone else's cat's shit. REALLY, I'm not joking and it is a filthy task which is a total waste of my time.

VivaLeBeaver · 13/06/2011 11:32

I see why you're annoyed. Your neighbour can't know if the shit belongs to your cat or not. Sling it back. Grin

paulapantsdown · 13/06/2011 11:42

you have cats (who shit everywhere), you noticed cat shit in your alley, and you didn't go and clean it up- just left it there?! thats disgusting

so not only does your neighbour have to put up with cat shit all over his garden, but he has to step over it in the alley too because your filthy animals have soiled there aswell?

AmazingBouncingFerret · 13/06/2011 11:44

Could be worse... Your neighbour could be slinging your cat back over the fence. Grin

brass · 13/06/2011 12:45

Totally if you've got a cat you keep it's shit to yourself. It doesn't belong anywhere in someone else's garden for them to have to deal with.

So flung back it is and personally I don't care how or where it lands.

sue52 · 13/06/2011 12:54

I clean up all my dogs' poo, my dogs so my responsibility. You should do the same for your cat.

Original poster
wipeyuppie · 13/06/2011 13:01

Wow, I am surprised how excited people get over such a minor issue. Just to reassure you all I have spoken to my neighbour today and we have resolved to work together on this.

I will get a cat litter tray and she will stop shit flinging. Simple isn't it? Thank goodness neither of us felt the need to get nasty and agressive over such an easily rectified (excuse the pun) matter. Smile

OP posts:
mumblechum1 · 13/06/2011 13:06

It's not a minor issue. You can get all sorts of very unpleasant diseases from animal faeces inc. toxoplasmosis which can cause blindness, and anyone growing veg in their garden is going to be pretty disgusted by finding cat poo in among their salad crops.

NorkyButNice · 13/06/2011 13:06

We bought a house that had been unoccupied for 5 or so years - the next door neighbour has 3 cats who he has trained to shit in OUR garden (since nobody was living here).

I suggested that he got a litter tray for them but he looked at me aghast and said "Why would I want cat poo in my house?".

I plan to spend the summer turning the hose on them the second they appear over the fence.

chipmonkey · 13/06/2011 13:16

One of my neighbours used to send his dog down to poo in our garden rather than his. I suspect he still does when we're not home.

TotallyLovely · 13/06/2011 13:24

brass So flung back it is and personally I don't care how or where it lands

You think throwing animal poo without looking where it is going to land is acceptable?! In that case you are a very disgusting human being.

Lawrene8 · 13/06/2011 13:58

I have to say I'm with the OP in thinking the neighbour should have had a chat with you - but if you've not got a litter tray then you must have known they were going somewhere?

This issue happened with our neighbours too. We have 2 cats (and a litter tray) and neighbour was throwing it over the fence. However everyone else in the street has cats (and 1 house has 7, so how she 'knew' it was mine I couldn't work out). Although mine may have done so occasionally, they always use our litter tray and are quite timid, so could not see them going in another garden.

This is how we dealt with it. I informed neighbour that throwing poo was unaceptabel (and some of it was deffo foxes by the size of it). Neighbour described the cat that was responsible as a 'large ginger Tom' whereas mine are both small black and white females.

My Dh bought them some stuff to put in the garden as a deterrant and we agreed that they would put all of the poo that appeared in their garden for the next week into a nappy bag which they could then thrown in our bin. The next week they came round with a massive bag and said 'look at all this - it's not acceaptable, and this is only a weeks worth'. I agreed it was unacceptable then informed them that my cats had been kept in all week, and had not been let out at all - so it could not be them. I thanked them for helping me prove it wasn't my cats and said anything else that came over the fence would go back through their letter box. (NB Neighbours are majorly unreasoable over everything - but won't relate the whole story here)

brass · 13/06/2011 14:00

LOL totally do you happen to have cats who shit in other people's gardens?

I think you do. Brace yourself for the flying shit!

bluebobbin · 13/06/2011 14:12

OP - it isn't a minor issue.

I have just been out clearing it up. My flower beds in the front are so digusting that I am thinking of having them paved over. I have already had one flower bed grassed over because it was a cat toilet. I have spent money and time buying things to keep cats out of my back garden - cat spikes to stop cat going over gate, modified gate so that cat can't go under it, buy gloves to dispose of it. It goes on. Olbas oil and tea bags didn't work. cats are a major nuisance.

TotallyLovely · 13/06/2011 14:24

Everyone (not including me) where I live has cats and it is never a problem. Cats bury their poo so all I can think is that those finding it and flinging it are having to go digging for it. What a weird lot you are!

bluebobbin · 13/06/2011 14:35

Don't be ridiculous. I don't dig for it. It is on the suface, stinking.

naturalbaby · 13/06/2011 14:36

my neighbours cats do not bury their poo and neither do mine (poor little abandoned rescue kittens with no mummy to show them what to od) mine, however, do all their poos in the litter tray and are not allowed out till they've been Wink

do some of you lot really think cat owners should be roaming the alleys, gardens and streets of their neighbourhood like spiderman armed with a litter scoop and a plastic bag?!?