My neighbour has asked me to pick up my cat's poo from their garden. Literally she wants to be able to call on me to come and pick it up on an as and when basis.

[pingu2209]

I have 2 cats. They have only just started going outside, about 1 month so far. I still have a litter tray at home and they do use it but they are also beginning to 'go' outside too.

My view is that cats should not be locked in doors. I had to keep them indoors for the first 6th months because I was told by the shelter that they needed their injections, be neutered and micro chipped before they could venture outside and all that wasn't done till they were 6 months old.

I keep my cats up to date with their injections and worm/flee ointment - well they are only 7 months old at the moment, but I fully intend to keep them up to date.

There are other cats in the area. The house behind mine has 2 big cats and we are in a rural area with foxes. Also, my neighbours have a dog. Nice dog, sometimes it barks but it isn't really a problem if I'm honest. I like dogs as much as cats, I'm not anti dogs or anything.

Am I legally obliged to pick up my cats poo?

I've spoken to my mother and she has told me that I should pick up my cat's poo if the neighbour asks. The thing is, I may have to go round there each day or two to do it.

What relevance does horse poo in the street have to do with cat poo in a neighbours garden? In the past there would be a race to get to horse poo first so it could be used on gardens and allotments. That's probably one reason why horse riders don't have to pick it up. But if horse riders did have to pick it up would that mean all cat owners would suddenly say "well if the dog owners are already doing it and now horse riders are doing it as well then so will we!"

I doubt it very much.

Also, if children are old enough to play in the street then they are old enough to recognise a big pile of horse poo and not play in it or trample through it.

Cat and dog poos are small and easily hidden and so are sometimes difficult to see and avoid. But horse poo is visiable even in grass, let alone in the middle of a road.

So either the children should see it and avoid it or the children are not really fit to be playing in a road no matter how quiet and safe it is.

I have no idea what the relevance is but when people are saying it's ok because it doesn't carry toxoplasmosis like cat poo I have to say it still stinks is unsightly and I have enough problems having to take my pushchair off the pavement because of cars parked on it without trying to avoid giant horse shit in the road ! Also noone comes out and collects it for their garden/ allotments anymore so that is irrelevant

Definately your responsibility to clear after your own cat, thats just common sense.

Nobody clears up after their cat in Real Life. Owners clean up their litter trays. It they have one, they clear up their cat's toilet in their own garden.

Xylophone, why do you assume that the poo in my neighbours garden is more likely to be my cats? I really don't understand that? I have already explained that, whilst my garden runs along one side of my neighbours garden, there is another garden that runs along another side of her garden. The owner of that garden also has 2 cats.

I know for a fact that that neighbour does not have a litter tray and does not lock her cats in at night.

I have said to my neighbour I will clear up poo from her garden on a weekly basis, if she gets the other neighbour with 2 cats to agree than I will. However, she won't even ask that neighbour.

Kara that's what I mean. What the horse owners do is irrelevant to this argument, because the cat owners are not allowing their cats to poo in neighbours gardens just for the sole reason that horses can poo in the street.

So whether horse poo is cleaned up or not, cat owners still won't want to clean up their cats poo if a neighbour identifies their cat as the culprit and asks them to clean up after it.

But some of the people arguing against the OP cleaning up in her neighbours garden are bringing horse poo in (quite literally in some cases) and confusing the issue of the thread with it.

And I know most people aren't collecting horse poo any more. The point was that they used to do it and that's probably why there is no law about it. At one time people wanted horse poo and raced with their neighbours to get to it first. But that has never happened with cat shit. It might be an outdated reason, but I still think it is the reason.

Pingu you've made those other neighbours with the two cats sound really unreasonable and a bit scary though, so I'm not surprised she doesn't want to speak to them. Given the way you've reacted to her request she's probably very intimidated by the thought of asking them.

pingu that's true, but that's because most neighbours don't ask.

Unfortunately you happen to have got yourself an unusual neighbour who has asked. Just because she's unusual, doesn't mean she's wrong.

(Though I agree with you that she ought to ask the other cat owner too).

I don't know , I still think it's abit unreasonable , I wouldn't ask my neighbours and as the cat is still going in it's litter trey how much poo can we be talking about really? Unless she has her nose pressed to the window for signs of cats I don't think she can know all the time who's doing it

Just to let you all know, my 2 cats have just come in from outside and both done a big poo each in the litter tray. I also came down this morning to find 3 big poos in the litter tray from them being locked in over night.

I can't say they are not pooing outside, I don't know where they go when they leave the house. However, if my neighbour has a lot of poo in her garden it is either fox poo and/or it is the other cats in the neighbourhood.

I am feeling better about my response of I will do the poo patrol if the other cat owners will.

I'm still with you pingu. Whilst I agree that ideally you should pick up your cats poo, it seems unlikely that it is your cats that are the ones pooing !

In the same way why should a person have to clean up poo from animals that don't belong to them, why should pingu?!

If there is proof then its the right thing to do and let's not forget it's the neighbour who started this difficult relationship not pingu. The neighbour who is so outraged at cat poo in her garden gas not asked the other neighbour to clean up

Because there is a chance that some of the poo belongs to Pingu's cats.

The neighbour has no cats, so there is no chance it belongs to her pets.

It's fairer that Pingu does it than her catless neighbour if her neighbour genuinely believes it's coming from Pingu's cats.

And Pingu, I am sorry, but I think you are actually enjoying this chance to get at your neighbour and are hiding behind the law and fact that she won't approach the other neighbours to get yourself off the hook. Otherwise you would have accepted one of the other compromises and done something to put a stop to the situation, such as the sonic repelling device. That way she couldn't say you hadn't acted but she was also denied the satisfaction of humiliating you.

If that's what she is doing and I'm starting to wonder. She made one odd comment about thinking you had left school young and now you are judging everything she says as a plot to sneer or humilate you.

Perhaps she genuinely has seen your cats pooing in her garden and thought she could talk to you reasonably about the problem. Given the outcome it's no wonder she now feels she can't approach the other neighbours.

You'll do as you please of course, but don't be surprised if she takes matters further and appears with photographs as proof or your cats start coming home soaking wet or covered in garlic or pepper because she's looked up a remedy to tackle the problem herself.

Tell her you want photographic evidence of your cat squatting in her garden and taking a big dump lol

Pingu, have you given any thought on making your yard escape proof? A high fence with no gaps would solve everyone's problem!

The neighbour would prob complain about her blocking out the sun!

Considering the heights I have seen some cats climb to, making a cat escape proof garden would be near impossible wouldn't it?!

My fence is about 6 feet high and my two have never attempted escape! I have given them some ground level peep holes for them to look out of though. Maybe they're too scared!

Fair enough, that wouldn't stop my cat though! However I don't think my neighbours have a problem, the amount if pop in the litter tray, in fact I'm wondering if she invites all her friends over whilst we're in bed!!

I have the same problem in my neighbourhood. Every day I go out to my garden and pick up after my dog (about3-4 poops a day) yet there is always more cat poo than dog- Should i have to pick it up? I have a secured yard with a high fence: cat poo is just as toxic to children as dog poo. Should my kids be at risk? Unfortunately i installed a dog door to keep cat's scared off. My dogs maimed 3 cat's- if neighbours had done their duty i'd never have put the dog door in. I feel bad for the cat's, but my kids health comes first.

Im with lovecat. The only cat I've ever known soil anywhere was my mums old cat and it was old and 'cat senile'. Every other cat has toileted in the border/veg patch and covered it over so I blame the feckless cat parents

Anyhoo, lawn poop is generally minimised by keeping the lawn short. The only time we've had problems was when I hadn't cut the lawn regularly and it got long enough to cover it without digging. I think a cat started using it as it's regular toilet as it continued for a while afterwards. But I sprinkled the lawn a few times with cats away granuals and that seemed to work.

However, as a cat lover but not current owner, I'd be hard pushed to prove which cat had pooped in my garden. So I'd just clear it up. Same as I'd wipe bird poop off the garden table.

This thread is 3 years old...

Wow, a three year old thread. Cats could be dead by now!

Did we not see the ZOMBIE thread warning here?

We don't have a problem with the weird cat lady's 5 gazilion cats pooping in our garden now we have a dog, but prior to his very welcome arrival, I used to squirt water pistols at them, filled with chilli powder and water. That sort of worked, but then they would just come and crap everywhere at night. The only thing that did work was a dog, really.

My father in law electrified the top of his fence panels, that DID work. No cat comes to his garden now.

Tbh I think your neighbour has a point. If you have pets you gave responsibility. Could you share the cat poo picking out with other neighbours who have cats.

Don't blame her. Why should she clean up your cats crap? I am sick of it in my garden and if I only knew who the owner was I'd ask the same.