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.

i would look in to cat poo deterrent remedies. she's got a dog hasn't she? i also heard lion wee is good, not sure where you get it though

Why should your neighbour have to pick it up though?

If the problem has started in the last month since you let your cats out then it's pretty obvious who the culprits are.

Our front lawn cat poo problem stopped the day the neighbours moved (taking their cat with them)

Alternatively maybe offer to buy a car scarer for your neighbour (one of those electronic ones)

Joysayz I wonder if a many posters are confusing fox poo for cat poo?

I can't speak for anyone else here, but if you presented me with piles of cat poo, dog poo, fox poo, even the poo the local owl does, I could tell you which was which. My hens do some spectacular poos when they are broody, which to the uninitiated look like fox poo and could cause a panic in the hen house. But I can assure you, I don't have to see the poo coming out of a cat's bottom to know the cat did it.

Pingu why not bite the bullet and build your little pets a cat loo, and train them how to use it? You've been told how to several times on this thread. Being in possession of that knowledge and still failing to act on it suggests that you are indeed a lazy pet owner.

PS Joysayz - they DO bury it. Even lovelier when you are weeding by hand.

Cats have ruined my herb garden, if I knew which cat did it I would ask too.

backinthebox yes,I get that :)

Sorry that sounds vile...

I just don't think cats are responsible for random poos all over the garden though.

Its not their style

That's still unreasonable, what if she sees your cat doing it and you're not in!?

Ignorant and lazy and irresponsible.

I would still throw it over the fence into your garden. See how you and your family enjoy it.

Backinthebox I do have somewhere they can go - a litter box inside and outside I have a flowerbed that my husband dug up about 2 weeks ago. They tend to use the litter box. There must be at least 1/2 a dozen large turds each day in the litter box from the cats.

I think my solution to more than a good compromise. However, I will wait for the day she calls me over to a dry poo and I will turn around and say, nope, that was done ages ago and the deal is I will only clear up my cats poo if she sees them do it and gets me straight away.

pingu geniune question, what will you do if dollops of cat poo suddenly start appearing splattered around your garden?

If that happens I will call the police. Throwing cat poo into someones garden is illegal - it falls under the common law of nuisance. Also under some health and safety by laws.

Having a cat poo in your garden does not fall under the common law of nuisance. An owner does not take on a legal right of responsibility for a cat. The law recognises they roam.

But how will you know who has done it? Would the police be able to prove it? I suppose they could test it for DNA....

DogsBestFriend The likelihood of contracting the toxoplasmosis parasite is not 'rare', about one third of humans are estimated to have been infected before the age of 12. Serious complications are rare. You can't build up a natural immunity to the parasite, but once you have been infected you won't get re-infected.
I caught it as a child, since we didn't have a pet and I wasn't in the habit of handling raw pork, it probably came from cat poo in the garden. I didn't know I'd had it until I had a blood screening for something else as a teen, and got a seropositive result for toxoplasmosis.
I'm not OCD about it, I expect that my children will probably get infected with it at some point, better to get it now rather than when they are older or pregnant. Since they're not immunocompromised at worst it will cause a mild flu like illness. But I still balk at letting them play in the garden when I know it is full of cat crap. Once I've been able to remove it they can play out where ever they want.

I actually think your neighbor sounds unhinged.

Soon you will be getting the blame for the whole street.

If there are 6 large turds at the end of the day,I can't see 2 cats producing more than that to be able to distribute them all over her gaff!

bad sentence ...you know what I mean though right?

If that happens I will call the police. Throwing cat poo into someones garden is illegal - it falls under the common law of nuisance. Also under some health and safety by laws.
how could you prove it was thrown overr the fence perhaps your cat just saw fit to shit on its own doorstep rather than someone elses

so you're ok about YOUR cat's shit in other peoples garden hazards to THEIR health but not YOUR cats in YOUR garden

that actually made me laugh out loud.

have a

Yup - laugh all you want. If I saw it coming over or found it. I would set a camera up to catch them at it. That is the law - whether you think the law is an ass or not!

Wouldn't want cat poo on my gardening gloves either.

She could set up a camera to catch your cat at it! Sorted.

Or even better, you could - in the interests of being all nice and neighbourly, like....

Camera that made me laugh

Geeneyes - even if she did catch my cat at it, cats are unique under the law that their owners have no responsibility for trespass or damage.

No but you've agreed to go pick up your own cats shit, so the camera would be a help, no?

Sorry I'm dicking about now but the point is you're prepared to go to camera's and all lengths to stop cat shit coming in to your garden from other sources but completely expect others to 'suck it up'.

The law and everything else is immaterial, if you don't give a shit about it just be honest and say so.

No skin off my nose, I've found a way to keep cat poo out of my garden.

Your response sounds barking frankly. You are only prepared to pick up fresh poo, come on that is just ridiculous. The onus should be on you - the person who has chosen to own cats- to prove it wasn't your cat that shat in her garden rather than the other way round.
Your husband sounds delightful too. If I were your neighbours I'd be training my dog to poo in your garden see how you like it.
(Disclaimer I am normally one of the mildest mannered posters on Mumsnet, but I hate clearing cat poo with a passion and you just seem completely oblivious to why a non cat owner wouldn't positvely jump at the pleasure of snapping on their marigolds to pick up your sainted cats excreta)

I don't mind a bit of cat shit in my garden. The gardens where I live are pretty large and cats tend to go in the flower borders, it is the foxes that go in the middle of the garden. I don't do much weeding etc so for me it is not an issue.

When I lived in a new housing estate and there were so many cats I couldn't count them, they pooed in every garden. It's just how it is, such is life.

You're prerogative.

Still puzzling why you needed the thread then..

You are right that it is foxes that poo on the lawn, a cat never does that.

Backinthebox Please tell me that you wear gloves when you are weeding!

I think the OPs point about not picking up old poo is that she doens't want to be picking up poo that another cat has done 2 months ago, as the neighbour is quite likely to blame her cats for every poo she finds.