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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To chuck water on their cats?

136 replies

Softlysoftly · 14/04/2013 20:52

Next door neighbours cats I have discovered havebeen using our top bit of garden as a toilet.

I'd planned for that to be a swing/slide area for the 2 dds, had saved their Christmas money to buy toys for summer, now it is coated every step in shit. They aren't even burying it. I'm going to have to shovel it all out and it stinks.

I know they can't control their cats, we've tried lion stuff, , pepper, plants they are supposed to hate, blocking fence gaps and nothing has worked.

AIBU to lob a jug of water over them every time they venture shitwards until they stop coming in the garden?

OP posts:
Theicingontop · 15/04/2013 08:12

I have, unfortunately. There was a massive furor on one of the pet-selling sites on Facebook in my area, where a woman had become so fed up with cats pooing in her garden that she'd put down anti-freeze.

I found out she lived a few doors down and kept my cat inside 'til she moved out because of the death threats from locals.

Sparklingbrook · 15/04/2013 08:12

Well I have never seen an unburied cat poo, my neighbours have never been round going on about cat poo. i have never had a conversation in RL about cat poo.

Namely · 15/04/2013 08:18

But of all the people on this thread that don't like cat poo, none have said that they complain to the neighbours. I don't even know who owns the 3 different cats that come into my garden. I completely understand that there is nothing that cat owners can do to stop their cats. We have a lot of shingle in our garden, probably 50% of the garden (old owners had dog kennels). It like a bloody huge litter tray!

Sallystyle · 15/04/2013 08:23

This is why I keep mine inside. They are MY cats and I am not about to let them run around crapping in peoples gardens. I would not allow my dog to do it so I won't allow my cats to do it, either.

YANBU. I love cats, however crapping in gardens is disgusting.

Areyoumadorisitme · 15/04/2013 08:25

Toadinthehole - having read your link I don't think I am wrong. Your link confirms that cats are not subject to the same control laws as dogs and many other pets.

The link you sent confirms that a standard cat owner is very unlikely to have any action against them upheld. The only realistic chance of a nuisance order would be against someone keeping a ridiculous number of cats.

Sorry but I think you have reinforced my point rather than proving it wrong.

ddubsgirl · 15/04/2013 08:55

My cat refuses to use litter tray and goes outside loads of cats round here don't get any cat poo in front or back garden as we have a dog as well.

TomArchersSausage · 15/04/2013 08:59

I think the jug of water is fair enough. (Also a cat lover)

TomArchersSausage · 15/04/2013 09:00

Of course a major deterrant would be...to get a catGrin

ItsYonliMe · 15/04/2013 09:01

Soaker and fling the cat shit back into the neighbour's garden.

Toadinthehole · 15/04/2013 09:15

areyoumad

I quote your earlier post:

"...but legally owners are responsible for dogs actions but not cats

Wrong.

And the link confirms that if a cat owner is legally responsible if his or her cats are responsible for causing sufficient discomfort, e.g lots of poo and associated health risks.

austenozzy · 15/04/2013 09:27

i gave my neighbours a super soaker to shoot my cats if they saw them pooing in their garden. i nip round scoop any poos i see them doing too. i'd rather have good neighbours who know i'm alright too, than worry about an unharmed damp cat.

Wallison · 15/04/2013 09:32

I suggest you get on with the job of slapping ASBOs on your neighbours' cats then, Toadinthehole, instead of wasting your time on here. I mean, surely it's an urgent matter.

WhispersOfWickedness · 15/04/2013 10:07

I'm a cat owner and would be fine with water being used as a deterrent Smile
Orange peel works well too, we have used it on our vegetable patch to stop ours going in there Smile

EasilyBored · 15/04/2013 10:12

I'm a cat person and I wouldn't mind a bit if you sprayed my cat with water for shitting in your garden, you won't hurt it. Go for it!

CMP69 · 15/04/2013 10:31

YANBU I told my neighbours to do this to our cats, I couldn't bear the fact they would shit in someone elses garden. Mostly they come in the cat flap to use their litter tray!

LST · 15/04/2013 10:35

Toad I am with areyoumad... It doesn't mention poo

MidniteScribbler · 15/04/2013 10:58

LST, this is a farming area, but a lot of the smaller places are getting sold to 'townies' who don't read the council bylaws which state that cats (and all other animals) must be confined to their own property. Owners of any animal caught off its property will be fined, and you actually have the legal right to shoot an animal on your property that is 'chasing, worrying or mauling livestock'. There have been quite a few dogs shot because they are chasing sheep, and cats are often trapped or shot when caught in a chook pen. Townies learn pretty quickly to either build a cat run or decide their cat should be an indoor pet. There is no excuse for not knowing the law,or choosing to think that the law doesn't apply to them.

andubelievedthat · 15/04/2013 17:50

Next time u are sitting on your "Crapper" (indoors ,of course) ponder ,once you have flushed ,and have a niece sanitised white? bowl to admire ,just where exactly your smelly ,germ filled poo is ? in the ocean maybe?being digested by the fish you are going to buy and eat /feed your family with? Food for thought ? >>>funny previous post"deter cats , buy a dog" ,oh, really ?!! dogs are a sense of amusement for cats, really really NIMBY, but it has to be somewhere !(here kitty kitty)

JollyPurpleGiant · 15/04/2013 17:58

We have a brand new super soaker which is working a treat. Haven't managed to get the worst culprit yet, but got two others.

I don't like those high pitched things as I can hear them and I worry about what effect they have on children. Pepper didn't work, nor did lion poo, nor did chilli powder. The water pistol appears to be the most effective.

LadyBeagleEyes · 15/04/2013 18:02

In what farming area are you Midnite, where the locals go around shooting and trapping cats Hmm?
I live in the middle of nowhere where chickens and sheep abound, loads of incomers as well as locals have cats and they wander around freely.

MidniteScribbler · 15/04/2013 18:34

I'm in Australia, and no one is going around shooting animals for sport, they are protecting their livestock and will take action if their own animals are under threat. It's in our local law that cats are not permitted off your premises, and as we live bordering a national park, they really aren't welcome in the area at all. People who keep their cats indoors or in a run have no problems at all with their pets safety. The neighbour who moved in next door had problems the first two times I caught her cat in my chook pen. The $220 fine each time wasn't enough to convince her that she needed to take responsibility to keep her cat locked up. The third time I caught her she'd already killed four chickens and was starting on the fifth. The council seized her cat after that. They really will noti tolerate wandering animals. It's the owners responsibility to make sure their pets are not a nuisance to neighbours.

tedmundo · 15/04/2013 18:38

I am the proud owner of a mahooosive British shorthair. He goes in many, many gardens. Some people like him. Some don't. He has to learn!

On the odd occasions he has slunk in all wet, we simply point and laugh at him.

YANBU. At all. Soak away!

quoteunquote · 15/04/2013 19:33

get a sprinkler system laid out around garden, put in motion sensors, so anything on the move in the garden gets a shower, and the cats will go else where, just remember to turn it off before you go in the garden,

we put this in for a client, she has a couple of switches by the back door, to turn it off before she goes out, her garden (features in the open gardens RHS program)was getting destroyed by cats, as she has an extensive walled town garden, with lots of beds, they were uprooting plants, pooing on pea shingle paths,

it took a little fine tuning with the sensors, but you rarely see a cat in there now, and if you do it's moving fast, as the sprinkler heads in each area go off as soon as anything moves, and stop as soon as the movement has stopped.

the monition sensors also after dark put lights on in each area, so when it was first installed you would see a running cat lit up moving at speed across the garden, great burglar deterrent as well.

keep an eye on Lidl as they sometimes do a good Hozelock compatible sprinkler sets, it really didn't cost much to buy and install all the bits,

well worth it if you want a cat free garden, hers runs off rain storage butts, so once installed it cost very little to run.

sprinklers bother cats more than rain as it is coming upwards in a flinging motion.

Estherbelle · 15/04/2013 20:11

YANBU.

The next door neighbour's dog kept shitting in my dad's garden. He left a bucket outside all week until it filled up with rain water and other other rancid stuff.

Next time the dog fowled the garden, dad chucked the contents of the bucket all over it.

The dog never did its business in my dad's garden again.

Jestrin · 15/04/2013 20:17

I'm a cat person and I say do it. You've tried other things and hopefully they'll get the message!