Cat poo - was I being too reasonable?

[emseth]

My neighbour came round the other day and said my cats are pooing in his garden. He has 2 cats of his own but he said they only poo in their litter tray so he's sure it not them. He said I'm going to have to keep my cats indoors as his 2 year old keeps coming in from the garden covered in cat poo.

I have agreed to this - although we plan to get our garden cat proofed ASAP - the wistful looking out the window, meowing and scratching on the doors is getting on my nerves - and it's only been 2 days!

I've been really surprised at the reaction of my friends - they think I'm mad for agreeing to keep them in. They are my pets though so surely it's my responsibility to ensure they're not bothering my neighbours?

Thoughts please!

Tell your neighbour to get chickens. We do not get any cats in our garden now (even our own won't go out if the chickens are free ranging!) because they get attacked! Just forget to tell him how much poo chickens are capable of.

Seriously though, our 2 are allowed out but have 2 litter trays in the kitchen which they often come in to use. I have to listen to barking dogs all day and am often kept awake by them at night. Its all part and parcel of living in a community.

If you cat proof your garden & he does his - all should be well!! Then neither of your cats will be going out & crapping in other peoples gardens. Dreading the day my dog dies & my back garden has as much cat shit in it as my front garden. I'll have to come up with nasty creative ways to keep the buggers out.....

These look effective & I'm sure a cheaper version could be knocked up!

Cat Fences

I can throw away the plans for a spring loaded catapult to fire them back into their own gardens now!!

The poo or the cats Dixon?

The cats of course!! (I am joking)

Tempting as it would be, I'm sure I'd end up firing myself when I forgot it was there & stepped on it!!

But on a serious note, should cat fencing be a cost that people should factor in before getting them? Just because they've been allowed to roam in the past it doesn't mean they should now. We're all living closer and closer nowadays and there are often a lot of cats in a small area - so the territory thing doesn't wash.

Because something may have been acceptable in the past, it doesn't mean it's acceptable now!

My MiL's neighbours have many cats. They shit in her garden because she keeps her garden immaculate. They leave shit piles on the lawn as well and the man who looks after her garden says the border is rank.

We have just bought the water cat repellent from amazon and I plan to set it up this weekend.

It has a mention sensor and gives out a short sharp jet of water and a hissing noise. MiL is 90 and I don't think she could move fast enough with a super soaker or I would have got her one !

My cats bury their poo. One only uses a litter tray. She comes in from outside to use it. The other uses our rose bed and he does try to cover it up but soil isn't as easy as litter. You cant keep them in though. Tell your neighbour to use a water pistol if he sees them. That will move them without hurting them.

Water pistols do work if you have the time to wait by the back door. I do agree that cat poo is rank but its just another part of community living. I listen to barking dogs, very noisy neighbours on one side and a neighbour who is very agressive, has a security camera overlooking most of our houses and causes parking wars. Not to mention the (very nice) kids who are zooming around my car on their bikes/
scooters. Lighten up!

He can't prove it's your cats poo unless he's gonna do a DNA test Jeremy Kyle stylee there's probably plenty of cats who could be the culprits, let your cats out, it's cruel to keep them imprisoned if they are used to going out

This thread will never reach consensus, because there are too many people out there who would live quite happily on their own in a detached house, miles from their nearest neighbour, but whose coping strategy for denser packed communities is to try and control as far beyond their boundaries as possible.

OP tell your neighbour to provide evidence, by way of film, photograph with location, DNA evidence, whatever, that the cat poo is from your cats, otherwise tell him to stop harassing you in the reasonable use of your own property.

It is quite possibly fox poo. I doubt he is being reasonable, because it seems incredibly unlikely that his dd becoming covered in cat poo on more than one occasion is highly unlikely.

Sadly I cant have a cat myself due to travel, but I'm delighted to pet my neighbour's cats when they come in my garden. I've often wondered whether there is a link between this and the fact I've seen one cat poo (possibly fox) in the garden of any house I've lived in in my life. Perhaps cats are good judges of character, and poo accordingly.

I always wonder whether cat haters would prefer the increase in the mice and rat population that would occur, if cats weren't outside?

Don't know, they might prefer the increase in song birds, frogs & toads though....

Please don't confuse "Poo Haters" with "Cat Haters" BTW.

I don't mind cats at all.

I do mind having to go round the front garden with gloves & a bag everytime Mrs bainbridge want's to mess around in the flowerbeds and doesn't fancy shit everywhere...

I don't hate cats. I hate having to clean up their shit, and the dismembered birds I occasionally find in my garden. Not that enjoyable for my 4 year old either to be honest.

Of course this thread will never reach consensus as cat poo threads (of which there are many) never do.

But I quite liked the new twist of a cat owner telling another cat owner what to do.

Why do some cat owners not accept that cats don't always bury their poo? It seems if I'm reading this thread right that they are unlikely to bury it in a neighbour's garden as they are "asserting their territory". We don't have foxes nearby but we do have a visiting cat; and poo.

Cat owners should take more responsibility for their pets and fence their gardens. All animals would like to 'roam' given the chance. Keep them out of other peoples gardens and off the roads - stop giving kids worms and causing accidents.

I think the issue is that cats aren't really pets. You don't really have control of a cat, it's pretty much a wild animal that you let sleep in your house.

I don't know if my cat shits in other people's gardens. He probably does and I know for a fact that he is too thick to bury it because he could never figure out how to do that in the litter tray. As it stands, most of my neighbours have dogs, so until they stop them barking and scrabling at my fence, I can't say I give a shiny shit where my cat leaves his not-so-shiny shits.

That cat proof fencing doesn't really look that cat proof though?

FYI I don't let my nearly two year old play unsupervised in the garden because I imagine he would take delight in playing with cat/fox/dog turds if he found them.

and all of the 'but cats are different' rubbish needs stopping. They're not all that special!

I've got a fence all round my garden. My cat can scale a six foot fence without breaking a sweat. Short of putting a lid on my garden, I don't know what else I would do. I could increase my fences to 8 foot, but not sure my neighbours would be impressed with that.

How can he be certain that it is definitely cat poo (and not fox poo or something else), and that it is specifically your cat's poo though? Poo doesn't usually come with a note of ownership (alas, otherwise people would be less likely to leave dog shit on the pavements).

I HATE cats poo but I still think he was being unreasonable to tell you to keep the cats in.

HopALongOn - Looks pretty cat proof to me, I'll be getting some when my dog pops his clogs. Any cat that I find in my garden in the morning will be handed in to an animal shelter (not necessarily in the same town!)

Well my cat is microchipped so it wouldn't make much difference. And good luck getting a strange cat in a cat box while keeping your arms and face intact.