Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think it is totally reasonable for cat owners not to pick up poo

746 replies

PMDD · 02/12/2013 18:17

I mean how can they?

I have 2 cats and now 1 puppy. I watch my puppy when she is out and know where she is, I can see if she is pooing. If she disappears under a bush I check (with my sense of smell) and pick up if necessary. I carry poo bags everywhere.

However, my cats come and go as they please. When they were kittens I had a litter tray that they used, but as they started to go outside with a cat flap, they stopped using the litter tray.

My (ex) neighbour asked me to come and pick up after my cats, but as there are lots and lots of cats in the area, there was no knowing that it was my cats.

I am not a bad pet owner. But I think it is unreasonable to expect cat owners to have the same poo pick up responsibility as dog owners.

OP posts:
sandfrog · 04/12/2013 09:24

We would be over run, if we didn't have a decent hunting cat population in my area.

Why not buy a rat trap?

Justforlaughs · 04/12/2013 09:26

Birds now you've found the answer - lets all let our rabbits out of their hutches and THEY can scare the cats away! Grin (well, I haven;t got one actually, but the theory is great!)

Fleta · 04/12/2013 09:28

Next door's cat got trapped in our empty house for a week.

I have absolutely NO idea how/when it got in there. The only thing we can guess is that it got in through an open top floor window whilst I was decorating, although why the stupid fucker couldn't have climbed back out again.....

Next door were absolutely vile about it - basically accused me of killing their pet. And yet that doesn't stop them allowing the new cat to roam around and head into my house to scratch my carpets any time it finds the door/window open.

AutumnStarOfWonder · 04/12/2013 09:29

I think I'll duck out of this now, as fun as it's been, and go and stroke my cats, because I am SUCH and entitled bastard.

I hope a plague of a thousand cats shits all over the houses and gardens of those who have suggested being cruel to anything. You can tell a lot about a person from their attitude to animals.

LST · 04/12/2013 09:29

Rat posion is bad for cats Wink

Crowler · 04/12/2013 09:32

There is no such thing as property rights, when it clashes with wildlife and cats are treated as wildlife, under the law.

A law is just someone's decision. It's hard to imagine that the laws against murder or robbery would be overturned in our lifetime, but you can imagine a scenario where cats could no longer have the right to roam, just like dogs.

Cats are not wildlife. They are domestic.

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 09:38

I love cats and foxes. The foxes come for supper every evening. Smile

Justforlaughs · 04/12/2013 09:38

I think cats just want the best of both worlds Wink I might not like them, but you've got to respect their intelligence, one day they will take over the world! And then we'll all be in the shit

LST · 04/12/2013 09:43

Cats with thumbs!

Fleta · 04/12/2013 09:45

We need to have some severe weedkilling done in the garden - have tried various things so our gardener has suggested he use a product that states on it that no children/animals should be in the treated area for 24 hours.

So what am I supposed to do? I've told the neighbours we're likely to be doing it and that I will go and warn them when it is going to be put on and I just got a wishy-washy "oh he doesn't like being inside".

[shrug]

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/12/2013 09:48

My cat only ever brings home insects and most of those are still alive. He fails at being a cat Sad Poor portly cat Grin

When we first moved here, I used to have to go and collect him from under a car around the corner every evening as he couldn't remember which window was his, so would just wait under the car, mewing at everyone who passed until someone rescued him. It went on for over a year before he eventually worked out which house was his Hmm

He's been adopted as a stray by most of the neighbourhood at one point or another, due to his penchant for following people home crying at them like he hasn't been fed for months. I'm not sure how people figure he got so fat as a lonely, hungry stray Confused

He used to have a collar asking people not to feed him owing to his weight loss diet, but some cheeky fecker kept removing it Shock I never know whether he's been fed or not.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 04/12/2013 09:50

I'm referring to all animals. No creature wants to be confined, thats why I don't own any caged pets. All animals were a wild free roaming species once, but apparently cats are the only one considered worthy of their freedom. Or maybe considered unworthy, given the amount of them killed round here roaming loose.
IF you must keep a pet, then you have an obligation to keep it safe and not inflict it on your neighbours. A confined cat is safe and not pissing off other people, killing wildlife or causing a danger to road users.

Latara · 04/12/2013 10:04

I pick up cat poo every day as my cat refuses to poo anywhere but in her litter tray...

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:08

If cats were the major problem that it seems to be on MN I am sure the government would have introduced some laws by now.

Canidae · 04/12/2013 10:10

Thebodys story is sweet and I hope your cat gives your DD years of happiness but I would be frantic that something could happen to my pet.

Don't cat owners worry about their pets being killed or harmed? I would be going crazy if I didn't know where my dog was.

After seeing one killed by a car in front of me I can't get my head around it.

Someone I work with has pedigree cats who she shows. The cats have a cat run in the garden and lots of toys/scratch posts/grass pots. Even little steps up her wall for them to sit on! I have never had a cat but isn't this possible for more cats?

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:14

If you keep a house cat inside from a kitten it may be ok as they know no different.

Cats sleep between 16-20 hours a day so they aren't roaming 24/7 anyway.

I tend to know where my cat is. generally asleep on the beds upstairs.

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/12/2013 10:17

It depends on the cat and it's breeding, Canidae. Mine came from a farm cat, he is an outdoor cat. He was bred from outdoor cats. He howls the house down if I keep him in for any reason and normally plots successful escape attempts, via impossibly high windows or hiding in shoe racks by the door ready to pounce when the door is open.

Cats who've been used to being outside cats would be distressed to have that freedom removed. Cats who've been bred as indoor cats and have never been outside are happiest inside and wouldn't adjust well to being an outdoors cat.

trice · 04/12/2013 10:23

I get really upset when I see the neighbours cat spray my herb pots with piss. It constantly kills songbirds and leaves them on the path. I wish they would keep it inside.

I would never harm it though.

Dsis has had four cats killed on her busy road. She keeps buying kittens and letting them roam free. I think that is cruelty to animals.

LST · 04/12/2013 10:25

Cruelty to animals in all cases?

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:26

What are these 'songbirds'? Why is everyone referring to birds as songbirds?

YY it is cruel to adopt cats if you live on a main road. I assume she buys them as she wouldn't pass a Home Visit from an animal adoption charity? Sad

4x4 · 04/12/2013 10:30

Cats are banned in certain areas of New Zealand and they are trying to pass legislation to ban domestic cats nationwide,
They decimate the native bird population.
You are within your rights to remove cat who wanders onto your property in the UK.

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:31

Depends on how you 'remove' it 4x4. Sad

HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 10:32

Sparkling, people who refer to birds as songbirds don't actually know much about birds and are parroting what they have heard, maybe?

So cat ownership according to the rules of MN -
follow your animal around 24/7 in case it poos
don't let it out of the house - it is cruel
if it is out of the house, it should be enclosed in a run
people who own cats really just can't be arsed to own a dog
cat owners are strange and selfish beings
not even burying its crap is good enough for MNers. In case the said MNer came along with her spade and dug it up Hmm

However what they have failed to embrace is that so many cats would be out there anyway, whether or not people keep them as pets, because of irresponsible people who don't get their pets spayed. What would be done with the cats which are in the world?

(why am I engaging? why am I engaging)

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/12/2013 10:32

Yes, you can remove it from your garden, but to remove it from the neighbourhood is theft and punishable by law. To harm it in anyway contravenes the animal rights acts and is also punishable by law.

By all means, chase them away, throw water at them, cat proof your garden, but act within the law.

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:34

They can't just be sparrows or something can they Hester? Seems there are experts in birdsong amongst the cat haters.
The cat owning rules are indeed complex on AIBU. Confused