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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:
HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 10:35

I know people won't believe this but my cat actually comes in from outside to use her tray, and I didn't train her like that. She just does it because she's too chicken to crap outside. And the number of birds she has killed in her life is one. She generally just sits when she is outside. I don't know if it was classed as a "songbird" though (pied wagtail). Is a just a "bird" as outrage-worthy as a "songbird"?

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:36

That's all a huge lie Hester you are deluded. When you are out your cat goes out killing everything and pooing everywhere.

Sparkling cat brings back grass snakes and slow worms-don't know if that's allowed?

HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 10:36

Yes what is a songbird, Sparkling? Would a starling pass muster, given that it doesn't sing as such, just kind of whistles and warbles? Or how about a rock pippit? Or the aforementioned pied wagtail?

AutumnStarOfWonder · 04/12/2013 10:37

Not sure Hester. But I do know you sound very entitled and irresponsible.

And as for that Sparkling...

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:37

No idea. We need Bill Oddie on I think Hester.

Colinbakergotfat · 04/12/2013 10:37

This is such a strange mn argument. Dogs and cats are different. Dogs are pack animals and live within those confines - eg the family. Cats are solitary and territorial. It is like comparing hedgehogs and chimpanzees. That is why cats are "entitled" to roam. Those goddamn cats with their arrogant sense of entitlement...

Binkyridesagain · 04/12/2013 10:38

Are starlings songbirds? Its the only type of bird that i've seen my cat eat. I think its the only ones he can catch, they are easily distracted by food so it gives him the chance to pounce. He's a very good mouse catcher though.

HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 10:38

And as for this songbird stuff, let's just ignore the intensification of agriculture, loss of habitat, and Carson's findings in "Silent Spring". It's entirely down to cats.

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:39
HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 10:39
TheOriginalSteamingNit · 04/12/2013 10:39

My cat hurtles in to do poos and then hurtles back out... I was hoping he'd go and do it in (our!) manky flowerbeds over winter, to be honest!

D0oinMeCleanin · 04/12/2013 10:40

I used to have a cat who brought home live sparrows. With a JRT in the house and 3yo that was super fun and usually resulted in a furniture hopping war, between the dog, the cat and me with a tea towel, with the 3yo covering her eyes and screeching "Save the birdy, mammy, save the birdy" and would end with me scrubbing bird shit off the sofa, with a now saved bird, recovering from stress in a box in the airing cupboard.

He never brought home dead things.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 04/12/2013 10:46

it doesn't matter whether a bird is a sparrow or a nightingale. They all play their part in the ecosystem. Many birds, sparrows included are becoming scarce. In NZ and Australia cats are causing irreparable damage.
Cats as we know them are not indigenous to this country. Like rabbits they cause untold damage. Unlike rabbits, cats have owners to 'defend' them.
So your cat doesn't like to be confined? Well that's that, but maybe next time, consider what you are buying and buy a cat breed that will live within a run.
And, no. Cats burying their shit in my garden is still not acceptable. I dont want to be digging up potatoes and having to root out the excrement whilst I'm at it, and my kids don't want to be making mud pies with it either.

Justforlaughs · 04/12/2013 10:47

For anyone remotely interested
Definition of songbird - any passerine bird of the suborder Oscines
Hope it helps, Grin

ctrlaltdel · 04/12/2013 10:48

My next-door-neighbours cat has recently brazenly started pooing in a corner of the garden that we have dug up to get ready for a flower bed - he stares at us through the window as he does so. There are no other cats that live nearby or that we have ever seen in our garden. Tried a few cat deterrents as suggested on the internet (nothing harmful to cats) but nothing worked so far.

At the moment, the poos are being returned to my neighbours garden through a gap in the fence (back to their flowerbed). My heart sinks to think this could be a long term problem. I like cats but currently very annoyed at this one (and his owners).

MummytoMog · 04/12/2013 10:49

One of mine keeps the woodpigeon population under control. Brilliant - means I can get a lie in in the morning without all the 'woohoo woohoo' under my window. Sadly she also eats squirrels, which I strongly discourage. I like squirrels. I even like foxes, despite their terrible habit of eating chickens.

You know what I don't like - dogs. But I don't try and stop my neighbours from keeping them, even when they break into my garden and break the necks of my bantams. Or when they crap all over the street. I mean, how many dogs have diarrhoea, what the hell are they being fed?

I think there's something a bit worrying about people who don't like pets, sorry. I can't imagine not having at least a chicken or two about the place.

Binkyridesagain · 04/12/2013 10:51

Mummy how the hell does she catch squirrels and kill them? they are evil sods. (I hope there are grey squirrels)

Sparklingbrook · 04/12/2013 10:52

Sparkling Cat ended up at the vets after being bitten by a squirrel.

VenusDeWillendorf · 04/12/2013 10:52

Oh I see this thread has got very long.

Maybe get some lion poo from the zoo and put it around as a deterrent?

Some cats poo right in the middle of the lawn to 'mark' their spot, and to assert themselves.

I think cats should be inside anyway, but if your cat isn't pooing in your own garden, it IS pooing somewhere.

If someone complains, then why not help them out, take responsibility for your cat, (and all the cats in general, if you can't be sure its exactly yours in that particular time and place) and clean it up.
It makes good feelings between neighbours, and that's a good thing surely?

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, etc etc. and fewer poisoning cases and cruelty to the poor cats.

Cats are suffering the brunt of their owners standing on principle, denying the problem, and being dismissive of their neighbours genuine concerns and complaints.

HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 10:54

Saggy, you do know that there will be more types of shit in your garden than just cat shit? And that excrement is used as a fertilizer? And that in some parts of the world, they use human shit as fertilizer? And once it has been buried it starts to rot away.

However I know you won't accept that so I don't know why I said it.

It's very strange. As I cat lover who has been on this earth 38 years, I have never found shit in the garden which is attributable to cats. I wonder if the cats realise which people who would be most unbalanced furious about it and target them accordingly? After all, they are malicious, all knowing, witch-like creatures.

SaggyOldClothCatPuss · 04/12/2013 11:00

Funnily enough I did know that. Why does that make your cat having a dump on my veg patch any more acceptable? Maybe you'd like to come and take a shit on my spuds as well?
Living in a rural community, I also know that effluent used as fertiliser is either treated or left to rot, during which time, chemical reactions cause extreme heat which kills harmful bacteria.
The trouble with cat owners on these threads is they have to sink to patronisation and repeating the same old excuses.

HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 11:02

Ah but my cat doesn't. As I said not long ago, she comes back in to use her litter tray whenever she needs to take a dump and has done since she was a kitten. I know this because I clean it out ever day.

So if you want to specifically talk about my pet, which you seen to be doing, I can be as patronising as I like :)

HesterShaw · 04/12/2013 11:03

And no, I'd rather not shit on your spuds, thanks.

Canidae · 04/12/2013 11:04

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?

Friend's cat lived with her gran by a main road most of it's life. After her Gran died she took the cat to live with her in her quiet village lane and it was hit by a car the day after she let it out.

I have realised I know too many cats who have died. Sad

A man who lived near my uncle was convicted of posioning 5 cats on his street, including one of belonging to my uncle. He admitted it was because they pooed in his veg patch and scared his chickens. He went to court but only got a fine and still lives there today. It's a 2 min walk from me. My uncle moved away. That man has lovely christmas lights up this year and it makes me feel a bit sick watching children/parents get excited about them without knowing what sort of a person he is.

gamerchick · 04/12/2013 11:05

I do think that cats like to target none lovers I have friends cats that like to make a bed on my chest with tail in the face while I sit frozen thinking gtfom Grin

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