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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:
Bowlersarm · 02/12/2013 18:55

But lots of people are LSD.

I would hate it if cats pooed in my garden. Happily I have dogs, so they don't.

Bowlersarm · 02/12/2013 18:56

Sorry LST....

ocelot41 · 02/12/2013 18:56

It's pretty gross to have a cat which comes to regard your lawn/flower beds as its personal toilet. I like cats but am getting VERY fed up of picking up 2-3 dumps a day of the sloppy variety so my children can play in their own garden. It's been over a year now! Could you maybe try providing an outdoor litter tray with a cover? Or maybe offer to block access holes to your neighbour's garden and instill those little ridge things on the top of adjoining fences/walls which are meant to be uncomfortable on paws to discourage them hopping next door for number twos? Personally I am working on growing climbing roses up boundaries as I hope the prickly factor will put em off. Here's hoping....

Crowler · 02/12/2013 18:56

I don't understand how it came to be that a domesticated animal is permitted to roam either. Why it is OK for cats to roam but not dogs?

Binkyridesagain · 02/12/2013 18:57

My cat is no longer allowed out of the house, his brother was poisoned by one of my kind neighbours, it seems that every few years we have a spate of cat killings.

Sparklingbrook · 02/12/2013 18:59

Talking of 'kind neighbours'.

Tailtwister · 02/12/2013 19:01

YANBU. Cats are a law unto themselves when they are out and about and there's no knowing where they end up. I'm NOT a cat lover and get pissed off as much as anyone when I find poo in my garden, but it's not reasonable to expect their owners to know where and when they poo. Dogs are different. You know where they are (or should do!) and where and when they poo.

everlong · 02/12/2013 19:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fifi669 · 02/12/2013 19:05

I frequently have cats crapping everywhere. It drives me mental, esp as I have a toddler and his friends playing outside.

That said, I don't expect the owners to come and clean up after them, they really are a law into themselves and it would be difficult to judge who's cat crap it was.

Maybe your neighbour needs to invest in some anti cat measures. I believe they don't like loose ground so gravel or wood chippings, hate citrus etc

hipocondriaco · 02/12/2013 19:07

water pistols are marvellous inventions. I also think there is something you can spray around to deter cats (and no, it's not poison..)

cats do normally bury.

I'm guessing this person owns a cat, usual "its easy, just sit outside in your garden 24 hours a day with a loaded water pistol, duh"

And "cats are such clean animals" (can only question the hygeine standards of cat owners who come out with that one)

Timeforabiscuit · 02/12/2013 19:07

Well that settles it I'm getting a panther rather than a puppy for Christmas Grin

LST · 02/12/2013 19:09

If someone told me my cat had shat in their garden and they knew 100% it was one of my cats I'd pick it up.

That day is yet to come though. My cats have 2 litter trays that never get used and I see all of them digging our lawn up so I doubt they go anywhere else anyway.

hipocondriaco · 02/12/2013 19:09

"Far worse is cat owners who won't allow neighbours to scare cats out of their gardens"

I'm happy then to announce that people can scare cats out of their garden all day long, with no legal ramifications.

ElleBellyBeeblebrox · 02/12/2013 19:12

If a dog took a dump on your lawn you'd expect the owner to pick it up presumably? Can't really see the difference to be honest, cat shit is just as offensive. I'm sick of the cats round here crapping all over the place and think its selfish of the owners to really not give a shit (literally).
I did have some recent success with a water pistol, and some scattered orange peel and holly leaves though.

breatheslowly · 02/12/2013 19:12

Cats seem to be territorial round here. There is only one which poos in our garden as it seems to be his patch. I think he may have died recently and I hope that is patch is taken over by a cat which poos at home.

WooWooOwl · 02/12/2013 19:14

YABU.

If a non cat owning neighbour has asked you as a cat owner to pick up what probably is your cats poo, then you should do it. It's just one of the downsides to owning an anti social pet that you allow out without supervision.

If you shouldn't have to pick up your cats poo, then I shouldn't have to pick up my dogs poo. After all, no one can blame me for being lazy and irresponsible unless they can prove it was my dog. Which they probably can't, so the shit on their shoe would clearly not be my fault.

ShitOnAStick · 02/12/2013 19:16

YANBU I don't see how the owners can pick up the shit when they don't even know where the cat has shat but I do hate having to pick up shit before my kids can play in the garden when I don't own an animal.

Crowler · 02/12/2013 19:20

But why shouldn't cat owners know where their cats are?

I don't understand this.

Sparklingbrook · 02/12/2013 19:20

I have never in my life ever heard this discussed anywhere. And yet on MN it seems to be a massive problem.

Most cats bury their poo. Sparkling Cat goes at the top of our garden and buries it-I see her do it.

Imsosorryalan · 02/12/2013 19:25

Lol, as we didn't have any pets, the local cats thought our garden was perfect as their toilet and no, they didn't even bother trying to bury it. Most of the time it was right in the middle of the lawn too.
When I was in, water pistols worked. They still crapped in it. I then got a motion sensor water sprinkler, fine until it broke. I then bought a dog.
I wouldn't be sorry it it caught one..

VenusDeWillendorf · 02/12/2013 19:26

I think you should go around and pick up the shit.
It didn't get there by itself, and is she doesn't have a cat, there is no chance it's hers, and if you do own a cat, there is some chance that it's yours.

Just go around, and bring a bag, and a bottle of wine.

Good neighbours... Maybe she'd cat sit for you later?

LST · 02/12/2013 19:26

I have a dog too woowoo.

I always pick up his shit as he shits in front of me. My cats don't.

Not the cat owners fault that the law is the way it is. No body owns a cat. A cat decides it wants to stay Wink

thebody · 02/12/2013 19:34

don't be so fucking ridiculous.

all the cats we have ever had bury their poo. the poo in iur garden is usually from fox or badger as we see them doing it.

as got the references about hurting animals or driving cats out and dumping them you people are very very scary.

cruelty to animals is usually practised by those who are cruel to all smaller things like children too.

otherwise known as cunts.

WooWooOwl · 02/12/2013 19:36

Cats would poo on front of you if you didn't let them out to annoy your neighbours and kill the birds.

Justforlaughs · 02/12/2013 19:38

thebody I will hereby undertake, to shoot any child shitting in my garden, with a water pistol Wink
As for the usual line "it'll be a fox/ badger" "cats always bury it" bollocks, It's amazing how many non cat owners who see the cat shitting on their lawn obviously need to buy glasses isn't it?