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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

to want to cry on hearing my neighbour is going to get another cat..

243 replies

Justonemorecardi · 03/02/2014 13:35

My neighbour had two cats until the summer when they moved out for 3 months while their house was renovated. They came back daily to feed them but one went missing in the trauma of it all and never came back.

The other cat comes for its daily poo in my garden and I've been out gardening this weekend and there is a whole winters worth of poo in my borders and under our kitchen staircase (external spiral thing with plants underneath) - its disgusting.

Last year I told her what was happening and she just listened but said she didn't know what to do about it and her husband just stood their pretending to vomit.

I've just heard they're planning to buy another cat to replace the missing one - I want to cry. Why can't they train the cats to go in a litter tray? Surely if you live in a city its obvious it has to poo in someone's garden, so its antisocial and selfish to not train it?

OP posts:
AutumnStar · 03/02/2014 18:46

That's the reason we're all here isn't it?

skinoncustard · 03/02/2014 19:01

Buy a tub of garlic salt, clear the area of poo, sprinkle with the salt ( a lot ) your garden will stink ! But the cats will hate it . Keep topping it up till they go elsewhere. I know it then becomes someone elses problem but needs must !!

innisglas · 03/02/2014 19:19

Sorry, just to add my tuppence worth, if it hasn't been said already. Firstly, you may not realise it, but the world is full of rats and mice and that is why we are lucky to have cats. And secondly, if it is not this neighbour's cat, it will be another one.

2tiredtocare · 03/02/2014 19:24

Whenever I wash up I see random cats in my garden, never seen cat poo there oddly, maybe they dont like being watched pooing

AmIHumanYet · 03/02/2014 19:34

YABU... would you rather they kept the cat indoors? Cannot get my head around this mindset

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 03/02/2014 19:35

Ooh how exciting, am not the only one being a stalker Grin

Nomorepeppapig · 03/02/2014 19:39

"You want to cry" that's a bit OTT isn't it? Just do what everyone else does and get on with it! It's only a bit of cat poo.

nickymanchester · 03/02/2014 19:43

I think he just sees it as a challenge to do it unnoticed

You can get motion controlled sprinklers to do the job automatically:-

www.amazon.co.uk/Contech-ScareCrow-Motion-Activated-Deterrent/dp/B005MW9VOM

www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Doutdoor&field-keywords=havahart+spray+away&rh=n%3A11052671%2Ck%3Ahavahart+spray+away

gamerchick · 03/02/2014 19:51

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

limitedperiodonly · 03/02/2014 20:02

would you rather they kept the cat indoors? Cannot get my head around this mindset

My adopted cat has been an indoor cat for 10 years. He's completely happy, wherever in my house he may be at the moment.

Most people on MN don't think it's wrong to have a dog on a lead at all times.

Quite the reverse...

Mushypeasandchipstogo · 03/02/2014 22:04

It never fails to amaze me how thick skinned and ignorant outdoor cat owners are. They see nothing wrong with letting their cats poo over neighbours gardens even when they know young children play there. Personally I would never leave out anti-freeze but I can see why some people are tempted.

SelectAUserName · 03/02/2014 22:27

I feel for you OP, and I'm a cat lover. SelectACat is a house cat for various reasons; I don't mind cleaning out her litter tray as that's part of the petcare responsibility I accepted when I decided to get another cat, but it pisses me off to have to clear up neighbours' cats' shit from the garden, even though I know there's not much I can do about it.

You'll just have to hope your neighbours end up with a cat like one of my previous ones, who would laze about outside, come indoors to use the litter tray then go back out again.

Writerwannabe83 · 03/02/2014 22:33

I have got two cats that have access to the outside via a cat flap. I still however have a litter tray in the house that they both use when they either have a wee or a poo. I would be mortified if I thought my cats were pooing in someone else's garden.

zookeeper · 03/02/2014 22:34

Could you borrow a dog for a few mornings to bark at it??

HaroldLloyd · 03/02/2014 22:50

Mushy - mass generalisation there

Won't even go into antifreeze which is just another ridiculous shitehawk comment.

Caitlin17 · 03/02/2014 23:06

YABVU in saying she's got one cat , why does she need another. I might have had some sympathy for you but that is such an ignorant thing to say.

Caitlin17 · 03/02/2014 23:09

limited all my cats are outdoor. One of them came to me when she was 1 year old after having been cooped up in a top floor flat. She couldn't wait to be allowed out when she saw the garden. It'd be extremely cruel to keep her locked up.

Beamur · 03/02/2014 23:12

I love cats, but I'm less keen on cat shit in my garden...
One of my neighbours cats took to hanging out in my garden, it was mostly trying to catch the little mouse that was living in my wall, but it wasn't welcome and it was also using the end of the garden as a toilet.
I kept shooing it away, banging on the window etc, but my DP was the one who persuaded it to go home. The cat was, as usual, on the wall, and he parked the car (interestingly the cat ran off when it saw us, but was unconcerned by the car) he then quietly wound the window down and squirted it with water from a sports bottle he happened to have to hand. Poor cat was absolutely drenched, but unharmed, it looked very shocked and ran off and I've not seen it in my garden since!

limitedperiodonly · 03/02/2014 23:32

No, caitlin he seems quite a happy little soul and he's just watched me clean his shit pit out.

Caitlin17 · 03/02/2014 23:40

limited I'm glad he's happy. Mine wouldn't be. The one who had been an indoor cat was frantic by the end of one week, she was desperate to get out. Vet said to keep her in for 3 weeks until she got used to us, we had to relent after a week. Watching her ferreting around in our garden discovering new things, being puzzled at the wind on her fur, sitting on the lawn looking up at the sky was a joy.

deakymom · 04/02/2014 01:23

my one cat used to return to the house to do something smelly the other used to go in the garden of the lady who didnt like me very much!! i always used to offer to take it back or come and collect it myself none of my neighbours took me up on the offer though? so here is my advice plastic carrier bags on a stick not the nicest things but they make a noise and cats dont like them if you can deter the cat for long enough they wont (usually) return coco shell mulch yes its not cheap but it does two things one it deters the cat two it stops you needing to weed or get several children with water pistols and have a water fight i should point out that cats are unlikely to enter a regularly used garden as they dont like being disturbed (except my tabby he was pathological about going after my nasty neighbour she even put glass down and he shat on it!)

CouthyMow · 04/02/2014 02:04

I wouldn't be paying a penny to deal with someone else's pet choice. I would pointedly knock on their door , ask them to clear up their cat shit daily, give them 24 hrs. If they didn't clear up DAILY, I would just put it over their fence.

They would be ruining my quiet enjoyment of my garden.

But I don't take any shit...literally! Grin

CouthyMow · 04/02/2014 02:19

Yep, I would rather they kept the cat indoors. What's wrong with a housecat? If I had a cat, which I don't, I would ensure they stayed in my own garden. Why would I inflict cat crap on my neighbours? It'd be like owning a dog and leaving the dog crap on their lawn. It's still crap, whether it comes out of a dog's backside or a cat's.

If I don't own the cat, or dog, I have no idea how well the owners worm their cats, and I have a 2 DC's with pica - I don't want them eating shit, strangely enough.

My neighbours have cats. 4 cats between my two next door neighbours. They never shit in my garden, despite 1/4 of my garden being gravel. Mostly because my neighbours (who don't have gardens, I'm the only one in the square with a garden) have made sure their cats crap in a litter tray. The cats go outside too.

I like cats - I don't like cat shit in my garden.

Mimishimi · 04/02/2014 02:25

Could you borrow a friend's dog for a couple of weeks? Preferably a lovely cat-chasing with a loud bark? Ask around if anyone needs petminding. As long as it's in your yard, the neighbours have no right to complain.