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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Should owners clean up after cats?

321 replies

Sillysausage2 · 14/09/2014 00:33

I'm a responsible dog owner and clean up after my dog. Unfortunately I think the scent of my dog attracts cats to my front garden, I watched 2 come and shit in my garden this afternoon! LO plays in the front garden and apparently cat shit is very dangerous, AIBU to be a bit pissed off with this?

OP posts:
EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 15:06

Of course, LovelyBoots. We also have pet rabbits in the garden. Their biggest threat is from the foxes (and, at the moment, a rogue mink). Not sure what point you're trying to make, if I'm honest.

FoxSticks · 16/09/2014 15:08

My cat is the same Evans he's destroyed his cat flap and two pens at the cattery. We can't take him there anymore Blush

Thinking about it if cats were really susceptible to being trained then we would have guide cats and sniffer cats, but we don't do we? Just because there are some cats that are homebodies and will rarely venture further than their own back garden doesn't mean that all cats can be trained. Some, if not most are just too independent.

If one of my neighbours approached me with an issue then of course I would try and resolve things with them. I'm not about to issue a general apology to a bunch of passionate cat haters on the Internet though.

Sunna · 16/09/2014 15:09

I live in a very rural area near several farms. There are often rat and mice infestations on the farms - then the farmers put down poison, as does the council rat man. If a cat is poisoned from eating one of those, surely the farmer/ratman isn't committing an offence?

I'm surprised more cats don't get poisoned around here.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 15:10

Most people I know don't keep their pet rats or mice in the garden, but even if they did, they would be in a safe enclosure, surely? They wouldn't be running around freely. So I'd tentatively suggest this is a moot point.

FoxSticks · 16/09/2014 15:11

I think if you wanted to keep mice and rats in your garden that would make you odder than cat owners Grin why would you keep them in the garden?

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 15:14

Sunna - having had an infestation of rats in our compost bins last year, the pest controller did say that the chances of secondary poisoning was pretty slim, as the amount ingested by a cat from a rodent that had already been poisoned was minimal (due to poison/weight ratio). Domestic cats don't always eat what they've caught, as they're too well fed at home. They chase rats and mice as an instinctive thing. So it is not surprising at all that more of them don't die, in that particular scenario

FoxSticks · 16/09/2014 15:16

The farmer/ratman wouldn't be setting out to kill the cats though so I'm not sure what your point is Sunna?

merrymouse · 16/09/2014 15:23

You won't find dog owners saying the same, for certain

That is because the law is different for dogs.

It is illegal to allow your dog to fowl a footpath and they must be under your control at all times. Cats are allowed to roam. I suspect that while there is a free roaming cat at number 10 the law is unlikely to change.

Sunna · 16/09/2014 15:26

I was just musing. I read earlier on the thread that it's an offence to poison cats. I was wondering how it could be ascertained that it was deliberate, especially in rural areas where there are lots of rats.

HesterShaw · 16/09/2014 15:28

Lots of people have lifestyles others may think of as anti social . Some people drive their stupid enormous cars everywhere instead of walking, some people concrete over their gardens looking unsightly and bad for the environment.
Other people have dogs that yap and bounder up to us with their muddy paws,.

^
This
There's a woman over the road from me who is an awful driver. She leaves for work every day at 7.15 and has to reverse out of her drive. The only way she can do this is to rev her stupid car to the max or it stalls. She then drives off at 30mph in 1st gear Some people should not have cars or be drivers. And there's fuck all I can do about it because I chose to live in a village near other people. Oh well.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 15:57

Oh dear, I have cats, and a "stupid enormous car". Reserve my place in hell, Beezebub!!

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 15:58

throws up the missing 'l'

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 16:13

But as Hester says - you live in a certain place, then you have to put up with the surroundings and what they throw at you.

We have some friends who moved near a small airport, and do nothing but complain about the light aircraft and police helicopters flying in and out of it. They knew the airport was there, you can hardly miss it, so why did they choose to buy a house anywhere near it?

We live near a couple of schools. Now I love to hear the children's voices during the daytime, laughing, chattering, singing. Parents' parking issues are another thing - but the school was there before we moved in, so I can't complain about it, really (I might mutter under my breath, from time to time) Grin

Cats are not illegal animals, so wherever you live you will probably have to endure them (unless you live in a flat and don't have a garden - problem solved).
Actually - there's the solution - all those people who don't like cats, move to a flat with no garden, then you won't have to endure any animal poo of any kind (unless it's your dog, which you are legally obliged to scoop up after, in a public place)!!!

merrymouse · 16/09/2014 16:23

Hardly any cats near my house now - very much a dog road.

You do get the odd cow in your garden though.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 16:26

Aah, cow poo, now you're talking! I yearn for a cow pat in my garden. Vegetative, and very good for the shrubs!

OwlCapone · 16/09/2014 16:27

And I'm well within my rights to kick said cat up the arse when it shuts on my garden.

Actually, you aren't allowed to kick cats.

Get a water pistol instead.

ACheesePuff · 16/09/2014 17:01

That cat fence is hilarious! Would people really rather look at that all round their gardens than have a cat or two visit them occasionally?

FisherQueen · 16/09/2014 17:23

For those that are gungho about your cat's right to roam - what would you have done in the situation that I posted about? New neighbour moves in with dog they have warned you will kill a cat? You know your car frequents their garden and will try to go in the house (previous neighbour fed it) and new neighbour offers to help you cat proof your garden. Would you take them up on it or take the risk?

FoxSticks · 16/09/2014 17:29

I'd have to weigh it up and think I would probably come to the conclusion that my cats quality of life was most important to me and I know he wouldn't be happy confined to my garden. I'd happily pay for your garden to be cat proofed though to keep him out if it was possible and you were agreeable to it. It's a very difficult situation and not one I have faced fortunately but I don't agree that a right to roam is gungho in most circumstances.

LST · 16/09/2014 17:32

It's just such a shame all you cat haters have to suck it up... as nout is going to change! Though the 10000000000000 threads on mn are pretty amusing reading so carry on Grin

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 17:49

FisherQueen - I'd think that if you admittedly have a problem, violent dog, then you need to deal with it. What if a neighbouring toddler should wander into your garden? A cat could probably leap out of the way, but a small child? Now that is a problem. If a dog is capable of killing cat, without hesitation, then surely it is capable of killing something else ...... without hesitation. That is a worry indeed. To my mind

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 16/09/2014 17:56

But I would offer to contribute to cat-proofing your garden, if mine were the only cats. Other cat owners would have to contribute also. Otherwise, it is your problem owning a violent dog.
If cat owners didn't contribute, would your dog attack any other small animal. What about a hedgehog? Would he/she be okay with that. Squirrels are able to leap out of harm's way, but other two or four-legged creatures may not be so fortunate.
Is your dog able to tell the difference?

FisherQueen · 16/09/2014 18:01

There is no link between predation and human aggression in dogs at all. Does your cat kill small animals? That is the same behavioural suite as a dog killing a cat - do you worry about your cat attacking a person? I've also (with landowner permission) used her to help control a problem rabbit population - again no link to human aggression. But if you have any studies that suggest differently I would be very happy to read them.

And seeing as you can only access my garden through my house and it is securely fenced with 6ft fences and a 15ft wall then the local wandering toddler population is safe. But I'll pass on your warnings to my sister so she stops bringing her 3yr old and 5 yr old round to visit. Wouldn't want them to get mauled....

I should add I am an animal behaviourist and I work with both dogs and cats. I am genuinely torn on this issue - behaviourally the outcomes for cats who have access to roam are much higher and it is hugely difficult for a cat who has had access to the outside to adapt to being an indoor cat. Tbh more then half of my cat clients can be sorted by giving the cat more enrichment and access to the outdoors. Lifespan wise they are shorter (lots die in the first year) and clearly it causes strife with neighbours!

Before we moved here I'd never worried about it as I was able to deter them from the garden but having 2 different cats cone I to the house and it ending so badly for one of them has really coloured my view.

FisherQueen · 16/09/2014 18:03

I feel for your concern for small rodents - I sure hope you don't own a predatory animal that is allowed to roam unsupervised and will hunt small animals...

Topseyt · 16/09/2014 18:06

Almost every other house (at least) here has cats, and many have dogs too. We just accept them.

I have one cat and two dogs. It does tend to mean that few of the neighbouring cats come into my garden. Well, apart from one dolt a few years ago who liked nothing more than to jump up on top of the fence and taunt my dogs by swinging his front paw at them whenever I let them out there, causing them to bark madly.

I always clear up after the dogs and cannot abide people who do not.

My cat does roam, but less and less now that he is heading towards being a senior citizen. He seems to be becoming more and more of a house cat even though I don't restrict him from going out. On the occasions he roams I would never know where he had pooed. I don't think I am gung-ho about it, and I do worry about where he may get to. However, I am not aware that he has ever caused any problems around anyone else's property, but if I was made aware then I would try to do whatever I could (realistically).

Some years ago a neighbour of ours had to take his rabbit to the vet after it had been attacked by a cat and needed stitches/antibiotics. I specifically asked him if he thought it had been my cat (he knows my cat) and he assured me it wasn't. If it had been then I would have been prepared to reimburse him for his vet bill.