My cats and cat poo in neighbours' gardens

[Blahdeblah1]

I moved into my house a year ago and have three cats. My neighbours are all quite elderly and have lived there for decades, they are all keen gardeners and very proud of their gardens.

Several months ago my next door neighbour started complaining to me about my cats pooing on his drive, so every time I go round and clear it up. Although to be honest I'm not convinced that the poo is from my cats.

Anyway, I'm now having complaints about cat poo from people who live way down the street, that my cats are pooing in their garden, although they admitted they hadn't actually seen the cat that did it. I live on a large suburban housing estate where there are loads of cats.

AIBU for thinking that cats are cats and I shouldn't be expected to be picking up any cat poo really, and to tell my neighbours to deal with it themselves and stop complaining to me? I can't control where my cats poo, they are not dogs.

We have a cat, it is litter trained and has a box in the garage, emptied daily.

Next door moved in just over a year ago and have 6 cats.

I watch them shitting all over our garden, the kids walk in it, our bloody stupid dog eats it (and gets ill), we no longer want to eat out there or grow lettuce, strawberries etc.

It's too easy to say it isn't your problem, you are making other peoples life difficult and spoiling the reputation of us responsible owners.

Train your cat, it isn't hard.

six cats! God that is so selfish.

My sister has a 'trained' cat, and he does sometimes s* in his litterbox (which she keeps in her kitchen dining room) barf barf barf. but he also goes off for days at the time and I say "how can you have a cat that shits in other people's gardens? How can you live with yourself?" And she just smiles and says 'but he's sooooo lovely'.
I can't see any justification for it. Even 'trained cats' if they're out free range, how do you know what they're doing.
The documentary that tagged all those cats basically said: People have no idea how far their cats roam or what they are doing. That was a fairly thorough tracking of a bunch of domestic cats. Many of which went very far afield, fighting, mating, shitting, hunting, sleeping, eating etc

I think the only unobnoxious cat is the indoor cat but I also think that's a little mean. I like cats, I don't blame them, I just don't think you can have a pet whose defecation you can't control, it is absolutely unethical.

So whattodo you bring it back to my previous points re wits. As you appear to enjoy them so much, here's some more I'm quite fond of, opinions are like arseholes, everyone's got one. And you can't reason with the unreasonable. See what you can do with those.

Are you inviting me to call you an unreasonable arsehole? I would never do that.

Seriously, I don't mind people owning cats and loving them. I do find it odd that there are people willing to defend the idea that cats should be given carte blanche to poop in other people's gardens and comments along the lines that others shouldn't be so precious about their own children...while at the same time time being rather precious about their cats!

It's late, night night everybody.

Are you inviting me to call you an unreasonable arsehole?

Was that really necessary?
sigh

six cats! God that is so selfish

Surely it is all relative to the size and placement of the property. Six cats in a very small home in close proximity to others would be selfish indeed.

In a large house in a very rural area, then not so much. In a very rural area, there are problems with true vermin, mice and rats. The cats will keep this down.

I think some people are jumping on the "we hate cats" bandwagon, basing their opinions on what other people might (or might not) be saying

It would be nice to try to keep the argument in perspective, I think.

Calling someone something doesn't make it true. But what is true is that resorting to name calling means either you've lost the argument or you're so angry you've lost the ability to reason (which is hilariously funny when you're discussing a bit of shit in a garden).

But the people who are unhappy on this thread obviously do not think it's a proportionate price to pay for another's pet needs.

Clearly to clear up someone else's pet's shite regularly from your garden is a price to high to pay for their pleasure in their pet.

All I'm asking is for cat owners to hold up their hands and acknowledge the are self-indulgent at our expense, because that is the truth.

Over a year of cleaning up an elderly cat's runny shite, honestly I used to sob. We have no rights, our gardens are just your pets' toilets. I can not see how you can justify it.

Well I don't have to justify it, Nigel, as it was not my cat who had diarrhoea in your garden. Just because you had a most unfortunate experience with a cat belonging to one of your neighbours, why do you think it is okay to tar ALL cat owners with the same brush? Did you speak to the owner of this particular (singular) cat who was defecating in such an unfortunate manner? Did you give him/her the chance to rectify the situation, or have you just decided to lump all cat owners together? Hmm?

Not all cat owners are irresponsible.

The very sad thing is, that the OP came on to ask for advice (he/she is clearly a responsible cat owner, trying to do the right thing, yet not be taken advantage of), yet she has been beaten back by the cat-haters who have been pretty vitriolic in their responses.

OP - if you are still here (which I doubt) - you sound very lovely, but don't let all your neighbours take advantage of you. Cat's poo once (twice at most) a day - don't feel responsible or be bullied into picking up all the cat poop in your neighbourhood.

Pulls back erroneous apostrophe

As put by evans nigel. If someone posted talking about resolving an issue about her child, we wouldn't all jump in sharing our negative personal experiences of other people's kids, and conclude all parents are self indulgent, deluded and all children should be kept indoors, nor would we aim our vitriol for anything that has happened to us, whether reasonable or not, at anyone who admitted they had a child or anyone who objected to the post being hijacked as an opportunity to share child and parent hating views. This is no different

I remain in disbelief that it's OK/legal/acceptable for a domesticated pet to roam and poo in neighbouring gardens.

We live in a fairly built-up area, but large gardens. I suppose classed as "Suburbia".
Most of our neighbours have cats. Someone further back said that if there are cats, there is no other wildlife.
I disagree - we have foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits and an enormous variety of birds.

Another poster said her chickens were attacked by a cat. NDN has chickens, who wander into our garden from time to time. One of our cats tried once to attack it and was made to retreat, quite definitely. She never tried again! We sometimes have neighbour's dogs wander into our garden (we don't have fences, just hedging and bushes). We just send them back again. Dog poo and fox poo are far more offensive than cat poo.

NDN's chickens sometimes come into our garden, quite happily.
We have grown vegetables for as long as we have lived in this house - about 25 yrs. We have never had a problem with cat poo spoiling it. We own cats, most of our neighbours own cats.

We all have large lawns. I have never found cat poo on a lawn, neither have my neighbours. Not saying it doesn't happen, but none of us has ever experienced it. It is more likely to be fox poo (which really does stink)

We all have grown children (and some now have grandchildren). No-one has contracted toxoplasmosis from a cat (or it's poo (perhaps we have been more vigilant about washing our hands . . . ?

I think some of these little anti-cat scenarios are made up.

To finish - someone said above that humans are more important than animals and accused other posters of 'anthropomorphising animals' . Firstly, I don't think anyone has tried to humanise their pet. And whilst I might agree on one level for the first point of humans being more important initially , it is not quite as clear cut, as humans need animals to live, believe it or not. We all do need to live together, harmoniously.

Human live could not exist without animals, and I'm pretty sure David Attenborough, Steve Backshall and Co would not agree with your point there. (can't remember which poster said this, maybe Mythical?)

Human LIFE not live (for crying out loud)

Evans
"We own cats, most of our neighbours own cats"
If you have a cat, other cats are probably not going to poo on your lawn. Your neighbour has a dog so they're unlikely to poo there either. It's the people with no pets whose gardens get shit in.

You're right, fox poo is more offensive than cat poo which is how I know the poo on my son's trousers was cat poo, the poo all over my lawn is cat poo. I have also seen the cats in question poo on the lawn and not bury it. Usually when I don't have shoes on and keys handy to run out and shoo them away.

Read up on toxoplasmosis. As cat owners you aren't that likely to get it - you'll deal with poo when it's fresh (it's "safe" within first 24hrs) and if it's in a litter tray you will know to expect it and wash your hands after clearing.
When it's on the grass/in soil it can be dangerous for up to 18m.

This sort of minimising/denial of the problem is why people get so angry about this.

Threads like this make me sad.

The more militant cat owners get about their pets' right to roam, the more annoyed non-cat-lovers will get, and sooner or later the law will be changed to restrict cats' freedoms. There seems to be a growing backlash against some aspects of pet ownership, focussed particularly on pet shit, responsibility or otherwise towards cleaning up pet shit, and the (not unreasonable, tbh) distaste non-pet-owners have towards having to deal with the shit of pets belonging to other people.

My cats are house cats but I completely empathise with those who choose not to have cats. Cat shit might not be the worst but it's still pretty unpleasant and if you've chosen not to have a pet and therefore not to deal with shit, it's rather unreasonable of those who have chosen to have a pet not to understand why you don't want to have to police your garden for excrement before enjoying it. Cleaning out the litter tray is my least favourite household chore and I resent having to clear my garden of other cats' shit, despite my choice to have two of the little furry devils myself. Yes, there's currently no legal responsibility to clean up after your cat blah blah blah but there is more to life and getting along with one's neighbours than adhering to the strictly legal minimum.

Having said all that, the OP does seem to be more reasonable than most and the neighbours from further up the road are almost certainly taking the piss. Keeping the cats in for a few days to get proof it's not your cats sounds like a good way forward.

Anyone who digs about in a garden would wash their hands, surely? Soil, even without the addition of a cat poo (or fox, or hedgehog, or . . . . . . . ), contains all sorts of germs, which would clearly necessitate the washing of hands.

Postereh You'll deal with poo when it's fresh (it's "safe" within first 24hrs) and if it's in a litter tray you will know to expect it and wash your hands after clearing

So how would you explain me gardening and dealing with all the neighbour's cat poo?
Answer: I will wash my hands after being in the garden.
And if my cat's poop is in the litter tray, then surely no bother to anyone else but me?
So the problem is . . . . .

Actually poster you should read up on toxo because it's no more risk to a child/ person brought up with cats than not. Even if your neighbours have 12 cats that shit all over your garden instead of their own, it's more likely your child would be immune to toxo than your neighbours child in its shit free garden. Its only a risk to an unborn child, and even then you'd need to ingest it accidentally.
Be fair page, if you read the thread from the start no cat owner randomly changed the actual subject by piping up that they delighted in their cats legal right to shit wherever and how they got great satisfaction from pissing off their lovely neighbours because being selfish floats their boat. It was the cat haters that began that so of course those of us with cats, however reasonable we are in real life are going to respond with its legal, nothing you can do. Likewise to being blamed collectively for any inconvenience/ down right selfishness anyone has ever experienced by someone else who just happens to own the same pet. Or making factually incorrect statements about risk, or condoning dumping / poisoning them. If people want to start that, that's fine, but they can't be suprised if the response is in the same, if more intelligent and reasoned, manner

But your neighbour's cat doesn't poo in your garden as you said upthread. So you're right, it's not a problem for you. That's my point - you not having caught it in your life says nothing about my risk as a non-cat owner picking up cat shit almost everyday.

My neighbour's cat poos ON my lawn, where I sit and where my children's toys sit. I wash my hands after gardening/being in the garden. But on sunny days we might spend all day playing outside and I can't guarantee that I won't touch my mouth or eyes during that time.

I have read up about it lurked. I am trying to conceive.

Also, unless you gave had your immunity tested you have no idea whether you gave contacted toxoplasmosis or not Evans because it is generally symptomless unless you are pregnant (or conceive in the following three months) where it can cause, sight and hearing problems, miscarriage and still birth.

Lurked I think you'll find the OP started it:

AIBU for thinking that cats are cats and I shouldn't be expected to be picking up any cat poo really, and to tell my neighbours to deal with it themselves and stop complaining to me? I can't control where my cats poo, they are not dogs.

Ie not my problem.

So if you admit it's symptomless poster what's your problem? It's harmless unless you're pregnant. And if you are pregnant, don't do the gardening. Simple.

Lashes the cats don't poo in my flower beds - they poo all over my lawn. But you're right. The solution is I (and by extension my toddlers) don't get to enjoy my garden whilst I'm trying to conceive/pregnant.