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.

Where is 'here' for you, NotJustaNumber?

In the law of tort this issue would fall under 'nuisance'. It is a civil case of tort not a criminal case .

HOWEVER, cats are unique in the law of tort in that cats are not deemed to have owners, they have custodians. As such there is no responsibility to address what your cat does.

Nonetheless, if someone hurts or kills your cat, this falls under criminal law and you are deemed the cats owner and can claim damages.

Sorry I'm in the Uk, some friends from Oz told me about the changes there. I think there are changes coming in NZ and Canada too. cfhs.ca/law/an_enlightened_approach_to_animal_control I'm sitting on the fence on this one though. At the moment we only have a hamster in a huge cage but tbh I wonder if its ethically/environmentally right to keep any pet at all (from the viewpoint of the pet), even though they do bring benefits to the owner. Not sure what the answer is.

Thank you, NotJust. So Lurked was actually correct in saying what she said, as she was referring to UK law.

BrownPaperBag2 has hit the nail on the head exactly.

We have cats, most of our neighbours have cats. NDN cat comes in regularly at night to eat our cats' food (he's on a very strict diet for health reasons, but clearly he hasn't quite grasped this). He terrorises one of our cats and has broken the cat flap by chasing her in. NDN and I chuckle over it, because - there isn't anything we can do about it. I chase him away, and have sworn at him on occasion, within neighbour's earshot and sometimes throw tennis balls at him. Luckily, neighbours and I (we) are on good terms, we feed each other's pets when we are away; it is all very good-natured.
It is impossible to 'control' a cat unless you confine it - which is cruel. They are meant to be outdoor creatures.

That's a great link notjustanumber. It's nice to see the words "responsible cat ownership," as something other than an oxymoron.

Whattodo - most cat owners are responsible, though. All you cat haters appear to have latched on to the notion that all cat lovers are irresponsible and don't care where their cats go or what they do.

A couple let the side down, admittedly. But that is the same in every single walk of life. Some responsible dog owners, some not. Some careful drivers, others not. Some good parents, others - not so much. And on .. and on.. and on

Evans I'm references this thread, not cat owners in general. There have been a lot of comments over the last 22 pages basically saying, "my cat, your problem. That's the law, so there!"

If the cat owners on this thread are representative of the GBP, then responsible cat owner is indeed an oxymoron.

And don't you just love how disgust at cat shit turns into "cat haters"

How sad

I think you'll find attitude plays a large part. If you parked legally and safely on the street outside my house and I started ranting at you about 'fucking selfish car drivers, don't give a toss about how much they are inconveniencing me, my kids will get ran over walking down the road, why should I be fucking put out because you choose to own a car, they should be banned, fucking move your car'. Chances are you'd tell me to get fucked, it's legal so nothing I can do and not move it. Whereas if I came out and politely said 'look, I realise you have every right to park there but with it being every day it does make it a bit difficult because x, y,z ' chances are you wouldn't mind adding 5 minutes to your day and parking down the road a bit, despite your legal right to do so. And cat shit is exactly the same.

And. If you wouldn't move your car, or indeed regularly avail yourself of the legal right to park on a residential street you don't live on, then really you aren't in a position to criticise a cat owner that avails themselves of the legal right to leave cat shit

Summery - I think if you read the thread, MOST of the responsible cat owners have said they provide litter trays or pick up after their cats. The anti-cat people have been aggressive and have condoned cruelty, and provided tenuous links to possible health problems, which might possibly be related to cat faeces, studies pending.

The anti-cat people have been aggressive and have condoned cruelty

No they haven't. What a remarkably stupid thing to say.

And we're anti cat shit, not anti cat.

I think the attitude is going both ways. Pot meet kettle.
I really don't want to debate, "who started it!" I get enough of that action with my DC, lol.

Evans. Sorry but you're talking shite. The only nastiness has been from two particular posters. Add to that some particularly stupid posts from cat apologists. Maybe YOU could read the thread . Maybe even ponder what was nasty enough for MNHQ to delete

And what the fuck has parking go to do with my having to pick up stinking shit from someone else's cat? Ludicrous

This thread is mental! I never knew owning a cat or two made me such a low life!

I'm not sure anyone has said that it does Mad

This thread isn't really going anywhere after nearly 6 days, just round in circles.

Street parking is exactly the same, legal but often pisses people off, surely that's a simple enough concept to understand? And I'm yet to understand the logic that 'dumping cats is understandable' but objecting to it is 'nasty'. I said from the start my cats don't shit in neighbours gardens and yet I've been constantly called rude, inconsiderate, dumping my cats is the only cure etc etc'. Now personally I don't care about whether some random person online is offensive or start shouting oooh they're being mean. But I have every right to amuse myself, and state my opinion and the facts by return. And hugely hypocritical to start calling 'nasty' when I respond in the manner I've been addressed. I'm not sure which post got deleted but no doubt one of mine, but who cares, it's already been read and absorbed by those who were responsible for it in the first place.
And yes this thread is going round in circles, just like a cat does before it shits in someone else's garden!

Actually, for me the thread has finally gone somewhere. I had no idea that Australia had changed their laws regarding cats and that NZ and CA were considering it. It strikes me that the law has reflected the reality that cars can't be herded or walked on a leash etc. That has been the practical reason behind cat owners not having to take responsibility for their pets fouling other people's property.

If it works well in Australia, and people here are annoyed enough about it, then it shows that the problem is not intractable and that something can be done about it.

their laws = its laws
cars = cats

Time for me to go to bed I think!

Me too Whatdo. I can't stand tired and emotional sorts that don't even realise they're talking shite

Goodnight ????

I thought it had always been the law in Australia, and NZ TBH. Along with microchipping, vaccinating and neutering. I didn't know it was recent.

I thought in Australia it was because they were having too much impact on native species, although possible I'm confusing that with the fact that's been the case with other non native species we've introduced to Australia.
The cats right to roam is historically from the fact we didn't domesticate them deliberately like other pets and livestock, or own them, they were wild animals who followed the humans as a food source, and we discovered they kept vermin out of it so left them to it without needing to change their basic instincts or behavior or look for qualities to breed from etc. if it could hunt, imt lived and bred. Hence to a large degree they still get the privileges of a wild animal. And unlike any other domestic animal ( until we started to keep rodents and birds as pets) they are loners, rather than herd/ pack, so you can't train them to conform to comply with our pack/ herd expectations.