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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

My cats and cat poo in neighbours' gardens

555 replies

Blahdeblah1 · 12/07/2015 08:52

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.

OP posts:
MythicalKings · 12/07/2015 19:23

And you wouldn't feel in the least bit guilty if a neighbour's child was blinded by your cat's shit?

Selfish belong belief.

Following this logic I shouldn't stop a child running into the road and under a car because it's her parents' job to keep her safe.

I'd heard that some cat owners were irrational and catshit crazy but never encountered any until I joined Mn.

Sparklingbrook · 12/07/2015 19:24

I don't think it's the owners who are 'catshit crazy'.

Yarp · 12/07/2015 19:26

My cats have always been wormed. No blindness-causing here

WhattodowithMum · 12/07/2015 19:26

You can't really have a discussion with someone who simply wants their own way just because. Sure, we are all the centre of our own universe. But this is solipsism in the extreme.

LashesandLipstick · 12/07/2015 19:27

MythicalKings No I wouldn't because I'd expect their parents to make sure their child is safe.

The difference being you see the danger, if I saw a child picking up shit of course I'd intervene. However if they happened to do so when I'm not there, well I'd question why a child that's not old enough to not smear faeces on itself was unsupervised.

And I'd never encountered such anti cat, bosom hoiking stupidity before joining here either

Lurkedforever1 · 12/07/2015 19:32

Oh ffs. My cats don't shit elsewhere because I've used superior training methods to op. They've just chosen places to shit that don't bother my neighbours.
mythical unless one of your children has been blinded or come close to it with cat poo as the confirmed cause then you do really need to get to grips with reality. Or at least share the scientific sources you've used to come to this conclusion

PosterEh · 12/07/2015 19:32

Well unless the OP's neighbours are all MNetters it obviously does bother people out in real world too.

willbillycome · 12/07/2015 19:36

My neighbours used to complain that our dog was pooing in their garden. My kids then hit a sweetcorn obsession, dog ended up eating a lot of sweetcorn, I was able to tell neighbour it was not my dogs poo as it was sweetcornless. Could you put edible glitter in your cats food, then when anyone complains to you, ask them if it sparkles?

BoneyBackJefferson · 12/07/2015 19:37

gobbin
"all you cat-shit-haters"

Does this mean that you are a cat shit lover?

Yarp · 12/07/2015 19:39

Boney

There aren't enough Brigades on this thread Grin

I wasn't a shit brigade, and a mad-cat-lady brigade

Yarp · 12/07/2015 19:39

I want

Sparklingbrook · 12/07/2015 19:41

I want a cat poo in the garden topic.

Yarp · 12/07/2015 19:42

Yes

prorsum · 12/07/2015 19:44

AmIthatsummery.

Isn't it just.

I just can't with pet owners; I watched the thread you were on but did not engage because I had recently had a MN interaction with dog owners and just wanted to sit back and enjoy.

Cat owners are actually worse. It's fine to have cat shit in your garden. It's natural. WTF.

WhattodowithMum · 12/07/2015 19:46

Mythical's children don't need to go blind for it to be unacceptable for her to have to clean up the mess of a neighbour's pet. The argument that it is "lawful" for cats to poop wherever they like is pretty thin. It's also "lawful" to kill vermin on your property.

Don't let your cat become vermin. Treat it like a pet and take responsibility for it. It's not that complicated.

MafaldaHopkirkRules · 12/07/2015 20:00

I have been a cat owner but I'm currently cat free. In my neighbourhood at least 5 different cats use my garden as there toilet. As much as I love cats I find it disgusting. In my very small vegetable plot, I found 30 turds in one week! The biggest problem is that the owners of these cats have only grass and no soil for their cats to do their business in. As a result they seek out the only bit of soft cultivated soil (my flowerbeds or vegetable plot ).
I had toxoplasmosis when I was pregnant with DD1 and she has no sense of smell which the doctor's believe could have been caused by this. I'm thankful it was nothing more serious. I had no cat's when I was pregnant so it was someone else's selfish that put my child at risk.
On another note we keep chickens and 2 of our neighbours cats regularly try to attack them.
I really don't mind cats but they are seriously testing my patience.

LashesandLipstick · 12/07/2015 20:04

s. I had no cat's when I was pregnant so it was someone else's selfish that put my child at risk.

You're more likely to get toxoplasmosis from fruit, vegetables and meat than cats. Studies repeatedly show cat owners are at no more risk than others. Cat owners come into contact with cat shit a lot. So you're unlikely to have caught it from a cat

MafaldaHopkirkRules · 12/07/2015 20:08

I was a gardener at the time. If I was a gambling person the odds were stacked that that's how I caught. It was why my gp suggested I had a test during pregnancy. Or are you more knowledgeable than a doctor?

LashesandLipstick · 12/07/2015 20:11

If you were working as a Gardner in other peoples gardens how can you say they were selfish for letting their cat shit in their garden?

And no that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying what studies show, which is that cat owners are at no more risk of toxoplasmosis than the general population.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 12/07/2015 20:11

It's mainly dog poo that causes blindness in children, not cat poo. Cat poo can cause toxoplasmosis in pregnant women (if the woman has not been vigilant in washing her hands) thereby damaging the sight of her unborn child. But generally speaking, I believe it is mainly dog (and fox) poo that causes the problem of blindness. So no matter how many times you repeat ad nauseum, Mythical, about cat owners deliberately causing blindness in children, it's not necessarily going to make it true.

Cat poo cause blindness, if the cat is not wormed, but it is extremely rare.

Cat poo is also pretty hard and firm, easy to clean up (not particularly messy, as someone further back suggested). One of our cats will only poo in her litter tray, the other will not. It's not as unpleasant as dog or fox poo though. I can understand why some people find it unpleasant, but it's not the end of the world. And the OP has been very gracious, I feel, in trying to do the right thing.

I've had cats for years, (including during my pregnancies, when I cleaned out the litter tray on a daily basis). My children and all their many friends (and I)! have survived safely and healthily.

MrsTrentReznor · 12/07/2015 20:15

I had a cat once that hated going outside. He was great and didn't shit in other people's gardens.
I would never have one of the little shit machines ever again now though, having tried and failed to grow a nice garden. I just gave up.
The pleasure of gardening was crushed under the weight of half a carrier bag full of cat shit that I had to clear every fortnight. Fuck cats. Their owners want an easy pet, feed it, stroke it, pretend it likes you for any other reason than food or warmth and then shove it outside to crap and make other people's lives slightly more miserable.
No wonder people snap.

MythicalKings · 12/07/2015 20:15

"Three babies in every 100,000 are born with the condition in the UK." And that's 3 babies too many.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19474612

MafaldaHopkirkRules · 12/07/2015 20:15

I had a handful of customers and at the time not one of them owned a cat however I regularly encountered cat poo. If these cats had been wormed it would have been disgusting but not so dangerous. Like I said my Gp who I would think was pretty knowledgeable on the subject felt that was the most probable source of infection. But maybe you know better.

EvansOvalPiesYumYum · 12/07/2015 20:17

DP has no sense of smell, but it is because of a problem he has with his nose, nothing else.

If you are/were a gardener, Mafalda, then you would naturally be extremely vigilant about glove-wearing and hand-washing, so I imagine Toxoplasmosis is very unlikely to have occurred in your case.

Sometimes doctors do come up with possible reasons for an ailment, even when they don't actually know.

LashesandLipstick · 12/07/2015 20:18

MythicalKings and most cases aren't caught from cats. Also your scaremongering is ridiculous.

Mafalda worming doesn't have much to do with toxoplasmosis...you'd be surprised what GPs aren't knowledgable on, that's why I always do my own research too. Read the studies.