AIBU to think that as I don't own a cat I shouldn't have to clear up cat sh*t from my garden every other day??

[Magicpaintbrush]

I choose not to own a cat, and yet once again I find myself this morning in my front garden shovelling up big smelly piles of cat poo. If it was my own pet I wouldn't mind, but I'm really getting the hump with being up to my elbows in sh*t because someone else's pet thinks my garden is a toilet. I love animals -usually - but it's so gross, so stinky and really unhygenic. It was cat diarrhea on my rock plants at the weekend just as we were expecting visitors, just caught the little sod squatting on my plants despite me banging on the window in a rage. Does anybody have any suggestions of cat deterrants that actually work? We've tried all sorts but they just ignore it. We even had a deterrant containing lion scent called Silent Roar (!!!!) which is supposed to make them think a big hungry predator is nearby - they didn't give a toss. Ideas anybody...?

But do carry on with your bizarre attack on my post

Your views, not your post.

And what was your solution to the problem again?

Which views sub? I see you picking holes in the wording of my posts....anyway, tell me my prize first. Quid pro pro, clarice.

I know cats poo in sandpits but so do foxes and so on. Covering a sandpit at night or when not in use isn't generally a massive deal.

In all my years of owning gardens, and cats, I have never, ever seen a cat poo on a path. Not unless it had an uncontrolled digestive issue, which most cats do not, most of the time.

Perhaps people are mistaking fox or dog poo for cat poo. Hedghogs also crap in gardens.

Whatever, I suppose if you leave it untended for long enough then the poo will accumulate. Cats normally prefer to poo somewhere they haven't soiled recently, or that has been cleared up, so eventually they will probably stop using a place where there is a lot of it.

I wouldn't hurt a cat but cats shitting in the lawn really annoys. We have spent a lot of money including putting in a set of patio doors so dog goes outside away from the lawn and fencing off lawn so our dog can't shit on it after having it re turfed and every day we still get up to cat shit on our grass. The cat belongs to the same people that once went ballistic when our lab puppy aged 12 weeks 13 years ago once escaped and frightened her daughter. Go figure!

Yesterday 19:02 Mehitabel6 And hellocampers, yes it really shocks and saddens me

My one cat hardly goes anywhere as he's too old and lazy, but the other was a stray for so long i've no idea where he goes for few hours in the day.
We've taken strays animals in because people have abused and then dumped them.
They're not pests.
Yes cat poo is very annoying but i don't think people should use any deterrent!
Does that mean if the cat got hurt or sick, oh well?
We have neighbours cats constantly coming in that i would never hurt to deter.
I do think also that some people have no idea of the size and smell of hedgehog poo.
It's big and smells as bad as a humans

Perhaps we should have a world without any animals! It will be hygienic but children would lose far more than they gain.

Don't go out into the countryside!

No-one is arguing for a world without animals, only for a world where pets (entirely optional furry playthings) are not a nuisance to neighbours. Cats are just another means by which humans wreak havoc on the natural world. Many people are happy to kill mice and rats, even foxes and badgers. What is the difference between that and killing cats, except that in this country cats are thought of differently? There is little objective difference.

Quid pro pro, clarice.

Not really getting the relevance of a misquote from Silence of the Lambs, weallfloat

And still wondering what your solution is.

It's not cats being "thought of differently" that prevents sane people from killing cats.

It's because it's against the law, whether you agree with that or not.

And actually people do kill cats with shocking regularity and are horribly cruel to them. I'm sure that doesn't make you happy.

Well it is the different cultural perception of cats that is the reason behind them being protected by law.

Other countries with different perceptions of cats have different (legal) attitudes to cats.

I have no problems with the concept of cats being killed, as long as the method of killing is quite swift, as is the case, for example, with foxes. The only reason I don't advocate killing cats is because it is against the law, but I don't see killing cats as different from killing foxes, which is legal, and I really like foxes.

I have no problems with the concept of cats being killed, as long as the method of killing is quite swift, as is the case, for example, with foxes.

Killed by whom? And for what reason?

I'm saying I have no problems with the law being changed to allow nuisance cats to be killed, just like foxes can be killed. So I suppose some of the professionals who currently deal with foxes can branch out into dealing with nuisance cats.

And who would decide what constituted a "nuisance cat"?

Your posts are ridiculous.

I knew sub would leap on my error. Been waiting all afternoon on tender hooks for her to point it out.

I agree with Charles, it's only the law currently stopping people from killing them, it's not because cats are somehow better than any other vermin, they are not. If the law changed tomorrow, I bet suddenly the cat owners could manage to control their pets then.

calm down sub, I know hooks aren't tender

My arguments are logical, you just don't want to hear them. If I am bothered by a fox in my garden I am allowed by law to contact a pest controller to get rid of it by the approved methods of shooting or lethal injection. I foresee that residents would be able to contact pest controllers in the same way about cats.

The fact that you have to pay for the service would deter frivolous complaints. It would be up to cat owners to ensure their cats do not constitute a nuisance to their neighbours. The best way of doing this would be to ensure your cats cannot leave your garden.

You're welcome weallfloat

Actually, it's tenterhooks

I guess you can fantasise all you like about killing cats but the law's not going to change to satisfy your bloodlust, so it's a pointless discussion really.

Killing vermin isnt bloodlust! It's a solution to a problem. If there was no problem, then people wouldn't be trying to solve it with increasingly desperate methods. Stop putting cats on a pedal stool.

pedestal

Cats aren't classed as vermin, no matter how many times you say it.

Well. They are vermin to me. That's the only thing I think of, as the jeyes fluid is liberally sprayed on my flowerbeds.

This whole thread has been a bit of a damp squid as far as cat poo threads go. To bed, perchance to dream of shit free lawns!

damp squib

You've given me lots of laughs, weallfloat, so enjoy your dreams as that's what they will always be.