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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Neighbour very ranty about our cat

259 replies

CaptainWarbeck · 15/02/2016 04:41

Right I have just been accosted while putting the baby into the car by our neighbour who is a (generally) lovely elderly woman. She is very garden-proud and not at all happy about our cat.

We have a ginger cat who is outside during the day and in at night. There are lots of other cats in the area. Our cat is digging occasionally in her flowerbeds, which I do get is frustrating for her as she loves to garden.

Her very cross suggestions: I should be watching the cat at all times he is outside so digging cannot happen (ffs sake I have a 9m old and a job) OR we should be keeping him inside and never letting him back out again OR we should be madly erecting fences everywhere to prevent him getting anywhere near her (he's a cat, he would climb and jump them).

AIBU to think if you live in a communal area with cats around, the occasional bit of digging is annoying but kind of just one of those things?

I'm admittedly hormonal and grumpy (despite being very polite to her) and this has not been a good start to the day. Any practical suggestions on either the cat or ways to make her stop banging on about it?

OP posts:
ceebie · 15/02/2016 11:13

*I wish the law could be changed to allow me to trap and kill any bastard cats that step onto my property.

Said above- threats of violence anyone?*

I was wishing for a change in law, rather than threatening to actually take violent (and illegal) action.

eternityleave · 15/02/2016 11:16

Another cat-owner selfishly thinking other people should put up with their lovely fluffy poo-poo-kins.

Yeah because wishing you could trap and kill any cat you chose is the moral high ground here. Hmm

Fluffycloudland77 · 15/02/2016 11:17

How do you intend to kill these cats ceebie

specialsubject · 15/02/2016 11:20

I like cats but like all pets, they are a pain in the arse to everyone else. At least cats are quiet, but they can't be contained.

buy her a super soaker, go round and clean up all the cat shit (and keep doing that), and apologise.

the water pistol thing is very satisfying to use and of course doesn't actually hurt the cat.

charlestonchaplin · 15/02/2016 11:22

We kill many animals as pests in this country, including foxes. There is nothing inherently immoral about killing cats. They have a protected status due to the prevailing culture, no other reason.

charlestonchaplin · 15/02/2016 11:26

The OP is too busy with her child and her job to deal with the nuisance to her neighbour, but the neighbour is expected to sit by her window all day waiting for passing cats to spray with a water pistol. If cat owners do not care about the nuisance, people will get inventive.

LilacSpunkMonkey · 15/02/2016 11:26

Ah, lovely, a cat thread. It's been awhile.

This will build in hysteria (we've already had a wee bit) and we'll have posts about how children have been blinded by cat poo and how someone has shot a cat in their garden and they're well proud of themselves.

And yes, I've seen both of those statements trotted out on previous cat threads.

Amazing the amount of people picking up cat shirt on MN, the amount of gardens covered in it, the amount of super soakers used. I've loved 42 years on this planet in lots of different houses, in different places, with different neighbours. Most places LOTS of cats, never any of this.

LilacSpunkMonkey · 15/02/2016 11:27

Oh look, I cross-posted with someone talking about 'killing vermin' and 'getting inventive'!

What are the odds?

JacquesHammer · 15/02/2016 11:29

I imagine next door's cat does shit in my garden.

I'm far more bothered about the damage it is doing to my car's paintwork by sitting on the bonnet every fucking day. It is scratched to buggery.

I am going to ask next door to cover the costs of sorting that out.

Toxicity · 15/02/2016 11:33

I think you are being really decent about it, working with your neighbour to find a solution. Good luck, hope the water pistol or pellets work and everyone is happy!

thebiscuitindustry · 15/02/2016 11:33

Animals (all animals, not just cats) will go into gardens

How often do foxes, hedgehogs and dogs jump over 6-foot fences compared to cats? I've never seen the first three in my garden.

ceebie · 15/02/2016 11:34

How do you intend to kill these cats ceebie

I have no idea but, having cleared up three more poos from my lawn yesterday, it will be very satisfying to think about it. Do you think one of those meteorological balloons would be stong enough to carry a cat up to the troposphere? I could buy a meteorological balloon kit and send cats up into space.

NerrSnerr · 15/02/2016 11:40

I can't believe how selfish some people are. As long as their getting pleasure from owning their cat it doesn't matter about anyone else. Some of us like spending time in a shit free garden. I wonder how the cat lovers would feel if a dog or person came and did a crap on their back lawn?

eternityleave · 15/02/2016 11:40

How often do foxes, hedgehogs and dogs jump over 6-foot fences compared to cats? I've never seen the first three in my garden

Who says they're jumping over? Are foxes, hedgehogs and dogs incapable of digging? And just because you havn't seen them doesn't mean they don't visit.

At least the OP is being sensible and working with her neighbour on this one.

LilacSpunkMonkey · 15/02/2016 11:41

Don't be such a twat, Ceebie.

Talking about amusing ways to kill animals makes you the biggest twat on the thread.

limitedperiodonly · 15/02/2016 11:43

Could be worse JacquesHammer. A cat used to regularly strop its claws on my neighbour's tyres. It was his wife's cat. Maybe there were marital tensions I didn't know about...

EponasWildDaughter · 15/02/2016 11:44

I find it really odd that the law protects the right to purchase and breed this one species and then let them roam about on other peoples property shitting ect.

Imagine if it was dogs, monkeys and anything else as well? How has this happened? Confused

It's only treated as 'perfectly acceptable' because it's been this way for so long, and this law provides an easy/lazy way to own a pet. There's no logic in it when you really think about it.

We managed to make a cat proof fence round our garden really easily. Just got a load of those L shaped metal brackets which you'd use for hanging hanging-baskets from or for putting up shelves - fixed up on the wall/fence with longest bit sticking out into the garden, and then ran cheap pond netting over them. I think the whole lot cost us about 40 quid. The netting was black and almost invisible. The fence was only a normal garden fence about 5ft high.

Our cats couldn't jump up and over to get out (they tried for a couple of days and then gave up) and a surprising bonus was that other cats didn't seem to fancy jumping/walking over the net ledge to get in.

Fluffycloudland77 · 15/02/2016 11:44

Not really humane is it though?.

I don't think you realise how odd/deranged you sound. Like some of you can't cope with life.

limitedperiodonly · 15/02/2016 11:47

But it's not conducive to good neighbourly relations to insist that the shit in her garden is probably from a fox, badger, someone else's cat when you have a cat that she says she's seen shitting in her garden.

That tends to inflame the situation. Apologising, as the OP has done, and offering to clean up every now and then, which I hope she will, may calm things down.

And if she really wants to rule out her pet as the suspect shitter, she can have a DNA test done on the evidence.

FlowersAndShit · 15/02/2016 11:52

I've had my new cat for a month now (he's two) and I'll be letting him out soon but things like this worry me. It's cruel to keep cats indoors but I'm worried about cat-hating neighbours hurting him or him getting run over. I live in a cul-de-sac and there are a few other cats opposite. I wish there was an easier solution.

TealLove · 15/02/2016 11:54

It's cruel to keep certain breeds in. I have a bengal who absolutely has to roam or he will get unwell.
How is it any different to all the dog shit you see all over the place? You don't hear about people wanting to randomly kill dogs.

ceebie · 15/02/2016 11:57

Not really humane is it though? I don't think you realise how odd/deranged you sound. Like some of you can't cope with life.

Well, I'm not really being very serious though, am I? I absolutely promise that I will not send any cats into space. Not one. Pinky promise.

Sometimes when something is very, very annoying, it's ok to have a little rant about it. It's not the same thing as actual actions.

JacquesHammer · 15/02/2016 11:57

How is it any different to all the dog shit you see all over the place?

The difference being that should a dog owner not clear up after their pet they can be prosecuted.

I wouldn't harm an animal in a month of Sundays. But nor do I see why I should deal with a cat wrecking my car. Or sneaking in my house and scratching my carpet.

JohnLuther · 15/02/2016 11:59

I'm far from a cat lover but come on, saying you want to kill them makes you look like a cunt.

ceebie · 15/02/2016 12:00

How is it any different to all the dog shit you see all over the place? You don't hear about people wanting to randomly kill dogs.

I love dogs, but owners letting their dogs poo in public places makes me angry too. I would offer to send dogs into space attached to a meterological balloon too, but people will take me seriously and tell me I'm deranged.