Neighbour very ranty about our cat

[CaptainWarbeck]

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?

Yabu.

Your cat. Your responsibility.

How's this for a practical solution...

Get HER a cat.

Her cat will then defend 'his/her' territory ie. her garden and your cat won't get a look in.

Simples.

Alternatively, next time she complains, tell her that you now keep your cat inside and it must be another neighbourhood cat.

Can somebody tell me how to do the cheeky wide grin smile emoji?

Lots of British people love cats. Sometimes they're really annoying, that's just life. I have a cat, but the foxes that mate in the front garden (sounds truly horrific if you've ever heard it) and drag all the recycling out of the boxes and leave it everywhere are far more annoying.

I had an 19-pound Maine Coon cat for 18.5 years -- indoor only except for occasional walks on a lead. He was happy, healthy, sociable, much-loved by friends and family and living proof that a cat can lead a long and pleasant life without going outdoors to kill songbirds, sully the neighbors' property or get hit by a car.

Any cat can adjust to being indoor-only if the owners exert themselves sufficiently.

You know less about cats than you do about how to make a

Nighty night

Well our cat certainly won't let another set paw in the garden!

Go on, don't be a meanie, do share :)

Katnisnevergreen agree! Everytime there is a dog or cat thread( cat mainly) some posters think it is ok to speak or joke about killing or hurting them!
I think it's sick to even joke about it.
I get annoyed treading in dog poo, i don't want to kill any dogs.
I get annoyed by kids repeatedly screaming in queues or running around in cafes, yet i don't wish violence on them.
Cats poo in my garden, yes it's not nice but it's life. Not all cats like to be locked up.
I haven't always been a cat owner, yet i have always thought this.
coffee me too.
We have two. One rarely leaves the house but the other can't be locked in all day. We're not irresponsible owners, it would be cruel to do so.
They were both strays, the one for many years. They were both in horrendous states when we took them in. We've only just got them to tolerate being locked up at night but in the day not a chance. We think the one may have been locked in somewhere for a while before we had him.
They also don't kill birds, or any small animals. They are terrified of anything that moves. My rabbits only have to stomp and they are gone.
It's a myth that cats are the cause of the decline of birds according to the rspca.

limited you kicked your cat?

We also have several litter trays but it doesn't mean all cats will decide to go there rather than outside..

We have a litter tray which the cat ignores & prefers to shit outside. However, he does it in our own borders so hopefully he's not pestering the neighbours! I always worry when I see a rogue bit of cat poo out the front in case it's ours (likely to be the big cat that comes round at night to taunt ours( but always pick it up when noones looking just in case

Cat owners really have no idea of the volume of poo that can accumulate in the garden of a non cat owner.

I don't have cats. I also can't remember the last time I had cat poo in our garden, despite several cats living around here.

I do find fox poo, sometimes, we have at least one urban fox around here.

No kali my rabbit kicked my cat

Raspberry. You are lucky. We have a massive cat population round here. One summer DH was filling a whole bag for life a week. Our garden is not huge.

I don't give much of a shit (see what I did there) about cat poo. I do really get pissed when next's doors scratty little bastard damages my property.

Cats need to be allowed outside, it is cruel to do otherwise. I am not a cat owner and get cat poo in my garden. I also get fox poo and squirrels digging up my bulbs.

The RSPB estimate that cats kill 1/4 of a million songbirds every year.
And most cat owners dont bother to worm their cats regularly, which is why one study found that nearly 50% of the human population tested positive for toxoplasmosis.
Keep your cats indoors.

Cats!! Grr!
Sonic deterrents are the way forward. We have 6 to cover the whole garden and now they go elsewhere.
Probably still not their own garden ...

limitedperiodonly my apologies!!
My rabbits can't get close enough to mine, they leg it!!

*No evidence
Despite the large numbers of birds killed, there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease, or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds.

Those bird species that have undergone the most serious population declines in the UK (such as skylarks, tree sparrows and corn buntings) rarely encounter cats, so cats cannot be causing their declines. Research shows that these declines are usually caused by habitat change or loss, particularly on farmland.*
Rspb

You can have litter trays, but there is no guarantees that cats will use them.
I don't have a cat but cats are independent, cats roam and cats are not supposed to be locked indoors.

I can't believe the cruelty of people saying that cats should stay indoors.

I don't have a cat but cats are independent, cats roam and cats are not supposed to be locked indoors

So say you were a cat owner....how would you deal with your cat damaging the next door neighbour's property?

Perhaps wrongly I don't think digging up some of a flower bed in next door's garden is damaging property - but agree it would pi$$ me off.

I would go with the water pistol idea, and spray lemon juice over everything - it worked for me when cats ripped up our black bags every night.

It happened so quickly kali. The cat suddenly appeared by the rabbit but didn't do anything threatening. He seemed to be just curious, but you never know... The rabbit turned and thumped him so hard I could hear it. The poor cat was lying on the ground breathless.

We came out of the hoyse last week to a man whose dog was pooing on our lawn at the front of the house. A pile of loose poo. He smiled (the man not the dog) and scooped it up in a plastic bag and wandered off, leaving loose poo sticking to our lawn.

Excuse my ignorance as I don't know much about cats but the people who were talking about lion poo-is it literally the poo of a lion? If so, where do you get it from if there are big cats roaming around your neighbourhood then surely you have bigger problems than cat poo

I would be delighted if our neighbours would give us the go ahead to water pistol their constantly-pooing-in-our-garden cats but am too embarrassed to ask and instead forced to resort to surreptitiously chasing them off instead 😕