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Original poster

SPike rods on fence to stop cats coming in?

226 replies

Hitmewithit · 22/04/2017 07:46

My garden is lovely, my daughter will love it this summer, but unfortunately the neighbours cat keeps coming and shitting all over my grass. I bought repelant and used it for a week, i thought it worked but then a massive shit in the middle of the lawn followed by a load of sloppy shit by the fence. I only have a small grass area and I'm getting really fucked off with the grass being shat on. It makes me feel like the lawn stinks and full of germs if my daughter wants to crawl around on it or if we sit on it. I feel like I'll need to disinfect it if I want to go out there with her.

I've seen the cat that does it, I've chucked water at it, chased it away etc but it still comes back!!

I'm tempted to go to Homebase today and get some of these spiked rods that I've seen. Is this legal to do?

OP posts:
cadybradia · 22/04/2017 11:35

"It makes me feel like the lawn stinks and full of germs if my daughter wants to crawl around on it or if we sit on it. I feel like I'll need to disinfect it if I want to go out there with her."

This seems a bit extreme. Are you generally obsessed with germs and contamination?

There are bacteria in soil anyway, there's no such thing as a clean/sterile garden.

I would just tell my daughter not to go near any poo.

TheWeeBabySeamus1 · 22/04/2017 11:38

You can get rubber spikes for your fence so the cats can't get over, but it won't injure them, I'm sure I've seen them on Amazon.

00Salix00 · 22/04/2017 11:42

Human male urine deters cats from crapping in gardens. Don't ask me how I know this.

Also, rubbing Vicks vapo rub on the fence works too.

Bloody cats.

PeaFaceMcgee · 22/04/2017 11:42

I would just tell my daughter not to go near any poo

I think it's a baby.

It's not remotely extreme to not want cat shit in your lawn.

user1489179512 · 22/04/2017 11:45

What an absolutely lovely thing to think of doing.

cadybradia · 22/04/2017 11:45

If it's a baby it will need supervision anyway so it's still a non issue.

SquatBetty · 22/04/2017 11:45

Another one here agreeing that cats DO shit out in the open sometimes. One of mine does it periodically on our lawn - it's called 'middening' and is a territory marking thing. And yes I didn't notice it last time and mowed over it.

Sympathies OP, it must be horrible. I hope you find a way to deter them humanely

user1489179512 · 22/04/2017 11:48

Aren't human beings the best...?
(Rhetorical)

MiddlingMum · 22/04/2017 11:51

There seem to be a lot of cat owners or cat lovers here who think it's acceptable for their cat to poo on other people's property. It isn't. Don't get a pet if you can't be responsible for its poo Angry

The OP isn't being precious, she's being entirely reasonable if she doesn't want her baby crawling into cat poo.

JacquesHammer · 22/04/2017 11:51

I had the same thing when I ripped out my garden and gravelled the whole lot

Did you do like me and give a small laugh because I didn't really feel I could say "are you on fucking glue"

I would just tell my daughter not to go near any poo

Yes because it isn't remotely unreasonable to NOT want another person's pet crapping on your lawn, just tell your kids not to use it

TittyGolightly · 22/04/2017 11:52

Are you absolutely sure the cat is the one pooing on the lawn? Cats usually will go for places like flowerbeds, plant pots or gravel, somewhere they can scratch up afterwards to cover the poo. It'd be quite unusual for them to poo out in the middle of a lawn

Utter bollocks usually spouted by cat owners who don't have a fucking clue what their little darlings do in other people's gardens

GahBuggerit · 22/04/2017 11:58

Fucking hell why would anyone think this is ok?

As for "it wouldn't cause death" Biscuit maybe not, but fuck me why do something that would injure it?

Humans, we really are wankers aren't we.

PeaFaceMcgee · 22/04/2017 12:02

Not spikes. Go for cat proof fencing. If you send pics of your garden some companies can come up with good solutions.

I'm a cat owner and think all owners have a responsibility to keep their cats on their own property.

user1488756360 · 22/04/2017 12:02

I don't think the spikes will keep the cats out unless every little gap is covered. Lots of other things you can do to deter cats. We have cats so I get where you're coming from. All of our back garden in grass/no soil because we have cats and small children.

JacquesHammer · 22/04/2017 12:07

We appear to have a new neighbourhood cat who has taken to sitting in the middle of my drive. And refusing to move when I am pulling in.

We've seen it twice and twice my DD has had to get out and shoo it away with my being marooned half out into the road because the stupid fucking pest won't move.

Why do people choose to have pets who inconvenience others so much.

Ifitquackslikeaduck · 22/04/2017 12:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ifitquackslikeaduck · 22/04/2017 12:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Neverm1nd · 22/04/2017 12:09

I got some of the cat safe spikes, the plastic ones with blunted tops that are uncomfortable to stand on (cat equivalent of standing on a leg brick I think). This was to try to stop my own cats going next door where they had toddlers. The cats soon learned how to walk on these rods. In desperation I stapled long blackberry branches along the top of the fence...I heard the parents swearing about the cat mess and was mortified. The prickly blackberry canes were VERY effective and the cats started going out the front over the one section of fence I deliberately hadn't booby trapped, and into the fields instead. Yes, my cats probably got a thorn in the foot initially. But it protected relations with the neighbours and meant the neighbours didn't do anything drastic to my cats which I was genuinely concerned about.

ShatnersWig · 22/04/2017 12:13

Never ceases to amaze me on these threads how often cat owners say "cats never shit in the open" when someone says they have cat shit on their lawn.

Having suffered hugely for eighteen months due to a neighbour having 20 fucking cats despite living in an upstairs flat and finding and seeing said cats shit in borders and on lawn, I can tell you without doubt, yes they bloody do shit in the open.

And I like cats. Fortunately we were able to get these cats removed from the owner (poor buggers) and the problem has receded. But it's disgusting and I wish there was more that legally could be done about it.

thenightsky · 22/04/2017 12:17

The roller system looks good, but why do the victims of poo have to spend money to keep cats out?

Surely the cat owners should be the ones cat-proofing their gardens to keep their cats in.

That would be responsible pet ownership.

charlestonchaplin · 22/04/2017 12:20

Nanny0gg You may be fortunate to have never had a rodent enter your home, but many people kill mice and rats without a second thought, not to mention spiders and other creepy crawlies. All animals.

Cats are not wildlife, just a human indulgence, and another way by which humans harm wildlife. How many cat owners care about the killing of birds and other small mammals by their cats? These are animals. Cats are a pest, and they are a particularly troublesome pest because of their huge numbers. The number of foxes is absolutely dwarfed by cat numbers because fox numbers are kept down by natural forces. And because there are generally no limits on the number of cats that people can keep, some people are particularly badly affected by their selfish, thoughtless neighbours.

So if you want to guide the OP in a different direction it might be better to come up with a logical argument instead of this sentimental tosh.

ShatnersWig · 22/04/2017 12:22

In America the cat shitting problem is rare and I think in some states owners can be fined just as dog owners. 90% of cats in the US are house cats and trained to use litter trays and get declawed so they don't scratch or damage furniture (poor buggers). Some owners take cats for walks on leads and pick up cat shit as they would dog shit.

Iamastonished · 22/04/2017 12:25

Shatners Having 20 cats in an upstairs flat is pretty grim. It's not surprising that they use other people's lawns as a cat loo. When we first got our cats we made sure that they only used their litter tray because we didn't want to upset the neighbours for this very reason.

And they did. They used to come back into the house to use the tray. It wasn't until we moved to an area with bigger gardens that they realised that they could use the flower bed. I got on really well with my neighbours and I know that if the cats had used other people's lawns as a toilet the neighbours would have let me know.

sabs22 · 22/04/2017 12:26

I would do anything I needed to to keep cats out. If they get hurt then they will hopefully learn not to come back!

illegitimateMortificadospawn · 22/04/2017 12:37

The other thing that irritates me about having to pave over the lawn, asidefrom doing it at our expense because of other people's pets, is that we get a lot of birdlife in our garden because of the lawn (eg blackbirds & thrushes looking for worms, sparrows & tits for the grass seeds) & we'll lose them too. Sad