To ask neighbours to keep their cats indoors?

[TwoBucksPizzaSlices]

Recently had new neighbours move in below us (it's a large converted house consisting of a one-up and one-down flat) and they're absolutely lovely. Considerate with their music and tv levels given we have a baby and a toddler, always apologetic if I've had to take in a parcel for them - just generally really nice people.

However, a few weeks ago I noticed two new cats in their garden (the bottom flat has the back garden and we have a spiral staircase leading from our balcony outside our kitchen, in to their garden as a fire escape). Given we've lived here for two and a half years, we know which house has which cats, so I immediately made the link between these two cats and our new neighbours.

I wasn't bothered at all, we're cat people, love them, but it is in our tenancy agreement (and evidently downstairs too!) that no pets are allowed. A few days went past after I first spotted the cats, and the cats started sitting on our balcony by our back door. Again, not a massive issue, they wasn't causing any trouble and our balcony isn't used for anything other than keeping our food bin and recycling bags on.
But then, whenever I tried opening our back door, I had to start fighting away little cat noses and paws that were desperately trying to get in. When I'm cooking of an evening, they're up against our back door meowing!

Fast forward another week or so, and their cats are coming in to our flat! I like to have my kitchen window open to air out the flat as I can't have the lounge or nursery windows open due to small children, but the cats come in through the kitchen window and stroll about my flat. I like to have the kitchen door open in summer too, to get a nice breeze coming in, but now I can't see that I'm going to be able to do that when the weather picks up.

I spoke to neighbour the other day and made him aware what his cats were doing and he said he was going to put some things at the bottom of our fire escape (which can be easily moved by us in an emergency) to block his cats from getting up. He did so, but cats being cats, they just knock it over and stroll on up.

Today, I was making my bed and heard my toddler going 'cat! Cat!' From the baby gate across our lounge door, I turned around and sure enough, there was a cat in our hallway. I only had the kitchen window open maybe a palms width and the bugger still squeezed through!

If I see the cats just as they're about to come in, it's not a huge problem as I can just pick them up and put them back outside. But my issue is that I have to put my baby down for naps throughout the day so can't always see what's going on outside of the nursery, and I don't feel like I should have to have my windows shut to stop other people's pets coming in to my home. If I don't see the cats come in, they could easily make themselves comfy on our bed, our go in to our lounge where our boisterous toddler could potentially antagonise them and end up getting hurt.

I know cats will be cats and there's not a great deal our neighbours can do about it, but (as nice a person as I am, and a cat lover too) I'm reaching my limit and don't believe it's down to me to keep my windows shut to prevent neighbours pets coming in to my home.

What should I do?

if you ask them to keep the cats indoors then you'll offend them

No, don't offend the people whose cats are causing you a problem,....God forbid!

Try an aerosol can of compressed air -the type you use to dust keyboards. They hate it.

Quick squirt and our cats stop doing whatever they're not meant to - no mess and not mean - they just really don't like the noise

You could do what we did to stop insects coming in when the windows were open in the summer.
I bought two of those expanding/spring loaded rods that you use for net curtains, putting one at the top of thewindow frame and one ar the bottom, threading the hem of a net curtain through both poles. It covered the whole window and stopped anything getting through the window, apart from fresh air, and wasn't a prmanent fixture.

Also a cat owner and one of mine tried to get into next door but I told them to spray him and he only ever did it once when they did!
I have heard that if you spray them from a hidden vantage point (behind a curtain or something) then they won’t even try coming back as they can’t tell where it came from so it’s not as if they try again if they see you’re not there iykwim?

Maybe the landlord has approved it? I had a no pets policy but I had a really nice family move into my rental and they asked if they could have a cat. I said yes as long as they paid a higher deposit which they agreed to.

I'm a cat lover but a quick spray with a water bottle will soon give them the message if you don't want them in the flat (It really not cruel providing you don't soak them and it's just water).

That said, I'd love random cats to wander into my house :)

Maybe the landlord has approved it?

Maybe they did. Or maybe they have had this problem before which is why they now say no pets. Who knows.

They are responsible for the cats so need to find a way to stop them coming into your house - their job, not yours. Are they being fed properly, if they are that hungry that they are pawing at your door when you're cooking? I would definitely try to get the neighbour to sort it (without blocking the fire exit which is a big no no). If not, then get a water pistol. You probably will only have to do it once or twice and it won't hurt them.

@ZaraW read the OP's posts. She already said on page 2 that the neighbours told her they didn't get approval for the cats.

well, I put a large bucket of cold water outside my back door. Whenever next doors cat came in, I picked it up and dropped it into the bucket.

cat gets a scare and gets wet, and doesn't want to return. It took a little while, but he gave up coming in in the end

@Limensoda the OP seemed quite reluctant to upset the new neighbours - I was just pointing out that asking them to keep their cats in is likely to offend them. Cat owners seem to view keeping their roaming pets confined as tantamount to animal abuse. My next door neighbour was reluctant to confine her murdering feline for a mere half hour while I tried to catch an injured blackbird last summer.

I think people should have to cat-proof their gardens before being allowed to keep a cat, personally, but hey ho - not going to happen, sadly.

I wouldn't tell the landlord as they might then move and you get a neighbour from hell. Def water pistols, clanging pots and pans near them. By picking them up and being kind they think your house is an extension of theirs.

OrdinaryGirl

after a week I would ask them to keep the cats inside. If that didn't work I would say something to the letting agent / landlord

Don't do that, OP, it's SO twatty your neighbours sound really nice! I would hate to have loud kids living in close proximity to me so they are putting up with your crap, have some compassion and put up with theirs (yours sounds way more annoying than theirs, you yourself have said your kids are very noisy)

Definitely don't get one of those noise things as not only you'll be able to hear them, but so will your kids, especially since they're young.

You can also try putting some orange oil in a humidifier as cats presumably hate citrus smells (unless they're like my mum's cat who loves them!).

Uhhhh, what!? @Mushroomsarehorrible
The difference between them 'putting up with my crap' is they had the option to ask the estate agent who their neighbours were going to be...

I actually can't believe you're comparing my CHILDREN to someone else's pets coming in to my home.. which they're not allowed to have anyway...

😄

Eh, mushrooms? unless OP's kids are crawling through neighbour's windows and prowling round the house, I don't think it's comparable

If you fill a bottle full of stones and shake it loudly while you approach them and shoo them out they'll avoid you as well

Anything that gives them a fright will help - one of my neighbours has two solar powered frogs from poundland that are motion activated so anytime a cat passes they make a noise. All of the local cats detest them and avoid her garden.

i have a stalker cat as well who absolute harasses my cat no matter what water you spray he wont go away

I think just accept you have a cat share with no bills 🤷🏽‍♀️

Flat cats are screens that stick up with Velcro - just pull them off when you move out. It's annoying but they are not going to stop the cats if they are used to being outside, so you need to do something to stop them coming in

I also agree with mushrooms, they could ask who the neighbours are but no-one is seriously going to say 'they have noisy kids which can be very frustrating to live next to'. We all have to put up with the inconvenience of neighbours, and things we don't like about them (and yes, noisy children can fall into that category as the screeching at all hours can be bloody annoying if you don't have them yourself) so for the sake of neighbourly harmony I would find tactics to deal with the cats if they are otherwise good neighbours -What is to say you won't get the stench of weed, or loud late night parties if they move out and new people move in? Or worse, really quiet people who consider your family as the nuisance....

Why should op have to spend money on screens or just accept someone else's cat coming into her home? Cats should be kept in the home and garden of their owner who decided to get a cat and not allowed to roam wherever they like using other people's gardens as toilets.

We had a similar problem with next doors cat last summer when I had all the windows open during the heat wave. The bloody thing kept coming in and wouldn't sod off so I started keeping a water pistol in every room and soaking it when it tried to get in. I also told the dcs to scare it off or squirt it if they saw it in the garden. It took a few soakings for it to get the message and stay out of my house but it did work eventually.

I echo the water pistol trick. Our cat used to wreck our venetian blinds trying to get through them to see through the window roll eyes - we started giving him a small spray with a water pistol when he started up - it only took two occasions for him to stop it completely!