To NOT want the neighbours cats shitting in my garden?

[legolimb]

Newish house - with a large garden.

Our neighbours seem to all have cats which wander where they like.

Just been out to shoo one away and caught it casually squeezing one out whilst staring me in the eye. It couldn't care less.

Obviously IANBU to not want this - so what suggestions does anyone have to keep the dirty little beggars out?

I can still smell it sick, not envy..

*polite thing... not thug 🤦‍♀️

You need to scare them so they don’t associate your garden with being their toilet. Spray with hose or growl at them like a dog. None of the deterrents that you can put down work. I had some success with the stick in the ground things off Amazon that emit an ultra sonic noise when they detect them.

You'll also have birds, squirrels, foxes and hedgehogs pooing in your garden.

Those creatures are all wildlife, dopey, and therefore have as much right to the garden as OP does. The OP is trying to rid herself of the man-made nuisance. Also the poos of many of those creatures are less noticeable and less offensive.

Electronic scorers can work but either some are rubbish, or some cats aren’t affected by them. In any case, I rather resent the cost of controlling the behaviour of somebody else’s bird-murderer.

If you go down the water pistol route, you’ll need the Super Soaker type for optimum range and accuracy. A squeeze of lemon juice in the water leaves puss with something to remember you by when it comes to cleaning itself up. This can be enough to put it off using your garden as a toilet altogether.

Anti-vandal paint on the tops of fences is satisfying and might eventually persuade the owners to get rid of the cat to save their carpets.

Another option is to scoop and return all turds to the neighbours' front porch.

If all else fails, keep a pet lion.

You can absolutely toilet train a cat. Do all these people claiming otherwise think cat owners allow them to shit all over their house?

we had a massive issue.
garlic powder, chilli powder and smelly shower gels (those christmas gifts you don't know what to do with)

.

Ooh a PP has just reminded me - you can actually buy lion crap from some zoos. Apparently it is fantastic for keeping cats away. Yes you have to have a lion shit in your garden for a day or two, but they can smell it a mile off and will remember it. I don't know how I'd feel about a lion poo in my garden but it depends on how much the cats are winding you up/other solutions have failed.
For a less pongy option, my parents use a super soaker and also borrow ddog :)

We never had a problem with cat shit.
However we used to have loads of cats just walking through our garden. No problem they were all friendly and when DD was a baby she loved to talk to them.

Then we got a cat. A very territorial cat.
We never see any cats anymore.

Next doors had the balls to jump into our garden to get home the other day. Our cat put a swift stop to that.

I just can't understand all these cats who don't dig a hole and bury their poos. Our cat literally digs a well before relieving himself. This being the main reason he won't use a litter box.... too shallow.

We did have a stray coming round and pooing on the long grass, and also beating up our cat, and spraying all round all our doors, which stunk. He came in the house too, so we invested in an electronic cat flap.

Anyway, I digress. DH bought a BB gun. Some of you may be upset by this, but boy does it work. It doesn't kill them of course, but does give them a hell of a sting. DH spent many happy hours sat by the upstairs windows aiming for the little git. I love cats, but this one is truly revolting, dirty, mangey, flea ridden, full male. spraying, shitting monster. Haven't seen him for a while, so hope it has done the trick.

Found that curry powder scattered round worked well.

We used washing up liquid on the grass and flower beads. It seemed to work.

We used lion dung www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Roar-Lion-Manure-Repellant/dp/B0002B7OT2?tag=mumsnetforum-21. It worked!

BB gun? No, horrible. Water pistols work fine

DH bought a BB gun. Some of you may be upset by this, but boy does it work. It doesn't kill them of course, but does give them a hell of a sting. DH spent many happy hours sat by the upstairs windows aiming for the little git.

Your DH is a cunt.

I have 3 cats, all rescues. They go out to play then come in to use the litter tray - too posh to go in the garden now I guess! Next door has 3 cats too - funnily enough they don't come into my garden as my very territorial female would probably eat them! I am not sure a dog is a good deterrent either - my dog is a big woose - the cats always win!

Would you like to borrow ddog? 😂 I love cats but I'm not tolerating them shitting in my garden. If we see one my spaniel has been actively encouraged to chase them away. He loves this game! He gets a biscuit and the cats never get down off the fence anymore

The cat that lives in the house the neighbours own is probably a lovely cat, other than the use of your garden. I'd suggest the orange peel or the washing up liquid.

We tried all sorts but the only thing that deterred them permanently was chopped up citrus fruit scattered around, plus planting up more so there was less bare soil to poo in.

Feed it cats don't shit where they eat

You can absolutely toilet train a cat. Do all these people claiming otherwise think cat owners allow them to shit all over their house?
Our cat is very well trained. She only does her poo in a litter tray or on bare earth. But I'm not sure she's worked out which is OUR bare earth and which is someone else's.

Not sure you can blame the owners

Yes, of course you can. They're the ones who chose to have a cat. They're the ones who couldn't be arsed to train it to use cat litter. They're the ones who chose to let it roam 24/7.

You have my sympathy OP - we had this problem for years. Our house has a big garden and backs onto a house with a tiny garden (like a courtyard). Despite having no outdoor space the owners had five cats , so they would all come over for a crap, it was disgusting.

The only thing that (eventually) worked was growing a tall spikey hedge all along the back boundary so they couldn’t make a quick exit if I ran at them with the hose pipe!

To all those suggesting getting a dog or cat, I don’t want a pet. Looking after one would be more work than clearing up cat poo!

It's very cruel to make a cat live indoors who is not used to it. And given that we, and most people we know who have cats, got them from a rescue and have them neutered, those cats exist and have to have somewhere to live.
Our cat WILL use a litter tray but if she has access to outdoors she also uses bare earth.

Don't put lemon juice or anything other than water in the water bottle/spray gun (as suggested by a PP) as this could damage the cat's eyes. Water is enough to deter them eventually.

@OlderThanAverageforMN this sounds like the behaviour of a very cruel and unpleasant person. What if your DH got the cat's face/eyes. You really don't 'love cats'.

@charlestonchaplin They are all animals, grumpy (if we're naming dwarfs) and therefore don't worry about human boundaries. The cat will see OP's garden as theirs even though the Land Registry wouldn't back it up.