To wonder what you would say to a neighbour complaining about your cat weeing and pooing their prize vegetable garden?

[Upthepong]

Just that really. I'm a bit non-plussed about it all

If you can't stop your animal inconveniencing others, don't keep that animal
I might be horribly inconvenienced if some batshit mad dog jumped at me with muddy paws and dirtied my clothes. But I think oh well, I can't prohibit an owner from having a dog just because of that. That would be idiotic.

Owning a cat is pretty antisocial in my opinion. They are bad for wildlife and crap in other people's gardens.

Completely agree. Why is it ok to choose to own a pet and then claim no responsibility for it fouling and impacting on your neighbours? If you must own cats keep them indoors where they aren't causing unpleasantness for other people.

How do you stop a cat killing birds?! Zippycat has only caught one that I know about in his nine years. He once brought in a live toad to show me and a whole bird's egg gently carried in his mouth.

I don't like dogs. They smell, they slobber, are loud and annoying, poo and the owners don't always pick it up. They jump up and can be intimidating. Obv the latter doesn't apply to the dog-rats on leads I see.

I'm sure this doesn't apply to all dogs. But while the cat haters are busy tarring them all with the same brush....

On the basis of the arguments on this thread about pets and faeces, why doesn't anyone tell a horse rider to pick up after their horse? The local bypass doesn't need manure...

Totally agree @Squigglesworth
It's not on allowing a dog to disrupt someone else's life, most people would complain at a dog barking all day, or disrupting their lives in some way and demand owners take responsibility - and rightly so - so why doesn't the same apply to cats? If they're not causing an issue to anyone else then fine, but if they are you chose to get a cat, deal with the concequences.
And there are irresponsible dog owners, and yes they need clamping down on and it needs to change. But because there are irresponsible dog owners, doesn't give cat owners carter blanche to be irresponsible too. Both are wrong.

Horse manure is exempt as horses don't eat meat or something.

Who do you need to get angry with if a stray cat poos in your garden?

The people that state just keep them indoors have you ever owned or worked with cats?
My cat chose to go outside by charging past me everytime I entered the house. When I worked in the rescue there were 3 doors to get through before you reached the outside. The door to the cats run, that opened up into a corridor with a door at the end. This then went into another area with a door before you reached the outside. Every door had to be shut and locked behind you to stop the cats getting out cause they are quick when they want to be.

On the basis of the arguments on this thread about pets and faeces, why doesn't anyone tell a horse rider to pick up after their horse? The local bypass doesn't need manure...

The bypass isn't someone's private property and generally responsible parents don't let their children play there!

Funny this topic came up, my son rents a house out ,tenants have lived there for about 10 years, but the next door neighbour is ranting about their 2 cats going in his garden, he contacted me several times, as i am the first point of contact, i have spoken to the tenants and they have dug over a part of their garden and put used cat litter in to attract the cats to it
This next door neighbour has admittedly a nice garden, but insists its these 2 cats making a mess, he wants my son to evict them over this, even told a woman higher up the street to keep her cat away, he is a moaner, and even though i can understand its a nuisance, i have explained cats cant be controlled like dogs, so now he has complained to the environmental health, ad they have been to see these tenants,and had a word,but also told him you cant control where cats go, [this man has a cat by the way, but says it is not his doing the damage,] he has now got the police involved and even though not a police matter a policeman came to see me and said he has complained, but now added a few more complaints
I am just going to ignore his texts from now on, as it is ALL about the cats, the tenants are building a higher fence so hopefully can keep the cats in their garden, when i visited the tenants the 2 cats were both laid on the back of a chair asleep, and they keep them in at night, so how can he say its their cats
The thing is,they are a family, and he lives next door alone,so even a slight noise will sound loud to him, [even though he said he was deaf]
The lady from EH wont go again on her own, and asked the police to go with her,as she felt intimidated by thisan, as i did when he visited me
My son lives abroad which is why i am involved

There is difference between a dog owner walking their dog and ignoring the fact has pooed on a pavement and walking on and a catowner who quite honestly has no idea where their cats go to toilet because they are roaming animals. If a neighbour actually witnessed my cat using their garden as a litter tray I would gladly pick it up, no worries. So no not all cat owners shrug their shoulders but neither do all dog owners act responsibly either.

We live in a large village and someone complained on the local Facebook page about equestrians not clearing up after their horses. Needless to say, they were handed their arse.

Very sad to see cats persecuted on mumsnet in this way. But I think that this is a screwed thread, a lot of MN contributors are desperately trying to portray a middle class ideal and this includes the black lab diligently following the stay at home mum and her 2.4 children around the village. There isn’t a lot of time for hard working women and their adorable kitties. In the real world cats are worshipped and 99% of people couldn’t give two hoots if there is cat poo in the vicinity!

When DS was small, one year we helped him build a little garden in a slate planter. He planted seeds and was really excited about watching them grow. Within about 2 days the sodding neighbor's cat dug it up and took a massive shit in the middle of it. Cat spent years shitting in our garden, to the point where we couldn't walk across the lawn without watching every step. Killed birds, particularly in nesting season and when the fledglings came out.

We now have a young lurcher with a massive prey drive, which seems to have solved the problem. Cat still ventures in occasionally, but sooner or later there's going to be a showdown, I reckon. Sad, but what can you do?

What a very strange post, Minglemangle

Most people wouldn't want to eat veg they knew a cat had shit on. The digging must also disturb seedlings that someone has spent time and money on. I think buying some sort of cat deterrent is a neighbourly thing to do.

Totally agree with Squigglesworth. It's the nonchalant attitude of cat owners that gets right up my nose.
I do not hate cats. I think they are gorgeous but theres no getting away from the fact that the majority of cat owners want everyone to simply accept that their cat will shit in their garden and they'd really rather prefer it if you didn't mention their cat has shit in your garden, just bend down and clean it up, whilst simultaneously admiring your cat, because anything else amount to cat hatred apparently.

When I was a young girl, dogs used to roam the streets, there would be hard white piles of shit all over the place. It was seen as cruel to keep dogs in and it was just something dogs did. There was absolutely no expectation on a dog owner to pick up their shit and it would sit in the street going hard and white.
Somewhere along the lines, it was felt that this was hazardous for people and dog owners were held accountable for their dogs.
As a result, dogs dont roam the street anymore. I dont believe theres as much dog shit on the pavement as there was then. Dog owners are regularly approached if they fail to pick up their dogs shit, but nothing has changed for cats.

Where I live now, cats shit anywhere they want, they kill birds and wildlife, they fight and cause a terrible noise at night and they dart out into the main road causing cars to swerve!
Yet it appears that despite becoming responsible for our dogs, for some reason we cant be held responsible for our cats.
And I dont accept that we have to let them roam because its cruel otherwise.
Animals in a zoo are not left to roam, because they would cause too much damage.
Are cat owners saying their cats arent causing enough damage to warrant being contained?
Do you all really think that people complaining about your cats shit are just being a bit precious? Because that's how it comes across I'm afraid.

Very sad to see cats persecuted

I don't want to persecute cats. I love them. The point is, I don't want one, I don't want my garden turned into a cat toilet and I would like to have my bedroom fan light open without a cat coming in.

Why am I wrong? If I get another dog are any cat owners here ok with me dropping them into your garden to have a poo or to post them through your open window? If not, why not?

I have a small vegetable patch that nothing grew in last summer because a neighbour's cat had turned it into a toilet.

I appreciate that cats need to be outdoors but I hope that you cat owners can have some empathy about how frustrating it is to have something you love doing ruined by an animal that is the responsibility of someone else?

OP if you want to be a good neighbour then buy them a range of cat deterrents for their garden. Take some responsibility for the actions of your pet.

Buying the devices is a good idea, shows willing. You have, after all, decided to impose a former farm cat on your neighbours in a residential area. So I think definitely you want to be seen to be doing something.

minglemangle 99% of people in reality do NOT love cats or not give a fig about their faeces and destruction. I absolutely hate cats: their smell, their sleekit eyes, their superiority and their shitting all over the garden/ rubber chips ( so much so that I have to check the garden constantly before the kids play outside). Whilst not wishing them harm, I cannot think of anything worse than owning a cat. The latest new craze in my area, a cat cafe, makes me feel like sicking in my mouth.

I'd just say thanks for letting me know. I wouldn't do anything or offer anything. If he's that bothered he can bet the veg or look into deterrents.

If you think only 1% of the population like cats you're deluded.

Backs slowly away from the thread. Considers name change...

If you choose to have an animal that indulges in antisocial habits, then clean up after it, keep it indoors, get rid of it, or do not look surprised when your neighbours don't like it or you. Anymore than if I sent my toddler round to your house every night to poo on your doorstep.

"We could all choose to be more tolerant".... of parasites? Of a wrecked ecology? You could choose to be more tolerant of other people's right not to have shit they did not cause in their vegetable patches! What you mean is "I want" therefore everyone and everything else has to go out of their way for YOU.