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Original poster

Neighbours cats

64 replies

Hullabalooo · 09/06/2019 17:53

My neighbours have six cats which seem to be free roaming and out all day. They're a nice family next door but the cats are driving me nuts.

They shit everywhere and it stinks. It's become a full time job keeping them out of my small patio garden so it's not a horrible place to sit in and one of them even broke in once whilst I was away and shat in my bath.

They sit on my door mat and shed fur everywhere and have bitten DC too.

How do I tackle this without falling out with my neighbours? I know cats are impossible to control but who has six cats anyway?!

OP posts:
Honeybee85 · 09/06/2019 18:36

@Cherrysoup if I accidently run into someone with a take away coffee in my hand tomorrow and that person’s clothes are covered in coffee, I would apologise and offer to pay for the dry cleaning costs.

Even though it was an accident.

This is a similar situation.
Neighbours are responsable for the actions of their cat, not OP. If we didnt have to financially compensate for accidents, why do we have then for example car insurance ?

Hahaha88 · 09/06/2019 18:42

I wouldn't be arsed if ndn sprayed my cat's. Across the road used to (maybe still do)

Unhomme · 09/06/2019 18:42

Not much point having a word unless it is ”can you come and clear your cats poop up from my garden again?” every single time one of them has been.

To which my answer would be, no.

OP locked a cat in their house and went away for three days. If course the cat is going to piss and shit everywhere.

The solution is a water pistol to squirt the cats every time they come into the garden.

Dellow · 09/06/2019 18:43

You can get mini low power electric fence kits for keeping foxes & herons away from ponds . Depending how your garden is set up you could consider using something along those lines with a double wire and low voltage to run around the tops of walls or fences. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be suitable if neighbours or children could touch it by accident. You could also use ‘rollers’ on the top of fences which some people have which roll when cats try to climb on them so they fall back down. Good luck !!

RibenaMonsoon · 09/06/2019 18:43

I have the same exact problem here. Poor DH has to clean up all the poo as I'm heavily pregnant. Which means my 2 year old can't play in his own garden as he tries to pick it up and bring it inside.

I'm sorry I don't have much in the way of advice as I'm in the same boat. Watching with interest though.

Unhomme · 09/06/2019 18:44

Neighbours are responsable for the actions of their cat, not OP

OP should accept that locking a cat in their house, even accidentally, is their own fault

Dellow · 09/06/2019 18:55

Just to add to what another poster said about netting you can get fruit cage black netting in various widths from some garden centres. I have this stretched above head height with wires over parts of my garden to grow clematis & passionflower on. It is barely noticeable once up. If your garden is a courtyard style one you could put hooks and/or eyes along the top of the wall and run wires through the black net to stretch artistically over the whole area. It will take a bit of time but it looks lovely if you grow stuff over it and will keep the cats OUT (stretch it though or it’ll look crap ) Wink

maimainomai · 09/06/2019 18:57

The cat bit your child or did I misread?
Did your child try to pet the cat or was this more of an attack thing (seems unlikely but....)?

Anyhow: Spray them with a hose, coffee grits etc. They don't like to poop on wet soil ime.

Are mothballs poisonous to cats or do they simply dislike the smell?

CaptainButtock · 09/06/2019 18:58

Why should OP pay to ‘cat proof’ her garden with netting etc?
The onus is on the neighbours not to let the bloody things roam around making other people’s gardens unusable.
(But clearly, like most cat owners, they don’t give this a second thought)

maimainomai · 09/06/2019 18:59

Broken glass, cat wee on DC bed and poo in the bath. Cat ran through my legs as I opened front door when getting back

I mean, you locked it in... Confused

user1498581287 · 09/06/2019 19:01

Please don't use mothballs- they are poisonous to cats, even fumes from them , if you put the mothballs in a container, can apparently make cats ill.

Cats process things differently to us, and can get liver kidney damage, from things people would be ok with. Although, I think you need to be careful with mothballs, round people, just googled it quickly, they can be poisonous to dogs and children as well as cats.

I do think persistence with chucking a bit of water is a good way to train cats, I have in the past, just put some water in a mug, and then then thrown the water in the direction of the cat. I think the splashing noise upsets them as well as being a bit wet, it does work.

Please don't use mothballs though, because they are poisonous.

Pa1oma · 09/06/2019 19:07

OP cats can do many things, but smashing windows to break into a house is not one of them Grin

Someone else (ie a human burglar) must have smashed the window and the cat went in out of curiosity.

If it ran through the front door before you left, it would have been in for 3 days! We’re the owners not concerned? It could have died or something!

Or maybe the neighbours smashed the window because they could hear the cat missing from inside your house?

Anyway, please speak to nextdoor about cat proofing their garden. Rollers on top of the fence etc.

maimainomai · 09/06/2019 19:07

m.wikihow.com/Make-Homemade-Cat-Repellent

How about these?

However, if this is an issue of the cat attacking your child unprovoked (going up to your child and biting it)? That's definitely super weird and needs to be addressed ASAP.

S1naidSucks · 09/06/2019 19:11

Dont do anything that would harm the cats, as you’ll end up in legal trouble. You can use a water pistol or motion activated sprinkler, such as this one. Set it so that it is activated as soon as the cat goes on top of the fence. The sound and sight of the water should be enough to scare the cat away, so you don’t have to aim it towards the top of the fence.

www.primrose.co.uk/-p-1907.html?adtype=pla&kwd=&gclid=CLuBke7-3OICFYSI1Qod39UEBg

tealandteal · 09/06/2019 19:12

Can you borrow a dog, male preferably, to go round and scent mark your garden? Might put them off, we never even see a stray cat hair anywhere near our garden but our dogs are outside frequently.

WeeDangerousSpike · 09/06/2019 19:21

Honeybee85 your analogy doesn't work. Or at least not the way you want it to.

If the cat is the coffee, the ndn is holding it, and OP is the one knocking it over (locking the cat in)

If I locked my neighbours pet indoors and went away I'd be apologising to the neighbour, not expecting them to apologise to me!

Anyway OP, get one of those electric cat repelling noise things. My sympathies - cat shit stinks.

AndTheSeaRollsOn · 09/06/2019 19:23

Cats hate citronella - we oil our worktops with it to stop our cats climbing on them. They practically avoid the kitchen now.

My aunt has lemon scented plants in her garden for the same reason.

Please don’t get an electronic cat alarm. My DSis and me both immediately get migraines when our parent’s neighbours put theirs on and both suffer from permanent tinnitus that our Gp believes was caused by it too.

DaisiesAreOurSilver · 09/06/2019 19:23

Cat proof fences or anti climb paint may help.

Babyduck2 · 09/06/2019 19:24

Have a word with them, I have cats and I've been to my neighbours house and cleaned up after them on a few occasions, I'll happily do it, if I'm told about it. I told them to squirt them with water, and also put trays in my own garden to encourage them to go there. If you don't tell them there's a problem they don't know...

nettie434 · 09/06/2019 19:33

Why? It’s not the neighbour’s fault the cat was shut in the OP’s house for 3 days. It was an accident.

But what sort of owner would not have been out searching, putting up posters etc if one of their cats was missing for 3 days? I'd try one of the sensor deterrents too. Also, make sure you don't have any plants like cat mint which they like and try to avoid big patches of bare earth and/or gravel as cats just believe you have made them a luxury en suite.

AphidEater · 09/06/2019 19:34

Supersoaker!

I wouldn’t have any problem with someone soaking my cat to discourage their presence.

Babyduck2 · 09/06/2019 19:47

Also, a higher fence will do nothing, I have a 6 foot fence and my cats just run straight up it. If a cat can climb a tree, a big fence will do nothing to deter them.

killerbanana · 09/06/2019 20:03

Olbas oil deters my cats! My cats sleep in bed with me every night but if I have a cold and I've put some olbas oil on a muslin cloth next to my pillow they won't sleep in my bed.

bellabasset · 09/06/2019 20:03

Cats don't like the smell of white vinegar so you can put a diluted solution in a small spray pump* and spray it NEAR the cats, also to clean up the patio and eradicate the smell. That might deter them from using your garden. I uses citronella candles to keep flies and bugs away so try these.

Don't use vinegar near plants as it kills them. Put bark over plants and put tea bags soaked in citronella on top. If you can I would use protective netting to keep them off the property.

I know my cat doesn't wonder, not only is he nervous, he's 17.5 years and has 200' of garden, and on a dry day he's still out watching birds

*You can get 5 litre pumps quite cheaply

Hahaha88 · 09/06/2019 20:40

But what sort of owner would not have been out searching, putting up posters etc if one of their cats was missing for 3 days?
Who said that they didn't?

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