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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really not understand why people are OK with cats

709 replies

Duvetstay · 10/05/2020 19:23

Full disclosure, I'm allergic to cats and also very much a dog person but I really don't understand how it's acceptable for cats to go round decimating local wildlife and crapping in gardens.

I've lost count of how many times I've had to pick cat poo off the lawn and my daughter came in yesterday with cat sick all over her feet as a local moggie had vommed on our patio. I'm sick of it. It's a health hazard and you shouldn't have to wear a hazmat suit to go in your own garden.

We have tadpoles outside which are about to froglet and I've just seen a fat cat with its head in the water. I'm fuming, a few of the tadpoles are injured and this is the same cat I had to get off a terrified bird last week.

I'm not remotely sentimental about nature, if a hungry creature kills another then that's how life works. However I cannot understand how people can let these cats out knowing that they're injuring animals for no reason and causing health hazards to other people in their own home.

I couldn't take my dog for a shit in your garden so why can your cat do that in mine? They're not even natural predators as they just trot home to get their whiskers.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND!

OP posts:
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SecretWitch · 13/05/2020 03:32

Who could resist this adorable kitty? All of our cats are indoor cats as we live on a busy road and live in an area with coyotes and bobcats.

I also love dogs, horses and small dragons. To demonise any animal for their natural behaviour is wrong.

To really not understand why people are OK with cats
EveryLifeHasASoundtrack · 13/05/2020 04:08

SecretWitch

So cute! 😍

mixedkebab · 13/05/2020 04:23

@SecretWitch OMG!!! 😍

Honeybee85 · 13/05/2020 04:26

I love cats (we have a very sweet silver tabby American Shorthair) but we keep her indoors. We don't want to cause any nuisance to others and I agree with you that cats shouldnt be in others gardens.
They destroy plants, kill other animals and make it dangerous for pregnant women to work in their own garden because their shit causes a risk of toxoplasmosis infection.
YANBU.

To really not understand why people are OK with cats
suchfun0101 · 13/05/2020 06:06

I have rescued 2 cats, currently live in a country where there is a cat problem..
This is the first time we have had cats and they live in our outhouse as I noticed they will bury their poo in the soil, fine, or cover it in the litter, again fine, but then, climb over everything in the house!! What are others thoughts on this?
They have also killed some wildlife which we just accept as something they do.. not nice but I've also had dogs that have done this so... kind of accept it but I'd be interested to know people's thoughts in faecal matter potentially being spread everywhere

janj2301 · 13/05/2020 07:01

I used to have to clean dog poo off my garden at least once a week. Put up a camera not happened since.

YinuCeatleAyru · 13/05/2020 07:11

you know saying "nature abhors a vacuum"?

there exists a niche for a small predator in the suburban (and rural and urban too) environment. there exists small and catchable creatures that thrive there.

if people didn't have cats living with them in a semi-wild way - going out freely and hunting the wildlife etc, then that ecological niche would eventually be occupied by some other creature. and that other creature, not being anyone's pet, would be infested with fleas and be a disease vector with much more serious consequence. cats being loved pets are mostly (hopefully) well cared for, de-flea'd and de-wormed, and are a better occupant of this ecological niche than whatever would move in if we all stopped owning cats.

MamaKarmaLlama · 13/05/2020 07:15

@Gorse dogs kill wildlife too and shit everywhere. What’s your point?

Harls1969 · 13/05/2020 07:32

Hmmm because humans don't leave mess everywhere, ruin the environment and kill things? It's what cats do. What do you suggest? Euthanise all cats?

Megatron · 13/05/2020 07:44

🤣🤣 there are some right po faced, highly clenched arseholes on this thread.

Rosspoldarkssaddle · 13/05/2020 08:26

None of the cats that shit in my garden know how to bury it. They shit on the lawn, shit in the beds and never, ever cover it.

Fluffybutter · 13/05/2020 09:15

@Rosspoldarkssaddle Doesn’t sound like cats then , cats cover their poo to disguise it from predators.
Probably foxes as they don’t need to do that

Floralnomad · 13/05/2020 09:33

Not all cats cover their poo , I’ve literally watched my neighbours cats pooing on the grass and walking away , we have no foxes or hedgehogs in our garden . Lots of cats are just plain lazy and can’t be arsed to dig or cover their crap .

IntermittentParps · 13/05/2020 10:45

Kill hundred of thousands of our birds The jury is very much out on how many birds cats kill and whether they contribute to species decline. they are no use or ornament, only loved by their owners Doesn't that matter then?

BTW I don't have any pets, like cats AND dogs, so don't have skin in the game.

cuparfull · 13/05/2020 10:46

Are you sure its not a fox leaving poo on your lawn??
Cats will generally not poo in the open where they are vulnerable.
Also, they scratch in into the ground or cover it over to hide the evidence.

Ive had cats all my life and never seen them poo onto a lawn. Mine are kept in at night to minimise any upset with the neighbours. People just need to be responsible owners.

Get an automatic water sprayer and your lawn and any birds will be
safe.
Cats provide solice for many in these dire times especially those less able.

MrsToothyBitch · 13/05/2020 10:53

You like dogs. Noisy, needy, labour intensive, clingy beings that jump, slobber, require you to pick up their shit and can't entertain themselves. Oh and they invariably smell. YABVU OP.

I'm kidding, I love dogs but I still prefer cats WinkGrin

silverstrawberry · 13/05/2020 11:35

Try putting down White pepper apparently they hate it !

Gorse · 13/05/2020 12:08

Never known a dog to scale a six foot high fence to crap in a garden. FWIW, my dog craps where I ALLOW him to crap.

Gorse · 13/05/2020 12:28

@YinuCeatleAyru. You may have a point, but the fact is some areas are over burdened by these moderate sized predators. For example, in my short street of 15 houses there are around nine cats. If, as you maintain, a great many of them are well cared for pets, with owners who supply at least maintenance level of food and shelter, de-worming, de-fleaing and vet treatment when necessary, then these animals have an enormous advantage over both their prey and rival predators like foxes. Rather like how us humans give ourselves huge advantages over the rest of the animal kingdom, so we can take more than we actually need. This is the enviable position that "pet" cats find themselves in.

mrbob · 13/05/2020 12:45

Get an automatic water sprayer and your lawn and any birds will be safe

Why should OP spend money on keeping someone else’s car shit out their garden? In the UK I ended up spending a fortune on any number of “guaranteed to work” ideas and none of them did. I moved to a different continent and that worked well so is one solution I can offer. It was getting to the point I would probably have moved house to get away from them even if not all the way here

cheeseismydownfall · 13/05/2020 12:49

For the love of god, just because some dog (owners) are awful and let their dogs shit in front gardens, this DOES NOT MAKE IT OK for peoples's cats to shit in other people's gardens!!!

This is not about whether dogs or cats are better, and it is NOTHING to do with foxes or birds or fucking wild bears carrying out their natural behaviours. This is about the fact that letting domesticated animials that YOU are responsibile for defecate on other people's property is NOT NICE.

dontdisturbmenow · 13/05/2020 12:53

I think most confuse fox poo for cat poo. Foxes are everywhere and come out at night when you can't see them. Some cats might poo in open places and not cover but much much less likely than a fox doing it's business at night.

We have cats all around us but never have cat poo on our lawn.

MitziK · 13/05/2020 13:02

Never known a dog to scale a six foot high fence to crap in a garden

There are literally dog high jump competitions where anything from Border collies up to Greyhounds do exactly that. Add in the interest of going next door (such as in the case of my old NDN's GSD) to visit and see whether the cats' food bowls were accessible, and the smaller dogs who dig underneath instead, and it's more than possible for any size dog to take a trip next door and have a dump whilst it's there.

FancyAnOlive · 13/05/2020 14:07

If you have gravel down cats are quite likely to think it's a litter tray and poo accordingly. I have two beautiful but thick ginger beasts and I had to get rid of my beanbag because they thought it was cat litter.

Floralnomad · 13/05/2020 14:13

I can assure you I can tell the difference between cat poo and fox poo as I have a terrier who regularly rolls in fox poo , it’s a totally different stench to cats . Plus I’ve seen them do it . I’m not anti cat , I just think people should keep them in their own gardens . It’s perfectly possible to cat proof a garden , I have friends and relatives who have done so .