At my wits end with neighbourhood cats

[bulliedbycats]

Name changed as I have moaned about this IRL and don't want my posting history being looked up

I'm sick of them, two or three times a week there is poo in my garden, I keep catching one scratching at the cover on my glass garden table (cover changed twice now) if the bin is full and slightly open I have to remember to put a brick on it or they are in it, an unidentified one vomits in my garden every few months (usually If they've managed to get in the bin), I can't leave the door open if I'm in and out to the car because one of them tries to get in the house, they are a total menace.
If I posted that my neighbour let their dog poo in my garden and damage my property I'd be told the owner is irresponsible but as it's cats it's just what the roaming little shits do.
I've tried those sprays and powders to keep them out but it doesn't help.
I am not being unreasonable to be utterly fed up surely? Any advice on keeping them out much appreciated.

Before anyone starts I know some cats are house cats I'm not hating on all cats just these ones!

We have a cat who fortunately prefers to do his business indoors. If he is annoying the neighbours I am happy for them to deter him using water pistols etc. I do the same to the cat that sits under my bird feeder. If you are leaving your bin open though I guarantee you will be attracting more wildlife than cats. Water might deter cats but not foxes, rats or squirrels

@bulliedbycats I boak at picking my own cat's shit up. It's disgusting and if it wasn't my cat I would get worked up about it. I had a neighbour's cat using my brand new stone chips as a litter tray meaning every day when I cleaned the poo up, I lost some of the chips each time with it (I wasn't picking them out of the shits to wash and put back!). Granted it was a small amount of chips but daily craps meant I'd be buying another bag of stone chips in no time. Thankfully the cats owner had her own garden stone chipped and her own cat shits there instead plus I started letting my cat out when I saw the neighbours cat and she would escort it off the property (she's not a fighter but creepily stares the cats down and makes them nervous so they slink away quickly)

[quote ChangedName4TheSakeOfIt]@bulliedbycats I boak at picking my own cat's shit up. It's disgusting and if it wasn't my cat I would get worked up about it. I had a neighbour's cat using my brand new stone chips as a litter tray meaning every day when I cleaned the poo up, I lost some of the chips each time with it (I wasn't picking them out of the shits to wash and put back!). Granted it was a small amount of chips but daily craps meant I'd be buying another bag of stone chips in no time. Thankfully the cats owner had her own garden stone chipped and her own cat shits there instead plus I started letting my cat out when I saw the neighbours cat and she would escort it off the property (she's not a fighter but creepily stares the cats down and makes them nervous so they slink away quickly)[/quote]
Thank you, I didn't think I was abnormal for getting the boak!

Yes we lose a few stones every time too!

I get that it annoys people and happy for people to keep them out of the gardens, I'm also in two minds about whether cats should be kept indoors despite having hand outside cats. But I'm starting to question pet ownership in general, but I don't get the fixation on cat poo. Is it because it is more noticeable? There is far worse poo and wee that you likely have in your garden, like rats. Pigeons isn't great for health either. You never see posts on how do you stop a rat peeing on your lawn do you?

@Icenii

I get that it annoys people and happy for people to keep them out of the gardens, I'm also in two minds about whether cats should be kept indoors despite having hand outside cats. But I'm starting to question pet ownership in general, but I don't get the fixation on cat poo. Is it because it is more noticeable? There is far worse poo and wee that you likely have in your garden, like rats. Pigeons isn't great for health either. You never see posts on how do you stop a rat peeing on your lawn do you?

But if I had a rat in my garden I'd be putting traps out.

But if I had a rat in my garden I'd be putting traps out.

It’s likely rats fo pass through your garden even if they’re not living under your shed. They live outdoors and move around. They probably poo in your garden.

@Icenii

I get that it annoys people and happy for people to keep them out of the gardens, I'm also in two minds about whether cats should be kept indoors despite having hand outside cats. But I'm starting to question pet ownership in general, but I don't get the fixation on cat poo. Is it because it is more noticeable? There is far worse poo and wee that you likely have in your garden, like rats. Pigeons isn't great for health either. You never see posts on how do you stop a rat peeing on your lawn do you?

Have you ever worked on your flower bed and ended up with cat poop all over your gloves? That's the difference. Also rat pee or poo is just so tiny it gets washed away without killing plants or my gardening mood. Same for pidgeons.

Apparently cucumbers are just as scary as rubber snakes. Poor cat if it keeps vomiting
It could be unwell.

@DogsSausages

Apparently cucumbers are just as scary as rubber snakes. Poor cat if it keeps vomiting It could be unwell.

Cats vomit. Dogs do too. It's fine if it's once a month or so. It's an issue when it's often.

Bulliedbycats

“I do her worked up over the poo, I'm very squeamish and a bit of a germaphobe it makes me gag”

Can understand that: hopefully our grandson will be allowed to be in our garden before too long and he’ll be crawling by then. We’re going to give a piece of what was veggie patch, hidden away at the back, over to our cats and leave it as freshly dug earth in the hope it may prevent them from pooping in the other beds. I can then hopefully remove it, bit like an outdoor litter tray.
Is that something worth trying if you can? May at least contain it.

I truly despise Cats. Especially those black ones with green eyes. How people don't find them creepy and frightening looking is beyond me. Anyway, I agree if it's dogs people would be up in arms. Luckily where I am, all pets are held in the same regard and no such thing as a roaming animal allowed to be a nuisance.

Ultrasonic alarms and the largest sack of curry powder you can find. Chuck the powder around soil/plants/gravel (especially in areas where you’ve had to clear their poo up) and have the alarms set up too, should sort it. And put a lock on your bin. Since we’ve done this we’ve not had any problems, we just throw a bit of curry powder around every couple of weeks or so to remind them that they’re not welcome to shit in our garden.

I had this problem when I moved in. The garden was full of poo, and when I started gardening there was so many in the soil, cats must have been using it as there loo for a long time.
First I tried the sensors, cost about £25 for 2, seemed to work for a couple of months, then the problem returned.
Cats don't care if your pissed off with them, so I changed my tactic and left them some treats. That worked for me, I leave a few treats out every couple of days, they eat and leave, no more poo. I have been gifted a few things on my door since though. Overall I'm more bothered about the garden wildlife they destroy rather than the poo. Frogs have no chance around here.

My neighbours wont keep their cats in their own gardens, so I'm cat proofing my fence. I've tried every cat deterrent out there, including rubber snakes and plastic owls.
The fence will look like a prison fence but I no longer care.

Would something like this work at the back? It’s not particularly expensive.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233903390255

Havent RTFT, but have you looked at those cat deterrent fence-toppers. They're roller bars that prevent the cat from being able to climb over your fence.

one thing I heard about (but may be cure worse than illness!)
Ahem according to old fashioned gardening book (don't blame me for this idea!) Do you live near a zoo? because apparently you need some lion or tiger poo because big cats poo is suppose to scare them off
(Thinks - we have small zoo nearby -I wonder if they would sell big cat poo they need extra money because of covid & this could be a killing from what I read in mumsnet! - we have several cats that use our garden as pathway - thanks to them we have a bald patch cat pathway across our grass)

Lion poo can be bought in pellet form. I know someone who tried them but they didn’t work apparently. One of my kids watched something at school about a zoo in France or Germany,I think, selling actual lion poo but I’ve never heard of it being sold in the UK. I can’t see how actual lion poo would be better any better than cat poo.

I really don’t think much stops a determined cat. They do what they want in my experience. 😬🤣

One often lets a rabbit out on their garden, I'm scared she will hurt it.

How big is the rabbit? In my experience of having cats and rabbits if a rabbit didn't like a cat being around it was the rabbit that won, rabbits can be absolutely vicious.

We never had a dwarf rabbit though, they may not fare so well.

Can you roll up green plastic netting and pin it to the top of the fence - I can't imagine cats would like that catching in their claws

I have cats so understand the difficulty in controlling their behaviour, but also had this problem with neighbourhood cats, so I sympathise. I resorted to tying notes on the collars with folded masking tape basically saying that if this is your cat, next time it’s in my house I’m taking it to a vet and reporting it as lost. Never saw the cat again, think it gets kept indoors now.

Oh god I totally understand this. We're having similar problems. We've had years of very little issues then recently two lots of new people have moved in nearby and both have cats who are clearly in the midst of a territory war and our garden is clearly the battle ground.

Those who have successfully used the sonic thing ... do you have to spend lots to get a good one? And do they send the sound out 360 degrees? I've read you have to be careful how you position them as the space behind them is unaffected.

Also the water pistol thing ...does that eventually discourage them from visiting as much?

IFound
So does that mean you'd be ok with all us "cat haters" collecting up the crap and depositing it in your garden? Why do you find it so amusing?

This is the calmest cat poo advice I've seen on MN.

I'm not a huge cat lover but I adore black cats. I think I may have been a witch in a previous life. I hope I was anyway.

Tules now the treat idea is an interesting one. Do they literally not shit where they eat do you think?