Neighbour throwing cat poo into my garden

[anticatwoman]

I think my cat hating neighbour has thrown bagged cat poo into my back garden. It would be cat poo from my cats who like to shit in her lovely lovely garden.

I have two children under three and we were playing in the garden this morning when I spotted the bag (looked like a fragranced sanitary bag) in the top corner of our garden filled with what is most definitely cat turds - although I couldn't confirm if they are from my cats of course.

We've lived here 3 years. Had cats for two. She's a proud gardener and my entitled cats love to shit in her vegetable patch and play on her lawn. I've seen her chasing them off/ throwing water at them, putting chicken wire and spikes on the fence to try and stop them getting over. They enjoy the challenge. If I see them in her garden I try to entice them back to mine with treats. As long as she isn't hurting them I don't mind her chasing them off. Not everyone loves cats and that's fine. It's complicated by the fact the old lady next door again loves my cats and frequently lets them in and spoils them. So our shared neighbour's garden is a passage way to tastier cat food and non stop affection.

My back fence is very tall and has no back access. It backs on to a main-ish road. After my back fence is a little stone wall about a metre tall which is filled with prickly blackberry bushes, then the path, then the road. My point being here is that if a dog walker was going to dump a bag of poo from the main road they could easily toss it into the blackberry bushes and not be noticed rather than throwing it miles over my fence to land in my garden. My other next door neighbour has a scary dog so my cats don't dare visit that garden.

I can't prove it's her but the fact that it's cat poo and where it's landed makes it quite probable. I have an indoor and outdoor litter tray but cannot control where they roam.

Whilst I sympathise it's annoying for her, I'm not breaking any law whereas I think she is by throwing things into my garden? If she's going to the trouble of bagging it why not just bin it instead of acting out of spite?

What should I do? Clear it up and forget it? Wait to see if more shows up? Loudly proclaim in the garden that I'm checking cctv for the culprit? Ask her directly? I've clearly and calmly explained to my cats not do do it anymore and am hopeful the message has got through.

It’s so utterly disgusting having to clear up cat shit from other people’s cats. I never liked cats but I hate them since moving to where I live now. It’s constant. It seems one of the cats that regularly uses my garden as a toilet might not be very well judging by the appearance of the shit but I have no way of alerting the owner as I don’t know who it belongs to and there is no way of saying it without coming across as passive aggressive 🤷‍♀️
But yeah OP you are being unreasonable and you know it.

@bendmeoverbackwards

It's just so irresponsible and bad for wildlife. Indoor cats are perfectly happy and if you want to take them out, use a harness and leash

Ha ha, what do you propose doing about a cat that bolts out the door every time it's opened and jumps out of a tiny window?

Be more careful. Don't let it bolt. It's your responsibility.

I had several cats over 20 years including a 20-lb Maine Coon that lived to be nearly 19. Never shit outdoors, never killed wildlife. Very happy, pampered, beloved pets. Walked and aired outdoors on leash.

It can be done if one isn't lazy and selfish.

I think the lady was being quite nice by bagging it up. Our garden is pooed inn by cats, one in particular although I don't know who it belongs too. I have young children who would like to play in their own garden and as I am pregnant cannot remove it. The owner clearly doesn't give a 'shit' literally about my circumstances so why should I be bothered about their cat? I shoo it out of the garden each time and we have cat deterrents which do help. Ultimately I accept that it is an inconvenience we have to put up with. My children do like looking at the cat and I find when they are in the garden the cat will stay away which is a bonus.

My neighbours cats shit on the flat roof of my kitchen extension under my bedroom window. It stinks and is utterly revolting. I have a high powered water pistol. Doesn't work long term though. I'd use a sonic deterrent but I have a dog. Ddog has come in with a set of cat claws in his face before now.

@OverTheRubicon would you consider it humane to keep a dog locked inside for its whole life?

Threads like this highlight to me how nature-adverse the average person is. You complain about cat poo, but if our society was actually nature-friendly everyone's gardens would be full of bird, fox, badger, hedgehog and rodent poo. I'm so sorry to tell you all, but your garden is an outdoor space and animals aren't always clued up on property law.

I agree that the number of cats in neighbourhoods now is ridiculous and has an effect on the wildlife population, that's why I don't agree with breeding animals and think we should only be adopting, but that's a whole other thread (and one in which the majority of MNetters argue that buying/breeding cats and dogs is completely fine... well if you're fine with breeding tons of animals into existence don't whine about them being in your garden!).

Also, to the people going 'well if my dog did that I'd get told off!' well, yes, because dogs and cats are different. Seriously, the comparison is so unhelpful and lazy. Yes, you are responsible for EVERYTHING your dog does, because dogs have the ability to do much more damage to property and to kill humans if they attack. With this in mind, if your dog is outside the home it is because it is with you and so you are legally obligated to keep it under control. It's not because cat owners are in a privileged class where they're above the law. Cats and dogs have completely different social and behavioural needs (and thus different laws regulating their owners' responsibilities), people really need to stop comparing them just because humans domesticate both in households.

Threads like this highlight to me how nature-adverse the average person is. You complain about cat poo, but if our society was actually nature-friendly everyone's gardens would be full of bird, fox, badger, hedgehog and rodent poo.

Well they can't be because bloody cats come, shit everywhere and whatever creatures are not scared off by the amell, are hunted down🤷🏻
Hating cat shit doesn't make peoppe nature averse. I worked hard to make bird and bee and frog friendly garden (these we have here). What it became is a hunting ground with feeders are often sitting full.

Trust me. Peoppe moaning about cats and cat shit are not thw ones nature adverse.

Cat's are pets for people who want a pet but would like to do bare minimum. Let's be frank. They require like tenth of the attention and work most other pets do, because people just feed them, cuddle them, then release them and let them be other's problem.

@SchrodingersImmigrant - You’re so wrong, people don’t have cats because they’re easy to look after, for many they are companions, they also benefit those with mental health conditions and those that are elderly and yes I have an elderly neighbour who recently lost her husband and her daughter bought her a cat and she is much happier having a cat companion in her life since.
You are clearly very judgemental and you know very little, the only thing you can do is spout complete and utter shit (pun intended!)

@Flumps44 same benefits of companionship could be achieved by pets people actually have to keep on their grounds. If someone wants a pet for companionship, fine. It's fully understandable and many of us have it for that reason or for MH reasons or wahatever was the personal reason to get one, but that doesn't mean that everyone and everything around has to suffer concequences. And as I type that, the birds outside went silent again so I assume one of the x cats is in the garden again plotting where to shit before going home for cuddles. Great.

@SchrodingersImmigrant - Where does your shit go?
Do you think it’s fair people have to deal with your shit?
Why aren’t you crapping in your own garden, instead of flushing it away and passing the problem on to other people?

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Threads like this highlight to me how nature-adverse the average person is. You complain about cat poo, but if our society was actually nature-friendly everyone's gardens would be full of bird, fox, badger, hedgehog and rodent poo.

Well they can't be because bloody cats come, shit everywhere and whatever creatures are not scared off by the amell, are hunted down🤷🏻
Hating cat shit doesn't make peoppe nature averse. I worked hard to make bird and bee and frog friendly garden (these we have here). What it became is a hunting ground with feeders are often sitting full.

Trust me. Peoppe moaning about cats and cat shit are not thw ones nature adverse.

Cat's are pets for people who want a pet but would like to do bare minimum. Let's be frank. They require like tenth of the attention and work most other pets do, because people just feed them, cuddle them, then release them and let them be other's problem.

I concede it's not a perfect comparison - and as I said I completely agree with you that there are far too many cats about thanks to breeders/buyers. Thank you for doing your part for nature, your garden sounds lovely, I guess my point was just that people really should be used to finding poo in their gardens and it's actually unfortunate that that's not the case because it shows how used people have become to there being such a lack of wildlife in this country.

I don't agree with you about cat people wanting to do the bare minimum though, and you wouldn't either if you'd met mine! My two are the most needy, messy, playful (read: fiendish) individuals that I have ever lived with They're worth it though, and I'm glad to have them with me instead of in a shelter

@Flumps44 when cat owners pay towards my wages of dealing with their cat shit I will happily shut up.
They could also pay for ruined plants.

[quote Flumps44]@SchrodingersImmigrant - Where does your shit go?
Do you think it’s fair people have to deal with your shit?
Why aren’t you crapping in your own garden, instead of flushing it away and passing the problem on to other people?[/quote]
This is a very interesting point actually, I assume that the vast amounts of human sewage we create and the way we process it has a much more substantial impact on wildlife and the environment. Off to research whether it effects specific human communities more so than others.

Cyclingmad
Not very good pics but as long as the wire is angled into your garden and loose a cat cannot climb hanging down. There are companies like Protectapet who make kits to add to your fencing, quite expensive though. Also amazing looking roller systems to top fences with.

@IJustWantSomeBees I like your username😂 We all want them. Thank you for the compliment. It was lovely. Haven't seen a frog for a year now.

Yes, there is always some wildelife pooping everywhere. Obviously, it's impossible not to have that. But the number of cats shitting here is just horrendous. Couple of neighbours have them shitting in a front and when sun hits it🤢

I used to love to bare hand garden. I just like to feel the plants properly when planting them. Well not anymore.

I strongly believe taht many people would change their mind about cat ownership if cat s were required to be kept on a property. That would mean need for lots more attention and play. Some owners are doing that already, especially with house cats. Others are like I described above.

At the end of the day, I (and many others) simply don't understand how can people think that they can have their pet shitting everywhere, ruin local wildlife and not have people pissed off.

If you don't want it throwing over your fence, why aren't you going around and picking it up yourself?

As everyone else has said, you should be very grateful she bagged it up, and she is just as entitled to use her garden safely as you think your children are yours!

She's obviously just got to the end of her tether re stepping on your cat's crap in her space and decided to return it from whence it came. The fact that she bagged it for your disposal is frankly neighbourly, if she'd just chucked crap over the fence with your kids in the garden I think you'd have reason to be a bit pissed off.

I think there's some truth in SchrodingersImmigrant's comment. though obviously, it doesn't apply to every cat owner.
If Op was more concerned about the damage her cats are causing to the neighbour, this wouldn't have happened. And it's clear that many do care, and do something, but some are oblivious to other people's damages or annoyance.

I love cat, my neighbour's cat almost owns our garden. If I see him, I let him be, normally makes me smile. But when he destroyed my new strawberry plant, it did gave me a rage for a moment.

@SchrodingersImmigrant - You never answered my question?

[quote Flumps44]@SchrodingersImmigrant - You never answered my question?[/quote]
Which one?

I have a cat, she uses a litter tray. However, next doors cat always shits in my garden. I bag it and bin it. I would never dream of chucking it over the fence and I don't get upset about it. It is what cats do.