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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Neighbour throwing cat poo into my garden

355 replies

anticatwoman · 16/03/2021 11:41

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.

OP posts:
megletsecond · 16/03/2021 11:55

You need to go round and clear it up. And apologise.

ArmchairTraveller · 16/03/2021 11:56

We’ve always had litter trays for our cats, it cuts down or eliminates the poo problem for us and everyone else.

Pickledpenguin · 16/03/2021 11:56

Get your cats litter trays and let them shit in that. Your neighbour is fully in the right to throw YOUR cat shite back at you.

Mintjulia · 16/03/2021 11:56

Cats pooing in vegetable beds is disgusting! She's picking it up for you. Maybe you should thank her. Or buy her a Supersoaker Grin

EnglishRain · 16/03/2021 11:56

At least she's bagging before flinging.

My neighbours cats shit in my front garden. I've got sleepers down to the drive and have to go down the lawn with the pram and it's a nightmare playing spot the poo Sad

Tinydinosaur · 16/03/2021 11:56

YABU she's returning what's yours. Your cats. Your cat shit. If you start getting annoyed by all the cat shit in your garden then maybe you can understand how a woman who hasn't chosen to own a cat is getting pissed off by all the cat shit in her garden.

bluebluezoo · 16/03/2021 11:57

*🤨

Is this a reverse?*

Totally.

Classic mumsnet neighbour poo post designed to get everyone up in arms.

Planty13 · 16/03/2021 11:57

I have an outdoor cat and I wouldn’t like strange cats shitting in my garden. I don’t think your neighbour has done anything wrong. She’s done you a favour bagging it up. In future you should offer to go round and clean it up if it is upsetting her.

OliviaBensonsEyebrow · 16/03/2021 11:58

@Moondust001

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?

Which law do you think she's breaking? I believe she is simply returning your property.

Seriously, I have nothing against cats (but have a dog myself) and I understand that unlike dogs there isn't a method of following them around to pick up their poo. But if you know that your cats are doing their business in her garden, but object to it being "returned" then you are being massively unreasonable. If you don't want cat poo in your garden, then don't keep cats.

Yes. Sorry OP but the cat shit is yours.
imalmostthere · 16/03/2021 11:59

I wish I had the guts to do this! The cat shit in my garden drives me mad. If I wanted to pick up cat shit I'd buy a cat.

Signalbox · 16/03/2021 11:59

Seriously, I have nothing against cats (but have a dog myself) and I understand that unlike dogs there isn't a method of following them around to pick up their poo

But there are ways to encourage/train cats to poo in a certain place. Cats like freshly dug over soil. The OP could provide such a space for her cats in a corner of her own garden rather than tolerating the fact that they do it next door. She clearly knows that cat faeces are a health hazard or she wouldn’t be worried about them coming back over the fence in a bag!

PetitTorteois · 16/03/2021 12:00

So you don't like your cats' poo in your garden in a bag but think your neighbour should be delighted to have her flower and vegetable beds ruined by your cat shit? And on top of that she then has to handle the precious turds and collect them. And you are the on posting on Aibu?

ArmchairTraveller · 16/03/2021 12:00

I realise you have litter trays. My cats poo in the early morning, and then I let them out. They don’t go out at night because we have a lot of wildlife from slow worms to frogs and mice and I like to give them a chance.

Radio4Rocks · 16/03/2021 12:00

She isn't breaking any law. Maybe you should keep your cats inside or cat proof your fences so they are not a pest to neighbours.

I hope she carries on doing it. No one needs cat shit in their garden from cats owned by someone who is so antisocial as to think it's ok.

OliviaBensonsEyebrow · 16/03/2021 12:01

As long as she isn't hurting them I don't mind her chasing them off.

It's very kind of you to not mind her protecting her property from the damage caused by your pets.

I have to say, you don't sound like a responsible cat owner. Why can't you cat proof your garden, so your cats have to stay on your property?

tabulahrasa · 16/03/2021 12:01

Do people post replies as soon as they see the words cat and neighbour or something?...

She has litter trays - indoors and outside

The neighbour has used water... she’s fine with it...

Hmm

OP, your neighbour clearly isn’t a reasonable person who’s going to just come and talk to you to see if there’s anything else you can do, so tbh, your best bet is cat proof fencing so they can’t go into her garden.

Iminaglasscaseofemotion · 16/03/2021 12:01

I would do the same as her but I would probably toss it over with a spade so you had to bag it. Or I would let my dog in to shit in your garden.

VettiyaIruken · 16/03/2021 12:02

Apologise for your cat shitting in her garden and either keep the cat indoors, build a run for the cat outside or erect cat proof fencing so your cat can't get out of your garden.

It's not ok to shrug your shoulders and say it's a cat, they roam, not my problem. It is your cat and your responsibility.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 16/03/2021 12:03

Reverse, isn't it.

If yes, yanbu, poo throwing neigbour!

OliviaBensonsEyebrow · 16/03/2021 12:03

OP, your neighbour clearly isn’t a reasonable person

It's now unreasonable to dislike cats shitting in your garden?

Bumblebee1980a · 16/03/2021 12:04

Buy her a water gun or a spray can.

Flowerlane · 16/03/2021 12:06

You should be going round there and offering to pick it up for the neighbour and then looking at ways to try and stop them going in to her garden, putting something on the top of the fence etc.

Be a responsible cat owner.

If this is a reverse then I honestly don’t blame you we have major cat problems here with neighbours cats I would do the same if I knew which cat was doing it.

RonObvious · 16/03/2021 12:07

Ugh. Our garden is full of cat shit from our neighbours' cats - drives me crazy. The world is full of poo at the moment - go out the front door to the park, have to dodge the dog shit. Let the kids out the back, have to watch out for the cat shit. Why is there so much poo?

CounsellorTroi · 16/03/2021 12:07

Reverse. If not YABVVU to complain about your own cats’ poo being thrown back into your garden. That’s where it should be.

nameisnotimportant · 16/03/2021 12:12

I would of thrown it at your window to be honest. Hey why don't you even tell her to open her back door and let them come make themselves comfortable and shit in her front room too 🙄

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