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.

You know your cat shits in her vegetable patch.

Where she is trying to grow food.

Yet you haven't tried to do anything about it?

YABVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVU

Yes go round and thank neighbour for helping you out. She sounds v kind :)

Good for her!

I’m a cat lover, her response is perfectly reasonable.

You’re outraged that you’re having to clean up after your own pets? And that it’s not nice to have poo in the garden where your kids play?

... Have you thought for a second about how your neighbours feel when YOUR cat leaves poo in their gardens for them to clean up?

I wish I was brave enough to do what your neighbour has done tbh. I’m absolutely sick of checking the back garden for the mess on someone else’s pet before my child can play out there.

Build a wall and have a designated poo-ing place in your garden which you can rake over and bury from time to time.

“OP's cat shit belongs to the OP. It's not unreasonable at all to return the OP's belongings to her.”

Except that’s not what she’s doing is it?

She’s done it because she’s angry about the cat going to the toilet and wants the OP to know she is...and is probably hoping it annoys her.

If you’ve not even tried talking to someone it’s just petty and childish.

In fact not even childish, children are usually pretty upfront about having an issue with something, adults should be at least capable of talking to their next door neighbour before resorting to throwing things over a fence.

We have two cats and as far as I’m aware , they crap in our garden. I’m forever picking it up. Now that we are established here, other cats don’t tend to even enter the garden but initially there were several who viewed it as part of their territory.
I don’t think mine go elsewhere but it’s really not possible to cat proof our garden to keep them in. Cats climb and jump and creep through the tiniest of gaps in hedges. We have a large seven foot solid gate; the smaller cat can make herself wafer thin and squeeze under it.
Cats roam; it’s cruel to keep them
Indoors.
However, if I was aware that my cat was crapping in a neighbour’s garden snd it was upsetting them I would try to help.

I actually think it is a fair enough solution. Put a bin on your side of the fence for them to deposit it in. Is this a reverse and you are the poo slinging middle gardener?

Buy her a present and a supply of bags.

Good for your neighbour. I wish I had her nerve. At least she bags it, rather than tossing it back loose (as it were).

No one could love cats more than me but I wouldn’t allow mine to inconvenience anyone else. If this is real then go and apologise and cat proof your garden. Can’t be real though surely.

Sorry but I have zero sympathy for you. Stop your cats shitting in her garden. I would do the same if I was your neighbour but I would not be bagging it , shovel it up and chuck.it straight back over. Your cats, your shit, your problem.

Reverse.

But to all the people saying 'stop your cats', pray tell how? 'Cat-proof' your garden is hardly a practical/possible solution for a lot of us and I won't be keeping my cat locked indoors her whole life just so that she doesn't use the toilet outside. People on these threads often like to compare cats to dogs a lot and claim that since dog owners aren't allowed to let their dogs poo outside that cats shouldn't be able to either, so I ask those people - would you think it humane to keep a dog locked inside for the entirety of it's life?

At least she used a bag, I'd throw it over without a bag.

@Lampzade

Make sure your cats poo in your own garden.

Please explain HOW to do that.

Thanks.

Not much you can do short of cat-proofing your garden so they can't get out.

I'd go round, say you found the bagged poo and apologise it's happening, and ask what you can do about it (short of cat-proofing your garden) - be genuine about it.

Offer to come over and scoop every time she finds some.
Offer her a roll of dog poo bags and access to your black bin, or a dedicated black bin on her property which you will empty for her.
Offer wine and flowers. Say you are very happy for any deterrents she wishes to make to the cats - sprinklers etc.

Cats shit where they want, it's hard to stop them.
She doesn't want to clean up cat poo - but I expect she doesn't want you to come over into her garden every time she finds a turd either.
She probably really just wants an acknowledgement that it's annoying.

@Mintjulia

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

Can I bring my supersoaker? I know she said no supersoakers but I feel a supersoaker would be such fun. Supersoakers are great

"My cats love to shit in her vegetable patch..." just gross, and you seem to think this is ok. Why do you think it is "illegal" for her to throw the bags on your lawn? What law do you think that might be in breach of?

Stop you cats going round to her garden, and stop them shitting in it. It really is that simple.

Apologize to your neighbor
Install cat proof fencing and keep your cats in your own garden
Stop making people hate cat owners

To be fair my neighbours have two cats and they pop round once a week to pick up any cat poop, they’ve also told me to chuck it over if I spot any, which I do.

We came to this agreement because I got sick to my back teeth of having to go and scoop foul smelling shite (it ready does smell awful) every time my kids wanted to use their own garden.

They’ve also ruined my veg patch so I don’t both with it anymore.

I don’t really like cats actually.

Please explain HOW to do that.

Thanks.

CallMeCleo You catproof your garden.

You’re welcome.

@FAQs

I’d pop by with some chocolates as an apology and offer to clear it up as and when needed.

This.

Or put cat proof fencing around your garden so they can't get out.

Though I doubt you'll want to do that, because they will defecate all over your property then.

YABFU.

100% with your neighbour on this. Have you actually read what you’ve written and tried to put yourself in her shoes? Can you imagine how disgusting it must be for her?

At least she’s had the curtesy to bag it up to protect your children. Other parents have to trawl their gardens cleaning up cat shit before they can let even their kids outside.

I’d not only let her keep doing it, but would by her a huge box of chocolates or bottle of wine every Christmas to apologise.

*buy