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.

I'm glad it is sorted and you'll pay for fencing, also offer to clean your cats mess up from her garden and pay for the cat repellent too.
She must have been livid to chuck it over the wall.
Cat owners can be very entitled maybe buy her some chocolates for the stress and inconvenience your cats caused.

I still think this is a reverse....either way, I'm glad to hear you sorted it out between you. Good neighbourly relations are so important.

Cat owners are not responsible (in law) for the normal behaviour of their cats. Cats wander, they kill things, and they do their business. Cat owners are required to take reasonable steps to minimise nuisance or damage to neighbours, the question is, what is reasonable?

Supply litter tray for cat in own garden = reasonable, but OP has already done this
Offer neighbour information about possible deterrents = reasonable.

Keep cat indoors/get rid of cat = not reasonable.

In the interests of good neighbourly relations, it would make sense to be somewhat apologetic and offer some ideas of solutions. But at the end of the day, a cat is a semi-wild animal, and the law recognises that it cannot be controlled to the same extent as a dog.

I bought two sonic deterrents for my elderly neighbour as one of my cats loves to shit on her lawn. I wouldn’t dream of thinking it was her problem to sort out. I chose to let them be outdoor cats and she’s bloody 90 and shouldn’t be picking cat poo up

Keep your cats in your house. It’s completely normal in Australia and there is no reason British cats couldn’t live inside too. It would be better for your local wildlife too.

If one is a gardener, cat shit is repellent- and I say this as a cat lover.
You are lucky she hasn’t poisoned them- this happens, and is awful.
A wonderful vet -David Taylor- made his garden cat proof so his cats were kept in his garden only by having inward facing railings put on top of the fences with climbers.
It kept his cats in, strangers cats out and no risk of road traffic accidents or poisonings.
My brother has two house cats in a similarly enclosed garden.

The two houses opposite us have 6 cats between them and they have all chosen my poor next door neighbours tiny front lawn to poo on. It drives him mad. He bags the poo up and then hurls them across the road and into their huge front gardens.
As it is probably your cats poo that she is bagging up and chucking into your garden, just pick them up and throw them away in your bin.

YABVU

They are your cats, so you’re responsible for their excrement. Get litter trays so they go in there and then you clear it up. I have 4 house cats so have to do that anyway but if I had cats that were shitting in other peoples gardens I’d expect them to be pissed off about it.

You aren’t allowed to throw bags of shit in to your neighbours garden.
By law your cats are unfortunately allowed to poop in her garden.
I’d ask her outright, provide bags, maybe come to an agreement. She has no right to do it though.

Our cat shits under our neighbours bush, I can’t stop her but I do regularly tell the neighbours I will come and clean it up if she does. It’s your cat, you should at least offer to clean up its shit. Before we had our cat other neighbours cats would shit in our garden, particularly under the washing line. I hated it which is probably why I’m very aware of where our cat goes now.

I believe she is simply returning your property

If your cats shat in my garden I'd be chucking it back too. Not sure why you think you're the victim in this

It’s all very well to say ‘cat owners don’t legally have to blah blah blah’ but what happens if your cat gets poisoned because you didn’t keep them safe from angry neighbours? I’d blame myself.

Anyway, having seen the Op’s update I’m glad you’ve had a discussion and come to an arrangement. For your sake and the cats.

@DynamoKev - malicious mischief is vandalism, destruction of property abs would cover a nutty neighbour throwing shit at your house.

Foxes shit in my garden sometimes as do other peoples cats. That’s life - it’s an outside space and free roaming animals are exercising their natural behaviour. Your neighbour on the other hand is a human being ans is subject to criminal law as well as being capable of understanding that it’s wrong to throw shit. She’s not a cat.

Personally, I'd be emptying the bags through your letterbox.

Is this a reverse?

Amazing to see an issue on here resolved quickly and amicably - well done OP. You could suggest she put down used coffee grounds in her flower beds - not only are they good for the soil I believe but (some?) cats do not like the smell. We stopped an old cat pooing in our front garden doing this. Or even better ask your nearest coffee shop for some and take them over to her as a kind gesture. Starbucks used to bag up coffee grounds for people to take away IIRC.

Aside from cats pooing in gardens, if they weren’t domesticated to a degree, they’d be feral and breeding rapidly and everyone would have their fair share of cat poo in their garden, like the wild fox, hedgehog and bird poo we get in our gardens.

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

Op will not be back.

Wind up merchants always come back just after they get called on it. It's like sport. Bwahahahaha.

Keep your cats in your house. It’s completely normal in Australia and there is no reason British cats couldn’t live inside too. It would be better for your local wildlife too.
@Ytrigging Really wow that would be bliss. Maybe a cat lead for walking, and a nappy.
Good point about the wildlife too.
I was so pissed with my neighbours cat pooing when the DC were babies the neighbour somehow stopped them roaming in when she heard me ranting in my enclosed garden.

My cat vomited in my next door neighbours garden, she has a phobia of cats so came and asked me to clean it up which I did, not sure how you can prevent your cat roaming seen they have roaming rights, but perhaps offer to pick it up for her?

@MeltdownSurprise - They exist because their pets?
They are domesticated once wild animals, if not domesticated they are feral, so wild animals 😳