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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:
Lolwhat · 16/03/2021 15:11

Our 13 year old cat hates going out🤣 the most she will do is stand outside with you if you’re putting the bin out, other than that she’s in, she’s never been an outside cat, I’m not sure who’s cats need to roam and shit in peoples gardens

MeltdownSurprise · 16/03/2021 15:11

This reply has been deleted

Withdrawn at the user's request

WeAllHaveWings · 16/03/2021 15:13

She hasn't done anything wrong, in fact she thoughtfully bagged it for you instead of just flicking over the fence into your garden where your children play.

Your cats are shitting in other peoples gardens, they are being much more inconvenienced by that than you are with bagged up poo.

speakout · 16/03/2021 15:19

Good for your neighbour.

And I speak as a cat owner.

Spasiba · 16/03/2021 15:21

A colleague was suffering the same problem with nasty neighbours letting their cat shit in his garden.
He caught the cat, boxed it, took it 150 miles away, where we were working during the week, and released it.

PivotPivotPivottt · 16/03/2021 15:23

Yeah I'm a cat owner and this wouldn't bother me at all. I'm always worrying in case mine are shitting in my neighbor's gardens Blush but their litter trays are always full and I've seen one of them do it in my own garden so I hope they don'tBlush. They also tend to hang around my garden and under cars most of the time but I cringe if I see them walk through any other gardens.

Everythingiswonderful · 16/03/2021 15:24

@Spasiba

A colleague was suffering the same problem with nasty neighbours letting their cat shit in his garden. He caught the cat, boxed it, took it 150 miles away, where we were working during the week, and released it.
I assume you are trying to be funny.
OverTheRubicon · 16/03/2021 15:27

@Wroxie

Keep your cats inside. I'm sure the songbirds would appreciate the respite and then you would have no issue with where they shit.

Of course people in the UK seem convinced that cats are unable to exist indoors, in spite of the fact that American and Canadian cats seem to manage just fine.

All of this. Especially the 'but they're wild animals!' responses. Well yes, they are, but not native to this country, not with 10 cats per block, and not without major predators. Dogs are also wild animals, I bet you'd have an issue if your neighbour got a rottweiler that would roam in and out of your place at will.
MrsTerryPratchett · 16/03/2021 15:30

@Spasiba

A colleague was suffering the same problem with nasty neighbours letting their cat shit in his garden. He caught the cat, boxed it, took it 150 miles away, where we were working during the week, and released it.
Reported.
Chocolatefreak · 16/03/2021 15:32

Agree with other posters here. Your attitude towards your cats' roaming suggests you not only don't care about their crap in someone else's garden but are insensitive to the destruction they might be wreaking on local wildlife.

I had a cat growing up and loved him but as an adult I see how damaging they are to the environment.

speakout · 16/03/2021 15:33

I take steps to prevent my cats shitting in my neighbours gardens- and I believe that on the whole they don't.
I have asked my neighbours - one who hates cats- and they tell me my cats don't crap in their gardens.
I provide ample opportunity for my cats to poop in my property.
They have an indoor litter tray, and I have two cat toilets in my garden- which they love and make a beeline for as soon as they are let out.

GrolliffetheDragon · 16/03/2021 15:34

I think the neighbour is bu, she should just go and talk to OP. Yes, I'm a cat owner, but if the neighbours dog had a shit in my front garden, I wouldn't throw it into theirs, in a bag or otherwise. I'd let them know.

My cats mainly seem to use one corner of our garden (younger one), or the tray (older one, she doesn't go out these days), not even seen them in next doors garden.

bendmeoverbackwards · 16/03/2021 15:35

I have a cat, as far as I know, she poos in our garden. Very odd that your cat is just pooing on the lawn - my cat buries her poo, I thought all cats did that??

As for stopping your cat from roaming, how??? Even in a secure garden, cats can jump up and over high fences and bushes.

Carbara · 16/03/2021 15:41

You were awful to confront your neighbour. Keep your shitty animals in your own property. I hope she continues to return your trash to you.

Carbara · 16/03/2021 15:43

There’s plenty of solutions to prevent cats invading other peoples property. Hundreds of threads about it, on here. Pretty embarrassing for the cat owners who haven’t even thought about bothering to keep their crap pet safe.

bendmeoverbackwards · 16/03/2021 15:45

Can't get so upset about cat poo personally. And how on earth is it recognisable as coming from a cat? I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between cat poo, fox poo, badger poo or any other type of poo.

Dog owners should definitely clear up after their dogs when out and about but I thought some animal poo in your garden is just something you live with, no?

AlwaysLatte · 16/03/2021 15:48

Aargh I don't know what the answer is. We have a vegetable garden too and have just created a woodland area with lots of bark chips which have really attracted the next door neighbour's cats, so we have to clean poo up every day :-( and if you have children cat poo is dangerous, of course. I like cats and I haven't complained about this to my neighbour or thrown any bags over!! But at the same time I really hate it, it's so unsanitary. Not sure what the answer is!

AlwaysLatte · 16/03/2021 15:51

@speakout
They have an indoor litter tray, and I have two cat toilets in my garden
Can you send a link to the cat toilets please? I haven't heard of these, I might get one!

allmycats · 16/03/2021 15:54

You really should be offering to clear your neighbours garden of the cat poo. I speak as a cat owner, and would do this for my neighbours if my cat was causing problems for them.

speakout · 16/03/2021 15:58

AlwaysLatte home made cat toilets.
with paws.
My cats prefer to poop in fleshly turned over garden soil- soft and easy to dig.
So I set aside a patch of earth specifically for the cats, ringfenced by wood- no planting in that area, ans I keep it free of weeds. I also have a huge tub filled with soft earth- one of my cats likes to acro poop balancing on the edge. I clean out the earth toilets regularly and fork them over so the soil is always soft and easy to dig.
By far my cats' favourite places to poo.

InfoInfoInfo · 16/03/2021 16:06

Oh dear, I have zero sympathy for cat owners. Mine garden is also used as a toilet for the neighbours bloody annoying pussy babies .... I squirt water at them, shout at them, and the horrible things keep coming in.

I hate when they sit waiting for birds so will investigate a pellet gun or some such thing to get rid. Vile things

InfoInfoInfo · 16/03/2021 16:08

@Carbara

There’s plenty of solutions to prevent cats invading other peoples property. Hundreds of threads about it, on here. Pretty embarrassing for the cat owners who haven’t even thought about bothering to keep their crap pet safe.
I think a lot of cat owners appear to think it is perfectly acceptable for their horrid things to crap anywhere. We hear a lot of rubbish dog owners but rubbish cat owners are worse since other people's dogs at least cannot enter my garden and crap on my seed beds as cats can and do - vile vile vile (off to goggle pellet guns)
PassionPeach · 16/03/2021 16:09

I do the same. I'm sick of the neighbours cats leaving mounds of shit (I know it's cat shit, I've seen the smug little bastard doing it) in the front and back garden. We had to remove an entire bed of vegetables last year because a cat had dumped all over it. I've started bagging it up and leaving it on my neighbours drive. I can't wait until we can get a dog to keep them away. We are also getting our driveway paved just to prevent the fuckers from shitting all over our garden. It looks horrendous and smells so awful. Cats are cute but are an absolute nuisance.

InfoInfoInfo · 16/03/2021 16:10

@Spasiba

A colleague was suffering the same problem with nasty neighbours letting their cat shit in his garden. He caught the cat, boxed it, took it 150 miles away, where we were working during the week, and released it.
I assume you are joking but I did laugh....
StellaDendrite · 16/03/2021 16:11

This thread is so funny. Love the details in the OP. Hope it makes it to the Daily Fail

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