Neighbour and his cats are driving me nuts!

[BrokenDishwasher]

We moved into our dream house at the beginning of the year. The house is nice, but the garden is perfect, it’s what sold the house to us really. It’s a long rectangle shape, with a hedge splitting it in half. One half is the ‘adult’ half. BBQ space, nice table and chairs, grass and flowers etc. The other half, we’ve made into the children’s side. It’s got the trampoline, mud kitchen, sand pit etc.

A few weeks ago, we dug up some of the kids side and planted sunflowers, carrots, pumpkins etc. The next morning we came down to find cats had dug it all up and pooped everywhere. I cleaned it up, we replanted it and hoped that was it. It wasn’t, it was just the start. The cats seem to come into the garden on a night and destroy it! They poo in the mud kitchen, the sand pit, the planted areas. The children have stood in it and walked it through the house. They’ve scratched the wood up marking the sides. Worst of all, they’ve started killing birds and leaving them in my garden, half eaten 😭

I spoke to the neighbour and he just kind of shrugged and said what can you do, they’re cats 😠. I’ve tried powder but it’s had no effect at all. I’m just so sick of it! What can I do? I don’t want to do anything that will hurt them, but I’m so sick of their mess and need to do something!

WIBU to see the neighbour again? I don’t even know what he could do, but I hate these damn cats!

@WildfirePonie

Build a catio in your garden, basically what a pp mentioned with giant posts and chicken wire. Chicken wire the top too if you fancy for maximum coverage.

I was tempted to do the massive 'chickenwire garden lid' but I'm friends with a rescue crow - long story - who still visits my (cat-proof) feeding station. We also feed goldfinches, sparrows etc.

We have a gravel bar in are garden, absolutely sick to death of cats shitting on it like it’s a litter tray 😭

Cat owners often don't realise that they, like all of us, are under a general duty of care - including not allowing their cat (ie their property and their legal responsibility) to cause a nuisance.

They think the 'roaming instinct' clause is a free pass to eschew all their responsibilities. You see it on MN a lot.

And it's not actually true. Especially if they've been asked to deal with it, with basic measures.

Sorry to hear it OP - that sounds like a complete pain! Just coming on to second the suggestion of sensors to deter cats. We’ve put some in (about a year ago), and haven’t had any cats come into our garden since.

Can't understand why you would not have a cover for the sand pit? If you got your own cat the other cats would stay away. We have a large garden and have a corner with wood chippings and car gravel where we have taught our cats to toilet. Every couple of weeks my dh figs it over and adds a few fresh chippings. Every couple of months he figs it out into a bin bag and starts off again. We regularly.see our cats use this area.

I'm not keen on cats in my garden.

But you've just moved in, and the cats were there first, and they aren't going away to suit incomers!

These type of threads always go the same way.
Cat owners are not expected to take any responsibility for the damage their pet is doing.
Instead, surrounding neighbours are given suggestions, many of which are costly both in terms of finances as well as time, such as
Get a dog.
Get your own cat.
Spray the cat with water.
Buy catproof fencing.
Cover your soil.
Put down citrus peel, lion poo, shiny tinfoil.
Buy a cat scarer.
Not one of those suggestions puts the onus on the owner of the cat.
How about the cat owner buys and erects cat proof fencing?
How about the owner supplies the neighbours with the necessary equipment?
When, if ever, does this become the cat owners responsibility at all?

If cat owners were to prevent their cats from getting out of their gardens, they'd be more positive it isn't their cat offending, they'd be keeping their cat safe from injury or death on the roads, they'd be taking responsibility and possibly protecting birds too.
Much easier all round to keep cats in than expect everyone else to keep them out?

@EdwinPootsLovesArchaeology

I would seriously do that if I had a problem, i'd make it a proper eyesore and stick bunting all around too

I love how you have a rescue crow as a friend!

@Words it’s basically a giant pile of mud, with wooden spoons, bowls etc and water stuff so they can mix it and make mud pies :)

@BlackCatShadow (and everyone else who’s asked about the chickens 😁) they're fenced in their own area and haven’t been brave enough to escape it yet! Chickens got out of lockdown last month so they’re allowed to roam again now. Definitely not the chickens anyway as they’re a recent addition and the poop has been going on longer than they’ve been here.

I’ve done the lemon juice and orange peels tonight, and I’ve got some sonic things arriving tomorrow so fingers crossed!

Also, for people asking about the sand pit lid, we do have one but it’s a bit cracked. Never been an issue before but obviously is now so we are using a tarpaulin over it. Definitely not getting a dog at the moment and not getting a cat ever after all of this!

@EdwinPootsLovesArchaeology

Cat owners often don't realise that they, like all of us, are under a general duty of care - including not allowing their cat (ie their property and their legal responsibility) to cause a nuisance.

They think the 'roaming instinct' clause is a free pass to eschew all their responsibilities. You see it on MN a lot.

And it's not actually true. Especially if they've been asked to deal with it, with basic measures.

Gulp. Have there been any successful cases in damages?

Nuisance is so difficult to prove. How amazing then that cat owners should particularly be aware of the risk of being sued under it.

Well that's the first time in almost 13 years on MN I've had a post deleted....... and I'm not even sure why 😂😂😂😂

I am contemplating the noise that must surely develop from excited children exploring the many interesting possibilities presented by liquified soil in the 'mud kitchen' before letting off steam properly on their trampoline.

Those cats are sending you a message, OP.

We had similar problems. I’ve now got fishing wire attached to the top of all the fences and the gate, and in the last 4 years I’ve only seen 2 cats in the garden and have found cat poo once.

@YellowGlasses

It sounds like you have transformed the garden into one big litter tray and most of the neighbourhood cats are probably using it.

Yep, I think you are right. OP, I think you may have to cover the sand pit etc. as this sounds like cat heaven and much more appealing than using an indoor litter tray. Cats don't know its not their garden so you need to try and make it less appealing to them. Assuming their owner has litter trays for them, if they are indoor / outdoor cats I dont really know what you expect them to do to stop the cats using your garden as a toilet. You need to try and humanely deter them and restrict their access to the sand pit (AKA huge litter tray).

Boil up garlic, onion, chilli and spray the area with the mixture.
Cats love freshly turned earth, cover the area with chicken wire. Cover up sand/mud pit.
There’s not much you can do to physically stop the cats coming into your garden, but you can less attractive for them. Shoo them off, water pistols, etc.
Are you 100% sure it’s just cats?! Seems a lot of damage for a cat....

Cat noise deterrent device worked on our cat, bloody terrified of it she was. We keep her in at night and put it on to get rid of the foxes.

You can buy plants called cat shoo plants that they hate the smell of. J Parkers have a cat shoo plant collection. They are nice looking plants too.

I do feel bad for you, just there isn’t much you can do as the neighbor doesn’t seem to care. Just try different cat deterrents and cover the sand pit.

I don't understand why people get so outraged over abit of animal poo in an outside space.. I've only ever seen it on MN.

Ah, spoken like a true cat owner. There should be a yearly cat tax to form a fund that non cat owners can claim from to pay for cat proofing measures. Animal poo I can pick up, although I love picking it up from my front garden constantly as much as you would picking dog poo up from the pavement, the stench of piss in summer is harder to resolve. I bloody hate cats!

Speaking as a cat owner whose cat is now an indoor cat but used to be outdoor.

You can not train cats, giving a litter tray won't work as they prefer to go else where to poo.

I would cat proof but there is nothing your neighbour can do bar offer to pick
The poo up, which is not practical as it would be daily.

It is not worth starting a war with your neighbour as I'm sure you plan to live ther for a long time.

Cats also hate coffee so I used to chuck the remnants of our espresso grounds out every day around the veg and flowers. I also used to spray them with the hose. My neighbours hated me for it but I don’t see why the whole neighbourhood gets a pet just because someone nearby wants an outdoor cat 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Suzi888

Boil up garlic, onion, chilli and spray the area with the mixture. Cats love freshly turned earth, cover the area with chicken wire. Cover up sand/mud pit. There’s not much you can do to physically stop the cats coming into your garden, but you can less attractive for them. Shoo them off, water pistols, etc. Are you 100% sure it’s just cats?! Seems a lot of damage for a cat....

hollow laugh

It sounds like a perfectly usual amount of damage for a cat. This is the problem. People who have cats don’t understand how fucking awful their animals are to everyone else.

I don’t mind cats especially but I do mind having the literally shitty aspects of having a pet when I don’t have a fucking pet And spending time and money on making my space nice to have it trashed because other people are too fucking selfish to keep their household pets in their own household is awful. And it’s impossible to have a reasonable discussion about it because you get shitty stonewally replies like ‘well, what can you do? It’s a cat’ as if they don’t literally have four walls and doors within which to keep them and their shit and claws.