To water pistol a cat

[Oregano20]

Moved in to a new house a few months ago. Neighbours seem friendly but they're never in their garden so haven't really spoken to them much and I don't want to ask her this incase iabu and it's dead awkward. But Neighbours cat keeps shitting in our garden.
This sucks because

1. I have to be extra vigilant for my crawling DS
2. The cat shits in the borders and digs up my plants.

I tried cayenne pepper. DP wants to get a water pistol. Google says it is effective.

If it was your cat would I piss you off if you saw me give your cat a cheeky wee squirt?

@NorthernSoulForever

I don't have cats but I was wondering, would a bucket of lukewarm water be more effective more quickly and not harm the cat? Could any cat owners please enlighten me?

You might drown the cat

You would need to close for the bucket of water though - after Pictor is easier.

1. I have to be extra vigilant for my crawling DS
2. The cat shits in the borders and digs up my plants

Why are you letting your DS crawl in the flower beds?

Water pistol is easier that should have said! 🔫

Absolutely - I have two cats (although they're indoor cats so use litter trays) and I'd be perfectly happy for you to use a water pistol on them if you didn't want them in your garden. It's only water, it's not going to hurt them.

I mean, as long as it's not an absolute water cannon . . . !

By the time you've hefted the bucket the cat will have sauntered off. I have a super soaker to spritz stranger cats. I also own cats that like to enjoy their own garden.

My lovely Grandad kept canaries in a huge aviary in his garden and had a hosepipe permanently attached to the kitchen tap for precisely this reason.

I followed this model when we were training our kittens, though I used a poundshop water pistol instead of a hosepipe

Wouldn't bother me as long as its just water.

I wouldn't mind at all, would happily suggest my neighbours do the same to my cats if they were bothering them. And I've done it to a neighbours cat as well, worked quite well.

Go for it!

One of my neighbours dislikes our cats. I suspect he lobs a bucket of water at them sometimes. They aren't too impressed, but don't linger for long in the garden.

Far better that than stones or poison.

@Uramaki

Bad idea then. Can't be drowning poor kitty.

I have a cat and have in the past told my neighbours to give them a spray with water if they want to keep them out of their garden. Totally fine I think, doesn't hurt them and they soon learn not to go back where they're going to get wet.

Yanbu.
My cat owning neighbours do it to other cats.

My parents kept a spray bottle house to stop our cats climbing on high shelves. They very rarely had to use it, just a quick shake was enough to make the cats scarper. Shaking a can of pennies will work the same.

I do this with my own cats - it's effective and (assuming it's not one of those turbo super-soakers) doesn't hurt.

I've got two cats - a few sprays wouldn't bother me! A bucket of water might

Are you a coffee drinker by any chance? If you mix coffee grounds into your beds the cats don't like the smell and will avoid (just incase it learns to come in at night when you're not at the window!)

Perfectly fine. Actually I think I'm going to get one to stop my own cat from scratching things he shouldn't.

I wouldn't mind if you did this to my cat, who I love very much. Harmless enough. I'd do the same to someone else's!

I have a loaded water pistol and regularly use it to keep the neighbours tomcat bay. There’s a songbird nest in a tree in my garden that I’m trying to protect. It also regularly shits everywhere. Water won’t harm it, I don’t feel guilty.

*at bay

I love my cats dearly.
If they were in someone’s garden, and that person didn’t want them in there, I wouldn’t have a problem with them being squirted with water.
I’ve known neighbours do much crueler things to unwanted visitors.

My husband bought a water pistol for this very reason 😅

My dad had bought the fanciest water gun in the toy shop and had taken to hiding upstairs like a northern, middle aged Vasily Zaytsev and taking the poor moggies out.
Haha!!!
I have to say that water pistols are effective. I haven't tried them on cats but my dog was chasing our chickens when we first got them and I hid behind the coop with a super soaker. Grand total of 3 times of dog trying to catch chicken and now she does the longest detour possible around the whole area the chickens are in. Totally harmless but very effective!

I wouldn't mind people squirting my cats. But the neighbours like my cats a little too much and they spend a lot of time around their houses!

@LST

I wouldn't mind people squirting my cats. But the neighbours like my cats a little too much and they spend a lot of time around their houses!

Don’t think you can get away with using a water gun here. 🤣