AIBU to find it utterly astounding that it's socially acceptable in England for pet cats to poop in other people's gardens??!

[DrawsSword]

I honestly cannot get my head round this. We've moved into a new house and the garden is full of cat shit. Not a single cat owner I know has a little tray for their cat to use. Where do cat owners think their cats poop? Do you honestly not care that it's in other peoples gardens?
My dh is from in a country where this is not socially acceptable and cat owners have litter trays and the cats bloody use them.

Our cats have always pooed in our garden. It’s big though. I suppose with small patio gardens they may find somewhere else to poo.

The answer is a cat to keep the other cats out.

Where I live dog poo and foxes are more of a problem.

Everywhere I have been in Europe has cats roaming, especially Italy, Greece and Spain. They must be pooing where the hell they like! I'd like to know where these places are that has laws saying cats have to be kept indoors.

Still no update on where this social utopia is that OPs husband hails from?

Not wanting cat shit in your garden =/= hating cats.

It's disgusting. Our garden constantly smells of cat poo as they do it in flower beds etc and if you don't get every last bit it smells revolting. I don't even use our garden with the kids because it puts me off. But ultimately there's nothing you can really do about it.

@Whinge Well they used to go the jaggy thistles but folk weren’t for that continuing so for the community council commissioned an artist-in-residence to work with local kids on a thistle mural at the public loos down by the visitor centre. The haggis’s carry special thistle shaped tokens in their wee sporrans. It’s working very well, and with the mural, the whole community benefits.

Now the picnic area beside the loos is a wee bit ay a mess with remnants of lthe haggis’s neeps and tatties lunches to be fair but there’s talk of extended litter bin provision with the help of a local trust linked to a whisky distillery.

[quote NadiaVulvokov]@Whinge Well they used to go the jaggy thistles but folk weren’t for that continuing so for the community council commissioned an artist-in-residence to work with local kids on a thistle mural at the public loos down by the visitor centre. The haggis’s carry special thistle shaped tokens in their wee sporrans. It’s working very well, and with the mural, the whole community benefits.

Now the picnic area beside the loos is a wee bit ay a mess with remnants of lthe haggis’s neeps and tatties lunches to be fair but there’s talk of extended litter bin provision with the help of a local trust linked to a whisky distillery.[/quote]
🤣🤣🤣

You should write a thread about the adventures of the Haggis.

Wouldn’t it be nicer for society if it was socially it was expected you provide litter trays for your cats?

Many cats will not use a litter tray if they have the option of going outside. And I don’t think it’d be nicer for society if cats were all kept indoors. But then I like cats and couldn’t have any until last year, so it made me happy to see (and stroke) the neighbour’s cats in the street. My neighbour’s kids now wave and say hello to my cats and seem to think all our cats are good friends (which I find sweet).

It’s not acceptable to me and the excuses of cat owners make me sick. The cats may not grasp the concept of human territory, but their owners do. If you choose to have a pet its actions and impacts on other people ARE your responsibility.

@Mummylewi

It's disgusting. Our garden constantly smells of cat poo as they do it in flower beds etc and if you don't get every last bit it smells revolting. I don't even use our garden with the kids because it puts me off. But ultimately there's nothing you can really do about it.

Such melodrama! I don't believe anybody's garden constantly smells of cat poo! We have 2 cats, next door have 4 cats, next door but one also have 2 cats- there is definitely cat poo in my garden, but you can't smell it in the air every time you go out- the only time I notice it is if I come across some while digging the soil to plant something or hoeing the weeds. Even the fox poo from the family of foxes which lives in the neighbours garden doesn't smell unless you disturb it- and that does smell- worse than cat poo by a mile!

@RachelHasThoseInBurgundy

Still no update on where this social utopia is that OPs husband hails from?

Yes, funny that!

Our neighbours cats used to shit in our small garden, it stank and was gross accidentally treading in it. When we saw their cats shitting in our garden my husband would pick it up and throw over their fence.

In the end - it will be a bigger problem for the cat owners. In some countries people put rat poison out to deter cats. Yes, it is cruel and forbidden - but people do that unfortunately. This is why I have an indoor only breed - I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that my cat is roaming around people who might possibly harm it.

@PickUpAPepper that's a nice theory but I'm intrigued to hear your solution on just how a cat owner can keep track of their cats whereabouts and therefore take responsibility for them? Other than keeping them locked indoors which isn't practical or fair.

@PandoraP

Which country is this OP?

Good luck getting an answer to that question

@PearlclutchersInc

twinkly link and references please

It was a joke

In the USA state I live in you have to manage your cats.
If they foul in other people's yards you will first get penalty notices and I think animal control gets involved if the situation doesn't change.

You do see some cats out and about but it is much less common.

I believe Oz has even stricter rules about cats in some of their areas.

There is absolutely NO WAY a cat will just poo in in the middle of someones garden.

They go in a flower bed, or under a bush etc.

It's free fertiliser.

Jesus. Get a grip!!!

Our 2 come in from the garden to use their litter tray- even for a wee.

[quote dozyjosie42]@PickUpAPepper that's a nice theory but I'm intrigued to hear your solution on just how a cat owner can keep track of their cats whereabouts and therefore take responsibility for them? Other than keeping them locked indoors which isn't practical or fair. [/quote]
If you can’t keep to your terms of the social contract then don’t have them. I really don’t care about your struggles to track the unnecessary and entirely luxurious pets that you chose to have, especially not after having to clean up a bag full off my own garden just yesterday.

@RachelHasThoseInBurgundy

I’m really sad that Op hasn’t answered my question.

They're not here to answer your question, dammit. We're here to answer their's. Which we're not doing which makes us all Very Bad People Indeed. (Even though the OP still hasn't told us where this wondrous mythical land is where cat's don't shit)

80 years ago it was considered perfectly normal for dogs to be allowed to roam, fouling as they did so. Times change, they are changing for cats.

Not acceptable no , but inevitable .

Most cats will use their own gardens and bury it , or leave as a territory warning .

My 2 cats use their indoor tray , they will storm in through the catdoor , into the tray , scrape about then saunter back with a You might want to look at that air to them.
A couple of times I saw our male balance on a tall plantar and pooh in that (so I know it was him) I found more in the plantar , might've been his , don't know .

If I see another cat abut to use my garden I throw a cup of water in its direction. I've told my NDNs to do the same to my cats if they see them pooh in their gardens

@Mummylewi

It's disgusting. Our garden constantly smells of cat poo as they do it in flower beds etc and if you don't get every last bit it smells revolting. I don't even use our garden with the kids because it puts me off. But ultimately there's nothing you can really do about it.

Agreed

And if you have fortnightly bin collections you smell it everyone you open the bin. Even when bagged (at my expense)

I've tried the water bottle, sticks in the ground, citrus. When I've been lucky enough to catch one, they get a nice shower.

But still they shit in my garden.

Disgusting. And using poop doesn't make it any less disgusting