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.

I would never dismiss mental health issues - I have been there myself, it is horrendous.

Anything can be difficult for someone with mental health issues. Pets can be a big help - finding the energy to clean up after them can be tough and sometimes impossible.

But this lady’s mental health issue wasn’t caused by a cat pooing in her garden.

You are being hysterical about one of life’s little annoyances.

You also haven’t said where you think these cats should shit

Would it be inconceivable to think cat owners could train their cats to shit in a litter tray? Or to cat proof their garden so they can shit in their garden to their hearts content…. Many cat owners manage to keep their cats confined to their own home/garden. Why can’t others? Let me think…. 🤔

Do you know one of the reasons why cats became domesticated, OP? Because they are a very useful repellent against the sort of small vermin whose faeces are actually harmful to humans.

Having a cat in or around your house repels birds, rats and mice, and that's quite handy, given the diseases they tend to carry: humans have found, over literally thousands of years, that the pluses outweigh the minuses.

If it annoys you, please do feel free to have a chat with agrarian evolution, and see where it gets you.

(See also: dogs, horses etc)

I think asking people why something is the norm in their culture is really difficult.

It just is. I'm sure there are things in your country (USA I think it was?) that UK people would find bizarre/ unpleasant etc that most USA people would find hard to say why. Because just is.

I suppose the converse of this is that loads of UK people find things that apparently happen in USA eg declawing, keeping cats indoors all the time, I've seen something about walking on leads once. Very very peculiar and a subset would find cruel.

We just have our ways. As a society there are people who don't like the ways. Some things change over time.

But you know. Cats roaming is just how things are here.

In general when in different country you tend to accept that things can be different and keep your thoughts to yourself iyswim.

I agree but It’s not surprising as I’ve found parts of the UK are behind what is considered socially acceptable or not in the rest of the world. They’ll catch up eventually but in the meantime you’ve probably got some years of cat poo ahead of you unless you get a dog.

I totally agree, I really don't think it's on for people to allow their pets to defecate in others' gardens (and I really like cats).

Flies lol.

Have you any idea of the massive range of laws, social norms etc that exist all over the world?

@FliesAreMad

I agree but It’s not surprising as I’ve found parts of the UK are behind what is considered socially acceptable or not in the rest of the world. They’ll catch up eventually but in the meantime you’ve probably got some years of cat poo ahead of you unless you get a dog.

Remarkably ahead in terms of other things, such as, ooh, I dunno, labour laws, child marriage, modern slavery, animal cruelty, attitudes towards domestic violence, gender equality, freedom to vote etc.

The one thing I will say the UK is definitely behind on, having lived in East Asia, is that I find wearing shoes inside the house abhorrent.

But between that and cats shitting outdoors, I think it's not bad, as a whole.

YANBU. The attitude of cat owners is disgusting. Why have a cat and expect everyone else to clean up after it?

My cat did a poo that looked like stone henge today. However she was thoughtful enough to do her architectural creation on our paved area not a neighbours .

I agree, people who let their cats out are bad owners and neighbours.

Cat owners will never get it right because there's such hate for cats. People are cruel making cats indoor cats but negligent because they let their cats out!!

There isn't much hatred for cats here but plenty for cat shit. Owners don't seem to care about the misery their choice of pet inflicts on their neighbours.

Wandering cats are banned in parts of Australia and owners keep them on their own property with fencing or "catios".

The tide is turning and it's inevitable that eventually there will be restrictions. I grew up in a UK where dogs roamed all day while owners were at work and shat where they pleased. This was seen as socially unacceptable and legislation followed.

The same will happen with cats eventually.

@TattySlippers

*If they’re not a nuisance to you and don’t poo in your garden, why are you so concerned? Your dog is still shitting and peeing in a public place*

Correction - my dogs crap every morning in my garden. I pick it up.

I’m concerned that my young neighbour is suffering mental health issues because her children cannot use her garden due to the amount of cat shit that appears every morning.

Maybe myself, my neighbours and our dogs should crap in the cat owners garden. I’m sure the cat owner wouldn’t mind - after all we are all free to do what we want eh?

This is where the arguments about cats falls down, posters go to far and lose any credibility and people lose sympathy!

So you think you're going to get a vigilante group and shit in others gardens?

You think that the cause of your neighbours mental health issues is cat poo in the garden? Really? You don't think mental health issues are more complex than that? You think that if she could stop that, she'd be fully well?

If it's that simple and you're that concerned, why not offer practical help to cat proof her garden? Instead of suggesting you invite her to shit in other gardens?

I know if I saw a young mother struggling I'd offer practical help, not just wind her up and agree that cats shit is the root of her problems and how terrible it is.

I agree that declawing is a horrendously cruel practice. Much more shocking than cat poo in gardens.

I find it gob smacking that the majority of Americans have huge tumble driers in their houses and have to use them because it is looked down on to hang washing out. I believe that in some places it is against various rules, lowers the tone.
Cats are not indoor animals, keeping them indoors is cruel!

@TattySlippers

You also haven’t said where you think these cats should shit

Would it be inconceivable to think cat owners could train their cats to shit in a litter tray? Or to cat proof their garden so they can shit in their garden to their hearts content…. Many cat owners manage to keep their cats confined to their own home/garden. Why can’t others? Let me think…. 🤔

Cats are trained to use litter trays and many use them but they don’t think ah, I need a shit, I must go back home for one

And no I will not confine my cat to my home because they are an inconvenience, not that anyone has complained and both cats are mostly indoor anyway.

You can hardly talk anyway, your dogs and your shit is much worse for the environment than a cats.

I find it shocking that many Americans have to go into lifelong debt to afford basic health care.

I find it shocking that guns are so readily available there.

For those reasons I wouldn’t choose to live there.

I think ops partner should embrace the differences he is finding, good and bad.. I am sure he researched the showstoppers before he travelled.

We let cars free roam. We don’t declaw them. It’s a different country.

@TattySlippers
I’m concerned that my young neighbour is suffering mental health issues because her children cannot use her garden due to the amount of cat shit that appears every morning

Hmmm. and you don't think her mental health issues might be causing her to have an irrational reaction to cat poo? Aside from that this post creates an hilarious vision of all the neighbourhood cats running into the one garden to do their morning business

How can everyone's gardens be so full of cat shit every day? Cats have very efficient digestive systems and eat only protein so they really don't poo that often, definitely not more than one a day- and unless there are hordes of cats running up and down I don't see how every day they fill all the gardens in the area with poo. This thread is hilarious...

I wonder how many poos there needs to be before a garden can be classed as 'full of poo' ?

I'm a bit sceptical about all these cats pooing on patios etc - every cat I've ever owned has only pooed somewhere they could bury it. The only non buried poo in my garden isn't from cats, it's fox or badger poo.

I wonder how many poos there needs to be before a garden can be classed as 'full of poo' ?

Depends on the size of the garden. 3 poos in a small garden would be considered to be full of poo.

@DrawsSword

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.

Lots of people have answered you, but you have ignored the questions of where this cat prison island is located.
Please share the information with haste so we can ship lots of shredded copies of The Sun over to line the litter boxes.

What a stupid thread. Beyond stupid actually.

As if a cat understands the concept of his / her “own garden.”

People saying, “just train your cat.” Yeah right.

People saying, “well my dog does x,y,z...” What the hell does that have to do with anything?

Cats are domesticated because it suits them to be so, but essentially they are wild animals too.

By the way, if there is visible cat poo in your garden, i.e in the middle of the lawn, on a patio or in the borders, that will NOT be cat poo. Cats instinctively cover their poo.

Go and stand in your garden OP and call out to the foxes. Tell them you have arrived - and you actually happen to have a mortgage on this particular plot of land, so could they please try and find a place to poo that humans don’t think they own. The foxes will be sure to oblige. Perhaps put a sign up to remind them?

Then call the cats and tell them about the the Scottish and Welsh cats who are law abiding cats who only poo in their own gardens.

Explain to the cats they should all stay indoors now because YOU have recently moved to the U.K.

Stop posting on MN and write to the Wildlife Trust or the RSPCA and explain that you think animals are not human enough these days. They should all be indoors, like humans. Aldo, the cats should know better than to catch mice in 2021. So should the birds and foxes. It’s an outrage frankly. I think all these animals who don’t stay indoors or in “their own” gardens should lose the right to vote.