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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

999 replies

DrawsSword · 07/11/2021 11:49

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.

OP posts:
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JammyRedRooo · 07/11/2021 12:10

I've been on both sides of this. In our old house next doors cat used to shit in our garden and it used to really get to me. It would make the whole garden smell (it was only a small garden) and nothing I tried (chicken wire, pellets etc) seemed to work.

But we had rescue cats growing up and even though we had a litter tray they never seemed to use it much - not sure how anyone would go about making them?

Now we have a dog and cats dont go anywhere near our garden Smile

nanbread · 07/11/2021 12:11

YANBU. And why are people comparing cats to wild animals?

How many of the 61% who think it's unreasonable not to want someone else's pet shit on their lawn have cats that they let shit in other people's gardens, I wonder.

It's as bad as letting your dog shit on the pavement and not cleaning it up IMO.

FissionMailed · 07/11/2021 12:11

"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."

Is he from a country where it's socially acceptable to be a judgemental ass hat?

HunkyPunk · 07/11/2021 12:11

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.

Well that’s tough, but cats are free to roam in the UK. Some people come from countries where it’s socially acceptable to eat dog. I don’t much like that, but I wouldn’t expect them to change for me.

janj2301 · 07/11/2021 12:12

Fox poo stinks to high heaven, rather have cat poo anyday

Original poster
DrawsSword · 07/11/2021 12:12

@FissionMailed

"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."

Is he from a country where it's socially acceptable to be a judgemental ass hat?

Why do you think it's judgemental?
OP posts:
TuftyMarmoset · 07/11/2021 12:12

Have you ever met a cat OP? You can buy as many litter trays as you want and they’ll do their business somewhere else to spite you

nanbread · 07/11/2021 12:13

I hate all this "cats rule the universe" bollocks as well, which seems to be some kind of comedy apologist stance that means cats - and cat owners - can do what the fuck they like and screw everyone else.

MajorCarolDanvers · 07/11/2021 12:13

why people think it's ok

What do you think is the solution - apart from cats being banned or kept indoors?

BTW I don't have a cat, I do have a garden that the local cats poo in. I don't like but that's life is it not?

Immaculatemisconception · 07/11/2021 12:15

Well yes, dogs are a bit different.

You don't say! It still doesn't mean I want cat shit in my garden.

Original poster
DrawsSword · 07/11/2021 12:15

@MajorCarolDanvers

why people think it's ok

What do you think is the solution - apart from cats being banned or kept indoors?

BTW I don't have a cat, I do have a garden that the local cats poo in. I don't like but that's life is it not?

Why is it life? It's not life in other countries. Cats should be indoors. Especially at night. Imo
OP posts:
sleepycoffeemonster · 07/11/2021 12:16

Im totally with you on this and as more people seem to accept it, the more cat owners don't have litter trays and encourage cats to go outside.

It drives me insane the amount of time I have to spend checking the garden for cat poo before the kids go out, attempting to cat proof the garden (although nothing ever works), shooing cats out and still having to clean off kids shoes when they have trodden in some I've missed. Once my DS pushed his tractor through some grass and ended up with cat poo all over it, he was really upset.

People always say about wildlife but I rarely see other types of poop so that is just an excuse to alleviate the issues caused by their cats almost like "its ok to have a garden full of my cats' shit because hedgehogs poop too!"

BasiliskStare · 07/11/2021 12:16

I was sitting in my tiny outside space and a pigeon crapped on my kindle once

I don't keep pigeons.

I read once that a plastic litre water bottle or however many depending on size of garden and put horizontally half full of water in your garden will deter cats - they don't like it apparently - but I ha cannot tell you this as a fact from my own experience. Perhaps an urban myth - others may know.

VickyEadieofThigh · 07/11/2021 12:17

I found that having a dog entirely stopped the multitude of cats owned by our neighbours (one house, at least 8 cats) crapping in our garden after we moved there. He only had to chase several of them out of the garden for the cats to give ours a wide berth, though I imagine they simply switched to someone else's.

ineedsun · 07/11/2021 12:17

@DrawsSword

Why
Was this to me?
MajorCarolDanvers · 07/11/2021 12:18

Why is it life? It's not life in other countries.
Cats should be indoors. Especially at night. Imo

I wasn't aware that in other countries cats were kept indoors. I think that is rather cruel tbh.

Rosebel · 07/11/2021 12:19

Our cats have litter trays but they don't use it. Our cats go totally wild if we keep them in so they go out and usually just seem to use our garden.
You can train a dog cats do whatever they want.

lots33 · 07/11/2021 12:19

I agree. I have three cats, they have a fenced off outdoor area but if we didn’t have room for this they would be indoor. We have an outdoor litter tray plus inside ones. I’d hate the cats to cause trouble for neighbours.

PassingByAndThoughtIdDropIn · 07/11/2021 12:19

I always gave my cats litter trays and would have been happy to empty them. They always turned their noses up at them and went outside (normally in my own garden as far as I can tell). The only way to stop them pooing outside would have been to keep them in 24/7.

Allaboutthecake · 07/11/2021 12:20

I’ve never known anyone have a cat but no litter tray. I don’t have a cat myself but I would question how you are supposed to know what your cat is doing, and where it is shitting, when it’s out of the house on its travels of the neighbourhood.

I agree with you that it’s annoying. I don’t like finding cat shit in my garden but I’m not sure what you can do about it.

TurnUpTurnip · 07/11/2021 12:21

Cats pooing in gardens doesn’t bother me, it’s the dog shit that people leave all over the street that bothers me more. There was an absolutely massive one the other day even worse now it’s dark early or covered by leaves so harder to spot and avoid

SickAndTiredAgain · 07/11/2021 12:22

Remind me to tell the fox and hedgehogs that crap in my garden to find somewhere else

I'd take this over cat shit every single time

Really?? Fox poo is bigger, smells worse and often has undigested bits in it Envy (and no, I don’t have a cat).

IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves · 07/11/2021 12:22

It's not ok. I think people just take the attitude that they can't stop it so that makes it ok.

It doesnt.

My cat has a litter tray that she hates using and will only use if there's about a foot of snow outside! But we keep it there and clean all year round for her anyway. She wants to go outside so we have places in our garden where we keep the soil nicely turned over for her and we keep it clean for her. We have CCTV so we know that's where she goes. That sounds creepy oooh we like to watch our cat shit in the garden 🤣

If you provide good and private places in your garden for your cat to use and keep them clean, they'll use them.

It doesn't have to be either keep cat indoors all the time or say it's ok for them to crap in other people's gardens. You can sort it so it's their territory they use.

BeaucoupFish · 07/11/2021 12:23

@SickAndTiredAgain
I found a fox one the other day that had bird bones in it 🤮

TimOTey · 07/11/2021 12:23

Why is it life? It's not life in other countries.
Cats should be indoors. Especially at night. Imo

It's life in the UK. A cat loving nation. And cats go where they want. Keeping cats indoors is cruel.