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 have cats and litter trays. I like the litter trays to be kept nice and clean so I send the cats next door to poop in the neighbour's garden

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

@millymolls

Well they aren't people's pets are they? So no one's responsibility. Bit different?

I have three cats, and no litter trays now. only had the trays when they were kittens. Theyall go in my garden for toilet purposes, as they have got used to going in the same place over the years..

But I do have a problem,with some peoples dogs, crapping on the path that leads to my house, sometimes they crap on some new laid gravel that I laid a while ago in my front garden. I have not seen any of my neighbours cats doing poos in my garden, despite having no hedges or fences or borders around my house.

Which country is this OP?

I don't know anyone who has a cat and doesn't have a litter tray. However I would say that some cats simply won't use one because they prefer to go outside and there's almost nothing the owners can do in that case.

If you are seeing cat poo unburied I'd be very uncertain that its cats, it's usually foxes who leave it very obviously.

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.

WHAT country does your DH come from, that its cats - as a nation! - all recognise socially acceptable forms of pooping?

I think you are missing a trick OP.
DH needs to go home, swot up, recruit a few of these remarkable cats, then come back to Blighty to set up a Cat Poop Training School.

This time next year, you'll be millionaires!

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.

You could always go and live in your husbands home country then if you’re not happy with the cats here.

It’s outside, lots of animals will shit in your garden.

Why do so many cat owners that think it's so amusing to say their cat rules the roost and they are just the cat's servant?

I would also say that despite having a litter tray, I'm certain my cat goes over behind the bushes in my own garden.

I find it amazing that dogs are allowed to piss up lampposts or fences, or bollards, anywhere really, where people walk, were it pools on the floor for people to walk through and don’t get me started on the amount of dog mess I dodged whilst out on my run this morning.

Not a cat owner myself, but I'm generally pretty relaxed about other people's cats pooing in our garden. It just seems inevitable, given the way that cats roam -- unless you keep your cat indoors, which to me seems like an unsatisfying way of owning a cat.

Just at the moment I'm a bit pissed off with cat poo, because I have a puppy, and he thinks its frightfully jolly to nosh it. But that will pass, and before long his presence should be a disincentive for the local cats to visit our garden to poo and to fantasise about murdering our fish.

@bestcattoyintheworld I hate cats but that made me laugh!

I love cats. I have no problem with the neighbours' cats wandering through our garden. Yes they sometimes shit in the flower beds and DH hates that but over all they're welcome, as are any other animals wild or domestic, or birds.

@HadaVerde

I’ve trained my cat to only shit in the gardens of miserable cat haters.

Am I the only one who's intrigued to find out which country is so good at controlling cats? Clearly not the one that invented the saying "it's like herding cats" #missesthepoint

@millymolls

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

Oh, so they are also your neighbours pets are they?

Ridiculous comparison.

I find it amazing that dogs are allowed to piss up lampposts or fences, or bollards, anywhere really, where people walk, were it pools on the floor for people to walk through and don’t get me started on the amount of dog mess I dodged whilst out on my run this morning

very true also, so much dog piss everywhere and you cannot go on a walk without stepping in poo :(

I wish more cats would visit me and crap in my garden :(

Cats should be taught to do what humans do, flush their waste into an antiquated Victoria system of pipes, along with non degradeable wipes, sanitary items, condoms and cotton buds. Then allow the waste that the system can’t cope with to spill into rivers, canals or better still beaches where we can all enjoy watching swimmers and surfers sharing the shit.

@MissingColorado

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.

You could always go and live in your husbands home country then if you’re not happy with the cats here.

It’s outside, lots of animals will shit in your garden.

Again, not answering the actual question

Which country is your husband from OP?

That's my point. Why is socially (and legally) acceptable

Not a cat owner but seriously - cats are the least of peoples' problems. Dogs are far more intrusive than cats! So they occasionally poo in the garden (along with the birds, foxes, badgers and other wildlife like rats, yuck). Big deal. Dogs poo everywhere and their owners don't always pick it up.

As for why it's ok - it isn't ok, but cats generally roam outside and even if they use a litter tray they may well get the urge to go outside too. There are loads of cats in this area but I don't notice loads of cat poo in the garden. I suspect they do wee everywhere marking territory but don't notice the smell of that either.

I think you are exaggerating about six cats pooing in the garden at once - or even at different times.

Yes, it’s really disgusting. Obviously I don’t blame the cats, as they’re just animals, but we have a real problem with it at our house. We put one of those high pitched noise things in the back garden which seemed to deter some, but that’s not something I’d want to put out if neighbours had dogs or children playing out there as even the wind seems to set it off. The front is even worse because they even do it on the steps down to my front door and right on my doormat. It is so disgusting and in the dark people can’t see it and it is trodden into my house on a regular basis.

This is mostly brought on by the retired people over the road whose lives revolve around feeding everybody else’s cats. They steal some of them too. And that’s not an exaggeration, they come out on a half hourly sort of basis to change cats food, throw chicken around to cats in the street, stroke cats etc. They wear head torches to do it at night. I don’t even know when they sleep because I’ve seen them out there all hours of the night and day. They go to the supermarket every day and buy loads of chicken which they then throw to cats or leave on their drive for them to take. So an even bigger problem for us now is bones and rotting meat left everywhere. Seagulls have taken to constantly perching on our houses and covering the roof in shit because chicken is thrown out so often they swoop down to get it.

Council can apparently do nothing as long as they keep it on their own drive. But cats obviously pick it up and move it around, so there is shit and meat everywhere. It’s just absolutely mental and I have no idea how people can be so bloody selfish. They don’t like us anymore because we shoo cats away and there are now rumours that we kick cats which led to a neighbour threatening my husband recently. I just want to move.

Personally I find it pretty disgusting that people with dogs let them wee everywhere and consider picking up the solid bits of poo with a bag to put in a bin (provided through council tax) is 'cleaned up'.

But that's just how it is. Cats have the right to roam (unlike dogs).

To answer your question it is considered ok because it is legal in the UK for cats to roam in the same way wild animals do. It is generally also considered ok to use deterrents such as sprinklers, rollers or rubber spikes on the fence so long as these will not physically harm an animal.