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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU - my neighbour's flower bed is my dog's toilet

357 replies

SevenWaystoLeave · 14/04/2022 12:36

I routinely let my dog wander unsupervised around the neighbourhood and he's taken to going into my neighbour's garden, digging up their flower bed and taking a massive stinking dump there. It's his favourite spot to go. This has become a daily occurrence, but I can't stop him, he's an animal and needs his freedom, and I'm not going to clean up after him either because they can't technically prove it's my dog, and not someone else's free-roaming unsupervised dog.

...Yes this would be really fucking unreasonable wouldn't it and people would be quite rightly calling the authories on me and I'd get fined and a control order slapped on my dog. So why why why the ever living fuck is it considered okay and normal when cat owners do this?!? It's absolutely disgusting and I am so so sick of cleaning cat shit out my garden on a daily basis. AIBU?

OP posts:
Thehundredthnamechange · 14/04/2022 12:58

I'm annoyed at myself for accidentally clicking 'YANBU' when I very much think that you are.

Original poster
SevenWaystoLeave · 14/04/2022 12:59

Sprinkle flower bed liberally and regularly with pepper or chilli powder to deter regular offender(s).

Thus making the garden unpleasant and hazardous for my own pets and family - why should I have to do this because other people won't control their pets?

Wear gloves to do your gardening.

Ask neighbours to please walk their cats on a lead and pick up their poo.

Absolutely what they should be doing, that or keeping their little darlings indoors, but apparently cat owners love it when their pets shit all over the neighbourhood and then get flattened by cars, and suggesting they take any measures at all to prevent this is a terrible violation of their cat's human rights.

Erect tarpaulins over your garden in case birds shit in it. Ditto mice and rats when passing through.

Cats aren't wild animals, they are pets people choose to own then don't take any responsibility for. If you can't see the difference there, I can't help you. And there's no wild animal that shits in my garden with the same level of frequency, nor do they ruin the plants in the process.

OP posts:
worriedatthistime · 14/04/2022 12:59

@yourestandingonmyneck they might not bark but they scream and howl at night and fight that makes a racket
Some irresponsible owners leave their dog crap , difference is they can get fined
If people want cats reported when knocked over then they need to accept they are treated as dogs and owners responsible

YanTanTetheraPetheraPimp · 14/04/2022 13:00

I hate bl... cats and their craps in my garden (on top of plants) or on the lawn.
Thank goodness our dog hates them too and chases them off.

10HailMarys · 14/04/2022 13:01

Well, i mean, dogs are allowed in pubs and on trains etc. cats aren't.

Dogs are allowed in some pubs - it's up to the publican to say yes or no, just as it would be if someone wanted to bring in a cat. Some pubs and shops have resident cats - my local bookshop has a cat. He's really lovely and very affectionate so I always give him lots of fuss, but I haven't asked him whose garden he poos in Grin

You can generally take cats on trains too - would just have to be under control, so in a carrier or on a lead/harness, same as a dog.

1ittlegreen · 14/04/2022 13:03

I stick small twigs and canes in my beds and they don't touch them. They need a wide area to scratch the earth so if you put them in the ground about 30cm apart they will go somewhere else.

Beekindbeehumble · 14/04/2022 13:03

When my new neighbours arrived with 4 cats I realised I had to net any areas I wanted new plants to establish. Neighbour stood talking to me by our boundary, saw one of their cars use my flower bed as a toilet and ignored it. Leaving me to pick up their cat’s mess from my garden.

Georgeskitchen · 14/04/2022 13:03

Cats are classes as wild animals so basically they shit in where they want. There are measures to discourage them, as stated by previous pp's. Sometimes you have to take the rough with the smooth as cats also deal with a lot of rodents which most ppl don't want running wild in their houses

Plump82 · 14/04/2022 13:03

@ShirleyPhallus

You won’t get agreement on this

People either like cats and think it’s acceptable (usually with cries of “but what about foxes and birds? You let them poo!”)

Or they hate cats and cat shit and that’s that

Fwiw I agree with you, but this has indeed been done to death on here!

I like cats but don't think it's acceptable.
Underfrighter · 14/04/2022 13:04

I dont get some of the arguments cat owners use.

'Wild animals shit in your garden'. Well they do, but not as much as cats do, and they are not being actively encouraged to do so by people. If I had a neighbour who fed a wild fox daily and it went to the toilet in my garden daily I'd be pretty pissed off.

'Cats are free to roam, they are wild animals'. Yes they are but don't then get the hump when other people feed your cat or 'steal' it by letting it in their house when it wants to get in, or they treat it like a wild animal and leave it at the side of the road when it gets knocked over by a car.

Lots of people want them to be treated as pets when it suits them but wild / free when it suits them, and I don't think they should have it both ways

Onlyhuman123 · 14/04/2022 13:04

@SGChome20

Is this my husband posting? We're having similar issues and it is disgusting. I'm actually nervous about letting DD out in the garden. Cats won't do their business in their own garden either so the neighbours likely unaware. I don't know what the answer is though apart from to have them as house cats. I've looked for repellants but can't find any!
erm, our cats do their 'business' in their own garden and in the cat tray provided inside the house.. so its not true to say 'cats won't do their business in their own garden...'
Ikeptgoing · 14/04/2022 13:04

Because cats and dogs are different species same as foxes and other wild animals are, and have different legal responsibilities. Surely you've noticed that ?!

Cats go out and roam free climbing on walls roofs and going for miles so aren't expected to be kept under control on a lead or kept under supervision.

It is frustrating when a neighbourhood cat uses your flowerbed in your private garden as a toilet area and I can see how frustrating that is for you. You have my sympathy. There are deterrents you can use if you look them up online.

If you were my neighbour and it was my cat, I would be round regularly clearing it for you and helping you set up deterrents, given your health issues and annoyance.

But your frustration is the different national legislation applying to and character between the species.

This is really an inflammatory worded topic with a misleading heading, that has many many past threads on MN, although I appreciate you think you are letting off steam anonymously.

I'm annoyed I clicked on it as I bought into your misleading title. I wonder if you could edit it to make it clearer.

YvanEhtNiojYvanEhtNioj · 14/04/2022 13:05

but I can't stop him

Yes you can. Train your fucking dog to go on YOUR lawn so it's easier to pick up. Don't be a lazy useless owner.

CurbsideProphet · 14/04/2022 13:06

Worst for me was having a whole flowerbed of pansies destroyed in 2 days by our neighbour's cat - it dug them all up 😔 I've put tons of short bamboo canes in now to protect new plants so there isn't any free space for it to dig. We've along one for more dull but hardy shrubs. My neighbours are very nice people and would probably be mortified that I was upset, especially as they often compliment us on our gardening.

SickAndTiredAgain · 14/04/2022 13:06

@yourestandingonmyneck

Well, i mean, dogs are allowed in pubs and on trains etc. cats aren't.

You may find cat shit in your garden. I'm forever stepping over dog shit on the pavement on my way to work.

You can't legally just knock a dog down and leave it for dead. You can with a cat.

Some dogs bark and make a hell of a racket wakening neighbours up in the early hours of the morning. Cats generally don't.

Some dogs maul young children to death. Cats don't.

They are just entirely different species of animals and behave accordingly 🤷‍♀️ I'm not sure trying to draw comparisons like that is a helpful way to think of it.

I agree with this.

I don’t have any pets, I don’t like cats or dogs, and I’d never own either. But I think comparisons between them are a bit pointless, and I don’t particularly care about cat poo.

Original poster
SevenWaystoLeave · 14/04/2022 13:07

@KatherineofGaunt

I can't have nice plants and things in my flower bed because any hint of fresh earth and next door's cats are straight there. It drives me insane.

I'm a cat-lover, but never been in a situation where I feel I'm at war with someone else's cats before.

Exactly how I feel. I can't enjoy my own garden because I always have to plan around other people's fucking cats. It affects what I can have in my garden, it effects how I can use my garden, how my DC and my dog can use it, etc. All because other people won't take responsibility for their pets, in the short life span the poor animal has before it gets hit by a car, at which point they go out and get a new one so the same thing can happen again.

Just FYI to any cat owner out there who lets their cat do this and thinks this is all fine, your neighbours probably absolutely fucking hate you.

OP posts:
Marvellousmadness · 14/04/2022 13:08

Get motion activated sprinklers.
Or plant some plants that are toxic to cats

SickAndTiredAgain · 14/04/2022 13:09

@ShirleyPhallus

You won’t get agreement on this

People either like cats and think it’s acceptable (usually with cries of “but what about foxes and birds? You let them poo!”)

Or they hate cats and cat shit and that’s that

Fwiw I agree with you, but this has indeed been done to death on here!

I don’t like cats, but don’t care about this.
Ikeptgoing · 14/04/2022 13:09

Well said @yourestandingonmyneck

pussycatunpickingcrossesagain · 14/04/2022 13:09

Seriously?

This again?

Don't you ever get bored?

YotkshireLass · 14/04/2022 13:09

Cats absolutely do do their business in their own gardens! My little buggers do, that's for sure Angry

sleepymum50 · 14/04/2022 13:10

Funny enough, your first paragraph is real for me.

There is a little terrier in our village who’s owner visits her horse in a field across the road from us every day.

He just wanders free and pops in to our garden through gaps in the hedge and leaves his little turds here there and everywhere.

I also have cats visiting my garden, which is why I always garden in gloves.

I’m a big dog dog and cat lover, just don’t have any pets at the moment.

Annoying as fuck.

sobeyondthehills · 14/04/2022 13:10

I think your comparison is a bit shit as well, I am fed up of dog owners allowing their precious dog coming up to me and jumping up with the phrase its ok they are friendly being yelled in my general direction.

Cats dont do that, but I am sure I would get dog owners telling me that they dont let their dogs do that either

godmum56 · 14/04/2022 13:10

@Ca55andraMortmain

Hm, that's like saying that you can't leave your dog at home on its own for an hour because you wouldn't do that to a toddler. You can't really compare cats to dogs, they're different animals with different needs.

It is annoying but cats like to be free to roam. You could try getting a cat alarm outside your house to deter them? Or I think you can get pellets to put.in your flower beds that put them off?

dogs woulds like to be free to roam but we aren't allowed to let them....same with equines and so on. I think if people want cats that is fine. There are many ways of catproofing their own garden to keep the cat safe and to stop it annoying others.
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