Neighbour getting cross about my cats

[Faciadipasta]

We have 2 cats. They have a catflap so go outside when they like. My neighbour has started complaining that one of them likes to sit on their outside table (during the day, not while they're actually using it)
AIBU to think this is a bit nuts? I mean we get foxes, magpies, all sorts so why worry about cats?
I mean if the cats were pooing in their garden I'd understand- they use a litter tray so pretty sure they don't - also I'm sure neighbour would have said, but sitting on their table?
Would you try and think.of a way to stop cat doing it or ignore? I've told neighbour to spray the cat with a water pistol if he wants but haven't really got any other ideas.

I'll never understand the hate a lot of you have for people who don't want your pets on their property. Just cat proof your gardens and stop being dicks. My cat is perfectly happy with just the garden to explore, it's really not the end of the world to control your animals.

@Same1977 not sure what nonsense you're spouting now? I was pointing out the stupidity of your I'll let my chickens on your land....

Crack on!

"I refuse to be victimised by it" 😂 Do you, aye?

What are the odds that everybody in the one workplace is a batshit arsehole?

There are motion-detecting sprinklers you/they can buy, for around £25. When it detects movement, it sprays water. This may work. Otherwise, she can borrow my dog, who is very fast. All the cats who used to lie in my garden, now lie in the neighbours. 😂

Ooh a motion detection sprinkler is a good call. Maybe I could offer to get them one. It probably wouldn't take long for the cat to stop wanting to go in their garden if they had one of those.

I like cats but I do think if you look at it impartially, the situation with roaming cats is a bit weird. It wouldn’t be acceptable to let your dog shit in someone’s garden so that you didn’t have to clean it up, yet cats just do it all the time, a lot of owners don’t even have a litter tray and actively encourage their cat to go outside, ignoring the fact that it means someone else ends up clearing up their pet’s shit. I have to check my lawn every time my children play in the garden because of cat shit, there’s cat shit on my salad beds meaning what I’ve grown is wasted and I’ve stopped feeding the birds because I was just providing feathery targets for a ginger tom.

There are plenty of things that are
legal that are still pretty inconsiderate.

You stole somebody’s beloved pet?? Are you for real???!! Do you have any idea the upset and anxiety caused by having a pet go missing or did you have the courage to tell them what you’d done??

You stole somebody’s beloved pet?? Are you for real???!! Do you have any idea the upset and anxiety caused by having a pet go missing or did you have the courage to tell them what you’d done??

Nonsense...take care of your cats and don't be entitled. Any normal person would understand the main thought behind what I wrote.

@Same1977 cats are entitled to roam. That's it!

Yes they are but human decency comes into it.Just because its the law doesn't mean you cannot exercise some level of responsibility.
Law doesn't cover many things (giving up seats for elderly and many many more) ,but a person should have some moral compass.

They certainly are.
The other day I saw one sitting at a bus stop on a very busy street in broad daylight.

Yes they are but human decency comes into it.Just because its the law doesn't mean you cannot exercise some level of responsibility.
Law doesn't cover many things (giving up seats for elderly and many many more) ,but a person should have some moral compass.

There must be 1000s of cat owners without a moral compass then? Don't be ridiculous! How insulting to say you've got no moral compass because you've got a cat and it roams!

Are you not embarrassed that your pet is upsetting your neighbour? Why should they have to have someone else's animal on their table?

@sophiasnail I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not..😆

Giving my seat to someone is easy, helps and doesn't hurt anyone and morally correct. Trying to stop my cat doing what cats do is none of those things.

Cats wander, its what they do. You might as well complain about birds flying into your garden.

why is it batshit to suggest cat owners take responsibility for their pets?

Because it's a CAT. You don't take it to Kitty training classes and walk it on a lead. 🙄. If you don't like cats then kitty proof your garden.

I don't have cats in mine because I have dogs that would chase them off, but my neighbours do, and certainly wouldn't be arsed about a cat sat on my table, if they managed to get past the dogs.

Neighbours, love 'em, hate 'em, shame you can't just kill them. I watch my cats tightrope walking my garden fences and dropping into other gardens. I've no idea what they get up to there, I don't think they defecate in other than mine, but who knows, they may get caught short. I agree on the water pistol, but my 2 would probably just return when the neighbour goes away. You can't stop cats wandering unless you have indoor cats, which mine nor yours are.

Jumping on here because either side neighbours now have cats who have ‘made friends’ and use my garden for access. My old dog who previously led a peaceful life puttering around the garden is stressed to hell. The cats scare him not the opposite. And they shit in my flowerbeds.

so I have to fork out my money to cat proof my garden. They aren’t even my animals. Aside from terrorising my dog, they’ve played havoc with the local bird population. Little shits.

well good luck to my neighbours who now have to put up with my dog barking. He didn’t bark before the cats arrived.

Reading this with interest. I have a related problem. Either side neighbours have cats that use my garden as a route to each other. Neighbours encourage this ‘because they are friends’. I don’t want their cats in my garden because it sets my dogs off. Dogs barks. Other neighbours then complain about my dogs. We also have Guinea pigs and the cats are obsessed with their enclosure. I went around to neighbours to discuss a solution to keep their cats out of my garden. They believe however that their cats have a right to roam….through my garden. Well they might have a right to roam but I have a right to discourage them from my garden!

All I want to do is keep the cats out by putting something (humane) along the fence. You would think I was suggesting murdering the cats!

any suggestions of anything that has worked to discourage cats effectively?. Someone suggested tubes along the top of the fence.

btw..I really feel this is a ridiculous situation and cat owners need to accept that not everyone welcomes their pets. In the meantime neighbours ….enjoy listening to my dogs bark…(and yes we are trying to desensitise the dog but it’s not very easy.)