To want cat-owner to acknowledge impact on me?

[SafetyLady]

My neighbour's cats use my garden for a toilet. I'm sick of having to deal with it. On top of plant pots, in my veg bed, etc. They make no attempt to bury it so it sits there stinky until I pick it up. Properly turns my stomach and spoils my enjoyment of my garden on a daily basis.
I know they can't be kept out or trained not to. I'd never want to harm them - they're just being cats! I'd just like some acknowledgement from neighbour that their choice to keep outdoor cats is causing this.
I did ask if they would be willing to take a turn dealing with it, and got told no, cats bury it so you can't even see where it is (some do - theirs doesn't), and anyway that's why they don't keep them in - they don't want to deal with litter tray (were originally indoor only kittens).
AIBU to be upset?

Id say read this thread and the cat loathing and make your own assumptions on how pleasant these people are. I was too specific. Hating pets full stop makes you loathsome.

I have cats. I have three litter trays in my house, a big growbag tray of soil and sand outside as an outside tray, and a flowerbed I keep bare for use as a litter tray. I do everything I can to provide facilities for my cats to use. One does, the other two do not, and choose to go elsewhere and use other peoples' gardens. Short of locking them in the house (morals about indoor cats being another matter) I can't stop them.

In a suburban area dealing with neighbouring cats is one of those things you're going to encounter - like neighbour BBQ smoke wafting over your fence on your washing, children screaming and jumping on trampolines, balls being kicked over fences, music being played outdoors. It's a fact of life of living close to other people.

I don't object to people shooing my cats out of their garden but I wouldn't be pleased if they were trying to deliberately harm them or poison them or something.

Its as awful as the poster stating they specifically would not try to stop their dog killing my cat. Neither of us are covered in glory, but I do fucking love my pets and anyone that would intentionally injure or allow the death of one of them would live to regret it one way or another.

Sonic cat repellers send me scatty!

Cats definitely poo on lawns, I have camera footage of a big Tom settling in for a comfort break. It was very funny but my dog has now developed a taste for catshit...

Do people actually do this in real life?

A dog killing a small animal is not viciously out of control though, it's acting precisely within it's instincts, just as a cat killing a bird is.

I own both dogs and cats. I would never actually allow my dogs to harm a cat, but you can't say that a domesticated cat decimating wild bird populations (which they do) is natural and acceptable, but a dog killing a cat on its territory is awful and unacceptable.

That also doesn't answer my question: you'd lie to get an animal killed?

God I wish they would rather than whinging about it on here.

This is unusual because cats usually will bury their poo. Are you sure it isn't foxes?

I have an allotment and the local cats often shit on our veg beds without burying it.

I've seen the fuckers actually doing it.

As a cat lover and cat owner of many years, I wish it was more acceptable in this country for cats to be either kept indoors or within their own, cat-proofed garden. Aside from anything, it's much safer for the cat.

I am very bonded to my cats. Cant say I would, cant say I wouldn't. Id be fucking devastated and if it transpired to be deliberately caused, as you suggested, by LETTING your dog do it (choose not to stop my dog ripping its head off) then why is your pets life worth more than mine?

Yes. I do everytime next door let their dog crap on our lawn - and will continue to do so until they fix their fence so the dog doesn’t get through.

edit to add. Next door do not see why we have a problem with their dog crapping or even being in our garden. Was like talking to a brick wall.

It's not remotely a given that a dog killing or injuring a visiting cat in it's own garden would be destroyed. It's not out of control, or a danger to the public.
It's restrained on private property.

Just be careful not to do what I did with my neighbour's cat. It used to come into my garden and crap in the middle of my lawn on a daily basis. I started to throw it back over the fence but my aim is dreadful. I gathered up four or five lots of very squidgy turds and chucked them over the fence in one go when my neighbours went on holiday. Unfortunately they all hit the neighbours' patio doors quite high up, and by the time they got back from holiday, the turds had solidified and really stuck fast 😆😆.

I used to at my old house, yes. I didn't fling it at their windows or anything, just dropped it over the fence to their side.

If they minded, or even realised, they never said anything and we all remained very friendly!

They can keep the cats contained to their own garden, they just don’t want to go to the effort and expense.

I would get a shovel and start flinging every piece. Preferably towards their back door or any outdoor furniture they might own. You don’t need to worry about being precise or about what it might land on.

not a cat hater. I own 3.
what I hate are irresponsible cat owners.

Not what I said.

You can get stuff from the garden centre to put them off. I would liberally spray it everywhere, and put Pidgeon’s spikes on the top of the fences so they can’t climb over

It's just some piece of trash spouting off.

I do have to say, my neighbour killed one of my cats. She is no longer my neighbour. I still live there.

@SafetyLady If you're 100% sure it's your neighbour's cats, scoop it up and pop it over the fence/in a bag on their doorstep. If you're not sure, I'd be a little more wary. My aforementioned neighbour used to fling fox poo over our fence, saying it was our cats poo. It absolutely 100% wasn't (the area she was gathering it from was shared and we had it on camera that it was foxes). I used to give it back to her once a month.

@Growlybear83 now that made me laugh out loud!! Have you considered shot put/olympics?🤣

How is me choosing not to stop my dog killing a cat different from you choosing not to stop your cat killing birds? Why is your cats life worth more than the bird's? Or my dog's?

The point I was making is you can't claim to be an animal lover, say it would be abhorrent to shoot a cat to prevent it killing a bird in someone's garden (a bird which for all you know they may love dearly and be bonded with too, my dad has pigeons he loves just as much as I love my cats and dogs), then in the same breath say you'd lie to authorities to get my dog killed if I didn't prevent it killing a cat in my garden. It was a hypothetical question to challenge your own cognitive dissonance. It's either ok to kill animals in revenge for them behaving like animals and killing other animals or it's not. You can't have it both ways.

The “you can’t control cats” is the biggest cop out imaginable. If I bought a King Cobra, and let it wander the streets biting people, that would be fine? Because hey, I can’t control the cobra.

No one blames the cat. It’s just doing its thing. But if you can’t control an animal and don’t want to take responsibility for it, don’t get one? Buy a rabbit or a tortoise.

I have cats, one of them goes on my lawn all the time *bastard😂

Maybe you should take steps to cat proof your garden, then. People are entitled to keep dogs on their own property without concerning themselves with the fate of random cats who just decide to drop in uninvited.
Your cat, your responsibility.

This is unusual because cats usually will bury their poo. Are you sure it isn't foxes

I agree, cats are quite fastidious. Foxes OTOH poo performatively/territorially (well my garden foxes do anyway), in prominent places like right outside my back door. They also love plant pots and troughs etc.

Cats love leaving their poo in long grass. It's impossible to remove it cleanly.
They also spray urine over pots of herbs, strawberries and other food grown in pots.

Cats should be indoor pets. They kill so much wildlife.

People calling themselves animal lovers should take a trip to an abattoir and see what misery goes on to make those tins and bags of cat food.