Why are cats allowed to be a pain in the arse??

[sofaprincess]

We recently moved into a new house and we have a dog. She is quite a large dog and I have spent a huge amount of time training her and trying to ensure she is well behaved out of the house and friendly or indifferent (depending on the situation) with other people and dogs. I am always conscious that people might not like dogs and we steer clear of people in the street and always clear up her mess. She loves spending time in the garden and that is supposed to be her safe space.

My issue is this - my husband is picking cat poo up regularly from our front garden and has identified the culprit, but really what can we do (rhetorical)? But worse than that, a different cat likes to come and sunbathe in my garden (on the shed roof or other high up places) which causes my dog to bark continuously until I go out and lure her back inside. I’m starting to feel a bit fed up with nuisance cats - we should be able to enjoy our outside space without dealing with bloody cat issues……right?

YANBU - cats are are pain in the arse and they should be regulated in the same way as dogs are (ie owners need to ensure they have them under control)

YABU - cats will be cats and they should be allowed to free roam and sunbathe/shit where they like

Hmm we have a few people on here who are sore and wounded at all the dog bashing threads. And they are projecting horribly! Hope it makes you all feel better dishing out all this dreadful bile.

You should know though, hun, just like our cats, us cat owners don't give a monkey's willy what you think of us and our mogz. We really don't. 😆

Fortunately my cat rarely goes outside (he’s allowed to he’s just lazy) and will sometimes go and sunbathe in the garden if it’s warm but would never go out if my garden.

I’ve never trained him to do that, he just won’t go very far away from me.
So I’m very lucky.

I have multiple other cats in my garden though.
I personally don’t mind as i obviously have my cat but I can’t blame my neighbours anyway because there’s literally nothing they can do.

You can get cat deterrents but I don’t know if you can have them with dogs.

I would definitely get one for the front garden and then let your dog out in the back garden which should scare the cats away.

100% agree with this. ^

Oh and unfortunately cat deterrents are unfortunately not an option. The pitch would be unbearable to my small furry pets who can now only spend time outside when I am there (with my super soaker)

What a charming tone you have.

Why not keep the yapping dog indoors?

I loathe my neighbour's cats - he has two and I suspect more on the way as he won't get the female spayed and she seems to be pregnant again. The only way I could get the blasted things to stop crapping in my flower beds is to lay prickle matting over any bare space - if you can get up there, could this be a solution to the sunbather that's upsetting your dog? Cat scarers etc don't work in my experience, and no-one is prepared to hunker down all day with a super soaker.

There's some spectacular irony on here. The posters who hate cats - and cat owners, are coming across as way more unpleasant and rude than ANY cat owner I have ever known. They are posting some quite vile and toxic remarks. Yet they call US (and our lovely cats,) the 'horrible' ones.

You couldn't make it up!

What on earth? Honestly take a step back, you’re getting horribly aggressive about a cat in a garden you’ve never met. I’m sure the person you’re replying to isn’t throwing a cat over the fence to poison you or kill your birds.

Cheer up op, console yourself with the fact that if someone knocks your dog down and doesn't report it they can face criminal charges, but do the same to a cat and they can go on their merry way.

Cat haters scare the shit out of me after this thread

I’ve never seen anything like it!

I'd report him to the SSPCA/RSPCA if he's letting the poor cat have multiple pregnancies.

OP I feel your pain. I have also posted before about cats leaving their mess in my garden (not in the soil on the actual lawn, which it sounds like you are also experiencing?) and several posters posted it must be foxes. It isn't. Just back from a break away and my lovely neighbour has stuck a stick up in the garden to alert me to a new deposit so my child doesn't step in it!! The cats poop on both front and back lawns and I have spent a fortune (money that I really needed to use elsewhere!) on remedies including the sensors, lion poo, planting lavender/other plants, citrus, peppercorns and many more deterrents. I have on occasion manage to squirt a cat with water when caught in the act but they often do this in the night so I don't see them. I have to check the garden whenever my child wants to play out. When it snows, my child can NEVER build a snowman in her garden because the cats go everywhere. Several cats in the street go on the lawns - apparently they started to follow suit after a stray tom was adopted by a neighbour and started messing on the grasses, so I don't know if it is a fight for territory? I had never come across this before moving to my street 5 years ago. My other non-cat owning neighbours suffer as much as me. The cat owners know and are apologetic but say there is nothing they can do. I have pets that can go out in the garden in nice weather but I have to carefully monitor the situation as the parasites in cat poo is harmful to them so they are rarely out as a result. There was a time it was actually affecting my mental health as I just can't use my garden the way I want- and picking up after other people's pets 3-4 per week was another job I didn't need - especially when my own pets and child can't actually go out in their garden! I can smell the cat poo when I step out of my front door. It is vile. I am an animal lover, have only used natural, non-harmful deterrents out of respect for the cats and their owners, but I am honestly waiting for the cats to die so that me and my family can actually use our garden. I realise this makes me sound awful but I have been at the end of my tether with this. Watching this in case someone posts a remedy I haven't tried. Best of luck OP. Sorry for my rant, but it really gets on top of me at times!!

They do kill and injure wildlife though.

What, are they mutually exclusive or something?

Does adding a bucket load of cat poo to my patio makes the dog shit evaporate from the pavements? 🤔

1. Keep it in your house.
2. Build a cage in your garden.
3. Don't have a cat.

You don't have to have a cat.

This is actually hilarious and as it’s not enforced in England right now and no or very cat owners I know do this, then I won’t be doing it.

Happy as pp said though for other NDN to soak my cat with water if she goes into their gardens.

Bit harsh to call all cat owners awful wouldn't you say? Bit childish. See, lots of stuff about some dogs and SOME of their owners annoy me but I'm logical enough to realise its not all of them. Or in fact find the need to post hateful comments about them. Bizarre!!

Well, that escalated with hilarious propulsion! Never have I encountered such ridiculous views from both sides of the coin! (Well, apart from other threads on MN). I wonder if you would all be so rude face to face, or whether you save your venom spouting for the internet?

Dog owners - stop your dogs yapping and thinking cat owners are the spawn of Satan himself.

Cat owners - encourage your cats to use a litter box and give your neighbours permission to squirt them with a water pistol if they shit in their garden.

Christ on a bike, I need a cuppa and a slice of loaf cake after this nonsense!

I don’t find that any consolation and I don’t want any animals to be hit by cars, like most normal humans.

The difference is my dog isn’t allowed out to free roam the streets, so is much less likely to get hit by a car than the cats who are allowed to go wherever they please. I have also taught my dog to sit and wait for the ok before crossing the road to minimise the risk - it’s slightly crazy that cats are just left to roam free and put themselves in danger (yes I am well aware cats were around before cars were…..). Clearly that wasn’t the point of my original post, but it’s another valid point (which others have also raised).

You don't have zero bias. You have total pro-pet bias.

My cat rarely catches birds. She catches the odd wood mouse from the garden but as they’re prolific breeders I can’t get too upset about that.

Not kill but they do injure. My cousin was attacked by the family cat when she was litte. My parents had a cat who attacked lots of times, but was also very sweet.
I don't think you can really train a cat unfortunately. However I would let your dog stay in the garden even if he barks. Most cats run away from dogs barking or as others said get the cat wet.

Zero bias towards cats or dogs. Not bias towards owning or not owning a pet. I was talking about the cats vs dogs argument that has developed on the thread. So wind your neck in.