To hate next doors cat with an absolute passion

[PostWar9]

Next door have this nightmare cat which I think is a nasty little creature. Constantly destroying my garden, going to toilet in it, hissing at us. It’s got to the point now where whenever it comes into the garden I specifically let the dog out to chase it to get it out and I’d never normally do that. Dog stays inside most of the year. A lot of cats are filled with love and you can see as friends or companions but this one is just not nice at all. AIBU to hate this cat?

Sounds like you’re doing all you can, then. Most cat owners on MN just seem to think their cats have a divine right to do whatever they feel like.

I wouldn’t deliberately set a dog on a cat either, but I think if OP’s reached the end of her tether it doesn’t do any harm to let the cat know there’s a predator living there. I think most cats would easily get away from dogs anyway, wouldn’t they?

I know that people above are assuming that the cat is hissing because it's scared.
Just saying - it actually might be hissing simply because it's a bad tempered little sod. (I have some experience of an evil cat next door).

However I do think setting your dog on the cat is completely inappropriate. A supersoaker is a much better idea.

I have a cat in my street (I don't know who it belong to) that I also hate with a passion. It has taken to pooing about two feet outside my front door on the gravel path. I have tried all the usual tricks to move it on by leaving out orange peel, using various smelling things, having a flower it doesn't like etc. I would love to pour a bucket of water on it - but it runs off when I open the door.

We have cats and I've seen one of them being really vicious with a neighbour's cat. On the flip side, I've seen our cats being chased by other neighbour's cats. When they're at home, they're loving little cuddle bugs who are friendly with people and can do no wrong! They might hiss if people approached them out of our garden though. YAB a little unreasonable to "hate" a cat just for being a cat, but not unreasonable for not wanting a cat in your garden.

Our neighbour mentioned that a cat was pooing in her garden (not sure if it was ours or another neighbours' - there are loads around). We told her that if she sees ours doing it, she's more than welcome to chase them off. They do learn where they are and aren't allowed to go (ours, for example, know the kitchen worktop is off limits).

Keep letting your dog out - gives him a bit of fun and exercise in his advancing years, and keeps the cat out of your garden - win win really!

It's a living creature and will be terrified

Not sure the split second of unpleasantness of being scared by a dog before it runs away is any worse than the shock and discomfort of being sprayed by water, though?

I wouldn't want to see a cat injured or hurt - I like cats as much as the next animal. But I think it's pretty reasonable to scare it away. I don't have a dog but I frequently scare away a cat from my garden (I'm sure it's a lovely cat, but being a cat, it does shit everywhere and kills the garden birds, so I'd rather it wasn't a regular visitor). I usually step aggressively towards it and clap my hands and it runs away as if it's got a rocket up its bum. Occasionally it yowls. Now we only very rarely see it in the garden because we've scared it enough times to deter it.

It has definitely not been traumatised by this because it still often sits atop our wheelie bin at the front of the house on a daily basis, where we are quite happy for it to be because it doesn't crap on the drive and we don't have bird feeders there. It's just learnt that the garden's not a fun place - just as it's learnt that our next door neighbour's garden is also not a fun place because their dog chases it.

Water pistol. I adore cats.💕

i have side strip open plan garden local cat messed everywhere, i ment business. put mesh down round where it dug and went to loo. cheap herbal tea bags from aldi, sprayed them with orbis oil. it really did put it off,

Yes, I know it would - I was joking, to make the point that it's bloody unfair that this is how it is.

If I had a cat that was straying into a neighbour's garden and causing a nuisance, I honestly would make alterations to my own fence, rather than expecting the neighbour to alter theirs, because it would have been my choice to get a cat and I'd feel bad for being a terrible neighbour otherwise. My sister actually did do this when she had cats, because they were being a proper pest to her neighbour and she felt bad about it (admittedly my sister had four cats and all four of them were very bold and inquisitive, so I think they did generate more feline mayhem than most).

Cat owners seem to generally believe that, once thier cat is out the house, they become absent of any responsibility around cats behaviour.
Cat shouod be allowed to wander, shit, kill whatever birds it wants .. as “that’s what cats do”, it would be “cruel” to make it stop in.
So those of us don’t like cats, or don’t want cats on our property have no choice other than to suck it up.
The persons right to own a cat, clearly outweighs my rights not to have one on my property .. for some inexplicable reason.

Cats will be cats. I have two that are indoor only. My neighbours have cats that come into our garden, poop everywhere and annoy our two watching them from the kitchen window or French doors. I think it's a bit cruel to set your dog on them. A spray of water will suffice.

Solar cat deterrents can be bought online. It detects movement then makes a frequency humans don't hear. Haven't had the local cat shit in my garden since. I was picking up its crap everyday, had tried orange peel but its effect didn't last long.

My neighbour swore that their ultrasonic pest repeller kept her NDN's cats out of her garden. It certainly has worked stoppping another neighbour's dog that used to come into our front garden most mornings to do an early morning surprise poo for us.

I'm a cat lover, but would also suggest a water pistol for when you want to go out and enjoy your garden when its there.

Would you feel the same way if a fox wandered into your garden?

I’ve had many cats over the years but I hate the ones local to me simply because of the disgusting crapping all over my front path, my lawn and my garden. What if I let my dog crap all over my neighbours front garden as I walked past? They’d be rightly pissed off, but they let their cat crap all over mine.

Much as I love cats, I think urban cats (ie cats in areas of housing) should have to have an indoor or outdoor litter tray. And yes, they can be trained to use it. I think lots of people get cats because they think they’re an easy pet - and then they do f**k all to look after them.

OP, you need to break the habit of the cat crapping in your garden. They return to the same place by habit. Also, find it’s point of entry and put something to deter it, eg a piece of trellis, rubber spikes, children’s windmills, etc.

People don’t keep pet foxes, though, so it’s not really comparable. (I’d say the same about feral cats, actually, although would be inwardly cursing whoever allowed them to originally get that way)

Why should someone’s desire to have a pet impact on their neighbours?

The best way to keep neighbours' cats out of your garden is to get your own cat, preferably a tom as they seem more territorial. Obviously you have to really want to own and look after it for the long haul, I'm not suggesting it just for guardcat reasons. Your own cat will pick a specific toilet spot and stick to it probably. My parents were keen gardeners and our pet cat never had much impact on their plants etc.

It would have a job .. I live in a terrace with a high back wall, so unless it can fly.

It’s such a weak argument from cat owner “foxes can do that as well”.. it’s a lot more difficult for a fox to get into a garden than a cat..

Horribly cruel to set your dog on a cat. What a scummy thing to do.

Does no one else think it’s a bit weird to have a dog that doesn’t go for any walks anymore? Is it disabled? Elderly dogs still need exercise and usually enjoy going out for short walks.

I get really bad vibes from people who can hate animals like this. Setting your dog on a cat for just being…a cat, is pretty unhinged.

I've never understood why humans are allowed to pour a gazillion ton of sewage, plastic and noxious waste into the rivers and oceans. Or why they are allowed to hunt other creatures to extinction, destroy their habitats and indiscriminately kill for fun or profit.

They do get a bad press - justifiably in the case of birds, but the mouse and rat problem would be considerably worse without outdoor cats. We had a nightmare couple of years during the 'Covid summers' due to a neighbour ground-feeding birds incl. pigeons, and my cat was catching about 5-6 mice in the gardens a day.

Foxes are native wild animals, domestic cats are not. And if you don't want a fox in your garden you're perfectly within your rights to shoot it. Shooting domestic cats is a bit more problematic as they count as property so you could, in theory, be charged with criminal damage. However feral cats are on the DEFRA open licence so as long as you have a valid reason (e.g. protection of wildlife) and they don't have a collar you can get away with claiming it was a feral.

The mice and voles they kill are not a "problem". Rats and house mice can be, but the mouse species that live outdoors (wood mice, yellow-necked mice, harvest mice and dormice) are not pests, and in the case of the dormouse are endangered. Voles are generally not pests either (and again, in the case of the water vole, are endangered).

Yes, because lots of people shoot animals in their gardens in the UK

Very relatable post 👌