To put spikes on my fence!

[IgnoranceNotOk]

Next door’s cat is driving us mad. It’s using our garden constantly as it’s toilet!

We’ve tried chasing it away, when we see it. And I’ve got a spray bottle of citronella and white vinegar I’ve been spraying around the garden (and would love to spray the cat!).

So I’ve seen little plastic strips of spikes you can put on the top of the fence (it’s our fence) and I was wondering what others think about putting them up? I know it’ll look horrible but hopefully it won’t be forever and will put the cat off and then it’ll get in the habit of going somewhere else.

AIBU?

You beat me to it!
Cat owners who let their cats out to kill wildlife are ver cruel.

ver = very

I use these quite effectively.

I don't know how true this is but my friend believes cats don't poo where they eat food. So he leaves treats and food near where the poo takes place and he's claimed no cat has been pooing in his garden since.

I mean it may just be fluke but who knows. 😂

Eucalyptus essential oil, lemon oil, peppermint oil and white vinegar

In a spray bottle

Spray where they poo

It worked for me

Wtf am I reading on here? Some of the blatant joy and talk about maiming cats is vile and a sign of proper sociopathic behaviour! I suggest you get MH assessments asap.

No, cat shit isn’t pleasant, but nor is helping a cat that’s been maimed by a twat.
maybe ask the cats owner to clear up the crap, supply a litter tray or something.
you know, converse like a rational human being!!

Have some of you heard yourselves?

Shooting cats with BB's, thats illegal, causing unnecessary suffering.

Concealed sharp spikes such as gripper strip, tacks, glass - illegal, causing unnecessary suffering.

Bamboo skewers in the areas they poo - and when your toddler faceplants into them?

Jeyes fluid needs to be rinsed off, it is horribly toxic to animals AND to humans, and not just ingesting, but skin contact too - you definitely do not want that stuff around kids and putting it down neat, where you know animals will go is again illegal (causing unnecessary suffering).

In your eagerness to inflict suffering on animals who are only behaving as is natural to them, because their owners are irresponsible fuckwits, you're actually happy to break the law and put your own kids at risk too?!

Effective and safe solutions:

Harmless deterrent - motion activated water sprays, a dog that will chase but not catch..

Preventing entry - rollers on top of fences and blocking gaps under them (for gates a heavy bit of carpet offcut or a roll of chicken wire (flexes as you move the gate but too stiff for a cat to get under).

Small yards/gardens can be netted off with heavy duty bird proof netting.

You need to move to my area. Local FB pages are full of PA ‘anyone lost a cat?’ posts. Said cat is generally then catnapped and taken to the local vet to check it’s microchipping details. It was probably just walking through a garden. I’d never really thought about why there were so many ‘lost cat’ posts (dog owner here) until now…

OP, Can you borrow a male dog and get him to scent your garden?

There seem to be a lot of cat owners on this thread suggesting that other people spend significant sums of money humanely cat proofing their gardens.

Why don’t cat owners keep their cats in their own gardens?

Animal cruelty doesn't become acceptable when it's to protect a child. It's still cruel and unwarranted.

The cat has no way to tell its human what has been done to it and could cause serious injury to its eyes trying to scratch the cayenne out.

The child may also get the cayenne in their eyes.

A toddler should not be playing unsupervised in the garden. My sister aged two crawled under the hedge into the neighbours' garden and was admiring the koi in their pond because my dad left her outside alone. I walked out into the road reading a book ages three, again my dad dropped the ball. There are plenty of poisonous and unpleasant things (slugs, snails, sweet pea pods, laburnam) for the unmonitored toddler to eat and plenty of non-ingestible hazards. Cat shit is just one of many things that a parent needs to watch their child for.

A motion-triggered sprinkler will deter the cat without risking its sight and without risking the child getting an eyeful of pepper.

Because we can't do that.

Cats go where they like when they like. They are not dogs. The legal height limit for a fence without planning permission is two metres. A healthy cat can jump to the top of that.

Many cats will not tolerate being kept indoors. Mine will not, he sits at the kitchen door and cries for hours when I have to keep him in. Cats Protection say "In an ideal world, all cats would have access to the outdoors, but this isn’t always possible", acknowledging that indoor-only is a second-best option for the cat.

I have him neutered, wormed, and vaccinated to minimise the diseases that he can carry and pass on. I do nothing to deter him from toileting in my garden because he's my cat and it would be deeply wrong of me to try to encourage him to toilet in someone else's garden. Beyond that, there's nothing I can do to keep him out of other people's gardens.

Loads of cats in my neighbourhood. I dread the spring. They cause carnage for nesting birds. It’s so sad to see. They honestly need to bring in some legislation to counter the impact they have on wildlife.

What you legally can and can't do to keep Tiddles out of your garden: https://www.rspca.org.uk/documents/1494939/7712578/CAT_adviceondeterringcats.pdf/c46be843-2921-59a6-2c86-ad812d905681?t=1552668627868&download=true

Putting down unlicensed deterrents may be a criminal offence.

Or your child impaled on one.

Bamboo splinters in human flesh and having the splinters removed in hospital without anaesthetic was extremely painful and I still have the scar on my leg.

Eyeballs, if punctured, are gone for good.

For a thread of people claiming to be concerned about a child's welfare, there sure is a lot of cavalier attitudes towards child safety. It's almost as though the child welfare is a fig leaf to justify advocating cruelty to cats.

That is illegal animal cruelty that ]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-39007545 and you are a sociopath for even suggesting it.

I don't have a cat with the intent of him hurting wildlife. DCat's hunting is a side-effect of me having him. I have him because he is of huge benefit to my mental health and makes sure that I remember to eat every day.

why are you cruel enough to let your cat do that?

Because cats are free agents that do what they like. They aren't dogs that can be leashed and trained.

Letting him go outside means letting him hunt. I cannot tell him not to hunt.

In your eagerness to inflict suffering on animals who are only behaving as is natural to them, because their owners are irresponsible fuckwits, you're actually happy to break the law and put your own kids at risk too?!

This. The agenda of many on this thread isn't pro-child, it's anti-cat.

I'm looking at DCat sleeping at the foot of my bed and really hoping that none of you live near me.

If you are in the garden have the hose ready to spray them, they quickly run away and it will feel less appealing. My mum bought a giant kids super soaker water gun, it was powerful and she could squirt it from inside the house from the windows. This is what made them leave eventually

People are allowed to be ‘anti-cat’ though. They are allowed to be annoyed at cat shit in their garden. Cat poo is also a risk to pregnant women.

My 3 year old has never been injured by anything in anyone’s garden. He has been injured by a cat though!

If the cat’ paws get injured by carpet gripper/prickly plants presumably the owner will take it to the vet to get patched up and the cat will recover but if the cat had any intelligence it will never go over that fence again (and maybe deterred from going over any fence ) - problem solved.

Have you tried cat proofing your fences so your cat can enjoy your garden but not use other people’s garden or getting onto the road.

The bamboo skewers are fairly low down. Any child would hit a higher plant first. The idea is not to hurt the cat, but not leave any bare bit of soil that the cat would consider crapping in. Short bits of brambles or rose thorn stuck into the soil would work equally well but more time consuming.

There are too many cats. They kill millions of songbirds every year. https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors

Which demonstrates that though cats give pleasure to their owners it is anti-social to keep one in an area of urban / suburban gardens .