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?

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia yes you CAN do something about it, cat proof your garden so it stays in your garden, your pet, choice and responsibility. This insistence from cat owners that they can’t possibly do anything to stop their cats from shitting all over is complete laziness

If you don't train your cat to toilet in a litter tray indoors then you are just as anti-social as a dog owner who doesn't pick up their dog's crap in public

@VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia

You need to keep your cat under control, one way or another, not tell everyone else what they should be doing with their gardens!

My fences aren't even a full metre high, a decision made by the previous owner, and have a very old hedge growing through the fence. How do I cat-proof that?

He has a tray. He refuses to use it.

Cats are untrainable.

You put in a higher fence - put rollers on top or an inward overhang all around the perimeter. 6 ft with rollers or overhang will keep in cats.

It is possible, it may be expensive of course, but that isn't a reason to let your cats wander other peoples properties.

I have spent thousands over the years ensuring my dogs can't get out of my property (including replacing the fencing for the whole boundary as it either wasn't high enough or wasn't strong enough). Its part and parcel of owning an animal responsibly.

No, I don't need to do anything. The law is clear that cats are untrainable and that cat keepers aren't liable for what their cat does. I've given him every opportunity to use a tray in the house and my garden to toilet. There's nothing more that I can do, short of subjecting him to the cruelty of keeping him in.

I am within my rights to tell people not to commit animal welfare crimes in their gardens when they are suggesting shooting cats and harming them and when they propose measures that would harm children.

I’ve ordered a super soaker (my little spray bottle isn’t reaching far enough!) and some cayenne pepper to hopefully make it hate the scent and discourage it from coming here.

At the weekend and today I’ve managed to chase it away (looking like a crazy woman!) and it’s shat in my other next door neighbour’s garden at least twice now! Maybe eventually it’ll give up on my garden?

If those things don’t work I’ll either be locking it in my garage (joke!) or getting the water spray sensor thing (which don’t have great reviews and are expensive).

And the front fence that is legally-limited to one metre?

The party fence that belongs to the next-door neighbour and isn't even mine to replace?

I bet that’s what all the people with dangerous dogs say too!

Carpet gripper metal spikes are not in the same category as prickly plants (prickly plants are also a visible deterrent unlike carpet grippers lining fences). They could cause serious injury to other wildlife too.

There's no justification for using metal spikes. Perhaps try reading the other comments about this on the thread.

I’m sure if you were willing to pay the expense and say it’s to save your cat defecating all over their garden with toxic to children poo they’d be more than happy to let you be a responsible pet owner.
or you could pay out for the fence rollers.

Then you clean up the cat shit in your neighbour’s garden if it happens. Simple.

What prickly plants would people suggest?
i read they don’t like lavender so was going to plant some of that in the spring.

tempted to ruin my whole garden with paving now as it’s being ruined anyway!

Pyracantha is prickly -burglars hate it. But should really be the cat owner planting it on their property to keep b the cat out of yours

There’s the dream!
So if I put some trellis up and some prickly plants - it might put it off?

Cats and dogs aren't the same species and have wildly differing social structures. The canine pack structure is what enables dogs to be trained.

If cats could be trained like dogs can, we'd have assistance cats, bomb disposal cats, etc. We don't.

that's not what the Cats Protection League believe

Litter Tray, Cat Flap & Carrier Training | Cats Protection

In that respect then maybe we shouldn’t be allowing cats to be pets.
As I’ve got older I like the idea of pets less and less - it’s not for the benefit of the animal but only human gain.

Don't let the cat out the front.

Put your own fence up just inside the boundary at the back.

There are solutions if you want them. Clearly, you don't.

I had an awful awful time of this at an previous house of mine which was on an estate. It had been empty for 6 months before I moved in, and cats got used to using the garden as a toilet. Made my garden unusable, and if I left a downstairs window open this unneutered tom would come in, spray on my furniture and gave me a flea infestation which I ended up having to pay for a professional to sort out. When I moved out I had to throw away my sofa as it stank so badly. Nothing would stop them - I honestly tried everything.

We had a problem here a few years back. We had inherited an elderly female cat when a relative died. Even though she had been fixed when young, there were two unfixed toms who wouldn't leave her alone in our garden :( Since losing her, we only have next doors cat coming in our garden generally. Her owners think it hilarious that he is always catching birds, but we have a very bird friendly garden, had lots of feeders etc, but have had to get rid of them all as was sick of him killing them.

Lavender is good but won't be useful all year round. We have cats passing through our back garden frequently and they never use it as a litter tray. I wonder if that's because we have a few varieties of mint plant. They're not fond of mint either. A plus is that you can snip a few leaves off, year round, for mint sauce etc

Meanwhile, they allow their huge elder tree to drop berries on my lawn and in my borders so that I have to kill elder saplings every year, cast so much shade on my lawn that the grass dies, grow so big that it took my phone line down and Openreach had to cut it back, and harbour a population of black aphids so dense that the black layer on the leaves can be seen from across the street.

Legally, I have no recourse even though it's their tree. Legally, they have no recourse against DCat even though he's my cat. Trees do what trees do. So do aphids. So do cats.

Part of living near other people is that they let their gardens go to ruin and blow weed seeds into yours, they let their cat roam, and they allow pests to breed in their gardens to infest your roses, and there's nothing you can do to stop them. Get over it. I had to.

Thank you, I love mint especially in gin so I’ll get some of that too and hopefully make a barricade where they don’t want to go so much.
I need to get some paving done but only wanted a section of garden but this could change my mind annoyingly.

The front and back gardens are connected because I have the end plot. I cannot let him out in the back without him going into the front.

And no, I don't want to alter my entire garden because other people don't like cats. Me imprisoning DCat won't stop other cats, foxes, weasels, etc from entering your garden. I don't mind those other creatures coming in. I like the hedgehogs that use my hedge as a safe passageway.