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?

This is awful!
Maybe, while the kids aren’t out there in the bad weather, I should make it a building site and keep that barbed wire I have no where else to store laid across the whole of the garden!

I’m really, really hoping when we’re out there more in the spring and summer and the kids are noisy out there and the washing is being hung out all the time alongside the fence that it’ll give up.

Cats aren't just pets though, they are also vermin controllers. The cat at 10 Downing Street has the job title "Cabinet Chief Mouser".

You can do that, you just choose not to. They manage it in certain parts of Australia, we should have exactly the same laws here:

https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/livestock-and-animals/animal-welfare-victoria/cats/legal-requirements/legal-requirements-for-cat-owners#:~:text=If%20your%20cat%20(even%20if,owner's%20property%20during%20certain%20hours.

And yet if I try to teach DCat to sit, stay, come when called, he doesn't. He's not a dog and I can't put him on the tray and tell him "be clean" the way that a dog owner can train a dog to use the loo on command.

The tray is there in case he gets caught short overnight. During the day, he walks out of the cat flap when he needs the loo. I've never known any cat behave differently.

So would you say you ‘like’ cat shit?

Not liking cats and not liking cat shit is not the same thing.

Until we have such laws, I am not obliged to dig up my decades-old hedge and replace my fence.

There's what you think the law should be, and there's what the law actually is. The former is irrelevant here.

Possibly not an option if they're going everywhere, but if there's a particular spot I've seen similar suggestions about planting catnip/catmint plants. It might attract them but the theory like the dreamies is they won't want to shit near them! Better than leaving food out for rats, and I think insects/bees etc like cat mint too.

That's a non sequitur.

I accept cat shit, fox shit, stoat shit, as the consequence of having a cat and having a garden fence that allows wild animals to enter my garden. I don't have to like it to accept it.

Do dog owners like dog shit?

Do parents like child shit?

Whether someone likes shit is totally irrelevant here.

I took the choice not to have a cat, having had cats for years, when I moved to this property. I could cat proof it, but it would only leave a small area, and I suspect we'd have issues with neighbour cats taunting 'trapped' cats.

This idea that cats are untrainable btw is utter bollocks.

They learn the same way everything does. Cats are regularly clicker trained for TV, film and photography work, can easily be taught to sit, stand, roll over, go to a mark etc.

What isn't practical or reliable, is training any animal to stay within an insecure boundary without supervision. Yup, even dogs, which is why responsible dog owners have fences.

Oh get a grip lol. It’s perfectly reasonable for people not to want cat shit in their garden and you know it. As I said before, one small example is that it’s a risk to pregnant women, who should not be cleaning it up.

This idea that cats are untrainable btw is utter bollocks.

They learn the same way everything does. Cats are regularly clicker trained for TV, film and photography work, can easily be taught to sit, stand, roll over, go to a mark etc.

I'll believe that cats are dog-levels of trainable when I see a blind person with a guide cat. The [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty CIA tried to train cats with implanted microphones to eavesdrop on embassies[[, the project failed because the cats could not be sufficiently trained.

Rat piss and shit is also a risk to pregnant women and I challenge you to rat-proof your garden.

Disposable gloves are cheap and readily available for pregnant women to wear whilst gardening, to protect them from the rat mess whether or not a cat comes by.

I don't know why you are telling me to "get a grip" when it's you asking me an irrelevant question.

Whether people "want" something is irrelevant if the law isn't on their side.

It was just to highlight your point about what you “can’t” do. It’s absolutely your choice, now I don’t know how your cat behaves, it may not cause any kind of nuisance whatsoever but if it does it’s because you allow it. You can try and paint it any way you want but if your cat is shitting in your neighbours’ gardens digging up their plants and making usage of their garden miserable then it’s absolutely because you allow it.

I would deeply embarrassed if my dog caused any kind of nuisance, even the occasional bark at night. Some cat owners are clearly responsible and do everything they can, others clearly couldn’t give a shit.

Ours used to come indoors to use the tray!

I would deeply embarrassed if my dog caused any kind of nuisance, even the occasional bark at night.

As long it's occasional, nothing to be ashamed of. Animals cannot be entirely under our control. Don't dogs usually bark if they see or hear a threat? So he's doing his job by warning you.

If your dog was in the garden all day barking and whining for you to come home, that would be a different matter.

😂

We have holly in our garden that helps. We had a problem with cats pooing in the raised veg beds last year that we solved by covering them with holly cuttings until they got established. Once the weather got better and they were watered on a timer once a day the holly could come off as the soil was always then too damp for the cats. It does seem to have been a permanent solution as I've not had the issue yet this year despite the beds currently being empty. Once you've deterred them they so seem to stay away.

Holly does spread though so you do have to keep it under control.

Water pistol every time you see the fucker. It'll stop coming eventually. (This is what our neighbours told us to do to their cats)

How cruel.. my Cat even scratches up against my very spiky and prickly large cactus ..won't stop him.
They will be plenty of other cats beside your neighbours.

As long it's occasional, nothing to be ashamed of. Animals cannot be entirely under our control. Don't dogs usually bark if they see or hear a threat? So he's doing his job by warning you.

During the day the odd bark isn’t an issue I agree but I’m quite sure my neighbours don’t appreciate even a single (loud, deep chested) bark at 10pm. It’s normally because he’s just a knob and has heard a squirrel 4 miles away. A threat on our boundary would have him going apeshit and in fairness it helps keep our neighbours safe in that respect. He is quite a big dog but if you heard his bark you’d think he was a monster.

Yes a dog is the only way. Do it!

This is making me smile - our old cat used to sit next to the noise emitting things and I watched her carefully balance on the bamboo sticks to poop on my veggies from a height

I miss her

I am more than happy for people to use water pistols and lawn sprinklers to discourage DCat from entering the garden. I've thrown whole buckets of water (the water, I kept hold of the bucket) on him and the cat he's been squaring off against to prevent him or the other cat from being injured in a fight.

I really wouldn't bother with the time, effort and expense of putting cat spikes up tbh. My dh lost his mind last summer about cats in our garden and, against my advice, put spikes along every fence. We have a pretty big garden so it cost a lot of money and it took ages. Within 6 hours of putting them up our cat was seen sauntering along the top of the fence walking either side of the spikes, and within 12 hours I saw all the usual suspects tiptoeing across the fence at the end of the garden totally unfazed by the new obstacle course.

Cats do like a challenge.