That cat-proofing should become a legal requirement?

[QueenCamilla]

As of June 2024 all pet cats will have to be microchipped by law or risk owners a £500 fine. It's a good start in the right direction, as it would allow the fed-up neighbours to identify the breeders of cat colonies and feeders of the feral populations. If chip-less I'd hope to be assumed owner-less and removed from living on the local streets.

I live in a run of back-to-back garden Victorian terraces and the problems with owned but roaming, feral and also intact cats of all sorts, are driving me mad.
I don't encounter as many dog shits in the streets as I do cat feces in my own garden (and that's just the paths and the patio).
I have spent near on £100 on deterrents. I'll spend another £100 in the summer on motion sprinklers. I'm building a new fence between the worst offending neighbour (who feeds all the neighbourhood cats in his garden and draws dozens of them to visit) at my expense, solely because of the problem with pests and their fouling. I bet the neighbour will try to put a ramp or something against the fence to enable "his" cats to roam.

Meanwhile, I can't take the bins out without clearing the turds and washing the paths first. I can't have builders round, without being out there at the crack of dawn looking for cat poos, so they don't get trod in (again).
I can't open a window downstairs or patio doors without smell of feces wafting in.
No garden or drainage improvements can be done without considering the cat problem first. I dig a trench for pipes and they shit in it. Gravel? That's just a giant litter box. I collect bramble branches to scatter them into flower beds and still a cat curled one out right next to the spikes. I have laid an ugly plastic grid as a walk-way over my lawn as it's impossible to not step into one otherwise.

I'm appalled that someone else's choice of pet is allowed to have such a detrimental effect on my finances and my enjoyment of my property.
Some cat owners dare to call these threads "boring". I'd rather call them a warning! I am growing increasingly angry at the situation and it won't be boring at all if I snap.

Would I be unreasonable to think that with the microchip requirement coming in, it would be a good time to force cat owners to spend money on their own pets and cat-proof their gardens?

I'm sure I could deal with an odd escapee (scan and return), but I'm losing the patience with the situation as it stands.

They've got abandoned planters I don't care much for (not a gardener) a section up the top of the garden with bark chips, and also my flower beds. They do a few pathetic scratches that miss the substrate and job done

I agree - I've never known a cat to poo on concrete. It's not the right colour either.

No good being tentative with the RSPCA, OP. They have the vast majority of money, but its often extremely hard to get them to act. If you focus on the inconvenience to yourself, they'll understandably not be interested. You'll have to give them examples of cats showing disease or injury. So when you were watching that poor tortoiseshell visibly ill for months, or the ones with infected eyes? That was the time to call. But you didn't bother.

I have resucued large, unneutered male cats - before they were neutered their poo did not look like that, in fact it looked no different when they were homeless street cats to when they became part of my household.

If OP had foxes shitting in her garden she'd make a thread complaining about foxes shitting in her garden, especially considering she has cameras. I don't know why outdoor cat owners insist they know better than an OP who has seen them doing it on camera, and knows it's cats. Do they think there's a nationwide conspiracy of cat haters lying that cats are shitting and not covering up? It's much more likely it's just cats shitting in their garden.

If I miss a piece of dog poo when I'm cleaning my garden, and there's torrential rain it goes that colour after it gets soggy. It doesn't come out like that.

In the interim, a motion activated sprinkler or two might help :) Cheap n cheerful from amazon, and entertainingly effective! Also motion activated driveway alarms with the sensors and speakers next to the pooping spots will levitate cats out into the next garden before they realise what's going on.

By the way - I have 12 cats and think the above methods are entirely harmless to all but the cats dignity. I live in an isolated rural house, but fenced my garden in to contain my cats when I lived in a residential street a few years ago. I wanted my cats safe, and I wanted a good relationship with my neighbours

Op… bloody cat shit
posters… no no foxes.
op… i have cameras. It’s not foxes
posters… nope foxes

😂😂 it’s the reverse of the unreasonable op, that or posters just still anit reading.

I’ve seen cats shit on soil and no bury. My own cats have shit in my greenhouse and not burried it. One cat when sick started shitting in the corner of part of the catio. Looks a bit like ops, still had a bit more colour though but I didn’t leave it for days in the rain.

Definitely cat shit in my catio and greenhouse as they are not accessible at all to a fox. Since it’s enclosed entirely 😅

Many cat owners faced with containing their numerous pets (and their feces) in their own gardens, would reconsider the ownership. I'm sure. At the moment though, their choice is my problem to deal with.

so litter trays are?
See I can see your point, but they way to fix this is to start a petition, get in touch with your MP/MSP and raise this as an issue. Posting on MN will not fix this.

Hth
A cat and dog owner who picks up dog shit and cleans out a litter tray often. And the stuff on your patio is fox shit.

Yeah well, cats might decimate the local rodent population (the very reason they were domesticated in the first place), but at least they don't kill people.

Taken from learn about nature:

"Foxes are omnivorous eaters, meaning that they consume plants and animals. The scats can show perfectly what they have been eating recently. Mostly, the color of fox poop is white, and it is because the foxes eat light-colored animals. Well, foxes are known to eat the fur of their prey too. Most of the small animals that they hunt have light fur. Therefore, the fox poop is mostly white.

Red foxes are the most widespread species of foxes. So, mainly, their characteristics apply to others. Their scat is approximately two inches long and has a diameter of half an inch. Foxes are very territorial creatures, and it is normal for them to mark their territory. For this purpose, they normally leave the scats on the rocks, tree logs, or stumps."

In addition, an 8ft wall is a piece of cake to a fox and they're much more urban than you may think. I like in a very ɓusy city. But at 3-4am there are foxes roaming the streets.

Do your cameras actually show the cats shitting there? If you just see cats wondering past that spot but not actually doing the deed there you cant automatically blame them...

If you've caught it on camera then its a different story.

That really doesn't look cat poo op and it's huge. I have a cat and none of it looks like hers. She never poos on concrete either as cats like to cover it up generally.

Try putting down chilli powder everywhere and using lollipop sticks stuck upwards between your plants to keep them away from the bedding areas too.

OK, here goes another time... IT'S CAT POO!
No, I don't have it on camera them actually defecating. The cameras I have, film for 30-40 seconds after being triggered. They get triggered at least 5x a night by cats. And also moths, spiders and rarely birds. The other night, at the front of the house, a man opened the gate and tried the door handle. Once, in the daytime, a man walked down the path towards my front door (I thought to deliver some junk mail), proceeded to unzip, and pissed on my front door.

Maybe the foxes (and badgers 🙄) have the technology to avoid triggering cameras. Or maybe it's man poo, as that would surprise me less judging by the recordings.

Anyway, with the complete reluctance by so many cat owners to accept the menace and the nuisance that their pets can cause, it is going to be a long way before something is done to stop it.

I think the hand will be pushed, so to speak, by a virus type illness due to urban overcrowding of loose pets. Mother nature ain't stupid when it comes to these things.

In the meanwhile, I hope the owners could try to be less obtuse and educate themselves on the risks that feline fecal pathogens cause to the environment and owner's own brain health (toxoplasmosis, anyone?).

I'll build my barbed wire fences and wait it out just fine.

@QueenCamilla FIV {Feline immunodeficiency virus}is common amongst ferals via biting. Un neutered males are most at risk.

It does sound as if you have a large colony near you- As for all the people blaming foxes- we have foxes here {Vixens screaming and ''Ark-ark-ark'' ing as soon as it gets dark..their poo is dark and pointy ended - very whiffy.
We had a fox kit come inside the house last summer - stinky ! Dog and Kit went head to head {I had to put a picnic chair between them so no one was hurt -
The fox kit hissed like a cat- his or her mouth had impressive teeth - I'd cooked chicken for the dog and the smell of it must have enticed the kit in.

Beautiful animals, but not what you want indoors.

If chip-less I'd hope to be assumed owner-less and removed from living on the local streets.

And then what?

Who will remove them? And where will they take them?
There's be outcry if these cats were put down, but where would they go otherwise? And who would pay for their upkeep?

And local councils are strapped for cash as it is. They don't want to have to be forking out for cat wardens.

@KnickerlessParsons

The ones doing the outcry, can take the cats and keep/contain them. Do a "Lilly Allen" for cats. Tears and everything.

And who would pay for their upkeep?
At the moment I'm paying out more money to keep the cats away than it would cost to put them all to sleep. No one asked me and I didn't volunteer to live with this cost.

The councils don't have to fork out for cat wardens - they could introduce sensible rules instead. I would have no problems to report if there were tools to manage situations like mine. I'd happily scan and return strays to their catios and homes, no council needed.

That's fair 😁

Nope, when your neighbours are at that stage, it's time to protect your animals.
There's all sorts of people out there, at least you got a warning.

We have foxes poo on the drive as a territory marker- it's usually small and very dark though and strong smelling if stood in- smells worse than cat poo!

I guess that’s what comes of living somewhere like that.

It’s a non issues here. There’s 5 cats in our little lane of 10 cottages, absolutely not a trace of cat shit anywhere. There’s also 4 dogs.

Gardens are open so couldn’t be cat proofed (conservation area of listed buildings so you can’t alter anything much).

If you opt to live in a densely populated area it is what you get.

And 7ft plus barbed wire does not keep put foxes-I have hens. Nothing keeps out foxes apart from guns.

Yes you are certainly entitled. However, if anyone’s cat is harmed on your property due to any of those things you can be taken to court and prosecuted by the owner. Just what the law states. I don’t make the laws, maybe take it up with your local MP. You seem thoroughly unpleasant and I gleefully hope they continue to shit over your lawn for the foreseeable future. Cats are very intuitive and agile creatures with good protective instincts and will certainly give you a run for your money no matter what you do. Your garden must be an environmental health hazard with lots of rats; because I’ve never heard of anyone without a rat problem that has this issue to the extent you’re claiming. Try cleaning up a bit?

I don’t have any animals myself as I did allude to in my previous post but fortunately if I did the majority of people don’t share your stance on the matter. Certainly not where I live so not sure why you’d think I’d feel like I want to move? Like I said, suck it up and move yourself. Your area would be no worse a place for it, it would seem. In short, no they’re not going to enforce people to pay out to “cat-proof” you deranged person. 😂😂

I used ultrasonics. I basically set them up so they would focus on the area where the cats come in and I used a receiver to measure the sound levels and orientate them for maximum reinforcement. I also upped the output amplitude.

I don't need them anymore because within a week all the cats stopped and haven't come back.

However, if anyone’s cat is harmed on your property due to any of those things you can be taken to court and prosecuted by the owner. Just what the law states.
You are wrong with that statement. Very silly, in fact. All that is needed, is a "lawful excuse" for the property owners actions, and the last time I checked, growing Lillies was not against the law. Or doing property maintenance in my own garden. Also, with all the money I've spent on keeping the cats out, it would be really unfortunate if any of them came here and suffered ill fate regardless. Can't blame me for not trying to prevent it from happening.
The owners, on the other hand, are nothing but reckless.

As it stands, my garden seems pretty harmless to the cats but there is a lot of building work going on inside-out and the situation could change any minute.

@GasPanic

I am using ultrasonics. They get set off enough times in the night, for the other neighbours to complain. Those devices do work though. Unfortunately, the cats are back to poop as soon as the air is clear. So if one of those beepers falls over, or the battery dies - there's a shit right in front of it the next morning. I almost admire the determination 😁