Ask neighbour to relocate cat scarer as the noise is so annoying?

[CableCar]

Our neighbours dislike it when our cat goes into their garden, because it's infringing on their own cats territory. Fair enough. They've never addressed this with us, but have put an electronic cat scarer in their garden to deter our cat from going in their garden, but the problem is that it goes off ALL THE TIME as it's obviously motion activated, so beeps the entire time plants move in the wind. They hardly ever use their garden, but we do as the kids are young, so hear it constantly. I can even hear it while I'm inside with the windows open! It's supposed to be a frequency that humans can't hear, but we all can - and every time we have friends over people ask what the tinnitus-like noise is. I wouldn't mind if it only went off when required, but it is almost constant and has been for months now. It ran out of battery at one point, which was great! But it's obviously got new batteries now...

AIBU to ask them to move or remove it because the noise is a bother? Or AIBU because my cat going in their garden is the problem in the first place? Help!!

I had the same issue and the noise made me feel sick. I didn’t ask them to remove it as my cat was part of the issue, but I did ask if they could lower the frequency at all as it was such an awful noise and even offered to help them with alternatives to keep my cat away. They just removed it in the end. But I was careful to go about as positively as possible.

I suspect as you have cats you will be told YABU but my neighbours have one too and the frequency gives me a headache when I'm in my garden. I'm not even sure which side it's on but it is DEFINITELY audible and very irritating!

I love cats but I don't want my neighbours cat in my garden so we have one of those ultrasonic things. If they stopped their cat being a pain (which it is) by putting up cat fencing then I'd happily remove the scarer

My in-laws got one of these and it was painful for DH and me. They couldn't hear it as they'd lost their high-tone hearing range. We asked them to get rid of it!

Phew I'm glad this isn't an isolated issue! Interesting to hear all your experiences.

I had a similar situation and as soon as my neighbour realised it was going off so frequently, they repositioned it and it stopped being triggered all the time.

Have you talked to them about it? They might be able to find a different location for it.

In my case the cats weren’t mine which might affect things.

One of my previous neighbours had one too. I could not go in the garden due to the noise.. but my cats were not bothered by it at all.

There is a house on my street that has one in the front garden (and their garden is just slabs so I am not sure what the point of a cat scarer is. Another has one that has the fakest dog bark when you walk past. It is awful in a cheesy way.

Our cat gets into their garden via the shed, so I'm not sure fencing would work... I'm more than happy for them to spray water over her when she's in their garden as she will soon learn that their garden = wet... But I'm not sure how else to stop her going out of our garden.

You can get cat-proof fencing that goes on top of sheds and other buildings.

Ooh I'll take a look! Thanks!!!! Anything is preferable to the awful beeping - and I don't mean to offend them. Before we had a cat their own cat used to come into our garden and poo in our flowerbeds...and we never complained, so I feel a bit snubbed that they are a bit annoyed by our cat when we put up with their cat leaving dead birds and poo around our garden before. But each to their own!

Ooh that is cheeky - definitely look at the fencing though, I'm not sure how expensive it is but it definitely exists, I've seen it on TikTok etc.

This.

Several of our neighbours have these and they drive me mad, I've had to have windows closed at night because of the noise. None of the cats seem even slightly bothered by it. The worst one was going off every few minutes, I assume being too close to plants waving in the wind.
Thankfully I haven't heard it today so it must have run out of batteries.

It's such a myth that those ultrasonic things aren't audible to humans!

Oh I've had to ask neighbours to remove these too. Although I would be happy to sabotage them e.g. black paint over the sensor, remove batteries, unscrew and remove noisy bits. I was secretly plotting. Steal it and sabotage, then replace. They can't hear it so it won't make any difference.

Does their cat not mind the cat scarer?

Yep! They do my head in.
I used to live near a corner shop that had one that was to deter teens from loitering. I was i my 30s and could still hear it.

Quite apart from anything else it must be driving their poor cat insane, assuming from the 'territory' comment that their cat goes in their garden?!

They're awful things, there used to be one down the road from us that went off if you walked past on the pavement, really loud and unpleasant. I'm 40 and can't hear those mosquito things that are supposed to disperse teenagers so not like I've got the ears of a bat or anything.

Neither theirs nor mine appear to mind it! I don't think it actually affects the cats at all!

Those things give me a headache

but unless you are ready to put a solution in place to keep your cat out of their garden, you don’t have any right to complain. Install some cat-proof fencing or a cat run and then ask them to get rid of it.

If you can hear it, it probably needs the frequency changing. If at the right frequency they do stop cats getting into the garden. My BIL put 2 up to stop the local cats using his vegetable patch as a toilet. It worked and the only other people who could hear it were his 10 year old daughter and her friends. They
switched it off when she was using the garden.
I would image if your neighbours don’t want your cat in the garden, they probably don’t care what you are hearing. The onus is on you really.

They may not have realised about their cat pooing in your garden? That said, how can they think a scared will work with their cats??

We had a local cat coming into ours and although I love cats, with two young kids it was pretty unpleasant. Instead of anything sound related, we got a water device - it had a motion sensor still, but was connected up to a hose pipe and it briefly sprayed water. Worked a treat so maybe you can suggest they try that?

Problem is you can cat proof your own garden and they still keep the scarer because actually its a cat from the next road which is shitting in their garden

My neighbours had one of these, because when we moved in, they saw we had cats. They're actually house cats, yet the scarier remained, pointing at our front path so every time we walked out of our door, it went off. It was an awful sound.

It went "missing" not long after that ☺

I have these and they work well to keep cats out.

The noise is probably no less annoying to you as your cat is to them.

You can strike a deal by taking steps to keep your cat out of their garden, then they can remove the cat scarer and everyone will be happy.