To tell the neighbours the cat isn’t my problem

[Miniminxymoo]

We have neighbours who own a cat. The cat is a bit of a pain in the backside and continually came in our garden. Obviously, we couldn’t stop it and it treated our garden as its own causing some damage to toys and crapping in the flower beds.

We have recently got a lab from a rescue who, as we quickly discovered, doesn’t like cats. As soon as we brought our dog home and let it in the garden it immediately chased this cat down. The dog didn’t catch the cat and is likely never going to but likes to terrify the cat. Thankfully, the cat seems to be trying its luck a little less and our garden isn’t suffering so much mess and damage. Most of the other houses have had dogs for a fair while so cat hasn’t gone into the other gardens, ours was the only one it went into because of the dogs.

The neighbours have now complained that they are worried that my dog is going to harm their cat and possibly kill it. Now, as I’ve said, the dog is likely never to catch the cat and my garden is very secure so will never escape. The neighbours have said they will charge us for any vet bills if their cat gets injured and they will complain to the council.

neighbours have also said that if the cat is in my garden then I shouldn’t let the dog out for a pee. The issue is, I often don’t see the cat before I let her out.

My dog is pretty chilled, never any bother in any other way other than when the cat comes in.

AIBU to tell the neighbours that it isn’t my problem if their cat is scared. It’s my garden and my dog’s home and if they have an issue then they’re the ones who should keep their animal in? I’ve suggested for them to put rubber spikes or similar on their fence to hopefully prevent the cat, who is a twat, coming in but they have said the expense to do that should be on me and they don’t like to do things like that!

Very weird of them.
Ddog tries to chase next doors cat out of our garden,the cat look pityingly at it then fucks off.
Yanbu.

The cat isn’t a twat, it’s simply being a cat. Your garden is part of its territory but it will adjust to your dog. Cats adapt their behaviour to avoid cats or dogs so you will see it in the garden less.

Your neighbour is being unreasonable, your dog, your garden. If they’re so concerned about the cat going into your garden then they can cat proof their garden, build a catio or keep cat as a house cat. That is squarely on their shoulders as a cat owner.

As a dog owner try to train your dog to be less reactive. Are dogs going to be reactive to other dogs/people too if they go for cats? That behaviour is for you to work on the rest is the responsibility of your neighbour.

Common sense not prevailing then. Dog ran after cat, cat unlikely to keep trying to access your garden.
Neighbours are insane.

My Lab didn’t like cats either, wouldn’t bite them but stood on them, so cats quickly realised that if they come over they’ll be getting stood on, pawed and sniffed.

YNBU and I say this as someone who's cat was killed by a dog.

The cat just needs to learn not to access your garden.

Lol at the cat is a twat!

I’d tell them their cat is trespassing and they need to make sure it doesn’t enter your property again. Then twist their words back at them. If their cat scratches or bites your dog you will immediately bill them for vets bills and pain and suffering etc

To my knowledge, cats are classed as wild animals when they’re out and about, whereas a dog is its owner’s responsibility- that’s why it’s an offence to stop if you run over a dog but not a cat, and why you can’t force your neighbours to do anything about cats crapping in your garden. So the neighbours can say what they like but if their pet isn’t under their control they won’t have a leg to stand on. It goes both ways- they have the benefit of not being held accountable for their cat’s behaviour but the disadvantage that it’s not legally protected if it’s allowed to roam.

The dog isn’t reactive to other animals or people, just cats. So far hasn’t caught it so have no idea is she would actually hurt the cat. She just barks (no growling) and runs after it. Interestingly, doesn’t bark if it’s on the fence just if it’s physically in the garden.

I voted you are being unreasonable, not because of the cat, but everytime your dog chases the cat, it is reinforcing the behaviour of chasing prey. Although this is not an issue now, if you do plan to let your dog off lead in the woods etc, it will react the same, and there won’t be the boundaries of the garden to stop them.

She doesn’t react to other animals, it’s pretty common for dogs not to like cats 🤷🏼‍♀️.

How do you know your dog isn’t reactive to other animals? I find it highly unlikely that your dog is only going to chase the neighbour’s cat and nothing else and I do agree with the pp that reinforcing this behaviour is wrong and is going to cause you problems. It’s the cat owners responsibility to make sure their cat stays safe but it’s your responsibility as a dog owner to train it! Irresponsible dog owners cause the community more issues than irresponsible cat owners.

My neighbours cat actively taunts my dog all day, every day if it gets the opportunity. It strolls around my garden looking towards my back door and waiting for my dog to spot it and bark for the door to be opened so he can chase it. He will never catch the cat but it’s a massive pain in the arse when I work from home to have my dog suddenly erupt into barking several times a day to chase the cat.

If he ever did happen to catch and injure/kill the cat, that would be the neighbours problem seeing as it’s their cat and my bloody garden. Perhaps they could let their cat out on a lead only, or enclose the garden, or frankly anything that doesn’t involve me because MY pet is on a lead when out of his property and not roaming around other peoples properties.

Then the cat isn't that scared of your dog. It obviously has decided it's fast enough or that your dog doesn't have intent to harm it.

Cats aren't stupid, even if the neighbours are!!

Your dog and their cat will sort it out between them.

It's been three months and your dog is a lab.

Cats can react very quickly, so if your dog barks this one has its warning and can and will get out of the way.

My sister's cat was injured by a dog when it got into its owner's garden. Sister and her DH took the view that it was solely the cat's fault - it never occurred to them to blame the dog's owner.

What an entitled pair of twats hour neighbours are. I am a cat owner of two and would never take this attitude. It's your garden they can piss off

I really don’t think you need to worry about it. Your certainly don’t need to take cat chasing as a worry your dog is reactive to other dogs or humans. Our dog chases cats that aren’t our own and sometimes forgets himself and chases ours too in the garden! When our next door neighbours dog got a couple of our ducks, he just held onto them until our neighbour got him to drop them and popped them back into our chicken/duck enclosure. He did no harm. Dogs do kill cats but it’s rarely labs and usually if the dog catches the cat by surprise. The cat isn’t going to be surprised your dog is in your garden after 3 months! If you’d got your dog last week I would suggest what I did in previous post but after 3 months I would put it from your mind. cats are creature of habit and don’t like to change their territory once established but they’re also hugely adaptable. It might be that you usually let your dog out at set times so it’s gone for a “time share” (cats do this with territory between themselves all the time) but it will soon learn not to.

I’m working on training, she doesn’t react to seeing squirrels or birds in the garden. Literally shows no interest in them but they obviously scarper when they see her. In no way will I let her off lead until I am confident with recall. I may not have had a dog for a few years but she isn’t my first dog. Other than the cat in the garden, she doesn’t show any ‘prey’ instinct.

Cat and dog owner here and your neighbours are being very unreasonable. One of my cats is a social little thing. He wears a tracker as he often camps out at pensioners houses!
He soon learns to avoid gardens with dogs in them. If he gets chased, well, so be it! I wouldn’t keep him indoors because it would significantly lessen his quality of life. I would rather he lived 10 years having fun, being a cat, hunting, than live 20 years sleeping all day indoors.

The cat will eventually stop coming in your garden with the dog being a permanent fixture. You can use a mixture of white vinegar and water sprayed around the garden which will repel cats, spray it round your fence/border. It's not your responsibility, would they be happy for you to let your dog in their garden to shit in it? And if their cat attacks your dog, are they going to pay your vet bill (I know highly unlikely but you could ask them the question)

I might just do this! Harm goes both ways after all.

Unfair? That sounds plain ridiculous! Do you have any evidence that that's the case? (I do know the law can sometimes seem daft.)

We've always had dogs and cats together, and they got on fine. One of our dogs would pretend to chase other cats in the street, for fun. One day we were coming back from a walk (on a lead), and he went to chase a cat on the pavement-only to stop and look very sheepish when he realised it was ours!

Don't listen to the "garden checkers". Nobody is obliged to check their gardens at 7am or 10.30pm in the darkness of December.

I wouldn’t. Cats can’t trespass in law. They have the right to roam.

My dog doesn’t shit in the flower and vegetable beds like the neighbours’ cats do.

On the lawn, pick it up, simple.

Less fun to be preparing the bed for planting and need to poop scoop much more dangerous (toxoplasmosis) shit.