To not want neighbours cats in my garden?

[Rainbow3210]

Our neighbour has cats and they keep coming into our garden. They have also made their way into our house several times through the window and back door. I’m currently pregnant and have two young children. The children get upset when they come in as they don’t understand why they come and go (they want them to stay to play with). We have a lot of songbirds birds that sit in a bush in our garden and the cats are constantly trying to hunt the birds.

The cats are also doing the toilet in the garden which my husband has to clean with a hose. I believe it’s not entirely safe to clean up cat mess when pregnant.

I spoke to the neighbour and asked if they could stop the cats coming into my house and garden. They said there is nothing that can be done.

Is it unreasonable that this is bothering me?

As a cat owner, I think that's fair.

Dogs are roaming, hunting, pack animals but we don't allow them to do that nowadays. We have 'evolved' them to be members of human packs and not roam or hunt.

I don't believe cats NEED to roam or hunt. There are plenty of toys to satisfy their hunting instincts and a house and garden are quite enough for them to exercise in.

Hey, OP. It’s understandable that you’re really annoyed, but your annoyance is coming off as unrealistic (unfortunately). You have a neighbour with roaming cats, and it is what it is. Some people have neighbours with loud kids, barking dogs, constantly hosting garden parties, smoking outside etc.

Here are the things you can do:

• electronic cat deterrents in your garden. Some claim they don’t work but most of those people use the ineffectually – keep them out of long grass, have enough for the size of your garden and they usually take a couple of weeks to be properly effective.
• if you own the shared fence, then get the spiked plastic fence topper.
• get screens for your windows and door. Handy at keeping out insects too.
• use a citrus spray deterrent liberally around garden, windows and doors.
• spray water on the cats whenever you see them, and keep at it. It will provide them with a negative pattern of coming into your space.

You say it’s not your responsibility, but unfortunately it has to be, because there is nothing your neighbours can do.

Is it not cruel to let them out where they can potentially get hit by a car? There are dozens of posts on my local Facebook page “saw a cat on the busy road, does anyone recognise? Can anyone scan?” I see it all the time.
Is it not kinder to keep them in a cat proofed garden with plenty of enrichment inside and out?

Cat owners are infuriatingly selfish. Why should OP pay to cat proof her garden? They should pay to keep their moggy contained! If cat owners cared about their animals, they would invest in catios or cat proof fence panels to keep them contained.

Bells won't stop bird predation. Birds haven't evolved to recognise a bell as a threat. There is certainly nothing vulnerable fledglings can do against a cat. Cats are not native. They are kept at inflated density levels due to human feeding and have a devastating effect on local small animal populations.

This is utter insanity and I see it more and more often whether is about cats or noise etc. You are basically saying that this woman has no right to enjoy her home in the way she needs it to, not to even mention protect her health because the neighbour's right to have a bloody cat that has the right to "roam free" and come into someone's house trumps everything. It is utterly insane and it only reflects the insane lobbyism of cat owners who have no common sense. If they are so wild and need to roam free perhaps they shouldn't be kept as pets.

Oh, yes, as Hoskins said about spraying .... Grrrrr.

Again, I say this as a cat owner, unless being kept for breeding there is no valid reason for cats to not be neutered. Tom cat pee is disgusting 🤢

Far more cats seem to be killed on roads now compared with years ago and people are often happy to just drive by and leave them lying there. So heartless.

You’re being a total wimp about this. You need to to properly drench the cats when they enter your garden. And I say that as the owner of 2 cats. Just jet them with the hose.

And it’s really not hard to explain to your children that the cats aren’t theirs.

As has been mentioned above, if this was a dog you’d hear nothing but “people have rights above dogs! People are more important than dogs”.
Turns out you have to stay trapped in your house if you don’t want to interact with a cat.

The problem is you have put that fake narrative inside your head and it makes you angry about something that's not reality! Of course we care and worry, we have to knowing how much people like you badly wind yourself up irrationally. Many people like me, adopt rescue cats that used to live on the streets, they don't have a switch to turn off the love of outdoors, some cats live on the streets years before being rescued and it would be absolute mental cruelty to keep them shut indoors. They too can become depressed and very unhappy and that's why they are by law allowed to roam because you cannot change who some cats are and you can't be cruel.

I assure you that there is not many owners that aren't fearful of cat abusers and don't try hard to keep cats out the gardens of those that don't want them in - we've just done that successfully for our neighbours.

You need to also understand that there is massive stray cat crisis in the UK and not every cat you see will belong to anyone or have anywhere to call home.

People also get hit by cars, it doesn't mean that it wouldn't be awful for people's mental health to never leave the house.

Yes if you can hear it, it might be for youngsters. They tend to have settings on them so,that you can change the sound depending on what animal it is.

And yet another cat owner earlier said it was cruel. I agree with you btw but this is what people are up against.

Whataboutism does absolutely nothing whatsoever to prove or disprove any thing I have said.

I want talking about dogs. I was talking about cats.

I don't know ehst you think bringing dogs up achieves.

How did you do it successfully for your neighbours?

Drench the cats with water. Every time
The
Visits
To
Your
Garden
Will
Then
Stop

And how does that reconcile to someone's also legal rights to won a home and enjoy it? one is more legal than the other? how is that? it is an insane law and should be reviewed. People should be responsible for their pets and if they can't prevent them from being a nuissance to others they shouldn't have them. Someone else was saying that using a hose is abuse. What is watching cats killing fledgellings of birds that are worryingly decreasing in numbers. Pet ownership should be subject to licence and stricter regulations given the explosion in numbers.

We used to have indoor/outdoor cats in a very rural area where they were unlikely to bother neighbours but once you've had one run over your attitudes change.

And what if the cat shits in your garden at night, or whilst you are at work? Or should non-cat-owners also spend their vacation time standing at the door waiting for each and every time.

It's completely and utterly different to other animals that roam such as Foxes and badgers
It's a completely different ball game.

There really isn’t much you can do about it really other than deter them as much as possible when they do come over. You mentioned you are pregnant, are you concerned about toxoplasmosis? You can ask your midwife for a blood test if you think you are at risk in any way at all if that is worrying you (although you really shouldn’t have anything to worry about)

Oh come on. Cats are not dangerous. This is so dramatic.

everything other than adoringly fussing over their cats is cruel to many cat owners. They need to be ignored just like they ignore common sense.

There aren't forcefields you can put over entire properties and people in council and rental homes wont be able to do anything. We have a massive stray cat crisis in the UK so it's unrealistic to expect streets to be completely empty of cats. Don't assume every cat you see has an owner.

No, there aren’t force fields you can put over entire properties but that’s exactly what the cat lovers are telling people to do in this very thread!