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?

No you weren't talking about dogs, that's true. I suppose I was just introducing a comparison so that showed some perspective on calling cat owners crazy etc.

You can cat proof your own garden. It will cost you but worth it.

I have a cat and someone else’s cat coming in would do my head in. Mine uses her litter box so the cat shit in garden would piss me right off.

get a water pistol and squirt them. I had to do it to cats visiting my garden as they were bullying my cats. I see them run across fence now in case crazy lady comes out.

one thing that works is getting men to pee in the garden where the cats toilet.

my husband refused so i sent my 8 year old out to do garden wees which he thought was hilarious.

I will buy 100 more bulbs. cats do not need to be in my garden. and I want to be able to eat my vegetables that I work hard to grow instead of having to throw them away because cats use my veg garden as a toilet. Unbelievable that you would ask someone what they can and cannot plant in THEIr garden

Truly unbelievable.

Put some orange peel down.

It's another wondrous phenomenon that cat owners can tell that the cats in a strangers garden are strays, but the people whose garden it is cannot tell the difference?

Same as how only outdoor cat people are such scatology experts that they can tell you that a poo they've never seen was definitely a fox, but non cat owners couldn't tell an elephant poo from a bird poo so definitely can not be trusted to identify the quite different scats of wild foxes Vs domestic cats!

It's so weird, huh?

Our family dog had a barking issue and we invested our own money in professional training to improve it. If we had noisy teenagers we would do our best to keep them quiet as we have respect for our neighbours. With all the issues you have listed there are ways they could be managed. The problem with the cat situation is it’s causing us issues and we will either need to invest a lot of our own money in ‘cat proofing the garden’ when our neighbours who own the cats only need to buy cat food and cat litter. It feels really unfair.

I generally like cats but your neighbours’ sound like wee thugs. You can buy non-toxic spray that should (in theory) stop the cats pooing in your garden. There’s also a cat repellant device - lets out a high frequency noise they don’t like.

The non toxic spray works - my neighbour’s cat repurposed my rose bush into a toilet until I put bicarb on top of the poo and then put some spray around. Not seen Fluffy nearby since. It shouldn’t be your responsibility but there isn’t much your neighbours can do.

People complain about dogs when their owners are useless/lazy and don’t control the dog and that’s perfectly understandable. Just as it is when people complain about cats shitting on their garden.

I can’t believe people are suggesting getting a dog.. I mean ffs let’s go and get a 10yr commitment because a cat is shitting in the garden. I have a dog.. a wild spaniel and it doesn’t stop the cheeky f*ckers shitting in my garden. Can you put something on your fence to stop it coming in? Get a super soaker too .. might help 😆

It is very strange indeed.

YABU. Legally cats have a right to roam. If I have a cat again I would cat proof my garden as best I could, although you can guarantee that wouldn't stop neighbours blaming my cat for whatever, when it could be a cat that lives streets away.

You keep repeating the same things, but your neighbours don't have to do anything and even if you had a neighbour like me who would, once they sniff out vacant territory, you'll probably get other cats.

You've been given all the cat deterrent options I've ever heard of already.

What else do you want people to say?

Stop their cats getting out of the garden by catproofing. Like any considerate neighbours.

Well if you get to the bottom of it it is not the cats or dogs, but people are the problem. Entitled attitudes, no ability or willingness to consider the impact they have on other people and the environment. All this talk about caring for the environment, climate breakdown, very very rarely I come across someone who matches words with actions. It is a recipe for disaster.
I give you another example, a neighbour, walks his dog and stops to allow it to shit on my front lawn that I worked hard to plant. I tell him politely that it is my private garden not a public place and certainly not a toilet. He starts shouting at me that he "cannot dictate where his dog wants to shit" exact words. What is next, breaking my door down to poo in my living room? As if for some people owning a pet means getting rid of your brain

Yeah, see all the things people are being told to build to and add to keep cats out, just do all that, but in reverse to keep em in!

If it's simple to keep cats out it'll be simple to keep em in right?

Because I get fed up being told I don't care and I love my cat shitting anywhere other than our garden! That's absolutely fake! I'm not replying to the OPs post, I was commenting on another post and many cat haters like you don't acknowledge that there's a lot of strays about and you can't wave a magic wand over it, you can't blame everything on cat owners when many cats a lot of people will have problems with are an issue because they haven't got an owner at all!

That’s because those problems have an easy solution.

I didn’t say it wasn’t unfair. I said I understand your annoyance. But it still is what it is. Your neighbours can’t stop them roaming.

Well put, entitled people.

Oh do! Even before flowering the leaf colourings can be so dramatic. I'm definitely adding more

No it’s not the same:

Keep cats who like to roam in and they will develop behavioural difficulties.

You’ve assumed I hate cats. I don’t, I hate the owners who let them shit on my garden. And, before you start on the whole stray argument again, I knew the 5 cats that lived there, I recognised them due to the fact that I watched them shit on my garden for 15 years.

edit; I moved btw, so that was a very EXPENSIVE solution.

Why not?

"oh but it would be cruel to keep my cat in my boring house and non cat friendly garden you shouldn't do that"

I wouldn't! If I got a cat, after carefully deciding if it was a good pet match for me, I would be spending a bit of time and money creating enrichments at home for the pet I chose.

I feel your pain. I can't leave my door/window open because other people have cats.
I have used repellent type rubber mats which have bits sticking up (not harmful, just uncomfortable) to stop cats from pooing in my garden. Hope you get sorted x