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?

Have you thought of a door screen. They have them a lot in American houses.
The fresh air still comes in but bugs and in your case cats can’t.

It's up to you and your conscience, but if you wanted to throw things at them or otherwise harm or kill them, nobody is stopping you - as they don't have owners that want the rights of owning a pet but not the responsibilities.

Farmers shoot wild rabbits that are eating their crops, and they also accidentally kill loads of wild animals with their combine harvesters. Again, it's their prerogative; they don't have owners who merrily shrug when their animals are a huge nuisance to neighbours but then get angry if the neighbours decisively stop them from being able to continue doing so (and again, I am in no way condoning killing somebody's pet).

Thanks for the tip I will try that

Genuine question: have any cat owners with pets that are being an ongoing nuisance actually offered to pay for all of these weird and wonderful supposed 'solutions' that are suggested to deter them (which may or may not work) for the neighbours to use in their gardens?

If not, isn't it remarkable arrogance to tell somebody to spend their own money - often a considerable amount - in order to try to deal with a problem caused by YOUR pet?

If your tree cam down in a storm and smashed your neighbour's conservatory roof, would you likewise recommend a good company whom they could pay to fix it?

If anybody has offered to pay, credit to them for at least caring enough to try to address the issue.

No it’s worse. I can dodge dog crap on the street. But a load of cat turds I wasn’t aware of when I’m digging in the flowerbeds suddenly presenting themselves? Gross.

I didn’t do any gardening at all when pregnant as I didn’t want to touch the soil for any reason from snails to any animal poo. Honestly getting up and down when pregnant and gardening got impossible pretty quickly anyway so don’t think it is major issue for most pregnant women

This is something we will look into, prince dependent! Thank you

I’m so sorry to hear this, have you tried lionsroar? They sell it on Amazon and is the only thing that works for me.

I put a ring camera near their favourite pooping spot. When I got a notification I hissed really loudly down the camera. I did it 2 days running about three weeks ago and haven’t seen them since.

Can you put spikes or poles up on your fence? That should deter them. Also blast them with water. Throw some soft balls at them too.

Yes mobility can be an issue as the bump grows, however I’m nearly 30 weeks and still happily gardening. Hoping to continue as long as my body allows.

So I’ve got 2 large, landscaped gardens which I personally tend to daily/weekly/seasonally. I do loads of pruning, weeding, raking and watering. I spend hours properly scrubbing down (to remove algae) then re-staining all of my fence panels, shed door, wooden structures, etc. So yes, when you work as hard as I do personally caring for my garden, then I absolutely want to sit down and relax with a cup of tea without seeing/smelling piles of cat/any other animal’s poo. You may feel differently if you do as much yourself?

Just be grateful the cats haven't got video cameras strapped to collars and are therefore not live-streaming your house as they roam!

Well, I hope you’ve never fed your kids a chicken nugget if you’re worried about cruelty to animals. And if you really wanted less trauma for wild animals, how about getting rid of domestic cats as an introduced apex predator? I believe NZ, with highly endangered natives species is looking to do so, but all of the owners of little Fluffykins think their precious kitty is more important.

Funnily enough, when it’s getting rid of rats, people are more supportive. Unless you’re thinking of a campaign to save them too?

It’s absolutely not a reasonable policy that all cats should be kept inside. It interferes with their natural instincts and can be severely detrimental to health and wellbeing. Yes some cats, depending on their personality can be happy in such conditions, but our cat was becoming so wild and anxious when we tried to keep in inside. The change in her when we allowed her out to roam was significant. Animal poo is part of the outdoors.

The DISINGENUITY here from the cat camp re animal cruelty...

Youre concerned about cats having stuff chucked at them to get them out of gardens they can easily leave, and chose to avoid...

Indoor cats and catios are CRUEL

But you are ALL FOR sonic dives which disrupt and threaten bats etc

You don't see a problem with telling people to block hedgehog highways

You have no objection to the suffering and damage to wildlife that "cat proofing" wildlife / non cat owning gardens can do

But scream YOU HATE ANIMALS! CRUEL if it's suggested that you instead contain your cat (nobody said lock it in the bloody basement).

No no, AAAALLLL your neighbours who don't like it should just cause distress, stress and loss of welfare to bats, hedgehogs etc instead. That's all fine, those suggestions aren't bothersome to you

Errr… it’s absolutely possible to install a catio or otherwise catproof your own garden so that your cats can’t encroach on neighbours.

I’m with the OP. I would hate cats to be shitting in my garden and I would be very pissed off with a neighbour shrugging their shoulders about it. It’s for the neighbour to contain their bloody cats.

It’s not ok to be cruel to any animal. Cats are part of life as all other animals . They are all part of the ecosystem. It’s not acceptable to have policies that frustrate the natural instincts of cats.

Terrible attitude. I have no time for neighbours’ pets or their poo on my property. Go and live in a detached rural property if you want to let your animals roam free. The absolute entitlement of you!

very few people in London with postage stamp gardens have any room for a catio even if they wanted one. Cat proofing your garden is actually really dangerous for other animals who can’t then get back out. Foxes have been known to fall in from fencing and then not able to climb out. I actually think anything that prevents wild animals from escaping a garden should be banned

Nope. You are the entitled one. I’m complying with the law which is proper and decent. You can move to a detached property in the country if you prefer!

How hard did you try? How many adaptions for enrichment did you make to your home? Did you hire anyone to call in on your cat during your work day to enrich with chasing games etc?

"Oh we tried and they didn't like it"... is fucking weak. Try harder. Try more than one set up.

Just... Locking your roaming cat in an unadapted house and then fucking off for the work day, is OBVIOUSLY not going to work.

But it's also not proof that it can't be done well

No. The wellbeing of animals are jmpoetant. Cats need to roam outdoors. The law is right and proper.

If you live in a postage stamp why do you think cats are the pet for you in the first place?

I've lived in studio flats in London. I wouldn't have even considered a hamster when I was there!