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?

Get a male of your acquaintance to pee liberally all around your garden boundaries. ( if in person is too much, use a receptacle like an old milk carton) The scent of an apex predator ( sorry, women’s’ won’t do) deters cats & foxes and their nasty shitting habits as well as rats. A) yes it’s gross B) you have to keep doing it eg after rain but C) little is worse than finding loosely covered cat shit in your flowerbeds ( ask me how I know)

hahaha is this true???

Yup also people who have to deal with the aftermath of cats being run over. My house is very near a fast main road as the cat runs and the gardens that back onto mine are almost as near but quite a distance if you are a walking human. Its not pleasant dealing with the corpses of cats who were injured and didn't make it home, both corpse disposal snd telling the owner. Its fine for the owner to say oh thats the risk, but they don't have to deal with it

Sounds like you just need to plant some flowers in the litter tray!

hahaha exactly this I think

This thread makes me giggle. There are so many solutions to ensure a cat doesnt come into your garden. It boils down to making sure they find it dangerous or unpleasant to risk.

Not stupid enough to list them here but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to either remove the cat or put it off. Think about it, your water pistol is pathetic in comparison to a hose pipe or a bucket.

That’s not true. There are plenty of systems available, pretty cheap to buy now and easy to install, to prevent your cats leaving your own garden. They just don’t want to.

Everyone has a right to own a cat, it's not an assumption. Because cats by law have the right to roam, I consider that my responsibilities regarding my cat begin and end with the cat himself, in that it's my responsibility to ensure that he is fed etc and has a happy life, which includes his being able to roam wherever he wishes.

I'll be honest and say that actually I couldn't give a toss about the remote( and massively over exaggerated on here) possibility that my owning a cat is going to impinge on your quality of life. As I said, I've owned cats for 40 years and no neighbour has ever complained about their behaviour.

No because it frustrates a cats instincts to entrap them.

Wholeheartedly agree with this.

Doesn't work, sadly. They are awful killers, cats. Try cat proofing your fencing and motion sensitive water sprays.

Honestly, cat proofing your garden with a ‘catio’ is the way to go, and worth every penny.

I imagine cat's instincts have gradually altered over the thousands of years since they decided to co-exist with humans.

(Our cats are free to roam in two large gardens. Hardly entrapped 🤣)

Yes in some ways presumably, but not in their desire to roam - hence the complexity of cat proofing a garden - they are absolute escape artists and most (not all) contained cats will go to significant lengths to escape at every opportunity!

Yes it took ours about 6 months to get it right, with lots of tweaking!

Right

It's bizarre to me that some people think I have any interest at all in the welfare of their livestock.

It's a cat FFS.

It's a cat FFS

yes?

You don’t have to have any interest in their wellbeing, but luckily society (the law) puts the fundamental wellbeing and health of animals as intelligent as cats, over your minor inconvenience. Ah well 🤷🏼‍♀️

It frustrates a lot of humans to have cat shit in their gardens. I am glad that local cats stay away from mine. But I would happily get creative with inexpensive/ free deterrent if that were to ever change.

Why notv a mass cull of cats? They are just animals, vermin for some people. Why not kill them as we do badgers and deer?

Pigs are as intelligent as cats. They are killed in their millions each year.

Doesn't what cats know or don't know, they are the responsbility of their owners. Their owners are responsible for the damage they cause.

Why? Because I see cat ownership as problematic? Some people have a weird relationship with cats. They see them as quasi humans. That's why they get so emotional over the issue. At the end of the day, your freedom to keep cats impinges on my freedom to encourage wildlife into my garden and the shit deposited by your quasi human friends makes it unpleasant to sit in my garden. Have I no rights at all in my own property?

I get why you feel so emotional over cats, they are fluffy and they interact with you like few other pets do, but surely you can see that for people like me they are just a nuisance.

Imagine if dogs were allowed to roam wherever they wanted? Or snakes? Would you be as happy to let them do whatever they wanted in your garden?

Funnily enough a cat was eaten by a python in a garden a few years ago. They only knew because a vet could read the chip inside the python which had been allowed to roam free in its owners garden. A clash of rights there if ever there was one. Should the owner of the python kept the snake indoors? Should the pwner of the cat ket the cat indoors?