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?

Add to that, it wasn't their cats shit, you are wrong it was definitely a fox. It was ALWAYS a fox. Because cats are SOOOO CLEEEEEEEEAN

Even though their cat made intense awkward eye contact with you whilst shitting in your flower pot, and cat shit and fox shit aren't even that similar!

Urban (housing estates) areas are not a natural ecosystem by any means - and the impact of humans and their hobbies, pets and lifestyles become part of it; the rubbish bins being a food source for a variety of species, ponds and flower beds supporting insects and invertebrates, etc.

So, cats in urban areas are very much part of this unnatural ecosystem, such as it is. Where I live, there are a large number of cats, which will kill a fair amount of birds, mice, frogs etc. Yet the number of birds, especially, never seems to decline, same with frogs and mice. So it could be reasonably thought that there's a good prey-predator balance - remember also, that these lovely 'wild' animals are all doing their own killing along the way.

So roaming household cats, supported by law, are unlikely to be decimating bird. mice or frog populations, unless something else has changed to unbalance them.

As for them annoying us humans, a well-aimed super-soaker, consistently applied, will deter most cats eventually.

I am 100% not advocating for this as I'm sure it's terribly distressing and not great for the animals, but where I grew up you'd never have a strange pet in your garden - cats were indoors or kept within their own property with either a fence or an electric collar thing. I KNOW this isn't good for them but it's what I was used to so it was a surprise when we got our first house here to just find all sorts of random cats and cat leavings all over our garden. We had to go through the garden every single morning before my daughter could go play for years - now the kids are old enough to deal with it themselves thankfully but it was very, very annoying.

I really hate how I can't leave the doors open without finding a cat inside. We have a couple rooms in the house that have doors and no windows and they get really stuffy in the summer. I don't complain to our neighbours and I know there's nothing to be done but it's still very irritating so I do understand how this would be frustrating.

Get a dog.

????
& you don't think that will be a lot more work than deterring the neighbours cats??

🤣🤣🤣

@Rainbow3210

the neighbours doesn't have indoor cats. Cats have the legal right to roam, it's down to you to prevent them coming in to your garden if that's what you want.

there are plenty of options on line fir you to try, but I would definitely not allow your children to use supersoakers etc, it's not good to teach them that kind of thing. I wouldn't use one either as the pressure of them could hurt a cat.

your kids enjoy them visiting, what harm are they really doing?

Genuine answer. You keep inside, or build a cat run. Or YOU go to the trouble and expense of cat proofing someone else’s garden, or setting up motion sprinklers. Has anyone suggested lion poo yet? 🙄

Two brothers from the same litter, around 12 weeks old when we got them, I put collars on them both. One decided that he was absolutely not going to be wearing a collar and took it off almost immediately, his brother wasn't bothered by his in the slightest. Collarless kitten however was not going to have his brother wearing such an atrocity and removed his as well. I did try again on several occasions but let's just say it was futile!

Try a new collar!

Go on I dare you

Tell him not to be careful. They won’t learn that way.

There are plenty of cat deterrents you can try;

Planting lavender & rosemary, some cats are put off by the scent.

Sprinkle coffee grounds around,the smell and the feel are not pleasant to cats.

Citrus peels placed around the garden

Try planting other things like curry herb plant or Coleus Canina (Scaredy Cat Plant) around the borders of the garden

Motion sensor sprinklers

Vinegar Solution
Mix white vinegar and water 50/50 in a spray bottle. Don't spray it on your plants or at the cats, spray it on the fences and your patio.

Scrub the patio with a good enzyme cleaner (please don't use Jeyes Fluid as other people recommend sometimes, if a cat licks it off their paws they can get very sick) to get rid of any lingering smells that are encouraging them to keep toileting on the patio.

Grab a spray bottle and mix: one cup of water, two spoons of lemon juice, a few sprigs of rosemary, and a splash of white vinegar. Spray it where needed but not on the plants or the cats.

its not a choice and I don't want either.

🤣

I’ve seen cat repelling plants in garden centres before- could be worth a try?

I find hissing at them quite effective.

Surely if cats can’t be stopped from crapping in other people’s gardens then that’s a good reason not to get a cat, at least in an urban area? I don’t understand the argument that you can get a pet that causes nuisance to others and then deny all responsibility for it?

The water pistol approach would be worth a try, OP.

This is all very twee but none of it works. Cats also shit in the grass; no cleaning that up.

catproof their bloody garden of course.

Cats are part of the world we live in, humans are very entitled to think that animals shouldn’t come on their bit of land. It’s nature.

I would get the cat proof fencing for your own garden and it should solve the problem, if you get brackets at a 40degree angle and put mesh along it at that angle the cats won’t be able to climb over it and into your garden.
You can also get ultra sonic cat deterrents, they seem to work but children and some adults can hear them and it’s pretty annoying..., someone has one a few doors up from me and every time it senses motion it goes off and I can hear it if I’m in my front garden.
Cats also don’t like the smell of citrus so worth spraying a citrus oil mixed with water around.
You can’t expect your neighbour to keep them in, and if they aren’t causing a problem for them then they are unlikely to fund the fencing to keep them in their garden.
We’ve always had cats alongside our dogs, which tends to keep out other cats. We have a cat now that chooses to stay outside due to her background, she has a little kennel she sleeps in but I still keep a litter tray outside and under cover for her to use so she doesn’t tend to toilet in the garden (ours or any other neighbours)
There are measures your neighbour could do to lessen the impact of them ie keeping them in at dawn/dusk when more likely to hunt but you can’t do much about them bar stopping them entering your garden.

The new style collars have a quick release fastening

There are sound devices that make a very high pitched noise. Its unpleasant for cats and they will avoid it.
Theres also a device that can be attached to a hose and it will spray water everywhere when it detects movement.

Yes, us cat owners generally do get quite upset when our beloved pet gets hurt or killed. We're funny that way.

Unless I've misunderstood you do have a choice. The cats aren't opening your kitchen window themselves so just close the window when you're not in the room.

I'd like our kitchen window and back door to be open all day, but if I'm not in the room I close it for security and to stop wildlife wandering in.

Catproof fencing makes a great place for pigeons to congregate instead. e.g. https://sanctuarysos.com/services/cat-fencing/cat-fencing-standard/

That is why the cats get them off so quickly.

I agree but it's not fair to have a large number of cats in a built up area. They are decimating the wild bird/small mammal population.
Like any predator their numbers need to be managed.

I think (most) cats are antisocial and do far more harm to local wildlife than good.

but we live in a cat loving society so we have to put up with neighbours cats shitting in our gardens and intimidating the wildlife, apparently. Nothing you can do, though your dh should soak it next time. Harmless. Our neighbour’s cat visits far less frequently since we soaked it