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?

It’s not my responsibility to come up with solutions for their pets behaviour. I have to draw the line at finding it in my babies nursery then badly scratching my arm when I lifted it out. If my family dog did this to our neighbour then I am sure they would go berserk. Everyone has a responsibility for their own pet.

Unfortunately many people who own cats, do not care what the cat gets up to when it leaves their house. They are happy for it to shit anywhere, kill birds, climb all over your garden furniture.. as that’s what “cats do”. They are also the first ones to moan when thier cat is injured or killed on its jaunts outside

I have never understood this mentality either! "cats are wild - you cant control them or tell them where to go, they should do exactly as they please!!!" - then gets totally enraged when someone inevitably runs them over because they've darted out in front of their moving car with no warning.

Cats are classed as wild animals, which means that unfortunately they can and do whatever they wish 😁

Tell your neighbour you're not able to differentiate between cats, and so any stray cats you find in your home will be boxed up and taken to the cat shelter. You certainly haven't the time to fanny about finding out whose cat it is.

Of course cat owners can keep their cats on their own property. Cat runs/catios, fencing with an inward sloped overhang or rollers on the top.

The issue is they can't be bothered, and don't want the expense. So they won't.

I find having dogs that chase cats helps massively, cats rarely visit here twice and the one that did think he could taunt the dogs repeatedly, eventually lost some fur off the end of his tail which finally got the message through!

We have cats, it is impossible to stop them roaming and cats have a right of 'trespass' in law.
I would not want my cats upsetting my neighbours so I do everything within my power to get them to toilet at home (indoor litter trays).
As for cat proofing your garden you can put a deterrent along your fence if you own it and there are sonic devices you can buy (I don't know if they work).
Cats hate the smell of citrus so you could try lemon or orange peel in the garden where they toilet.

YANBU to not want them in your garden and deal with the mess etc another person's pet choice makes on your property. I don't see why people who decide to get a cat cannot cat proof their gardens to keep them in, it shouldn't be up to other people to keep them out! I have to keep my livestock contained, my dog secure, I don't see why cat owners are exempt. Like another poster said up thread, if something happens to their cat, it's suddenly a massive deal, where as up until then it's always "cats roam, it's in their nature". My terrier kills cats. If any come in the garden (live rurally, but still they are about!), and she spies them, she goes for the kill. Same with anything else that comes into her space, and I think word has spread, so I have an effective deterrent! Unfortunately I think your only choice is to try make your garden hostile for them, cat spikes/anti climb paint, thorny plants, repellants in areas they like to toilet, a good aim with the hose (get the cat, not the area next to it, it'll get the message quicker!)

That's why IMO the only solution is to do what they think we're all dying to do anyway and "steal" their cat...

It's amazing how quickly cats are NO LONGER "WILDLIFE" and become property again as soon as a cat owner thinks someone's actually ENJOYING their cats visits a bit too much.

Send it home with a full tummy and a new bow & they'll go from "OH WELL THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO ROAM" to finding solutions to keep it away from you

If they lurk under a particular shrub, waiting to pounce on birds, a good way to cure that is to put a layer of very prickly prunings down - pyracantha is good for this! My DM found it effective for stopping a neighbour’s cat from pouncing on the birds she loved and encouraged.

But the water spray is good, too, if you can manage to hit them.

Bucket of water over them every time they come into your house .

It won't kill them, but it should shock them enough to keep them away.

I'm a lifetime cat lover and owner, but some of the answers on here have left me indignant. OP is pregnant, with two small children wtf should she just be resigned to accept random animals strolling around her house. Would the cat owners like her dog sniffing around in the front room and maybe spraying her flowers with piss? Of course not. Obviously cats are more difficult to control, but that does not mean OP needs to accept them in her bloody kitchen.

Bucket of water.

It’s interesting that you think word has spread as you don’t get any coming any more, which means the owners can and, possibly, have taken steps to avoid your dog.

Catching toxoplasmosis, a parasite in case faeces is potentially very serious in pregnancy. Do not clear up any messes yourself.

Your husband should wear disposable gloves and be careful too.

I’m pregnant so I don’t want to be exposed to cat shit (not safe when pregnant) as they’re doing the toilet in the garden and coming in my house. I’m also allergic and it’s a headache I don’t need with two young kids. Plus they have been on my kitchen work surfaces which just isnt sanitary. These cats seem much more persistent than any I’ve experienced before.

I have a cat and used to have two. However, they have always had their litter box in my house so they don’t go around soiling other people’s gardens. I would ask your neighbour to do this at least. You can also put citrus peel around areas they use as a toilet to deter then, but the main issue is with your neighbour not providing them with litter.

Tell your DH to stop being such a wet blanket and actually soak the cat or give it a firm shove out the door with a sweeping brush. Teach the kids to roar and chase them out the garden and they’ll soon disappear.

Very good point. 😁

The neighbours have an "instrument" that bip quite annoyingly and is supposed to stop cats and fox entering her garden, so far the only thing it achieved is annoying DH and keeping him out of our garden 🙄. But I do agree with OP, cats roaming everywhere IS annoying! My own cat is quite wimpy and gets beaten up by all the other cats coming in our garden but since she herself roam about, I can't complain 😔. I suggest you arm yourself with a water pistol and every time you see a cat in your garden spray them, eventually they will stop coming or come less.

Greetings to the cat haters. Are you disappointed that the govt did not proceed with its idea in 2020 of killing all wandering cats, in case they spread Covid? (They would have had to have killed me first.) May I shoot next door's dog if it barks outside before 6am?

More seriously though, use a water pistol. I am a cat lover, and I used to spray other cats away. I have had my own garden cat proofed to prevent my little one escaping (not because I cared about where he was shitting, but to keep him safe from cars), but this was an expensive operation.

Try those sonar cat repellants, they worked for me. The cat shit I’d throw over the neighbour’s fence. As for the scratching, that’s pretty bad.

Can't see how that's a bad thing, as it means they are no longer harassing my hens or crapping in the veg patch and digging out plants. I certainly don't appreciate going to harvest/plant something and uncovering cat shit, when I don't own one! And they can't complain about it, as my dog is on her property. Plus it shows that they can stop their cats going into others gardens if they choose to, they just don't want to as it means they'd have to clean up after their pet and deal with entertaining it etc

Greetings to the cat haters I dont hate cats!, I actually think they are quite cute even though I dont have one.

BUT, cat owners cant have it both ways - labelling cats wild when it suits them and means they can be lazy and not do anything to control them and then getting up in arms the next minute when they get knocked down.

Its no different to- if I let my dog run wild everywhere I would have to accept the consequences of them doing that.

Squirt the hose pipe at it , they hate getting wet like that.

Never going to happen, thankfully.

I agree, that’s what I meant. That they’re perfectly capable of not letting the cats come on your property now that there’s a threat to their cat.

Generally this won’t go well on here because MN tends to be a cat loving kind of place.

We have similar problems although they don’t come in the house thank god. My husband has essentially made it harder for the cats to get out of our garden, which has meant that they come in less often.

There’s a bit between two garages that we’ve put some chicken wire up, and the same at a bit under the fence they used to come in at.

The first few times they came into the garden I’d run out and chase them (just clapping) and they realised how much harder it was to get out. I should add I’ve never hurt these cats, and some of them are brazen AF and when a lot of the plants die back they dig and shit everywhere, it’s just gross.

Cat owner… Mine are confined to our property. Not so much my neighbours one who, because it can smell mine, sh**s in our garden regularly! You have my deepest sympathy as I totally appreciate how irritating as hell it can be, even as a cat owner, which is why mine are confined!

The people with the cat have their house for sale and I am hopeful it will go with! We are also due a new fence on the next year or so and it’s not such an easy fence for the cat to master so finger crossed we will, in time, resolve the issue for ourselves anyway.