AIBU To want to stop our neighbour’s cats crapping on our grass several times a week?

[wildfellhall]

Does anything work?

We’ve tried chilli pepper in one flower bed but it doesn’t work for long. They keep crapping in the middle of the grass regardless.

I know it isn’t fox crap as that smells and looks different.

I know cats just don’t crap in their own gardens so how is it ok that the owners know that and just shrug?

It is such a huge imposition on your neighbours.

Not much an owner can do if it’s a cat that goes outside. Water gun or invest in movement activated sprinkler - that will have the added bonus of keeping the fox out too. If the owners are decent they won’t mind as it doesn’t hurt the cat. We used a water spray to train our neighbour’s cat that was bullying our cats.

Every week there is one of these threads just Google the last seventy billion of them and you’ll find the answer.

Citrus peel with eucalyptus oil, apparently they can’t stand the smell.

Definitely don't use jeyes fluid op it's toxic to them and while I fully get that cats doing this is frustrating (have experienced it myself) directly harming them is out of line.

I would speak to the neighbours and explain it's an issue and say you'd like to cat proof the garden to help keep them out and ask if they'd meet you halfway with the costs. Or they cat proof 3 of their 4 perimeters and you cover your boundary line so the cat stays in their garden.

Netting over beds you don't mind covered, citronella and other citrus oils are good, also for deterring undesirable bugs, and the sonic noise deterrent is also a good option.

I used to have a cat but it was indoor only for health reasons, other cats used to come and poo in our garden and tease him and I empathise. It's extremely difficult to prevent completely though depending on your layout.

The real question is this
say I had a small super agile dog that I couldn’t keep within my own garden - would it be ok for it to crap in all you helpless cat owners’ gardens?
This is why I genuinely believe it’s unethical to have a cat unless you live miles from people.

and the bird killing is totally grim as well… no one can defend it.

I do LOVE cats but I also love alcohol but don’t get pissed all the time because it would be unfair for everyone around me.

as
are
the
cats
who
crap in
your
neighbours’
gardens!

so - I don’t have a cat - I don’t NEED a cat - no one needs a cat.
We should be choosing things that take other people into account - that was how I was brought up (didn’t work on my sister though)

Also this. Most sensible owners won't have an issue with a water gun. I used a little mini one to train my cat to avoid our kitchen worktops.

Yup. And the only thing that works effectively 100% of the time is cat-proofing/a catio set-up.

I would pay for any deterrents they requested and put them there if they asked me to, or go and remove anything my cats left if they were able to show camera footage.

However it's unlikely to be an issue. My two as I said often use the litter tray before going out, toilet in my garden and in fact rarely move far away. The immediate neighbours are fond of them.

Don't, you want to deter and not kill.

I'm not going to respond to that having seen your other posts. Have a pleasant day.

I was going to say - it’s toxic to cats! Your poor cat, must’ve been an awful time.

Things that have worked but probably best combined and rotated -

• Chilli powder
• Citrus peel
• Cut up holly leaves and pine needles
• A water pistol, a big one
• Some cat deterrent gell from Amazon (kills plants it touches though)

Unless you can set up a sprinkler system, it’s just an annoyance you need to learn to live with.

Gardens are full of stuff poisonous to cats - slug pellets, weed killer as well as Jeyes fluid. To say nothing of anti-climb paint. If you don't want your cat to ingest anything toxic then keep it in your property.

I live in a row of Victorian terraces and next door has at least 1 cat, possibly two. The cat we see crosses mine and many of the neighbouring back gardens 24 hours a day so I assume it has a cat flap. I mentioned it to a friend a dozen doors further down the street, who says it craps in the middle of her garden. It also collects and decapitates slow worms and leaves their parts scattered around- I have often seen it crossing my garden on its way home with one in its mouth.
l've had to cover my planters with net to keep it from digging my flowers up.
Never see the owner, and suspect they don't have any problems with it.

Yes! Absolutely agree. You’re my kind of neighbour. Meanwhile, when I go to the local pub I’m greeted by dogs on the floor, dogs on the chairs and even one dog who sleeps on the table! This is a pub that serves food. Lots of them drink their water from a half-pint glass on the table rather than a bowl on the floor.

There's a big difference between a cat naturally coming into contact with something that's harmful that cannot be avoided and someone deliberately setting out to try to kill/harm it. Same reason why having slug pellets in your garden is not a crime, but deliberately setting out to lay poison or other toxic materials for cats/ dogs/similar is a crime.

Please don’t turn this into yet another dog bashing threat.

I love that in theory but cats roam for miles and I don’t think I could afford to kit out every garden on the estate 😂 maybe a cat owner money pool for deterrents - there’s a business idea

I'm just glad my two don't travel far. I'm at home a lot but when I get back if I've gone out they're usually in the garden waiting and if not they come immediately when they hear themselves being called. They are in at teatime too and aren't allowed out again.

I think it's the same person who continually starts these threads. OP, just get over it. What will you be obsessing about next - the wrong type of birds on your trees? Foxes? Mice? Annoying insects? Requesting that extreme weather avoid your little patch of garden?

Moaning about cats occasionally catching a bird - are you a vegan? How many chickens, cows, lambs, ducks, pigs have you consumed in your life? Just because you can buy them all packaged in Tesco is irrelevant. Humans slaughter billions upon billions of animals. Never mind the odd bird. Ever been to a cow slaughterhouse OP? Perhaps you should. Perhaps you should also see how many slaughtered animals are wasted.

We have concreted over animal habitats. Forced animals to live amid our traffic. Did you know, only one in five fixes makes it to a year old because of cars? We chop down their trees; use fencing to block natural animal routes; contaminate rivers and seas with our sewage and crap; choke wildlife with our plastic waste; kill them with fertilisers; confine them in our homes, breed them for money .... yet all you complain about is 'cat may poo on my little square lawn.' Really? How utterly ridiculous you sound! Open your eyes and take responsibility for your part in this accelerating Anthropocene that humans have inflicted on the planet and all other species.

It never ends does it, dogs vs cats, man vs woman, black vs white. Always some thing or some one pitted against another.

The real question is this
say I had a small super agile dog that I couldn’t keep within my own garden - would it be ok for it to crap in all you helpless cat owners’ gardens?

That's not the "real question" as it's already illegal to have a dog not under your control, so it's really a stupid question isn't it.

The cats owners are not obliged to control their cats movements. You could try asking them to but they would have the right to tell you to go fuck yourself. If you kept on bothering them they could complain of harassment and YOU could be arrested!

You don't agree with the law but unless it gets changed it is what it is. It's up to YOU to try and deter the cats from your garden whether you like it or not.

Endlessly wailing how unfair it is and this, that and the other should be the case is completely pointless.

Super soaker filled with awful smelling stuff that the cat and owners will hate.

Cat much less likely to come back to the garden that leaves them smelling like piss and chili vinegar, owners much more likely to take steps to prevent it if it's their house and couch that starts to fucking stink

Ah right, the sparrow getting caught would be enough for me to worry. I’ll try the brambles, thanks.