To Tell My Elderly neighbours about their cat shitting in garden.

[thesagarollson]

I will start off by saying I love cats before anyone bashes me as a cat hater .

I live next door to an elderly and frail couple who have always had cats but after their last one passed away I thought there were too old (80’s) to take on a new one.

I noticed a couple of weeks ago they seem to have a new one which also coincided with shit appearing on my front lawn. Every morning I pick up at least one 🤢.

I have CCTV and had a look just in case a fox but no it was their cat.

I have spent money on various deterrents but to date nothing works and tbh I really don’t want to spend more money to try and resolve it .

People have suggested throw water but it always shits at night ffs and we also now have our bins emptied every 3 weeks and the amount of flies and the smell is awful.

The wife is extremely frail and has just come out of hospital and has carers coming in so I really don’t want to give them more grief, but I chose not to have pets and it really pisses me off spending time , money and the smell especially in this heat.

As extra information I have always generally got on well with them but I need advice on how to approach this. Do I just accept it or try and discuss and tbh can they as cat owners really stop the cat?

Thanks

Its called nature. Presumably nature is also why you bought yourself a garden in the first place? Or are you one of those who ripped up all your trees and replaced them with box hedges?

Yes OP be sure to plaster a beatific smile on your face whilst you shovel up your neighbours cat shit. After all you too will be old one day and the only joy you will have in life is making poor decisions that mostly impact on your neighbours.

Ok fine don’t throw it on the lawn, put it in a corner of their garden on some soil. Is that any better?

We have more than one cat using our garden as a toilet. I think the only solution is to get your own cat or dog. My neighbour has a pristine lawn her young dc roll around on. We have to tentatively find our way to the washing airer as there is usually a cat poo on the way. I don't want to be picking up cat poos when I don't have a pet. Our lawn is not one you can lie on or play games on. I might try one if those devices mentioned above. Would I mention it to my ndn? No, I don't see anything she can do as long as she already has a litter tray. But it is very annoying, I agree with the op there.

@thesagarollson I see you have ordered a motion activated sprinkler, are you in the UK? A sprinkler sits under the hosepipe ban so cannot be used when the ban is in place.

Yep absolutely 💯 the more plastic grass the better and while we are at let’s kill off the bees as well

I was going to suggest a motion activated sprinkler. No, I’d not bother them, because they’re elderly and frail. It’s grim and I’m sorry for you.

i was going to say cats hate going in the rain so if they wanted to encourage it to go in their garden,
if they put the top covering part of a plastic cat litter tray in their garden the cat would likely choose that spot. But I’d bring it round for them and be helpful, because they’re elderly are your neighbours and they’re elderly.

I am lucky to stay in a place we do not really have bans but thanks .

Of course cat owners can stop their cats going into other people’s gardens but the fact of the matter is, they won’t and there’s virtually nothing you can do to stop it, as cat’s just don’t care either. Years again I had one of those high frequency devices to protect a small lawn area and it worked (I would see the cats walking around the perimeter) but it won’t stop them completely. Good luck.

Don’t flush it. That introduces unnecessary contamination to the sewage system.

An outdoor litter tray may be a compromise, preferably on the owners property. Cats like to bury their poo.

I've looked after an indoors cat for a friend from time to time. I feel really quite bad about it, because it's plain the cat has such a boring life, as no-one can spend all a cat's waking hours amusing it. So no, I don't think it's necessarily responsible to keep a cat inside all the time.

This is controversial as I know you shouldn’t feed other people’s cats but I made friends with the neighbours cat, she comes and goes in and out of our house as she pleases although I keep her contained to the kitchen / dining area, we’re here alot more than her owners though. I give her the odd treat and play with her etc., and she treats our garden as hers, plays in it, roams around, scares off other cats etc., and she also doesn’t seem to shit here, I’m assuming she does her business somewhere outside our garden as she thinks of it as her territory?? I do put coffee grounds in the back corner as I’ve seen her hanging about there occasionally and thought she may do a poo. I’ve probably jinxed it now!