To think cat ownership should be considered more anti-social than it is

[airportfloor]

I am a single working parent. I live in a terraced house in a middle of the city. Each house on my street and the parallel one has a small yard. I have spent time and money to make my yard as attractive as it can be, putting in borders with a small number of plants, and some pots.

Neighbours on all sides have cats - some have more than one cat each. The problem is for me that cats are taking over my yard.

On a daily basis the cats dig up my planters, putting mud on the floor and pulling out plants. They do this because my border is the hippest place to shit. So now I have a border that on one side is kitchen herbs and the other side mud and cat shit. RANK.

I have to check before I can let my kids play out there because they also like shitting right by my door.

This morning I was greeted with a mass of pigeon feathers that I had to clear up where some unlucky bird saw its fate.

They knock over my pots, causing more mess.

In the summer I can't have my back door open because the cats will walk into my house. I was once in my bed and a cat came in my bedroom. They would come in every time the door was open if I left it. When I wfh with the door open I sit with a small water pistol so I can aim it at the door.

I have very little spare time of money and am furious I have to spend both of them now finding out how I can make my yard seem less desirable to cats, then putting this plan into action.

One of my cat-owning neighbours plays loud music and smokes weed in his yard but his two cats are more annoying than both those behaviours.

I have just seen one of the bastards digging out my borders again and am furious.

AIBU: yes, now you've put it so calmly and succinctly, cats have got a great PR team and people should consider that if they get a cat their neighbours have to put up with their shitty actions which could be mitigated by a nice packet of biscuits at christmas

NOT BU: get over it

[post edited by MNHQ at poster's request]

Hilarious. There's nothing more antisocial than dogs, which are every fecking where these days, shitting, barking, jumping up at people, in hotels, cafes, restaurants and pubs, shops, or in the countryside mauling sheep and chasing cows, If you don't like cats or have an allergy to them etc, at least they're not in your face everywhere you go.

I have an indoor cat (who has shown no interest in coffee) and my garden is purposely planted with flowers that are safe for my neighbours cats. I just think if you’re actively putting coffee down knowing it is toxic at small levels (and much easier to ingest than flowers) that is a whole new level of being an asshole neighbour and was mostly posting to help educate others not to do that since I like to think most people wouldn’t want to actively poison another person’s pet. But you do you and have a nice evening.

I have two house cats. My neighbours cats shit in my flower beds.

I thought that was going to be an informative article, got halfway down it before realising it's by the Countryside Alliance having a flounce because the RSPB dares to condemn game bird shooting.

Right then 🙄

But I reiterate- if you are genuinely concerned about wildlife, biodiversity and species loss, then cats aren't the thing you should be focusing on. Intensive farming practices (and at sea, bottom trawling) are.

Magpies round our way kill most of the songbirds.

my cat kills so many mice Living in a tenement where mice are everywhere glad I got him

Ah so the 'Countryside Alliance' wants the right to shoot birds, but not the cats the right to hunt. That'd be right. Cats, 'bad'. Some tiny-dicked over-compensating male getting a rifle and shooting a poor bird to smithereens, 'good'. Well, well, well.

But on the subject, I personally don't see why a bird's life is worth more than a cat's.

The Scottish Wildcat doesn't exist anymore because of interbreeding with domestic cats. Our wildcats are also extremely territorial with expansive ranges.

"Wildcats tend to maintain a territory of at least a few hundred hectares in size, and much of this needs to be woodland, although they also require open pasture for hunting." according to rewildingbritain. The pressure on wildlife from a territorial solitary wildcat vs domestic cats whose territories can overlap or even involve colonies in places is completely different, as is the disease rates in the cats themselves.

Predation by cats harms songbird populations even if the RSPB is too hesitant to say anything lest they lose the donations from cat owners. Parent birds lose alot of body condition sitting eggs and feeding their young - it's a time of high stress even without cats. With domestic cats around, the parent sitting the nest will alarm call and prevent the other bird from getting food for the nest because they will try and decoy the predator. The alarm calls will also make other predatory/scavenging birds aware there is a nest around increasing pressure on the nest. Predatory stress can make birds abandon a nest and then where do they go? Everywhere is full of cats. Here's a study for anyone interested - https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12025

I have 6 cats and I love them, but they are in a cat proofed garden and I specifically chose a breed that is okay with being cuddle monsters because I love birds too. Moggies are a cruel pet, they're roaming hunting cats who like to hold territory and fight and hunt. It's cruel to keep them in and cruel to let them out, cat ownership should shift over to a more appropriate cat much in the way we don't keep mountain sheep herding dogs in a terrace.

But you haven’t mentioned other predator birds. The magpies round our way rule the roost and predate on songbirds

I have a catio for my cats, but only this last year. They’ve had over a decade of being indoors. They don’t seem to crave the outdoors. One of them can take or leave the catio, the other two enjoy it for sunbathing but don’t climb or explore in the way I’d hoped.

They do all love watching the world go by out of the window but if I open the door, they’re just not bothered about trying to escape. The kitten followed me out the other day and I didn’t notice and locked him out accidentally. He was furious and hurled himself at the window to get in. Hasn’t tried since.

My cats are cuddly, people-centric and super friendly. People that visit often say they’re more like dogs. I do think they’re very misunderstood - I don’t think cats are inherently more independent or aloof. I think they just can be, when forced.

Interesting points, although pure Scottish wildcats have been reintroduced (and are thriving) in the Highlands. I gather that a lot of work has been done in persuading all domestic cat owners in the vicinity to neuter their cats. There's talk of reintroducing them in Devon, too.

Totally agree. They are now pest sadly due to number of them in such a short area. The fighting I hear every evening in the summer is awful. We live in terrace houses

Agree - also they’re murdering bastards & bad for wildlife & birds

To be fair I think people should keep their pets secure (regardless of what type). Mainly due to the risk to the pets health and safety. I have a cat, she is an indoor cat and I wouldn't have it any other way, some people are quite cruel to cats and so many get run over too.

From my observations, animal haters are always weird.

@Thisaintascene1 Lots of cats love the smell of coffee, but if they get small grounds stuck in their fur they can groom themselves and ingest it. They don’t have to take in much for it to be toxic. Don’t be ridiculous yourself, why risk killing someone’s pet?

You seem more worried about what non cat owners put in their gardens (admittedly a risk if you let your pet roam unsupervised) than the risk of your cat being run over by a car whilst running around outside (arguably a much greater risk). Perhaps everyone should stop driving?

Fair enough.
None of my neighbours’ dogs have ever come onto my property and shat on my veg patch though.

As I’ve explained, I was simply commenting for those who don’t know coffee is toxic. There are lots of non toxic options. Why would you want to purposely put something you know is toxic down?

And no, I am not worried about cars since as I have also mentioned, I have an indoor cat. But not all cats cope well with being inside. I personally wouldn’t want an outdoor cat now after having an indoor one since I have seen too many posts on Nextdoor about people losing their cats, be it to cars or people stealing them.

Anyway, I’m simply saying don’t be an asshole and put something toxic down - and yes I also believe cat owners should do their best to keep their cats to their garden. Doesn’t take much to be kinder to your neighbours does it. I’ve honestly very rarely seen cat shit in my own and we have lots of cats around here, fox shit is worse.

Thank you for the heads up about the toxicity. I don’t want to harm any animals. I love animals, hence I don’t understand people (not yourself, I stand corrected) letting their beloved pets run around the streets.

I think it’s complicated as most cats don’t do well with being cooped up all day. We purposely chose to rescue an indoor cat because of where we live. I’ve never had an indoor cat before, but will probably only do so going forward - I’ve seen the way people drive down my road and it’s not that busy, and there are so many cats around.

From reading this thread though more people could do with having calm conversations with their neighbours and showing some understanding on both sides…

Have you told the cat? They can be an absolute pain but a legally regarded as a ‘free spirit’.

is it at all possible you can put abetting roof over your yard? Don’t know how big it is but wondered?

Have you heard of anti-cat rollers?
Check out https://oscillot.uk/

Not cheap, but if your garden is fairly small, maybe you could install these round all three sides. I imagine it would be quite satisfying to see/ hear cats trying to jump up on your fence and slithering back down into their own gardens....

We have holly bushes in the garden, and when they get cut back, I cover the borders with them. The branches only have to stay there long enough for the neighbourhood cats to develop a new routine of shitting elsewhere. If they creep back, put some holly down again. We only have to do it once a year for a few weeks at most. If you can just get hold of the dried leaves and scatter them on the soil, it works wonders to ward off the little sods and it'll enrich your soil over the winter months.

In the immortal words of Corporal Jones, they don't like it up 'em!

Thank you, hopefully it solves the problem!