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]

Yes, you definitely know more about what happens in my actual garden than I do.

2.4 billion birds per year? Goodness, that is a lot of birds in one country. Well it sound like if not, America would be over-run with birds. Sort of like Hitchcock's The Birds movie. Seriously though, to me cats just seem like a check and balance on population.

I have never claimed to, nor would I ever claim to 24/7 surveillance of someone else’s property. I definitely know more about cats though.

You seem to know more about cats than the whole of... Ooh... what's the word? Oh yes. Science. Well done you!!

I am in the UK.

When I was growing up we had cats who were free to roam. We lived in a very quiet rural area but we still lost some to cars.

I used to think it was weird to keep cats indoors. However I have now known some indoor cats for a while and they are perfectly content. My sister's cat is getting on in years now and has always been indoors. Twice in her life she accidentally got outside and was utterly panic-stricken and couldn't wait to get back in.

Now adult DD has a beautiful neutered tom and he is also fully indoors and seems very healthy and happy. She brings him with her when she visits, in fact we are looking after him next week while she is on holiday. He will be purr-fectly happy with the run of (most of) our house and our neighbours won't even be aware of him. Unless they see him looking out of the window watching the world go by.

It’s really not cruel. Cats can learn to walk on a lead like dogs, and a catio can give them space outside that keeps them and wildlife safe. Dogs would roam free if we let them, I’m sick of the get out of jail card outdoor cats have. They kill birds & wildlife, dig up and shit in any garden they like. Every week there are community Facebook posts asking if anyone has seen Tiddles who hasn’t been home for 3 days, or if anyone knows who owns the ‘stray’ that’s decided it lives in someone’s house/shed/garden, and then the reports of cats being hit by cars and being taken to the vet’s to be identified.

Keep them indoors.

Again. Cats are a part of the free roaming law. If you want change then that's where you start.

I love it that you don’t really know what science is, but hey ho it’s the internet.

I have 2 cats and a cat proofed garden so they can’t get out & I can tell you they do shit in their own garden!
i have raised beds on 2 sides that they loved to shit in which was very annoying!

I have allocated them a bed that they are allowed to use & I clear it with a cat litter tray scoop but for the other beds I’ve tried all sorts to stop them using it but I’ve had the most success with just filling it with plants, if there is a space I put a pot with a plant in the space, a garden ornamont or a large stone!

you need to stop them having room to dig! That should fix it!

What, are you accusing the RSPB of being in the pay of Big Cat? 😆

We don't know that cats in the UK have a significant effect on bird populations though. It's something that we just don't know without further study.

At the age of 42 I'm completely over pets tbh. Cats, dogs, guinea pigs, stuff 'em.

Check and balance....we just don't know. Even this large figure is just based on estimates, and not broken down on a species- by- species basis. Is it mostly common songbirds, which can expect to have a clutch of 10 and only see a couple reach maturity? Or something rarer and more vulnerable?

The US has massively different ecologies to Europe anyway, in particular the fact that it doesn't have anything inhabiting the same evolutionary niche that cats do, whereas Europe did (and still does, in some places- the European wildcat).

I had an interesting chat recently with an ecologist about bumble bees. Certain bumble bees are struggling, because they nest in abandoned vole burrows, and since there's a decline in barn owls that hunt the voles, there's a lack of empty burrows. So....if my cat brings a vole in, is she inadvertently helping bumble bees? 🤔

Some years the weather is not cold enough over the winter, that combined with fleas getting resistant is a recipe for a flea infestation in your house, even I had it somehow with my cats never leaving the house.

Well you are either a cat person or you are not. You are not, so you question everything, find flaws, pick holes. I'm a cat person, I just worship and serve them and don't ask any questions 🤣

I agree, my cats wouldn't make it to 14 months, forget 14 years, if they were not indoors only, they are just so daft, 'wilderness' is not for them.

1. Viva La CatLand!
2. My cat can use a litter tray thanks. What it can't be trained to do is not want a shit while it's outside.

Absolutely hate cats.
Utterly sick of cleaning up my garden after someone else's pet.

Next time I dog-sit I should send him next door when he wants a dump.
Surely there's no difference?

This dates back to the times when everyone had cats to help control rats & mice. We aren’t all farmers now, so this is another outdated law that needs reforming, or ignoring. Just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s right.

I adopted two kittens from a local cat rescue this year OP. The charity I got them from is inundated with kittens every single year. Do you consider my actions as antisocial? - Along with every other person who chooses to adopt a cat or kitten from one of these shelters?

If so, then what do you propose is done with these cats and kittens? I’m interested to hear what solution you have in mind 🙄

rats and mice live everywhere

This is a summary of the impact of cats on bird populations. Read to the end.

https://www.birdspot.co.uk/a-wildlife-garden/cats-and-their-impact-on-garden-birds

That article claiming how terrible cats are for birds in the USA and Canada uses references that suggest that “unowned” cats are responsible for the vast majority of bird killing in the USA. So all this diatribe aimed at cat owners is total nonsense.

So what do you propose is done with all the cats and kittens that need rehoming every year? I’ve just done a search and Copilot is giving me an estimate of between 80,000 to 100,000 annually. I rehomed two kittens this year. I got them spayed and neutered as soon as they were old enough. Am I antisocial for rescuing these kittens? What do you think should happen to them?

What are you asking me for? I am a cat lover. I have two outdoor cats of my own. I would adopt them all if I could. I think cat haters are unhinged. They really are. Dog haters are not unhinged and psychopathic like cat haters are. Read the articles. It clearly says there’s very little scientific evidence that cats are the main contributors to bird population decline. Read stuff before responding!

Right so start there. Do a campaign, get a petition going.

Like it or not, they're on it. If you want change then do something about it

I think cat haters are unhinged.

I'm not unhinged, what an insult just because I don't want your bloody cats crapping in my garden.