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]

If you figure out how to stop them shitting in your garden please let me know! I also have to check my garden before kids can go out as there is shit everywhere. My neighbours cats are oddballs though, they don’t do it somewhere private or muddy… they choose slap bang in the middle of the lawn. I’m not sure why cat owners don’t keep a covered litter tray in their garden so they are the only people who have to clear up the crap!

YANBU OP

I love cats and have had roaming, shitting cats in the past without giving much thought to it, because as you say it is completely normalised. I feel pretty guilty looking back on it because our neighbours were clearly tolerating them (and us) through gritted teeth.

I wouldn't have an outdoor cat in a populated neighbourhood again without catproofing the garden to keep it on my property.

I love cats but they kill so much wildlife.

Are you me? 😂

Ditto dogs and children?

Probably! 😹

Can you cat proof the fencing around your yard to keep them out?
Our next door neighbour used to complain about our cat entering his garden, until he had a rat infestation under his shed. Then he wanted to be our cats best friend 🤣

American in the UK here! Honestly baffled me when I first moved here to see how freely you let the cats roam here. In the US most cats are indoor cats because of how they decimate local bird populations. Even my mom's Mainecoon is fully indoors! Shit like this which makes me grateful it's the norm there.

Have my children been shitting in your garden again and killing birds? Sorry, I'll have a word with them.

I love cats but I just think there are far too many of them. If I had a cat it would be indoor only as I'm concerned about our bird and small mammal populations.
We had some success putting toy snakes around our garden OP, but the main thing that has helped is the local hard cat adopting our garden as his base, which keeps other cats out and means we only have one cat's mess to deal with 😐

Cats should be treated like vermin ..they are a fking nuisance.

It's odd, I have two cats and a dog and am a keen gardener and never have a problem with other people's cats or my own, nor the foxes and badgers that poo in the garden, so I never understand this.

And there are loads of birds in the garden too.

I live in cat central. I use 'Bamboo Sticks Stakes Support 30/45/75cm Packs (ebay).

I break them in half and put them in the plant pots, stops them digging and or squatting in them.
And for fences: 'Durable Plastic Bird & Pigeon Spikes - Anti-Cat & Anti-Pigeon Spike Design Easy Installation, Bird & Pigeon Deterrent, Garden Pest Control, Weather resistant Material, from Temu £2.07'
The sticks might not be safe around small children. Good luck.

People should cat proof their fences end of

Get a super soaker water gun, or turn the hose on them every time you see them in your garden. That will keep them away.

Instead of moaning about cats who are here to stay, cat-proof your garden and chuck the cat shit into all the cat- owning neighbours' gardens.

I have netting on top of my fences to stop mine getting out. He's only 6 months old and so we have restricted him to the patio at the moment but will rest of the garden when he's a bit older. He seems quite content.

Or get a dog barking alarm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SELDORAUK-Barking-Alarm-Motion-Sensor/dp/B0BK1LB4MQ/ref=asc_df_B0BK1LB4MQ?mcid=467eb0f9636f3962b45af6cc162d42c9&hvocijid=6177449610672316331-B0BK1LB4MQ-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6177449610672316331&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9197144&hvtargid=pla-2281435177578&gad_source=1&th=1

That’s not really cat MO. Your garden will be 1 cat’s territory. It will then fight all the other cats who try and poo in it.

What you’re describing is more fox behaviour. Just because you’ve only seen one fox doesn’t mean anything, they come out at night and dig everything up and poo everywhere and don’t bury it like cats as they’re basically dogs.

Aren't there rules in Australia around cats, though? Because they're so hard on (endangered?) native wildlife?

Cats are outdoor creatures they need to be outside climbing trees. Keeping them indoors is cruel and actually worse than a zoo - at least zoo animals get outside space.

I basically want a pet loyal visitor fox.
Love 'em.

I used to think foxes were cute but in London they’re everywhere - they mate on our lawns, shit on our front door steps and empty our bins in the street. They’re laughing at us.

I'm always reading on here about cats digging up plants and shitting in borders and pots, but I've never seen it happen in real life. And my garden is contested/neutral territory, because I don't have a cat, so all the local ones very much know about it and use it.
One of them did once bat a bird down off one of my feeders, but it's the squirrels who dig in my pots and foxes who dig and shit in the plant pots.
IME cats shit somewhere private and out of the way.

Australia does ban outdoor cats because of the harm they do to native wildlife but it has massive benefits for the lifespan of the cat. Indoor cats live longer than outdoor cats and don't run the risk every day of being harmed. I honestly believe outdoor cat owners are lazy, they want an animal that they don't have to actually care for.