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]

So some people don’t like cats. Does that mean people who own them should be vilified? Probably not.

Cats aren't much fun if you don't own them.

The latest local addition went up the street the other day pissing on everyones doorstep. Hence a load of misplaced mats that had been rinsed down on Sunday and a lot of muttering neighbours.

I got a double delight because I suspect the same animal decided to crap on my garden too.

Well, I live next door to someone who has a spliff in his back garden most evenings and the smell lingers for bloody hours, AND they have an excessively barky dog who's never ever taken out for walkies, just shits in their garden. My own two cats shit in OUR garden (under the trampoline!) though I really hope they don't spread the love around. We have a loud autistic kid, neighbours on one side have the barky dog, the other side are constantly doing very noisy DIY/minor building projects with power tools ... it's a case of live and let live, isn't it? I can't complain about the dog because I'm sure our child wakes people up at night if he's very wakeful, and I'd like to think the other neighbours overlook our messy garden and marauding cats because they're always so noisy (I wouldn't bet on it though, it's not their mindset).

Anyway OP, sorry about the cat shit. If you had one yourself, it would probably be less of an issue because cats like to demarcate their territory by shitting on liminal zones between the places they live so your yard is basically No Man's Land. You could try various cat repellents, or temporarily netting over the beds and planters to break the cycle, and spray the bastards with a water pistol in between times? or if it's literally a yard with high brick walls or a fence, see if you can net the top?

Legally, cats have the right to roam. Sorry. But I do also think that people in very urban areas should think twice before having a cat, because of the roads, and because gardens are likely to be so much smaller and therefore the impact of cat shit is higher. And I don't support the keeping of cats indoors all the time, unless there's a health reason (like deafness) - if you're going to have a cat, you need to allow it to be a cat and enjoy outside. Our rescue where we've had two lots of cars from actually stipulated that adopted cats need to have safe outside access, and our vet agrees.

Can't you sling some sort of netting or fix supports to hold the netting around the top of your yard fence?

So they are not suitable as pets in crowded urban areas!

Dog ownership should be considered more anti social, not cats.

The UK allows their cats to wander. Other countries have laws that cats need to be kept in their own yards. That is what the UK should promote, not allowing cats to wander and to be kept inside their own house and yards. It's not about the cat, it's about the UK's lax cat ownership laws.

Btw I and most others I know grew up with cat shit and dog shit (and bird shit and frog shit and lizard shit and and etc etc) in our back yard and our sandpits and it never harmed us, so you sound strange with your preciousness.

So should dog ownership on that basis. 🙄

Cats are fantastic pets! They're great company, more idependant than dogs and keep rats at bay! My cats have never been a problem- they bury their poo in the borders but they don't dig up plants or go in plant pots! The neighbours round me all have cats too- never found them to be a nuisance. A cat walking in the house is not a massive deal to me- I'd give it a stroke and it would wander off again. Cat haters are usually uptight mean people.

Coffee is highly toxic so this is cruel, there are other ways that aren’t.

My cat is an indoor cat though, he hates going inside - I don’t ever want an outdoor one again.

The cats are trying to tell you something

Wow, you really think it's safe for for kids to be playing in shit?

You sound batshit.

If you live in a terrace house you choose between either
-you/your neighbours having cats
-rats/mice
Have a few cats on the street and still getting rodents? Get more cats/ small ratting dogs

I've lived in nearly 10 terraces over the last 20 years spread between multiple different cities. And there have always been rodents in the no pet streets ( mostly rental). And none in the streets where there were plenty of cats, even when I didn't have them myself

This

As a cat owner, I do believe that owners should be more responsible. There are fences an owner can install to keep their cat on their own property or build a catio.

I have to disagree with people who say it's cruel to keep a cat confined like this. The reason I did this was because my old cat got knocked by a car and went to die in a bush. I lived on a dead end road. We do not live in the 60's any more. The roads are now extremely busy and people just do not care. There are also cases of deliberate cruelty.

Maybe your solution is to put some stones down like slate that have rough edges.

So basically you have all the benefits of having cats but none of the cost and responsibility. Joking, if course.
Well I'm a person owned by cats but you wouldn't know that if you were my neighbour because my cats are indoor only cats. They are both 14 years old, I had them from new and they are in a mint condition (because they don't go out). I don't agree with free roaming cats, I worked in animal shelter in a poorer foreign country some 20 years ago and I saw so many cats from RTA in a place where money was very tight and sometimes very tough decisions had to be made who to save, based on the cost. It was heart breaking. When you see RSPCA or Cat Protection or insert name here facilities trust me when I say this is luxury cat hotel in comparison. We had injured cats DAILY (dogs too of course). I could tell absolute horrors stories.
Anyway, because of this experience I vowed never to have cats unless they are indoor only cats. I live in a village on a cul de sac, it doesn't matter. Cats from my road frequently get in trouble, they also fight with each other while my boys are safe at home. Maybe it's a boring life but they look happy and they don't seem to be that bothered about the outside world and they don't dig or shit in anyone's garden. I don't know many outdoor 14 year old cats, I know they exist but it will not be majority.
So OP I sympathise, I have about 3 different cats coming to my garden (not shitting in it as I also have a secret weapon - a dog), I don't understand why cats of all pets are fine to roam free, they are not that much smarter than other creatures. My cats couldn't catch a cold, they would've never made it to 14 without being on house arrest. But here we are. I would suggest to get a dog (joking), or dog sit one for someone for a week, once the cats figure it out they may leave you alone.

The RSPB say that cats are not a major threat to bird populations- habitat loss is the biggest threat. Most of our garden songbirds have evolved with a colossal attrition rate- a pair of blue tits can have a clutch of 10 eggs, and typically only one or two will make it to breed themselves (possibly because songbirds in Europe evolved in parallel with wildcats?)

Regarding small mammals- there doesn't appear to be much definitive data either way- at least there wasn't when I googled.

Us cat owners need to gang together and invent some catshit powered garden lighting/ hot tub generator. Then people would be delighted to see our furry friends on their lawns.

Cats are vile creatures, the only thing they are good for is killing mice and rats!

I live with one that was forced upon me by my husband and child. It really is an awesome hunter which is great for stopping vermin getting in your house, not so good for the local garden bird population. Once we got a dog though, the cat no longer hunted in our garden so the birds came back :)

They're also terrible for fleas, we had to rip up a load of carpets due to a infestation that spread while we were on holiday. We now get much better stuff from the vet that actually works unlike front line.

My ca regularly tries to murder me on the stairs to if I don't feed her within 5 seconds of her asking! I honestly don't understand what people like about cats!

Some people have some sort of netting around their fences to stop cats escaping their own gardens, can you do something similar with yours to stop them getting in?

I can reassure you OP that my cats never leave their property. However their property is the neighbourhood. HTH.

This is possibly the solution. I have a handsome cat neighbour who deigns to let me tickle his chin and pet him in return for taking the occasional cat food can off my hands.
I have never caught him shitting in my garden.

I agree. Mid terraced house and I've had cats shitting right outside my back door, in my plants and they wrecked some of my garden ornaments. Ive had one turn and look at me as its pooing. If you have a cat, it shouldn't be allowed outside.

"Outdoor cats live an average of 2-5 years"....what?! Are they referring to feral cats? Or, this being Australia, do they all get bitten by spiders and eaten by pythons?!

Best of all cats like digging in soft dry soil/ sand soo, put large decorative gravel or flints to cover the soil around base of plants & cover soil in planters. This prevents cats digging & has added benefits of stopping the soil from drying out so quickly, & looks more attractive than dark dull soil.
Ask the neighbour to provide their own pets with loos?!
There are sprays available at pet stores which will put cats off, but have to be replenished after rain, so the gravel/stones is longer lasting.

I sympathise with you, OP. I hate cats, will not go to anyone’s house who has one, everything about them gives me the creeps.

There are various pellets and sprays which are meant to be repellent to cats, or could you put some really spiky spikes across the top of your fence to repel the bastards?

They ignore the shitlump, they don't touch it or play with it! That's my point!

You think kids should avoid every speck of dirt and birdshit too? That is truly batshit. Why not just wrap them up in cotton wool and not allow them to ever step foot outside.