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]

Bring back the laugh emoji please @mumsnet

I propose that people don't get cats if they're not willing to stop them causing a nuisance.

People who won't pick up after their dogs shouldn't have them either.

You can't really do that and cats are only semi-domestic, which is why if you hit one you don't have to report it whereas if you hit someone's dog you must because you have damaged property and it counts as a RTA.
If you don't like cats you can put anti-cat scents etc in the garden. Or you could get a cat, because they are territorial and other cats are likely to steer clear, esp if it's a big tom.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

They are rubbish at catching rats and there is plenty of evidence on the internet to support it.

If you want to kill rats, rat traps are better. AFAIK no known rat trap has ever consistently shitted in someones garden or pissed all over peoples front doors either.

Cat haters are unhinged. I am really wary and suspicious of the extreme cat haters on here. Disliking is fine but the extreme hatred trotted out is worrisome and says something about someone’s character I think. I don’t particularly like dogs but I would never talk about dogs the way some people talk about cats. It’s so weird.

My cats are outdoor cats, as in they have free access to the outdoors. They are extremely well looked after, they have the best of everything, lots of toys, indoor and outdoor cat trees, premium diet, regular vet checks, lots of stimulation etc. They are trained to come home on a whistle and to toilet in their litter box not outdoors. The old ‘outdoor cat owners are lazy’ is total nonsense. Mine are 13 years old and still going strong.

This is does work!

I was never a cat fan but we got ours around 5 years ago and he has converted me- even if everything is on his terms!

So many cats down our road and I know most of their names!

I agree with you OP. I love cats and always had them growing up, but I grew up in a rural area where they didn't cause problems for neighbours. Now I live in a city and am married to someone who is allergic to cats. We have exactly the same problem as you with all the neighbours' cats shitting in our garden and harassing the wildlife. I've tried chasing them away with a water pistol or the hose but they've learned to just do their business very early in the morning. I think there are just way too many cats in urban areas. As a minimum people should keep them inside at night.

I used to live in a terrace where there were lots of cats around. I had more of a garden than a plain back yard. It was a magnet for the cats. They dug up plants from my planters and raised beds. So I put netting on top of the walls supported by a few posts, on my side, so the cats could still go round ok, but couldn’t actually get into my garden.
The best deterrent is stopping them getting in.
OP is that an option for you?

My next door neighbour has this problem - all the foxes and cats in the neighbourhood use her garden as a toilet. I heard her refer to a ginger tom cat as ‘that ginger ponce’. Her garden is covered in reflective things and a fake snake (not to be confused with the fake Sheikh!). They had someone come round to spray the garden which seemed to work. You could also consider dousing the garden in citronella and if worst comes to the worse buy lion poo (yes really). Really your neighbours should foot the bill for such bizarre purchases. I might sneak a picture if the neighbours garden if I can it is quite the sight to behold!

I agree with you OP. They destroy wildlife, sh*t all over everyone else's gardens, and generally are not welcome at mine.

I do not care about some legal right to roam.

Then they should only be allowed in places that have large enough space and ecosystems to not be impacted. Terrace houses on estates aren't that.

I wholeheartedly agree. I am a devoted and proud crazy cat lady, I have three cats, they are the sunshine of my life, I would have more if my husband would let me and if my marriage goes tits up I'll just order vibrators and more cats...

...but they are house cats, I think people that let their cats roam are selfish and irresponsible, introducing an apex non-native predator into our natural environment is seriously uncool, and I wouldn't let my dogs or child roam into your back garden and crap in it, so why would I let my cats? Plus the lifespan of an outdoor cat is about 4 years, vs 14 for an indoor cat.

I don't understand why we justify free range cats with, 'it's cruel to keep them in, they need to roam', when we keep dogs in, who have vastly larger territories in the wild than cats.

I would be furious if cats were coming into my garden, terrorising my wildlife and crapping in my beds.

It's completely covered in piles of poo.
They've scratched the gravel up as it is essentially a giant litter tray to them, and where the gravel is not piled up in mounds the water is pooling.

It was on our list of jobs to do as we've just bought the house, but was not deemed a priority for this year.
It is now.

We have too many cats and dogs.

I'm not a cat person because my cat (and all cats) is a horrible person! 😀 seriously though what do you like about them? Mine causes me nothing but stress and annoyance!

Thanks re flea advice, we've been told by the vet how they get resistant and so they regularly change what we use on her, we've been flea free for a good 5 years now 🎉

Outdoor cats are perhaps only semi-domestic.

Indoor cats are absolutely domestic.

Oh, and this.

At the very least the onus should be on cat owners to reasonably cat proof their side of the boundary in the case of terraces houses. If the fence is owned by a non-cat household they should for ex offer to fund and install plastic spikes, block holes etc.

amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FS7J1KK6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=JUH6VSSP8ZX5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VM609DTVkxKpekMyZ1iYG3kl-vNLi0CfpUWYzNTTNGUyunEXMas6t688HEOsr6SaZ4j6kFIiTIrVxGmh96jDhvdFw39p9hdmmKq3c0Pijm3Uy44-uOH91et8vRgyNrWnVq6lRebiBg261FCbmrvoEj6U_eV2hNamfAuBYE2-v0-GvzjpKrzbunLYWUTtR7CXUE5pUo9yChs8a4PIiVH-DGq5riBIpv98RMXE8ugy8Jd9MwkB_PW5BElcdefg9Jlz2D6mnRVmvH-VaJy5vjFDVvBkcJjtj0qCaKHlRjATs4M.eTeTcsvRMLT6HOcflgpRs8nbukSckB4OtI6JaC_N6L4&dib_tag=se&keywords=cat+scarers+for+gardens&qid=1760459118&sprefix=cat+scarer%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

They still hunt mice, though, which is useful.

How old are your DC? They could be furnished with water pistols - that usually does the trick! I have cats and wouldn’t mind people scaring them off with water!

Mine rarely leave the house nowadays because they’re quite elderly and we’re back to a litter tray inside 🤮 but I accept that as part of being a responsible cat owner.

Yes, I do get that it’s annoying to have cat shit in your garden, but to be honest, I’ve never stood on it or had to clean it off my kids because they’ve been just walking to school or in a playground. I don’t have to look down at the pavement constantly when I’m walking somewhere to make sure I don’t stand in some.

Plant a load of disposable forks sticking up round your garden, cats wont dig there. Wet the cat a few times with a supersoaker, sprinkle pepper or chilli powder round.
Once the cat realises your place isn't comfortable it will go elsewhere.

Not true, this only works if the resident cat is a thug 😂