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]

Not the majority sure but some do - some kill rats and rabbits and pigeons.

Farm cats wouldn’t flinch at a rat.

We have several cats come into our garden. New neighbour moved in with 2 barking dogs, cats disappeared. Ears started to appear. Fortunately the dogs have settled down and the cats are back. We had a problem with them wrapping on the front lawn, so bought some ultrasonic animal deterrers from Amazon. Took a few weeks twiddling with thecsettings, but they have worked a treat.
https://amzn.eu/d/0xuxkXz

People do not "own" cats. They seek out their human slaves.

But I'd much rather see dog ownership curtailed. They have far more of a negative impact on my life than cats do. Yes they are a pain when they poo in my garden. But at least I can go out for a run or a walk or visit a shop or a cafe without being hassled by them.

Foxes are a pain in my neck of the woods as well.

Moaning about cats and not dogs is like moaning about cyclists and ignoring drivers' impact on safety.

Yes. Many people will try to explain away their cat’s destruction by declaring that’s how nature works and make no clear delineation between biodiversity in the UK and the cat’s instincts, which is, as you’ve rightly pointed out, just not the same thing.

Try allowing your dog to roam free, jumping into people's gardens, defecating at will, killing wildlife.

See how well it works out for you.

And also without realising that they are also explaining why cats are totally inappropriate animals to have as pets in urban environments.

Read this as “demonic”, which can also be true

My husband fired the jet hose at the 2 cats that shat in our garden everyday ( he worked in our home office and the bastard creatures would saunter down the drive towards the office window so he got a clear view of their arrival). He'd quietly walk to the back of the house, pick up the hose and soak them. They don't shit in the garden anymore. You could try that Op. Much more focused in a small courtyard.

Nor would a jack russell

Why is everyone always ‘furious’ on here? About every fuckIng thing?

What I mean is that yes, the ecosystem here doesn't (or didn't originally) include cats, but that has nothing to do with the word 'nature' in the sense of the nature of a cat ie its drive to hunt and prey on certain things, or to bury its poo, or spray, etc.
It's not explaining anything away to say a cat's nature makes it want to hunt.

Today I watched a squirrel digging about in one of my pots ( on a fence) don't know if he was burying something or having a dump.
My 2 cats walk into the house , use their trays and walk back out ,

I do chase other cats from the garden ( noise and water if needed not a flame thrower or boulders) as it is my cats' domain. My neighbours know to chase my cats if they don;t welcome them.

And yes we have foxes who are messy little gits and they stink

My cat doesnt dig planters,, but the squirrels do!
Just emptied my pots in my front and they are full of acorns the squirrels have buried, they pulled up the plants i put in last year.

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Rat poison is fantastically effective and available from all good garden centres and DIY stores.

I have an (indoor) cat and agree.

I've put pretty (and non sharp) sticks in my planters. Close enough so that cats can't get comfy to poo or dig but they are small and not sharp so are safe, don't affect the plants and are not ugly. They keep the cats out of my planters really well.

Some neighbours also have netting on the tops of their walls and fences. I dont know how well tgat works.

Well, it did include cats though. Not our domesticated cats, which are descended from the African wildcat, but the European wildcat, which is pretty damn similar. Hence my theory that European wildlife is pretty resilient in the face of small felids.

I hope you're not one of the people who was concerned about cats' effect on wildlife? Because rat poison is fucking horrible. Things like owls eat the dazed rats and die themselves.

The stuff that you can buy like that isn't fantastically effective - you need the ones which only professionals (are supposed to) buy.

And you need to know which one(s) have been used in the locality, so as to pick one where the rats are less likely to have developed immunity.

And you need to be cautious about how you introduce it because rats are hugely suspicious of anything new in their environment.

And you need to check for corpses rather than leaving them just lying around laced with poison.

Buy yourself a super soaker and have some fun Elmer Fudd style. Harmless to the cats but you will def reduce their visits

Get one of those ultra high pitched deterrents to keep them out of your garden. It's a simple solution.

Our house had been empty for a while and all the local cats had taken it over. One was glaring at us from a shed roof as we moved in. We bought a motion sprinkler and they all sodded off. It's never on now but they won't risk it.
I do like cats, well, most of them, but they have decimated small mammals and birds, hence the Australian rules for catios. Not sure if it would work in the UK though.

Couldn’t agree more - the mice were spreading house to house in my street, we got our cat for that reason. Nothing for two years

The sonic deterrents don’t work, the cat from down the road sat right next to the bloody thing obnoxiously grooming itself and giving me side eye through the patio window the other day. On the other hand kids and pre-teens can hear it and according to my DD it’s a horrible noise so if you want to deter kids from coming round it would work for that.

My cats are indoor cats for all the reasons mentioned. I don’t want them destroying wildlife or my neighbours’ gardens. I don’t want their visiting grandchildren to be at risk going out in the garden because my cats have made it an unpleasant and unhygienic place.

They have been indoors since they were kittens, and they don’t know any other life. We got three of them so they have each other for company, and they have DH and I around to tend to every other need. They do all their ‘cat stuff’ with each other. Hiding and springing out, pouncing etc, but the mice and birds are toys, and their digging and shitting are in litter trays which are changed for them. They love zoomies once a day, then cuddle up on DH and I for a sleep. They watch for us at the window and chirp when they see us. They never meow to get out.

I know some people think it’s cruel to have them indoors, but really I think it’s just a different way of life. And it’s one where mine, and my neighbours, seem perfectly happy and content.

Made me laugh, too.

Let's all torture our pets and make them utterly miserable because other people haven't clicked that if they get a cat themselves it won't shit in it's own garden or allow other cats into their territory 😂