To feel guilty about getting anti cat stuff for garden?

[pukkapoon]

Firstly I love animals and have owned several cats in the past.

My NDN has several cats which tend to poo in my garden quite a lot.
I have toddlers so I am concerned about the health risks and plus it's disgusting that I have to pick it up each time it happens.
They have even done it by the kitchen door in the past.
Its non stop now and I haven't got the time/desire to keep picking it up each time.

I have now had bird spikes installed on the top of the fencing and garden gate.
These are not those awful metal spikes, these are the plastic ones.

I hope a cat dosent get hurt on these but importantly my kids health comes first.

AIBU to have got the bird spikes?

AIBU

My neighbour has them (fair enough). My cat just picks his way through them.

Crack on. I have a cat, it’s impossible and cruel to keep them inside, so people are justified in using humane ways to make their garden a less attractive place to poo!

leatherjackets though 🤢 grim things x

Be aware that the plastic spikes might not be a deterrent. I installed several on the legs of my pergola in an effort to stop my cat escaping the cat proofing...if anything it helped her climb up!

Mine you, she isn't an average cat, she can climb upside down under a 6ft diameter of netting and can scale horizontally over 6ft of floppy netting...

It's worth a try though, they won't hurt any animal, they are just uncomfortable. I wouldn't have an issue if you were my neighbour and trying to stop my cat going in your garden. If I thought there was a serious risk to her life then I would reattempt cat proofing or let her be free at risk if she wouldn't tolerate being kept in (which is why we scrapped the cat proofing in 2013 and haven't attempted it since)

Second. As long as nothing actually harms my cat then a bit of discomfort won’t hurt her.

The bare soil is perfect for them, unfortunately you’ve made a very attractive toilet for them. I keep bare soil in my garden for my cats to prevent them using the neighbours gardens. Can you sort it out so you don’t have bare soil?

This. Cats are smart. It might deter them jumping on the fence but if they find another way up they’ll just tip toe through them.
They do stop birds landing.