Neighbours have put cat spikes along fence - what are my rights?

[Sherridale71]

My next door neighbours, two spinster sisters, have put sharp plastic spikes intermittently along the fence surrounding their back garden. The spikes are in strips of about 5cm long and they’ve placed them on either side of the concrete posts holding the fence up with big gaps in between. The fence separating our gardens is about 4m high.
I’m so angry about this that I haven’t been able to approach them to find out why they’ve done it although I’m pretty sure it’s to deter cats from going into their garden (I’ve read that they can also be a pigeon deterrent). We have two beautiful cats so I’m disgusted about this and worried that they’re going to injure themselves. We live in a neighbourhood that has many cats roaming around so they’re a danger to them as well.
My neighbours have made comments in the past about cats “crapping in the garden” and also told me last year that if they saw my new kitten in their garden they would “boot it”.
I’ve phoned citizens’ advice but they said I’d need to contact my landlady to determine who owns the border of the garden and said I’d need to speak to a solicitor as they can’t give legal advice...the internet is coming up with all sorts of confusing information.
Does anyone know what my rights are before I go and speak to them about it? My 5 year old son could easily hurt himself on them.
TIA

Gah, I always miss the juicy bits.

yes but it's getting it noted down that matters.

you nasty heartless beasts!

Fence will not be 4m high, that is roughly 13ft high. Therefore unless your five year old son is a) very tall or b) has a very bouncy trampoline next to the fence, he will come to no harm.

I hate cats coming in my garden, pooing and digging etc etc, fortunately I now have two dogs, so they rarely come in.

Perfectly legal to stop nuisance animals and birds (also handy to detract very tall five year old from climbing the fence)

Oooh late to this, but no idea these existed! Awesome idea, off to buy some. Thanks OP.

lou, she did say " I meant 4ft obvs, my mistake dickheads. "

She sounds a treat I must say.

Whoops Digging the poo in the ground is gross, all the horrible diseases, worms etc. Urgh.

The digging in of the cat poo literally makes me want to vomit, even just thinking about it. Boak.

I don't blame them either, and I'm a cat owner.

two spinster sisters

I am still trying to work out the relevance of their marital status to this issue.

stayathomegardener - in answer to your questions; most posts are deleted for breaking our Talk Guidelines i.e. the post was inflammatory, intended to provoke or contained racism/sexism/ageism etc.

Hope that helps make our position a little clearer

The OP itself is perilously close to sexism and ageism with the spinsters remark..

Anyone got any tips to deter them? Have tried grinding black pepper and have heard citrus water helps? Anything else?

They don't like having water dropped or thrown on them. Obviously don't use enough water to hurt them, just to scare them away. A jugful from a bedroom window is good. Also they apparently don't like snakes so a collection of plastic toy ones among the borders might work - although then your garden will look weird.

That jelly stuff that you can scatter works fairly well until it is washed away by the rain but smells horrible. Putting mahonia or holly leaves or prunings on recently dug soil is also effective.

My neighbour has put these up, we don’t have any cats but there was a pair of wood pigeons that had taken a liking to sitting on it.

I don’t like them but can’t imagine getting irate about it. Sorry I missed the OP’s response.

Those ones are horrible Sauvignon and the owners would be responsible if a cat was injured climbing on those. I don't have an issue with the plastic ones, but those ones are designed to harm.

They are plastic though.

I have found my people. In fact I didn't know you could buy these so I'm off to get some, cats shit in my garden constantly. I also have two small children and it winds me up seeing cats just shitting everywhere like they own the place. Never liked them: I have a dog: much more sensible.
Some people do like cats but they make my skin crawl. Not to say if I saw one hurt I wouldn't help it. I definitely would. They kill little birds and leave them in my garden for my pre schoolers to find who obviously get upset about it. Not to mention the fucking dog goes ballistic every time one steps foot in our garden.

@MrsST I sympathise on the dog issue - where we used to live there was a dog in the garden behind. Our cat spent hours sitting on the top of the fence tormenting the poor thing. It barked for hours, thought it was going to make itself ill.

Is there any case law re owners being legally responsible if cats are hurt on the railings? That gets said a lot but has it ever happened? I thought the whole legal status of cats generally was a bit of a grey area.

An entirely reasonable action by your neighbours.

I bet sales of cat spikes have sky rocketed today. 😂😂

Never heard of cat spikes. Thanks OP. Sick to death of my young dd stepping in cat shit in our own garden.

Thanks for clarifying @FlissMumsnet