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

Cat crap carries diseases and patasites and you are digging it into your garden soil?!!
Freaking genius!

But nobody else wants diseased and parasitic cat crap in their garden to have to clean up thanks. You have no idea how many cats crap in thier garden and no doubt yours do to. Why should the have to clean up someone elses pets stinking crap?

From a cat lover...Get over yourself.

Sorry I’m with your neighbour on this one. My Ndola has a cat and it was forever pooing in my garden. I told them and she simply shrugged her shoulders and told me she couldn’t do anything. I ended up having to stop my daughter playing in certain areas of the garden as she was forever getting shit on her. At least the ndn daughter bought me some stuff to put on the garden to deter the cat... tbh if I’d have realised you could get cat spikes for fences I’d prob have put them up

"* And my cats crap in my garden, I dig it into the soil every day for my plants, no biggie* "
*
^* Good for you but why should any one else have to?

toxoplasmosis is serious, DH has scaring at the back of his eye from an infection as a child from somebody else's cat in their garden.

I was pregnant with high risk pregnancy when we moved in to our house were the cats crap everywhere, even on the shed roof. Why should I put my pregnancy at risk?

You're entitled to a cat, I'm entitled to not want them in my space

Fellow cat guardian and cat lover here. If these were big metal spikes designed to hurt, that's a problem. If they are just plastic prickle strips, I am not sure what the issue is? Lots of cat poo in your garden is horrible - it smells and it prevents you from enjoying it. I think it's an eminently reasonable thing for your neighbours to do if they don't want feline visitors.

Apparently it's perfectly ok to make your home boundary look like the Western Front, in order to keep out the neighbour's bastard cat.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/cat-hating-neighbour-creates-fence-6546263

@Fatted - because she doesn't clean it up in her own bloody garden lol!! She might be willing to go round and work the offensive stinking cat crap into her neighbours borders however I feel that this offer would not be well received .

Cats used to crap on the shingle-covered strip that runs down one side of my driveway (like a small, narrow border). I planted plants with spiky thorns on them because when easing your way out of the car it was possible to inadvertently step onto this border area and into a massive splat of cat poo, on your way into the house. It's been very effective and it was done with no intention to hurt any animal; it's simply forced the cats to find somewhere else to poop where they won't get a prickle up their botty! No risk to paws due to how the plants grow. Win win for me.

I've also used the spikes both for bird pooping prevention and when I had a cat, to keep her in the garden. Got no problem with them.

There are alternatives although not cheap but highly effective and no spikes involved and due to the design, you'll probably not be able to find any piccies of cats sitting in that showy offy fashion on these rollers (because they can't!) like they do on the spikes the self satisfied little blighters. Here you go: .

After all of this hoo-har there's every chance that the neighbour's use of the spikes might not even be effective anyway, depending on the cats that are using their garden (which we're all clear may or may not include OPs cats) and on how many gaps there are between the spikes.

two spinster sisters

Spinsters? OMG OP, they're the worst, I'd log that with 101 immediately.

Must be witches, I'd move house immediately before they offer your 4 yr old gingerbread.

LOL. So many entitled cat owners.

"Previously the black and white cat would come out of an upstairs window, drop down onto a tiled roof before dropping down to the wall to then jump to the ground at the house two doors down from its home."

The cat owner "added that the cat has to use the window to get out because she is too frightened of the cat owner's two dogs to use a ground floor cat flap."

But the problem is with the neighbour, right....

I hate our neighbours cat. Craps everywhere. Off to google! Thanks OP so helpful.

Cat shit is poisonous to plants, and also I highly doubt your cat does its business in your garden - they rarely do it on their own property. How would you feel if you were an elderly woman constantly having to pick up shit from someone else's pet?

Retailers are going to be scratching their heads about why there's a sudden rush on for spikey strips!

I have a cat and I wouldn't be bothered at all if the neighbour did this.
At our last house I offered to buy a neighbour a water pistol to deter my cat from his garden.

I wanted a cat so I got a cat, I sympathise that not all of my street had the same input in my decision.

I thought they were to deter burglars, one of my neighbours has them on their fence, I thought they were horrible but of course if you dont want cats in your garden you are quite entitled to put these up, if it is your fence

I actually know something about this and have helped people get dangerous spikes removed from fences.

If the spikes are actually dangerous (can puncture skin) then the Council will insist they are removed.

If they are just a deterrent and not actually dangerous then I wouldn't do anything. There are a lot of cat haters in this world, as is evident from the messages above, and many will kill cats that they consider to be a nuisance. If you take away your neighbours' relatively benign control methods they could turn to more drastic measures.

And my cats crap in my garden, I dig it into the soil every day for my plants, no biggie

It's obviously a biggie for your neighbours. I'm assuming you also go round there daily and offer to remove the shit or dig it into their garden too?

Thought not.

I don't think anyone is "anti-cat" are they? More anti-cat-shit and anti-self-entitled-cat-owners who seem to think that it is perfectly fair for their domesticated pet to shit on someone else's property.

@ThisCannotBe I’m anti-cat hate the shifty buggars!

If it's their fence they're perfectly entitled to do it. I've got a cat and my neighbours put spikes on their fence to stop our cat going into their garden. They did tell us first, but we didn't have any problem with it at all. They don't want our cat in their garden. It's fine.

Perhaps the most abisive response on this thread is the OP’s one where she accuses posters of being abusive 😂😂

@ThisCannotBe Lot's of people hate cats. I think the third or fourth message on this thread says just that. And, working in cat rescue, I come into contact with many, many people who actively wish cats harm or, at the very least, feel that a cat's life is worthless compared to the inconvenience they feel they cause. And unfortunately we see many, many cats killed or injured by such people.

Lots, not lot's

Anyone that's been on MN for a while can absolutely vouch that some people are indeed 'anti-cat' and 'anti-cat owners'.

My neighbours did this, i think because my cats were jumping from the fench onto their car. I cant say i blame them. Cats found another way to patrol their territory but at least left their car alone. I wish they had told me though, i would have gone halfers!

Yeah, I can't understand why they might want YOUR cats to not shit all over THEIR garden.