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The litter tray

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Original poster

oh bollox - I have just discovered that the neighbours on one side HATE cats........

32 replies

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 11:53

with an absolute passion. Not got a problem with people who don't like cats - each to their own and all that.

Except my DS's have just all witnessed the neighbour come charging out of her back door and screaming at our cat. We were sat in our living room with the window open, and the window is literally the other side of the fence from her back door

"Get out of my garden, if you come in here again you'll be in trouble"

There are quite a few cats round here - have seen quite a lot about out the back before we got Jambo in January including one that regularly sits on the top of their shed and wanders round their garden (have seen it out of DS2/3's bedroom window) - have never heard them react like that to the other cats though

OP posts:
shesparkles · 12/03/2011 11:55

Sorry but if you lived next door to me your cat would get the same reaction!
I regularly chase and shout at our neighbour's cat wheb it's in our garden as it stalks our guinea pigs and I can just about see it licking its lips!

EllAEllO · 12/03/2011 11:56

Oh no.
Maybe yours has just been caught leaving a calling card?

Do you get on ok with your neighbour/does she know he's yours?

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 11:58

God knows why our cat is any worse than the others cats that frequent the gardens round here though Hmm.

If she did it to all the cats it would be easier to console my distraught DS2 - but she doesn't. I'm here almost all the time, and she's never done it to any of the other cats Confused

OP posts:
WorzselMummage · 12/03/2011 11:58

I chase cats out of my garden too. Bloody things are a nuisance.

ClenchedBottom · 12/03/2011 12:00

It could be that your cat - or a pile of cat poo that she rightly or wrongly attributed to your cat - was the final straw?

ClenchedBottom · 12/03/2011 12:01
  • after lots of other feline visitors, I mean.
EllAEllO · 12/03/2011 12:01

I have a cat, and do chase other cats out of my garden if I suspect they've come in for a poo (which they nearly always have come for)

Mine only uses a litter and doesn't really go out unless it's just to sit on the shed roof for 5 minutes, so I resent other cats using my back garden as a massive litter Grin

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 12:02

Actually I think I'm more upset because

  1. They hate me - no they really do, well at least the DH does. I'm their "worst nightmare" neighbour - single mum currently on benefits
  1. The DS's were right next to the window when it happened so they heard clearly
  1. I had just seconds before told my DS's I'm taking them to watch the Moscow State Circus at the end of next month, a huge huge treat for them - and their delightment at it was cut dead by it
OP posts:
Ragwort · 12/03/2011 12:02

Are you my next door neighbour Grin? We loathe cats.

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 12:06

Mind these are the same neighbours that shouted at my DS's last summer at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon when they were giggling and laughing (not screaming and shouting - I won't tolerate the latter) because it was "Sunday evening and people are tring to relax"

OP posts:
LifeInTheSlowLane · 12/03/2011 12:08

Baroque, I've got the same problem! We got our rescue cats recently and as there are quite a few cats round here I didn't really think about whether it would be a problem or not. Next door have a fish pond, but it's got a huge net over it (looks v.ugly and makes you wonder what's the point of having a pond!), we have a fish pond too by the way and although the cats are curious they don't seem inclined to go fishing. Last weekend I saw next door neighbour leaning out the window trying to squirt my cats who were sat on the fence between our houses - I apologised for them bothering her (although I didn't think they were!!) and she said she didn't want them in her garden. Not much I can do to stop them but now I'm keeping them in while she's around (shame - it's such a beautiful day here and they are sat indoors moping while she is out in her garden Sad)

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 12:08

Since I moved here I've been bloody "monitoring" the reaction of neighbours to the neighbourhood cats to make sure I wasn't going to be getting a cat with neighbours that loathed them. The distinct lack of shouting at cats (in my last rented place there were 2 nearby neighbours that used to shout at the cats in the area) made me think it was "safe" to get one.

OP posts:
ClenchedBottom · 12/03/2011 12:09

Ok so clearly there are issues with your neighbours more generally, but still it was your cat in her garden, surely she's allowed to shoo it out?
I'll be honest and admit that we are a family of cat haters here - we'd never hurt a cat, but hate hate hate seeing them in our
garden. Should I worry about shouting at them for fear of upsetting the owners, then? Confused

JenniL1977 · 12/03/2011 12:10

If they're that arsey about who lives next door with what pets, they should have bought the house and let it out only to nice middle class Christian missionaries who are infertile and allergic to animals. Otherwise, they need to be a bit tolerant.

Mutt · 12/03/2011 12:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 12:16

oh I have no issue with people shooing my cat out of their garden - but there are ways of doing it without scaring the bloody crap out of my kids surely!

In the past I've shooed many a cat out of my garden without having to resort to screeching Confused

OP posts:
ClenchedBottom · 12/03/2011 12:17

I can see I'll have to leave this thread.
I have never understood why I should be happy about other people's pets prowling round my garden, trying to catch the birds and leaving a horrid stinky mess for my DC to walk through. Cannot understand the mindset of getting a cat knowing that it will be all over other people's property. Is it really intolerant to discourage them???? Isn't it actually selfish to expect everyone else to accept your pet??? Confused

ClenchedBottom · 12/03/2011 12:18

Ah ok I typed too slowly sorry.
But you see the strength of feeling!
And your DC are perhaps a little sensitive???? Sorry it spolit the circus news though.

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 12:18

Mutt - tbh I think any child would be alarmed by screeching like that when they're only 2ft away - no matter what it was about. I think it was the screeching that upset them more than the actual reason for it iykwim?

OP posts:
SecretNutellaFix · 12/03/2011 12:21

Mutt- the youngest DC is 3 years old.

Baroque, I think you might need to log these instances. If it escalates, then you will have noteson what is happening and when.

Stupid twats though, I would love to have you lot as my neighbours. Kids laughing and giggling on a Sunday beats the hell out of the mother next door screaming at 7 in the morning at her 5 year old to get his arse out of bed or she'll wallop it. or screaming at the 17 year old daughter that she's a thick, fucking ungrateful bitch for not putting her washing in th emachine.

catwhiskers10 · 12/03/2011 12:23

Your neighbours don't sound very nice but I don't see what you can do about it.
I suppose they have the right to shout at cats in their garden as long as they are not physically harming them.
I have been known to chase strange cats out of my garden and I have 2 cats of my own who go into other gardens and I would have no problem with my neighbours chasing them out.
Perhaps you should suggest that your neighbour buys a cat scarer if they are so bothered about cats in their garden.

Mutt · 12/03/2011 12:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 12/03/2011 12:25

ClenchedBottom - I know how much people hate cats. In my last rented place while the 2 neighbours next to me were ok about neighbourhood cats in their garden at least 2 others a few houses down weren't (I know as I heard them shooing cats out). Although I'm sure my LL there would have been fine about me getting a cat I didn't even consider it as I knew that the neighbours I was living near weren't going to be happy with another cat.

I've been here nearly a year and having heard no such reaction (and we've got a lot of back gardens near ours because of how the streets are laid out) figured it was safe.

I'm not expecting everyone to tolerate my pet - I just don't expect people to screech at one cat when all the others are apparently ok.

OP posts:
sparkle12mar08 · 12/03/2011 12:26

If your cat were in my garden it would get a jet of water from the super soaker we have right up it's backside. It's her garden, she has every right to get your cat out of it any way she sees fit, short of causing it physical harm.

SecretNutellaFix · 12/03/2011 12:29

sparkle- part of the point is that it doesn't happen when OTHER cats go in her garden, just Baroque's.