Next door's cat spraying on my washing..

[pleasestoparguing]

..what can I do?
It has lived in our garden since it was a tiny kitten, the DC play with it but we have always made a point of not feeding it and chasing it out of the house but have never managed to keep it out of the garden - we are fond of it and would happily have adopted it by now if it didn't belong to our neighbours.
The neighbours are not the friendly type who you can suggest kindly that they might like to neuter their cat, TBH I'm not convinced they feed it all the time often it looks pretty starved. It now has fleas as well and when they went on holiday they left it on its own .(We were away for most of the same time so didn't realise till they got back that no one had been feeding it). It's not allowed in their house - DD next door told my DD - so it's in our garden sheltering under the bushes most of the time - we have an open Wendy House with old carpet in so I hope it uses that when it gets really cold.
The thing is apart from concern for it's welfare I wouldn't be worried but it has now sprayed on my washing twice and I'm getting a bit fed up - since I can't ask the neighbours to do something about it is there anything i can do that will stop it happening?

Oh Dear

He's an unneutered tom (and possibly under stress) so there's not much you can do to stop the spraying apart from seeing that he's neutered and reducing his stress by giving him food and safe place to rest. (If I recall, most neutered cats will stop spraying after a few months even if they're pretty mature when it's done.)

Next door don't sound as if they deserve him, to be honest. Not neutering him, not feeding him, abandoning him for periods, not de-fleaing. I know you said they're not the friendly sort but could you nonetheless approach them and say you'd like to adopt him - for the sake of the DC, say, becaus they're fond of him. It just might be that they'll be glad to be relieved of the responsibility if they know that their DD can still see him at your house/in your garden. If they agreed, you could treat him, neuter him and let him in the house over the winter.

PS - if you're really uncertain about going to see them, you could always choose an evening or weekend when you know they're not there and start the ball rolling with a jolly little note popped through the door. Then you can go round and say - 'Oh Hi - did you get my note about xxxxCat?' Once you're talking about it in a non-confrontational way it might go fine.

Thanks cozie - I was being polite about not the friendly type - TBH I'm a bit scared of them - I'd have popped round and suggested we adopt the cat before now if I felt we could approach them - its a lovely cat to and beautifully sweet tempered. It's rather the reason we haven't been feeding it although I'm worried it isn't being fed properly - they're the sort of pepole who are likely to try a law suit for 'abducting' or stealing their cat.
I was hoping there was something I could put in the garden to stop it spraying.

I'm not aware of anything, I'm afraid, pleasestop. As an unneutered cat full of hormones, it's being territorial and marking it - and the stress of being without a real home could be a contributory factor. Makes it feel more like a street cat who has to defend the place at all costs, particularly if you have any other cats around the neighbourhood.

You could try various stratagems to keep it out of the garden entirely but that likely wouldn't work if the cat is used to being with you and he'd be confused. Also - if he didn't come to your garden, where would he go?

I think you're going to have to bite the bullet with next door. Why not try the cheery note first and see if you get shrieks. It's a decent way of introducing the topic rather than going in cold.

PS - Maybe someone else will know of something that will inhibit spraying and advise you. The trouble is that that would only sort one small part of the problem. The biggest issue is his welfare as you said in your opening post and that's not looking good right now.

I'd box him up and take him to the vet and have him neutered. Might cost £60 but I'd rather spend that than have cat piss on my washing.

TBH they probabaly wouldnt notice if he went missing and came back with no bits.

Could you put a cosy igloo style bed in your wendy house? with a dish of food? and a hot water bottle on frosty nights? the poor little sod must be miserable. Cold, hungry, no where comfy to sleep and covered in fleas.

I cant see the point in having a pet if you dont want it in the house.

Goodness. You can't just take someone's cat and have surgery performed on it, regardless of whether they aren't good owners. You have to follow due process - particularly when you have neighbours who are potentially unpleasant or litigious.

I don't like to think what the position of the vet might be, either. Difficult to say the least I would have thought.

You tell the vet it's your cat?
I'd definitely deflea and neuter it if they weren't going to. Just don't tell anyone!
Cat's welfare more important than "due process" I reckon.

I don't like to state the obvious but is there any way you could raise your washing a bit?

I mean a few inches and no cat would be able to piss that high.

I might also consider reporting it to the RSPCA if they are leaving it unfed for days at a time. Or I'd get a cat flap, bring it into my own house and de-flea it there. But I understand how much hassle cats are (even my own is a right pain!) so I am not suggesting you're a bad person if you don't do this.

I am with fluffy. Take him to vet and get him an igloo bed and put water and food out.

Poor little mite. I think you'd see a dramatic improvement with the spraying.

They don't deserve him and he sounds very sweet.

I know your not supposed to kidnap cats and have them done but the poor cat needs help doesnt he? winters coming too.

RSPCA will help when he's rake thin and use him in a photo op

Practicalities, Fluffy. This is not a stray - it's a cat belonging to known owners (however lackadaisical they might allegedly be.) And owners who are possibly 'difficult' and of whom the OP - who has to be their neighbour long term - is apprehensive. Besides which, as big an issue here is the cat's overall long term welfare.

All of this could be sorted easily over a short, cheery note and a glass of wine. I think the OP needs to try that first.

Special Brew out the can more like.

You said it, probably!

Sorry been offline for a few days - thanks for the suggestions - the raised washing might be an idea but we have limited space and the line is near enough the fence for cat to reach - it does seem to be things like DSs camo bedding which probably looks like a bush I'd love to abduct the cat and will prbably do so if it gets left out over the winter I can't bear the idea of it being out in the cold and if they go away again I'll keep an eye out and call the RSPCA next time.
Really I couldn't bring this up with them I am scared of them and try hard to smile nicely and avoid them most of the time.

How did you know about the special brew ?

Used to work in an off licence!.