Cat poo in neighbour's garden

[LoonvanBoon]

Has anyone got any advice as to how we can stop our cat pooing in one of our neighbour's gardens? We'd never met the neighbour in question until this morning, when he came round to complain / tell us about it - he lives round the corner - but he's seen her at it & his description shows it's definitely our cat.

She's a rescue cat, been with us a year & a half, & has a litter tray at home. We keep her in at night, but she's sometimes out until 10 or 11pm. When she first stopped using the tray she was doing all her poos on our side lawn & wasn't covering them up - it was gross but at least it was on our territory & we could clean it up.

That stopped & since then we've had no idea where she goes. We have checked with neighbours closer to us & they insist they've had no problem with her in their gardens. It just seems to be this man's garden (front lawn) that's become her favourite haunt.

He says he's tried various deterrent sprays & they haven't worked. She doesn't stick around long enough for him to spray a water pistol at her (we have several, so I offered one, but he doesn't think that would work).

We have said we'll clean up the mess in the short term & try & think of other solutions. Don't want to become appointed shit cleaner for the entire street, though - seem to remember a recent AIBU thread where one cat owner got asked to clean up everyone's lawns. There are several cats around here so she's obviously not responsible for all the shit.

Anyone got any ideas of what's worked for them? The old cats we had years ago used to go in the soily parts of our garden & always covered it up, but she clearly has different methods.

It's a difficult one. (I've been blessed in recent years with outside going cats who preferred to use their trays inside the house - for pooing anyway: I can't say that there was never the odd pee if they were caught short.)

I think I'd give her another tray - afraid one might not be enough - and make sure that your own garden's soil areas are thoroughly forked over/cleaned and nice and inviting. I think I'd also try to bring her in earlier than 10-11pm at night, unpopular though that might be in summer.

Do you know roughly when in the day she's pooing? (Cats often have a timing for these things.)

I'm afraid that she might be blamed for everyone's poo in the neighour's garden: not much you can do about that, though, unless he sees another cat doing it as well. If I were your neighbour - and I speak as someone who a few weekends ago had to dispose of a whole bag of poo from one of my flowerbeds - it would matter a great deal to me that you were taking the matter seriously and not just waving it off. (Which some people do.) I think that that's half the battle.

Could you put a litter tray outside for her to use too? We did this and created an area in our garden to attract them to it by planting some cat nip plants.

You could buy your neighbour one of those sonic sound deterrents to put in his garden and some "scaredy cat" plants. It will at least show that you are doing everything you can a hopefully keep neighbourly relations good.

PS - I'd also be quite precise about the regularity of her worming. That way, it's not only good for her but you can also reassure your neighbour if questioned on the subject.

Thanks for the suggestions. Found out after posting that another neighbour - next door to the aggrieved one - has a sonic deterrent & that worked for him (it wasn't our cat doing the pooing there - it was before we had her that he had a problem, but she doesn't go there either); so we might well invest in one of those for the neighbour whose lawn has turned into a cat loo.

She doesn't have a regular pooing time, alas! When we first had her & kept her in for 4 or 5 weeks there was no particular pattern, though as she never uses her litter tray now I guess she's not going at night. It's very unusual even to get a wee in there these days.

She is wormed every 3 months as per the instructions on the tablets packet & we're very regular about that so there shouldn't be any danger there.

We do try & get her in by 9pm & if she's still out always set the catflap to its 'in only' setting at that hour. But she's nipped out just before the deadline a few times this week & then stayed out a couple of hours. As I say, though, she doesn't seem to go late at night.

Cat nip at a spot in our garden may be a good idea too, & generally trying to make areas in the flowerbeds more inviting. Planting catnip sounds like a great idea too. Not sure about putting a litter tray outside given that she chooses not to use her indoor one.

In the meantime I've already gone round to neighbour's & cleaned up the one poo that he said was there ATM, & will check whenever I walk past. Obviously don't have a problem with possibly cleaning up other cats' poos from his lawn; just don't want to be expected to clean every other lawn in the street! Realistically there's only so much poo she can be responsible for. There are at least 3 more cats around, one of them an unneutered tom who comes in through our catflap & sprays everywhere - no idea who he belongs to!

Achh - once one cat goes in a place, others seem to want to poo there in competition or something so I guess you will be clearing up others for the duration, sadly. (Given that you can't categorically say, as I used to be able to with mine, that she only poos in her own tray.)

I think that you'll probably find that the neighbour is much soothed by your approach. People sometimes get themselves all wound up with impotence in these matters and having a neighbour who actually cares should help matters enormously for him. (Although I'd be careful to let him know - if he doesn't already - that there are a number of other potential culprits.)

PS - I'd be getting a microchip cat flap for her as well. Not only will it stop mean toms getting in to your house and spraying but also it might help with taking your house off the 'cat map of the area'.

I think I'd also be water-pistolling any cats you see that aren't her. Cats aren't daft and if a place is not friendly they tend to take it off their mental map and go instead to pleasanter climes.

They like freshly dug soil, if you dug her a patch she might prefer that.

Well mine liked crapping in the lavender patch. They killed it with excretions, then the honeysuckle. I suspect they have a plan to rid the flowerbed of all the stupid plants getting in the way, transforming it into a giant litter tray.

Still, better in my garden than someone elses.

It was an ornamental grass here, I wondered why it was flat in the middle but I saw him straddling it to wee one day and all became clear.

We have lots of lavender in our front garden - wish she would crap in that instead of neighbour's garden. It's a mess & needs major tidying up anyway.

DH says he did prepare a patch of freshly dug soil for her when she first started going out, but she ignored it in favour of our side lawn. And we have no idea why she stopped using our lawn & started going further afield. She's weird.

Don't know why she never covers her poo either - she spends ages pretending to 'bury' her food when she's finished eating, but not her crap! Of course with her being a rescue cat we don't know what her start in life was, or how long she was with her mother or anything.

She's out now so will have to have another wander round the corner later to see if there's been any more action! She's been lazing around inside all afternoon, but no litter tray use.

Things don't always improve overnight, I'm afraid. Keep up with the soil digging and cleaning though.

(Actually, cats being perverse creatures at times, a pretty surefire way is to plant a prized plant specimen or two - the sort that don't like being disturbed. That can run a bit expensive if she or another cat destroy it though. )

You're right there Cozie. They're like slash and burn farmers. Every time they clear a patch, they move onto another.