#catshitgate

[RosieCockle]

I’m getting all upset and wound up about this and need some advice.

We’ve lived in a row of 6 houses since 2013. Three of us have cats. Next door don’t, but have cats living either side. The back gardens have no fences between them.

Next door neighbour has said before about cats shitting in the pebbles outside their downstairs bedroom window. I said if it’s my cat I will come and clean it up.

On Friday she sent an email to all 5 homeowners saying she’s sick of picking up shit as she wants to enjoy the garden, especially as she has a 3-yr old. Fair enough. And that their cars’ bodywork has been damaged. So we should a) create a schedule for collecting poo; b) explore options for claws to avoid them causing damage; and c) get on to our civil liability insurers.

I was quite upset by the tone and didn’t think it reasonable to include the 2 houses who don’t have cats, but not include 2 houses opposite who do. Although I guess it’s more likely our 3.

I wrote to the 2 cat houses and said could we chat 10 mins next week to discuss the email and what are your thoughts?

Husband thinks instead of repeatedly cleaning up it would be better to find a deterrent (coffee grinds, sprays etc) to resolve the problem once and for all.

He’s looked up the law in our non-UK country and cat owners (unlike dog ones) are not responsible for what their cats do as they’re free to roam. So insurance wouldn’t be interested anyway.

As for a schedule - do they really want us outside their and their daughter’s bedroom window. How do we coordinate it with the others, eg we go away for the weekend quite often. I don’t want the neighbour the other side of me crossing my lawn to go to the other lawn. The whole thing feels barmy and impractical.

So no one has replied to her or to me. I hate feeling rude for not replying, as if I don’t care, but I can’t speak for the others.

Today she has sent another email to the same 5 saying she’s picked up 14 poos, happy Sunday.

Well our cat is still in the cattery from Fri 29th while we were on holiday.

What the heck do I do? I have a conscience. I hate conflict. I don’t want to fall out with any neighbours. I also don’t want to be the mug picking up the poos of someone else’s cat!

Thanks for your advice/opinions if you’ve managed to get this far!!

Hmm, unusual for cats to shit on pebbles (as opposed to pea gravel, which they love), as they can't bury it. Is she sure there aren't any foxes locally?

I'm also rather surprised that she reckons cats have scratched her car. Many is the time I've found my car covered in paw prints, especially when I was going to a stables regularly, yet never found a scratch from it. And there are NO claw options that aren't cruel to cats! Declawing (illegal in the UK and many other countries) means amputating the top joint of their toes, incredibly cruel. And the covers that some people use are also considered cruel - Battersea statement here.

I'm with your DH to be honest, find a deterrant that works.

It's a tricky one. We don't have pets and do get next door neighbours cats pooing in our garden. Right in the middle of the lawn. It's not nice. But I get on with our neighbour and there's not much to be done. My theory is cats poo in other people's gardens as they don't want to mess up their own!

There is some kind of gel stuff to deter. Or I've heard lion poo works - You can buy it apparently. I've not yet tried it.

I'd invite her and other cat owners round for a drink in the garden one evening and chat it through - try and get more friendly - it's a tricky one to resolve but the neighbour must be feeling quite annoyed to have written.

I think a deterrent is what you need snd maybe a rota to reapply it. If you have cats, maybe outdoor litter tray somewhere?

…or tell her to buy a dog! 😂

We have this and it works brilliantly. It senses movement and sprays water. You attach it to a hose and she can turn it on and off so that it isn’t on when she is out in the garden with her 3 year old!
We only needed to use it for about a week then the cats stopped returning, they soon learnt!
In fact you could install it on the edge of your own garden, aiming the sensor and spray towards hers if that makes sense? (If there is no fence between you)

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01DACLHT2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_3D5BFS8Z66536MY9JVY3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Cats are protected by law in the UK and free to roam. Point this out to her, she is being rather silly about this and I doubt very much her car would have been scratched by a cat. She sounds rather awful. Cat poos can be cleared up quite easily.

Poster is not in the UK. 14 poos didnt come from one cat and cats don't scratch cars.

Lion poo doesnt work. Believe me - as a non cat owner with a 10month old, i have tried EVERYTHING to stop the 7 cats from our street shitting on our lawn but to no avail. I'm so sick of cleaning up cat poo before she can go anthink @CorsicaDreaming probably has

Urrrgh! This new app!!

I was going to say that im sick of cleaning up cat poo before she can go and crawl on the lawn and i think @CorsicaDreaming probably has the right approach to all get together. May you could offer to buy her one of the spray things listed above? And maybe put down some cat repellent stuff for a few weeks to see if it makes a difference?

What other wild animals do you have op? If it was the uk, I would say she’s lucky if it is cats, because fox and badger poo is far worse. Could birds be attacking her car? I’ve seen crows attack parked cars. You say there are no fences - could it be rabbits or someone’s dogs, or feral cats and dogs? What is stopping people and animals from wandering into each properties garden?

Sprinklers work. Definitely.

Thank you very much for your replies. It's easing my horrible anxiety. Some great ideas.

We are in Switzerland and there are definitely foxes. There were six cubs born last May. (And deer - but poos are different!)

The houses are built on a slope so we all have a flat lawn then it slopes down and at the end is a forest. We aren't allowed to put anything within 5-metres of the forest edge so that the forest ranger can access it if need be. I think that's why no fences. But the forest is a U shape around the gardens of houses 1 to 6, so people don't accidentally stumble in them. If that makes sense.

Really appreciate your replies. Thank you so much.

Civil liability insurers 🙄 good grief, tell me your batshit without telling me your batshit.

I’d cat proof the garden before she gets even crazier.

Does you neighbour know the difference in various animal poo? Or is she just assuming it’s all cat poo.

btw. It sounds an idyllic place to live!

…except for the neighbours. 😂

It’s really not tricky, even if there is no law saying you must take responsibility for your cat, take responsibility for your cat. Plenty of us cat owners manage to not be jerks.

I agree with your husband in part, cleaning up after the fact is insufficient. It shouldn’t be on your neighbor to deter though. You all need to find a way to keep your cats off of other people’s property. Build a catio. Install cat proof fencing. Leash train your cats and take them for walks. People do all sorts of things if they want to be responsible cat owners and still let their cats outside.

@Ponderingwindow

I’m perfectly happy to take responsibility for my cat. To clarify, the (lack of) legal responsibility bit referred to the cars as she said “contact your insurers to repair the bodywork”. Well they won’t do anything.

And I’m not a jerk, thanks, hence being bothered about my neighbour being annoyed, the post here and why I’ve said to her: if it’s my cat, I’ll clean it up. If I didn’t give a toss I wouldn’t be upset about all this.

My cat is an 11-year old rescue and has had the freedom to come and go since 2014. When we lock the cat flap to catch her on vet days she cries when she can’t get out. Wouldn’t it be cruel to suddenly stop her going out and put her on a leash?

I know it's a cost, but any chance of having motion operated cameras covering the area just to proove either way whether it's the cats or e.g. foxes? I was being blamed for cat poo in NDN's garden, until I reminded him that a) my cats are indoor only & b) how about the local urban fox that entered my garden over the fence from his?

I think the simplest way to deal with this would be for all the cat owners to create inviting outdoor areas in their gardens for pooing. So each garden needs an area of around a metre square which is kept free of planting/weeds and the earth is regularly turned to keep it soft. You could also offer a gravel area if they like that too. They are only using that spot (if indeed it is cats doing it) as it's the best place they can find. If you (preferably all of you) offer something better, they'll use that instead.

I also agree that a night vision motion activated wildlife camera is what you need. You can get them for around £30

I think the cats are being scapegoated here. Cats don't scratch cars and it would be very unusual for a cat to choose pebbles to poop on, let alone the multiple cats needs to produce 14 poops.

If she's suggesting the cats are declawed, please don't consider that for a second. It is extremely cruel and causes the cat lifetime difficulties.

You could cat proof your garden with special fencing so your cat cant leave your garden or you can get a cat run so your cat can go outside but is under your control.
Also if you cat likes to shit outside then create an area in your garden that is comfortable and private for them to use.

I wrote to the neighbour this morning explaining why I hadn't yet replied, that I fully understood why she was pissed off, but I didn't understand asking non-cat owners to contact their insurers. That I thought a rota was impractical, but we could find a deterrent instead - asking what she's already tried - hopefully with the other cat owners, to bring an end to it. Then one of the others replied to me and suggested meeting on Wed, so I've told her that as well.
Will be bringing up your suggestions. Thanks very much everyone. Very helpful indeed.

Just checked, declawing is illegal in Switzerland so hopefully she's not suggesting something as cruel as that.

having to deal with cat or other pet excrements is gross - I'm with your neighbours on that one.

but pets are part of life and cats have a right to roam. the only thing cat owners can do is keeping them indoors at night. and have clean litterboxes available indoor and outdoor.