Cat came home completely soaked - upset that neighbour might have done this

[Startingagainandagain]

My rescue cat walked completely drenched and dripping with water. As if she had been swimming in a pool!

We are having a really sunny day so nothing to do with the weather.

I have dried her as much as I could and made sure she was not hurt.

She is now hiding behind a curtain and trying to dry herself.

I am really upset because there is a strong possibility that a neighbour (not my neighbours on each side who have cats and are animal lovers, but someone else) did that to her.

I would understand someone using a water pistol to warn the cat away, but this is not acceptable.

She is a lovely rescue cat who had a really bad start in life and she only spends a couple of hours outside during the day and mostly stick to my garden.

The house is also full of muddy prints now....

There is always the possibility that she feel into a pond or child inflatable swimming pool but how likely would that be?

I am sorely tempted to post something on the local Facebook group warning other cat owners in the area...

I was once standing outside with a bucket of water ready to wash my car, when over the fence came my cat at high speed, being chased by another one. I threw the water over it and it ran away.

My cat fell into our pond and just sank. I was right next to him and had to reach underwater and drag him back out again. He wasn't bothered at all, but he is as thick as two short planks.

I've also tipped a full bucket of water over my (different) cat and another that were fighting. They were both completely soaked but not trying to kill each other any more.

Mumsnet is rife with weirdo cat haters @Startingagainandagain
I wouldn’t waste your time posting on here.

All cats should be kept indoors, dogs should be banned and pets of all kinds are absolutely disgusting or an appalling frivolity.

I adore my cat, so I get it.

however, it’s really hard to drench a cat like that. It’s more likely fallen in a kids paddling pool or something.

If your cat is that scared then I suggest keeping it in your garden. You can get those things you put around the top of your fence. My garden is like Fort Knox to stop my cat getting out 😂

Whataboutery of the highest order. I've never seen a mink or crayfish trying to catch the fledgling blue tits and great tits from my nest boxes.

Any cats in my garden get drenched on sight. And our local smallholder regularly shoots ferals who get interested in his chicks (and as far as he is concerned any cat without a collar is a feral).

If you don’t want your cat to be harmed, then do your job and stop letting the poor thing wander.

you were lucky this time and it was only a wet cat.

why not take this as a wake up call and install cat proof fencing or a cat run.

Glad your kitty is recovering. At least it was only water. I know someone whose cat almost died after drinking anti-freeze. Impossible to prove but the prime suspect was a neighbour who was a keen gardener who hated cats using his garden as a toilet.

For the cat to be that wet it’s likely fallen into water.

I won’t hesitate to spray cats in the garden. Our neighbours cat thinks our garden is an extension of theirs, was constantly using it as a litter tray and damaged an inflatable pool with its claws as it kept walking along it. Since I dumped an entire bucket of water on the cat it hasn’t been back. Spraying did nothing, shooing was pointless and it ignored coffee grounds.

People aren’t cruel by using water to stop a cat from visiting. Yes, cats are roamers but it doesn’t mean people have to put up with unwanted visitors.

It's strange you're so worried about your cat yet it doesn't occur to you to catproof your property. If it was as serious as you were acting like it is, you'd take measures to keep your cat safe, but you don't. You just complain about the neighbour and keep letting it out. I throw water on cats who sit on my fence but don't own a water pistol so they get a dog bowl of water thrown over them, my dogs can jump 5ft or so and have dragged and killed cats off the fence so it's better than the alternative.

Collars are dangerous. So he's a massive twat.

While as sad as that is its nature it happens!!

Do you have a litter tray? If not, is there a chance your cat has been using the neighbors garden as a toilet or killing birds? Either of those things would be a good reason for them to try and deter it. I've tried successfully to drench a cat to put them off visiting our garden. It really won't do it any harm.

My neighbours cat fell in our pond once and the result was a very soggy moggy. Is there any chance this has happened here?

My husband once tipped a washing up bowl of water over some plants, not realising next door's kitten was hiding under them... We dried her off though! Certainly not done maliciously - we're cat owners. Could it be an accident?

Ive had a cat. I would 100% prefer her to have come home soaking than hurt. A home owner, imo has the right to throw a bucket of water or turn the hose pipe on a cat if they are on their premises. Its the go to response for home owners who are at the end of their tether with cats causing issues.

If you dont want your cat coming home soaked......well you know the rest

My cat came home soaked one day, next day neighbours told me he had fallen in the pond but managed to get himself out before they rushed to help him.

I’ve also had to soak him and other cats when they have been ripping the shit out of each other

This is why mine is a house cat with a secure garden to access. If you really want to protect her, give her this.

My cats have been in my paddling pool three times this week. Trying to drink the water I think. I've had to buy extra puncture repair kits.

Disgusting behaviour from the smallholder. Your local smallholder is potentially breaking the law, because those cats might not be feral, they might be someone's 'property'. By all means scare them off, but don't injure/kill them. If that is his attitude to animals, I wouldn't trust him with any livestock and if it was up to me I'd take his chicks off him.

I had been washing up in the kitchen with the window open and the neighbours cat literally jumped through our window and landing in the washing up bowl. The was water everywhere and the cat skidding across the worktop / floor until I could get the back door open.
I knocked on the neighbours door and explained in case she wondered why it had come home soaked, never crossed my mind that she’d think I’d have hosed it!

This time of year Cats can easily fall into paddling pools!

I had a pond dug this spring and one of my cats has fallen in twice. I don’t love him for his brains.

Then keep your cat on your property.

And now you're bothered that YOU have muddy paw prints when it's YOUR cat? Guess what, whoever had to resort to chucking water at it had cat-related inconvenience too and they never wanted your cat.

This.

I can't open the windows in my own home because some dickhead nearby has a Bengal that is a bastard.

YOU wanted a cat; not everyone else.

All 3 of mine have fallen in a neighbours pond several times, chasing butterflies or just messing about. Fortunately it's small and shallow, and we were there, in January, to get them dried off quickly.

As a note, kitchen paper is way way better at drying soggy kitties off than a fabric towel. We dry it off on a radiator and reuse....they're happy to sit in rain till it hits their skin, the twats.