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've had cats, both mine and neighbours fall into the pond trying to get a frog.

It’s water, not acid! Why should someone have to put up with a cat using their garden as a litter tray? Water is not going to hurt a cat, when a deterrent is needed it has to be something the animal doesn’t like otherwise it’s pointless!

I'm not saying that a water pistol or even a short blast of a super soaker is a terrible idea, but the OP says her cat is drenched. If it didn't fall in a swimming pool, and was actually hosed with cold water enough to be that drenched, then that would be cruel, was what I was saying. My cat was jumping on my other cat and I would use a well aimed water pistol and just a squirt, and by his reaction it might as well have been battery acid. He still would do it again ten seconds later...he learned nothing. They are just pets, they likely wouldn't understand and if you wouldn't hose down a pet rabbit or ferret with a jet of really cold water, why's it ok to do it to a cat?

I don’t own a water gun and won’t buy one when a hose suffices. It’s a garden hose, it really isn’t that powerful. Let’s face it, no cat is going to get that drenched by a hose unless it literally sat under it for a period of time. If someone had held onto the cat whilst hosing then that’s a different matter. The likely cause of a cat being that wet is falling into a body of water.

I've never known a cat not come home soaked at one time or another, either falling into a pond or a pool. They're curious creatures and not very bright.
If they were water pistoled they wouldn't be soaked all over.