My neighbour and my cats!

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I moved into my house in 2023. My neighbour told me immediately that she disliked cats. I had one cat at the time.
he had to be pts in dec 24. In Jan 25 I took in two kittens and then their littermate who had a failed adoption. The cats are now just over a year old.
My neighbour hates them being in her garden . They like sitting under her bird feeders. She says it stresses her out and that I should be responsible for my three cats and should not have got three cats.
what am I supposed to do? I can’t stop the cats from roaming.
the cats have to go through her garden to get to the cat flap in my garden- she is end of culdesac and I have no front door cat flap.
i have suggested she puts legal deterents on her fence and have agreed to quick release collars with bells- even though I know it will make little difference.
anyone else have to deal with this?

Knowing cats have the right to roam makes them unsuitable for life with neighbours and next to roads.
How can you feel comfortable knowing they are stalking native songbirds - already in decline?
I expect if a dog was running round killing cats you’d be most upset. Why are your pets any different.

How can you feel comfortable knowing they are stalking native songbirds - already in decline?

I have never seen evidence of this - I can only speak for my cat but she never brings in birds. As for dogs going around killing cats, that's just absurd.

Dogs do kill cats though, and it's a reasonably frequent occurrence? Any animal with a strong prey drive is a risk to smaller animals, particularly if not well socialised.

I have adopted and fostered cats for almost 3 decades, and I have only ever known a couple of felines who genuinely did not hunt (and one of those was blind so only allowed in the catio!) All the others would routinely have a pop and fledglings are sadly one of the easiest targets. I've had "gifts" of moles, voles, a baby bat, countless blue/great tits, a dis-embowelled woodpigeon that I had to finish off myself, a couple of sparrowhawks, hundreds of mice, and once two littermates tag-teamed one of my neighbour's bantam hens through the cat flap. I replaced it and improved the fencing, ofc, but it's churlish to pretend that domestic cats are anything other than total brutes to wildlife!

One very quick and relatively cheap option for the OP to show willing would be to get one of those bright bib-style collars for her cat - it makes them highly visible, and some also have a bell. (The cheap crap ones can be dangerous in terms of getting tangled in trees etc, so choose carefully). I would also buy your neighbour one of those sound machines that are supposed to deter cats, a supersoaker and some vinegar to dilute in it. (Cats hate the taste when they clean themselves after a dousing with that).

So for hijacking this thread. Wondering about doing this in my own garden as I have just moved house and there is a very busy road. Was it expensive? Do you need specific height fences? Thank you

That's a very horrible oversimplification! My cats were ferals when they kittens they love being in the garden in the sunshine and don't tend to wander very far. When we moved house in 2024, we had to keep the cats in for a little while and once we got to about a week and a half of them being shut in they became depressed and withdrawn! As soon as we let them they were so relieved and went off exploring. People don't do it because they are lazy, they do it because some cats have instincts that you can't switch off and I won't destroy my cats mentally! I do have a neighbour one side who doesn't like cats so we've cat proofed the fence and all is fine.

There are stray cats everywhere anyway so there'll always be cats wandering plus even when strays are rehomed they won't all become permanent indoor cats they'll just climb the walls wanting to be out, they'd be unhappy and it's a nightmare around windows and doors - and if they did get out, do you think they'd be in rush to go back to the incarceration?

Cats have a right to roam.

Do they? Says who?

Do dogs have a right to roam, as well? Shitting everywhere, and killing birds?

It's hard to stop cats roaming. I have cats coming into my garden and I don't know who owns them.

She should take measures to keep them out, because I don't know for you can stop them. I like cats, but I wouldn't like it if a cat HAD to come into my garden to get back into their own house.

Do you anything about rescuing cats that were previously ferals or strays? There's a massive gulf of difference between them and people that raise kittens to be indoors cats from being born! There isn't a magical off switch for their instincts and these are sentient beings that can get depressed and unhappy! My cats got like that when we moved and had to keep them in, they totally weren't themselves at all until we let them out.
There are plenty of stray cats out there so you'll never be free of cats walking about! And strays get rescued off the streets, it's rare you will turn them into full time indoor cats, they'll just start going crazy and try to escape and when they do get out, do you think they'll rush to come back? See how not easy it is now? You are the ass hat that doesn't get that cats aren't toys!

Are you a bit simple? Dogs and cats are completely different kettle of fish from each other! Cats have very different instincts that don't have an off switch especially if they've been ferals or strays previously! I do wonder if people like you even realise how many strays are out there! You will always see strays wandering about because there's a stray cat crisis in the UK.

Stopping your cats roaming doesn't mean they have to be confined indoors. Keeping cats indoors is cruel. However, you can stop them roaming by cat-proofing your garden.

I've put nice high bamboo fencing up.the fence on one side to stop them going over to neighbours which seems to work well. Stray cats can tend to be the pain in the arse, I hace one that tries to get in my cat flap and sprays up indignantly when the lock doesn't let him in

Again, stopping them roaming does not mean confining them to the house which is, I believe, cruel.

You may have rescued strays/feral cats but the vast majority of people get their cats as kittens so could, if they were bothered, ensure they did not roam from kittenhood.

Maybe your neighbour will decide to rescue an ex-racing greyhound with a high prey drive. How will all the cats get home over the back garden then? I think you need to put in that front flap really. My sister loves her cat and has put a flap into a window pane which works perfectly.

edited for spelling

See, it's not that difficult is it? But yet you are stating I'm an "ass hat" for suggesting people do as you have done🤔

I agree with this. You can't always rely on your neighbour having safe access for your cats in her garden. She may get a dog or completely cat proof and then what?

She isn't unreasonable for not wanting cats in her garden. I do feel sorry for people who don't want cats on their property and basically get told cats have the right to be there or whatever.To me its not the same as wild animals coming in gardens unwanted, as cats actually have people who should try and minimise the disruption casued to others

Er, are you a "bit simple"?! Your comment does not follow from mine.

Can you tell me a reason cats shouldn't be walked on a lead?

Cats are just the same as dogs. We just indulge cats more. And they kill millions of birds a year, in the UK.

You can stop your cats from roaming. You just choose not to, because the law doesn't say you have to.

Cats don’t “have a right to roam”, they can live perfectly happily in your garden which is why a responsible owner would do. If I was your neighbour and you were not engaging in controlling your animals coming on to her property and scaring or killing the birds that are clearly very important to her I would be taking very serious steps to make the garden inhospitable for them and then if you didn’t find a way around it you’d be a risk of losing them. Do the right thing and cat proof your garden.

It is not about proofing the garden though . Wish you would read the thread. Or a least attempt to.

Because I thought you were insinuating that all cats should be indoors and you were calling cat owners ass hats.

You do realise that cats have been about for years and years and years. Roaming around and eating the birds? Its not a new thing. Humans are the threat against birds not something thats been hunting them for so long already.

Dogs have also been around for 'years and years and years'. And yet we manage to control them.

And I can assure you, that humans do not kill as many birds a year as cats do. UK cats kill between 40-70 million birds a year.

Maybe try reading before rushing to insult next time.

And I called particular type of cat owners assholes, not ass hats.

They aren't like dogs! They are a different level of intelligence and independence from a dog! They aren't dangerous to humans like dogs would be. I've travelled to countries where there are lots of dogs roaming the streets and it's very different! A dog running up to you barking in the street is unnerving I can tell you!
Tell me when you have ever seen a cat walked on a lead? Have a good guess why don't see it! Most cats would panic and thrash about if you put a lead on, cats are like eels too and would get out of a lead! Also a lot of cats are night owls and sheep by day and we aren't going to walk around outside with them all night! My cats are in the garden most of the day and night in summer!

Sigh. You keep ignoring the fact that cats kill millions of birds in the UK every year. They also shit everywhere, and spread toxoplasmosis to humans, especially children.

And yes, I've seen cats walked on leads. I've also met house cats. Just because people don't choose to control cats, doesn't mean they can't be controlled.